Empire in Black and Gold [Paperback]

 

 

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Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of those names that everyone hears about these days, part of what I like to call the New Wave of Fantasy. His Shadows of the Apt series got a lot of praise both in the UK and the US, so I decided to give it a try.

The world Tchaikovsky paints is one where prehistoric giant insects threatened humanity with extinction. To escape that fate, humans developed a form of meditation that gave them physical and symbolical traits of the insects that surrounded them. Thousands of years later there are numerous human races called "kindens". Each kinden has the traits - or Art - of the insect they are connected to. Some of those traits are inborn, others - like flight or the ability to see in the dark - have to be achieved through meditation during childhood. Not everyone has the same abilities, and not everyone is equally strong with their Art.

For centuries the Elder races have ruled unopposed - the Moth-kinden mystics, their Mantis-kinden warrior servants; the subtle and manipulative Spider-kinden, and the graceful Dragonfly-kinden. But then, five hundred years prior to the story's beginning, the lesser kinden - the slaves of the Elders - started a rebellion. Both an industrial revolution and a renaissance, it freed those kinden from the yoke of their masters, but it also revealed another difference between the different races of the world. The Elder kinden turned out to be "Inapt" - incapable of comprehending the mechanics of even the simplest mechanism. Soon the new "Apt" kinden ruled unopposed, while the Moths and Mantids withdrew into secluded places, their old ways and mystical beliefs laughed at by the new masters of the world.

The story begins in the Lowlands, where city states thrive, bound by commerce and the occasional bickering. At the center of it all is the glorious city of Collegium - a place of learning and invention, of commerce and philosophy. But now a new force has risen in the west - the Empire of the Apt Wasp-kinden. They move like an unstoppable tide, using their deadly Art and engines of war, as well as the numerous enslaved races under their command. The Lowlands refuse to acknowledge this threat, preferring to pretend that life will go on as before, and even going so far as to supply the Wasps with weapons for their far-away wars. Only the Beetle artificer Stenwold Maker realizes the true nature of the invaders. After witnessing the fall of a Beetle city beyond the western border of the Lowlands, he starts to build an army of spies, while at the same time his warnings against the Wasp Empire fall on deaf ears.

It is now seventeen years after the battle of Mina. The Wasps are at the door of the Lowlands, but they come under the banner of peace and commerce. And Stenwold is not ready. What's worse, the Empire seems to have taken interest in him. And in the center of the intrigue, assassinations and conspiracies are thrust four students of the Great College - the Beetle-kinden Cheerwell (Che) Maker, Stenwold's niece; Salma, a Dragonfly-kinden prince from the faraway Commonweal; Totho - an Ant/Beetle halfbreed artifcer; and the Spider-kinden Tynisa - Stenwold's adopted daughter of mysterious origins. They have to rely on each other to escape the clutches of the Wasps and somehow prevent them from invading the Lowlands.

Empire in Black and Gold is a great sword and sorcery adventure set in a New Weird/Steampunk world that sometimes resembles Ancient Greece, and sometimes - classical pseudo-medieval fantasy. World-building is one of Tchaikovsky's strongest points. From the mechanical factories and forges of dirty crime-ridden Helleron to the shadowy streets of conquered Mina, to the mountaintop holds of the Moth-kinden, the world of The Shadows of the Apt is fleshed-out and intriguing, while still making it clear that we haven't seen even a tenth of it.

The race concept is also one of the best I've seen in years. Even though there isn't one non-human race in Tchaikovsky's world, it is still filled with humans more fantastic than any classical fantasy race. No elf could hold a candle to the shadow-dwelling Moth-kinden sorcerers, or their daylight brothers, the enchanting Butterfly-kinden. What's more, it is a world where it is normal for any human with a flying kindred-insect to be able to fly himself, even though Beetles are notoriously bad at it while the little Fly-kinden are the best fliers in the world. That makes for some pretty spectacular aerial battles in addition to the amazing ground action.

The characters are also very well thought out. Even if they are somewhat two-dimensional - with most of them you know where you stand from the beginning - there is a lot of thought put into their actions and behavior. I like imagining better versions of situations with intense dialogue - it's just the way I'm wired. It's not rare that an author makes their characters act or speak stupidly for the purpose of plot-movement. Not so here. I was really impressed when Che - a mousy little creature of middling talents for the most part - stood up to a Wasp officer interrogating her with the following (I rephrase obviously): "Why won't you just let it go and let me leave? I know nothing. I am just a student that has been thrust into something monstrous. What threat could I be to your Empire?" What's more, this conversation did have impact on the story later on. Kudos to Tchaikovsky for being able to make his characters behave convincingly without the story suffering for it!

What Empire in Black and Gold isn't so good at is the pacing of the story. It takes more than a hundred pages to actually get going, and then sort of stumbles in many directions at once, not really getting to the point until the very end. That is not to say the novel is boring. Even if we forget the amazing world-building, the book is still packed with action and adventure. It is just a bit aimless for a while, but I guess that's ok for the first of four parts.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Adrian Tchaikovsky's debut work. It's scope is vast, the world-building is of the first degree, the characters are likable and interesting. And what's even better - Empire in Black and Gold is considered to be the weakest in the series so far. Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on Dragonfly Falling.

8/10

[...]

Disclaimer: Reviews will mainly concentrate on novels that I enjoyed, and in writing them I will attempt to be succinct and to avoid all manner of spoilery comments. A grading guide follows my reviews. Also, please note that while I have read widely in the genre, my tastes are quite distinct and thus readers should absorb my wisdom with, at the very least, a few pinches of salt. Cheers.

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Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Characterization: 7/10
Tchaikovsky gets us set up with a wide variety of characters ready to do his literary bidding. Stenwold, the main character at this point, is an academic frustrated by the fact that all his warnings are falling on deaf ears and so he has been training a small core of friends to help stop the Wasps. We get to see characters from both sides and Tchaikovsky doesn't pull any punches. Some of the characters and their struggles may feel a bit too familiar, but there are other elements that make up for this.

Plotting and Pacing: 7/10
From the start we know that the Wasp empire is coming for the Lowlands. This anticipation allows Tchaikovsky to perform some manoeuvering that may otherwise have made me feel like the plot was bogging down. The constant scheming and politicking makes it seem as though very little happened during the course of this novel, yet it also feels like a great deal happened (much akin to George RR Martin's series, although I would obviously not claim that Martin and Tchaikovsky are on the same level in this regard).

Setting: 10/10
The setting is where this novel really shines. The idea of humans being given, for lack of a better work, powers based on which kinden (insect-race) they belong to is fantastic. Although sometimes I felt like this made it too easy to set roles for the various races (like dwarves minining and elves protecting forests), it was a concept that hooked me and hooked me good. Tchaikovsky somehow manages to mix medieval weaponry with steampunk-ish technology in a way that doesn't seem completely bizarre. My interest in the setting was one of the main reasons I continued reading the series.

Style and Themes: Style 1/5 and Themes 2/5
There were enough stylistic issues that I cringed at various points in the novel. Sometimes a secondary character would be used for a few lines to reveal some important bit of information, and sometimes it would be a POV shift in the middle of a scene without using a scene break. The book was good enough for me to keep reading, but these issues were quite annoying. I can't really say much with regards to themes. Again it was the whole bit of normal people struggling against something greater than themselves and trying to not get ground into the dust by the politics. Let's just say that there are other, better reasons for reading this book.

Total: 27/40
I read it and, annoying stylistic issues aside, I enjoyed it. Perhaps more importantly, I kept reading and spending money on later novels in the series after finishing this book. I'll leave it at that.

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Grading: Note that '5' is an average grade for each category, unexciting but still decent. Therefore, any novel that scores above twenty is above average and thus better than most of the other stuff floating around in bookshelves (at least in my opinion).

Rating Scale
01-09: Nigh unreadable
10-19: Get it from the library
20-24: A modest endorsement
25-29: Well-rounded and enjoyable
30-34: Highly recommended
35-40: A must-read!

An interesting fantasy/adventure from Adrian Tchaikovsky; the first book of the 'Shadows of the Apt' trilogy.

The author has written an intriguing story of invasion and conquest by an evil regime and then peppered it with an assortment of interesting and personable characters; characters that are all different, each with their own unique skills and attributes, giving the plot an ongoing sense of fresh ideas and new developments.

There is fairly detailed map (for those that care about such things) which help to keep the arenas of action and traveling distances in perspective.

And although the book was generally well written, I had a concern with the technique used to describe some of the fight scenes between individuals (this concern did not seem to arise with the few group skirmishes found within this story). While the author continually provided the reader with positive attack-minded comments about the battle, they were invariably 'balanced' by some negative comments as to why the attacks didn't come succeed...(the examples that follow are not actual quotes; just my attempt to give you a feeling of my concerns with the fight scenes) i.e. he thrust his rapier at the opponent's open flank...but he was too slow...or, he thrust his rapier at the opponent's open flank...but sunlight blinded him, and so on. I found nearly all fighting scenes involving individuals, were described using this same positive/negative technique and its started to wear thin after a while.

Conclusion:
An excellent first book in the 'Apt' trilogy. The story is captivating and intriguing enough to definitely give you the desire to read-on. I feel my concern regarding the fight scene descriptions was, albeit minor, a valid one. Yet this novel did have an overall high quality and I look forward to the next two books in the series. Easily 4 1/2 Stars

R. Nicholson

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5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good
This one came up on my reccomendation list, and when I actually got my hands on it I was skeptical, after reading the back cover. Read more

Published on Feb 17 2009 by Craig

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