Salute the Dark

Shadows of the Apt, Book 4

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Ben Allen

Length: 17 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Salute the Dark is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. As spymaster Stenworld makes a stand in his home city, others must chose where their loyalties lie.

All must face the end of days....

Uctebri’s long search for the Shadow Box is finally over. Now the vampiric sorcerer can begin his dark ritual. The Wasp-kinden’s emperor believes this will grant him immortality, but Uctebri has his own plans - for the emperor and the empire. 

The mighty Wasp armies are on the march. And now war is imminent, spymaster Stenwold can finally separate allies from false friends. For the empire won’t stop until a black and gold flag hangs over Collegium, Stenwold's home city. 

Tisamon the weaponsmaster could chose to face the Wasp emperor himself with a blade in his hand. But he’d need to abandon friends and family, embracing degradation and loss. Yet is he driven by Mantis-kinden honour or being manipulated by something far more sinister?  

Salute the Dark is followed by the fifth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, The Scarab Path.

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

Best of the books yet

The book ends with a temporary peace between Collegian and the wasps. Thalrig has redeemed himself. The men certainly are attracted to Cheerwell. Who will she end up with?

The Best Tchaikovsky audiobook yet

The first I couldn't put down. Really gives a sense of arc to the first books in the series.

This Series is AMAZING!

Definitely getting the next book! Such a great series! I'm hooked. The characters are so good. The story is unique and fresh. It's been such a long time since I read a series that was actually an original idea. Buy this series, you will not be disappointed!

I’ve devoured this series so far

The series is great. I love the parallels with ww1 and ww2. Also the readers accents and voices are brilliant. Five stars +

the most self aware moment in this story happened

And it happened when someone asked Cheerwell how she's still alive despite her continued naive incompetence and ability to get herself into bad situations that only plot armor allow her to escape from. If she would contribute positively to the story by dying I could easily give this a 5 star, but at this moment I skim her sections as best I can--the only thing she ever says is "I don't understand"--and it's clear she never does, despite all she has gone through. She has been compensated for by her betters for too long and deserves to add some tragedy to the plot, and be done with her useless blathering.

Narrator whispers too much

The story is great. My only gripe with the series so far is that the narration gets really quiet sometimes. I often have to rewind and turn up the volume.

We don't deserve a book this good

Worth every penny and every credit. I love his SciFi books and I'm not a fantasy book guy. I'm so glad I gave this series a try.

great but not as good as the last few

Overall I really enjoyed this book, but there were some parts that got a little too cheesy. Hopefully the next one gets back to the better writing!

Very good with one recommendation.

This series is a breath of fresh air. The originality that this series displays is amazing. Definitely worth the time and money to read or listen to so far. The only recommendation that I would have for this series audience would be to keep a list of important characters and who/what they are. The scope of this series is huge. I sometimes found myself needing to figure out who characters were and their place in the story.

the plot continues

this book continues the story. well read. easy to follow. twists and turns keep one enthralled.

Super series

The story is very good, the characters fascinating and the performance is excellent!!! Proper read this

An excellent climax to the first books

The narration is excellent as with the other books in the series. Great dialects. This book is my favourite in the series so far and the second half of the book is very climactic

loved it

I'm a fan of the author, but wasn't sure I would be able to lose myself in this fantasy world. I needn't have worried as I have loved all of the books so far. love the narrator which seems similar in style to the first law audiobooks (a good thing). have already purchased next in the series so here goes!

Excellent narration-griping story

The story is gripping…albeit somewhat distressing with its parallels about the philosophy of war and ‘progress’ within our own reality.
However…what lifts these books to a totally different level is the narration by Ben Allen, which is superb!!! His range of accents and voices is really impressive …but his ability to narrate, and flawlessly move from one character to another within a vast array of different characters, made this one of the most enjoyable listens on audible.

Hated a lot of it...but turned out pretty good.

What did I hate? how heavy handed the authors hand was with placing everyone where they needed to be in very contrived ways. This also with some of the relationships.

...but towards the end it won me over, and it works well on many ways. It just takes a long time to get there. When it starts wrapping things up it gets really good.

spectacular

an absolutely incredible fourth book in this brilliant series. fearless writing, and so many twists and turns that I'd defy anyone to predict the outcomes.

Tchaikovsky continues to impress

I nearly stopped reading this series after the first book. I liked Empire in Black and Gold well enough but it didn't get it's hooks in to me to any great degree. I got the second one in a sale and loved it so much that I ended up devouring the following books in quick succession, the stakes escalate and the fascinating works becomes ever more intriguing. Excellent narration as well, by the way.