AUTHOR : Adrian Tchaikovsky
PUBLISHER : Tor
PUBLISHED : 7 August 2009
PAPERBACK : 448 Pages
SUMMARY : Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever.
Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end. In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police, and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.
MY THOUGHTS :
NON-SPOILER :
So the first thing I noticed about this book was the size which is 429 pages, compared to the last two books with well over 600 pages this one feels quite compact, in terms of content it's quite different from the last book, with the story leaning towards the more political side of things and covert operations, so the tone is quite different with no time for epic battles and Sieges like the last book. The action shifts from The Lowlands towards the Northern borders of the Empire and the South towards the City of Solarno.
The plot keeps you guessing as to what could be the end of it all until the very last page of the book.
SPOILER :
So we see two major storylines unfolding as Che takes flight towards the Spider-city of Solarno, situated on the shores of the Great inland sea of Exalsee, and a covert division comprised of Achaeos, Tisamon, Tynisa, Thalric, and Gaved move towards the swampy back water lands of Jerez, on the banks of Lake Limnia, known for its criminal elements, seething with illegal trade and crime of every imaginable sort, a shady place full of shady backstabbing Skater-Kinden. The objective is to retrieve the Shadowbox, an artifact born of dark and terrible magic in the final days of the revolution. The company encounters several other kinden and dangerous characters as they are not the only party interested in the Box.
The focus is chiefly maintained on the party at Jerez and Solarno with only brief appearances from several main characters like Drephos, Totho, and Felise Mienn. I felt the absence of Totho the most, having the most intriguing story arc of all of the protagonists. I would be quite upset if I didn't have seven more books in the series to dive into and remedy that situation.
Subsequently, I didn't feel the urgency that pervaded the last book, I felt like this book just set all the pieces in the necessary places for the big bang in the next book. No crucial character development can be seen in this book as the characters stick to the personality they had evolved into in the last book.
I felt the most promising character in this book to be Seda (sister of Emperor Alvdan), hopefully, we get to see her get evolved into a formidable character as the story progresses, as Uctebri the Sarcad with all his scheming and the power and cunning to be able to see the bigger picture has for some reason taken her up as his pupil.
Che again was a disappointment in this book as I have experienced in the last books, short of brief sparks of excellence she has that we have been observing since the series started there was not much of character development happening.
Teornis seems to be weaving an intricate web that we may get to see unfold in the near future.
Overall this was not as exciting as the last book but subsequently necessary, after all, how do you top a book with multiple sieges and battles?. By using a book as a setup for a story of an even more epic scale.
I would recommend if you've gotten through this book to pick up the next Cuz the story is just getting started, my friend.
CHARACTERS :
SO the characters as I see them. Just some suggestions if you are looking.
1. ODYSSA (Spider-kinden agent of the Rekef)
Anna Silk. She played Bo Dennis in the hit TV series Lost Girl. I think she definitely gives off Odyssa vibes.
2. GENERAL MAXIN (A General in the Rekef)
Stephen Lang. He was in Avatar. Terra Nova. And quite recently in 'Into the Badlands'.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Lang
3. SEDA (Sister of Emperor Alvdan)
Poppy Drayton. She played Amberle in 'The Shannara Chronicles' and currently she is a part of the cast of 'Charmed'.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_Drayton
4. UCTEBRI (Mosquito-kinden sorcerer)
Ben Kingsley.
https://www.google.co.in/url?q=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Kingsley&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwig3Jesm4rsAhVzxjgGHRlKBusQFjAeegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1w0l3Ero2C3NGixYfa57zR
5. CESTA (Assassin bug-kinden)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0001667/?ref_=m_tt_cl_i1
If you are interested you can check out the reviews of the previous books for more fan cast suggestions.
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