Heirs of the Blade

Shadows of the Apt, Book 7

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Ben Allen

Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Heirs of the Blade is the seventh book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

The greatest foe is the enemy within....

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.

©2021 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

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.

Still going strong

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

Facinating

Great story. Great story. Great story. Great story.
It will kidnap you for the entirety of the book.

Adding Magic to the Mix

The addition this brought to this low-magic world is nothing less than thrilling. Magical in its own right. As a for-fun fiction writer myself, I always tend strongly toward high-magic settings if at all, but this entry to the story has me chomping at the bit to try my hand at some low-magic settings. So many short story plots are now flying through my head, I could publish an anthology if I only had the self-discipline to finish and polish them all :)

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.

epic

Awesome world building. A masterpiece that fills in gaps in the story. Love it.

Lots of action!

The book before this with the water species kinden was a bit too slow for me and I was happy to find that this book was much more fast paced and eventful. Also a huge bombshell is dropped in this one too!

Loved it from beginning to end.

Consistently Excellent.

Yet another phenomenal installment in the series. It's hard to review just one book when the whole series has been tied into itself so neatly every step of the way. This book in particular does a great job of recapping events and reminding you about the status of the characters.

I would note that the maps and name index included in the physical books would be extremely helpful to listeners if they were included in an accessible PDF format.

At the time of this review, book 8 has not been released on Audible but I have a physical copy coming in the mail tomorrow. Looking forward to this series growing it's fanbase as Tchaikovsky gains more of the notoriety he deserves. (Someone help me fill in the Wikipedia for this series, it's in shambles.)

great book as always!

This author has thought this series through. Each book holds its own and remains unique from the others. Absolutely awesome series cannot recommend enough.