Heirs of the Blade

Shadows of the Apt, Book 7

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Ben Allen

The greatest foe is the enemy within . . .

Heirs of the Blade is the seventh book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Tynisa is on the run, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal, her past will at last catch up with her. Her father's ghost is hunting her down.

At the same time, the Wasp Empire seeks to conquer the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst Empress Seda's soldiers seek only conquest and prestige, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

Heirs of the Blade is followed by the eighth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, The Air War.

The entire series is narrated by Ben Allen (Alien Clay). Listeners love the series in audio:

‘Fantastic narration that really got you to imagine this amazing world’

‘You get consumed into the world and its characters’

‘The characters are distinct with masterful accents’

‘The narration and sound design is jaw-dropping’

‘Ben Allen's narration was frankly phenomenal all the way through’

Critic reviews

Brimming with imagination

The Shadows of the Apt series is simply one of the best epic fantasy series out there

Super worldbuilding, great characters and extreme inventiveness

Epic fantasy at its best. Gripping, original and multi-layered storytelling from a writer bursting with lots of fascinating ideas

Full of sparking, speculative innovation (Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence, on The Doors of Eden)

Breathtaking scope and vision. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of our finest writers (Gareth Powell, author of Embers of War, on Children of Ruin)

A joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human (Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, on Children of Time)

Love this series!!!

The book is amazing and I love the narrator! The book is Fast paced and exciting read.

Still going strong

This series continues to keep me entertained. Wonderful world & character building along all the books.

Better than the last one

This story drew me in and didn’t let it go until the final word. Such a creative series so many interesting characters. I think it’s great.

Masterful. Just buy it

If you've made it this far then I don't know why you're reading a review. The Shadows of the Apt wiki helped me alot with seeing maps and reviewing kinden. As another reviewer said, feel free to contribute as it will help others along the journey. I don't understand how he has crafted so many of these books with such an amazing quality. Worth more than a credit each.

Not quite as good as the previous books

It feels a bit labored. The author is running out of phrases and it seems the series is out of steam. How many times can we hear "an arrow flowered in his shoulder" or "it was all she could do, not to blablabla". But it's just entertaining enough for me not to give up on the series.,... yet.