The Sea Watch [Paperback]

This series is a heckuva lot better than you might think it would be. The steampunk-plus-everyone-has-insect-totems premise seems a little silly at first, but Tchaikovsky is a good enough author that he pulls it off, and pulls you into the story regardless; when all's said and done, it might just be that he suffers for his originality -- we're used to Elves and Orcs and so forth, but not to, say, Wasp Kinden, so these books seem a little strange and silly at first blush, but they're excellently done. If you even *suspect* you'd like it, take the gamble: my bet is you won't regret doing so.

If you're new to the series, don't start here, start with the first book, Empire in Black and Gold. This is the sixth book of a planned ten, and the middle volume of the second of three planned subdivisions within the series (the head, thorax, and abdomen, as it were).

It's tempting to describe the books in terms of other authors -- specifically, the steampunk aspect invites inevitable comparisons to China Mieville, albeit with less Marxist preaching, and the relatively "clean" tone is reminiscent of Robert Jordan, if he'd been willing to kill off major characters -- but Tchaikovsky is an innovative and imaginative author in his own right, and within the pages of these books he's written well-realized, complex and human characters moving through stories that have intriguing beginnings, page-turning centers, and climactic endings. If some of his tropes are a little well-worn (good servant to evil master, orphans discovering parentage, etc.), here they're well-written and well-wrought, so who's to complain?

It's hard to talk about this particular volume without spoilers, but generally speaking, the political maneuvering / spy-novel, cloak and dagger aspects of the series come to the fore here, almost totally replacing (at least for now) the epic battle set-pieces that have been its hallmark. There's also a great deal of truly excellent world-building (to the point that I sometimes found myself thinking "Seas of Bugworld Expansion Pack!") as Tchaikovsky takes this opportunity to explore the niches and corners and undercurrents of his world. As this volume begins, the Great War has come to a lull as the Wasps take care of internal rebellions, and Stenwold Maker's loose network of allies is beginning to fracture in the absence of an immediate existential threat. To top it all off, something is preying on Collegium's shipping, vanishing ships without a trace. In tracking down that threat, Stenwold uncovers a yet greater peril to his city, and finds himself caught up in a sequence of events he could not have imagined, with strange new allies helping him in a struggle against former friends.

Overall, if you've read the first five books and you enjoyed them, and especially if you're the sort that enjoys fantasy world-building and richness of setting, you'll probably like this one also. All in all, I highly recommend both this book and this series.

"The Sea Watch" is the sixth book in the 'Shadow's of the Apt' series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The book is 480 pages in length and the Kindle e-edition is a 1313 Kb download.

*SPOILER*

This sixth book refocuses on Stenwold Maker, one of Collegium's leading figures and who was primarily responsible for turning aside the Wasp's recent attempt of conquest of the Lowlands. Collegium is one of the major cities in the Lowland territory and is the heart of learning and culture for humanity within this large geographic area. Humanity however, in this series of books requires some definition...all humans in this world have some connection to one of the many different species of insects; sometimes in their physical appearance and also in the the fact that they harbour some special 'talents' usually associated with the insect class e.g. flying or the ability to sting, just to mention only two of many insect 'attributes'.

The tale is broken down into three sections, initially beginning in Collegium, then going under the ocean for the second part and finally finishing back in Collegium with a short excursion back into the ocean depth.

Both new and old threats have evolved to threaten the Lowlands, with Collegium as the main target. This time the new enemies are from beneath the sea AND a previous ally from afar, the Spider kindren. While the old nemesis is, not surprisingly, the Wasp kindren, from the far north eastern section of the territories.

*END SPOILER*

Tchaikovsky continues to weave the magical tale of the 'Apt'. This book is filled with unexpected twists and turns, battles, political intrigue and a new classification of undersea kindren. However, this was the first book of the six that I didn't entirely enjoy...let me explain. I found the middle section (beneath the ocean) entirely too long, during which time the political maneuvering and several attempted abductions/escapes became somewhat repetitious...but mainly, I felt this environment and its protracted tale, to be increasingly claustrophobic. After what seemed an eternity to me, I was glad to be back on dry land with the start of the final section. If the author intended to create a rather smothering ambience here, then he certainly succeeded.

Maps: there are two good maps, BUT the Kindle edition (through the IPad App) continues to show a major weakness in rendering such drawings...let me elaborate. When you look at either map in the 'landscape' perspective on your IPad, the map is shown in the 'portrait' viewpoint. If you hold your IPad in the 'portrait' view the maps are displayed in the 'landscape' perspective. No matter which way you hold your IPad the maps are at right angles to your line of sight. Strange!

Conclusion:
A solid sixth book! I'd be interested to see if any other reviewers had the same concerns about the middle section as I did. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this latest installment of this ongoing 'Apt' saga and look forward to the continuation of this interesting story. 3 1/2 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

This has been a great series, and up until this volume each one was getting better and better. The blend of zoological fantasy and clockpunk high fantasy has been fascinating, but here it starts to feel very ill thought out.

The story resumes after the excellent The Scarab Path (Shadows of the Apt, Book 5) with Stenwald in Collegium, ships are starting to go missing and the relations with the spider kinden are starting to look less sure. We are taken on a, very brief, tour of the nautical side of Collegium, and then things go badly for Stenwold, he is alone now with all his friends and allies offscreen or dead and like the author he is literally flailing. When suddenly thrust into the heretofor unknown world of the Sea kinden, he is more prisoner of events beyond his control than he has usually been, and here becomes more and more of a passive actor.

I don't want to give away any spoilers but it seems that the Stenwold character has become somewhat rudderless. The last two volumes have been mostly about his niece Cheerwell and she is a much stronger character. I hate when I see reviews that say this because the author's vision is what counts, but I am really missing Thalric in this one.

I was actually somewhat excited about this installment since I am a soft rock geologist, but here the whole thematic idea of insect (or at least arthropod) kinden breaks down in this installment, it is like Tchaikovsky was rushing through the whole coral reef as social systemn way too fast. The earlier books really felt like they had a lot of though behind them, going way back before the books were written. This one just felt rushed.

I am still looking forward to the next installment though, this is one of my favorite series.

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