Baby, I'm back!

So this is where I've been for the last few weeks. Camping, very little mobile reception, or internet. Now I'm back, and I've showered, and after losing my damn Kindle on the flight out (NINE HOURS without anything to read, you bastard who nicked it at Gatwick), I've started on some more semi-serious research for the fantasy Epic That Shall Not Be Named, as well as catching up on all the fandom scandals (fandals?) over the last few weeks. To which I'd like to say; seriously, Revealing Eden? Seriously?

Anyway.

I'm currently recovering from extremely underwhelming minor surgery and re-reading two books simultaneously. The first is Natalie Zemon Davis' Trickster Travels, about the life of al-Hasan al-Wazzan al-Fasi, also known as Giovanni Leone de Medici, also and better known as Leo Africanus. The second is Amin Maalouf's Leo The African, a fictionalized account of al-Hasan's early life and his time spent in the Medici court of Pope Leo X (who featured in my AC fanfiction Only The Devil Laughed) after being kidnapped by Christian pirates. If Davis is quick to point out that much of al-Hasan's life is unknown, Maalouf is only too happy to fill in the blanks, and it's an entertaining ride that as normal* comes highly recommended. Davis's scholarly epistle is approximately a quarter footnotes, references and glossary, but don't let that put you off, it's extremely readable for those with an interest in non-Western history and cultural exchange.

*(Sometimes I think that I only review books I like on this blog, but if I dislike them that much I usually don't finish them, and I certainly don't spare the thought and time required to post a review( yes, three paragraphs and a photo does require some time and effort). Got enough on my plate already.)

shadows of the apt

 One of the reasons I was so pissed off about losing my Kindle (apart from the hundred and fifty quid it's going to cost to replace the damn thing) was that I'd just downloaded the latest Shadows of the Apt novel to read on the plane. I've just finished the most recent book in the series (The Air War) on my computer, and can't believe I didn't blog about the series before this.

So here goes.

The Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of the few epic series that I've followed in order from the beginning, and it's currently standing at eight books out of a confirmed total of ten-(Empire of Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling, Blood of the Mantis, Salute The Dark, The Scarab Path, The Sea Watch, Heirs of the Blade and  The Air War). The series features the insect-kinden; people who evolved into tribes with the abilities and powers of different insect races. I thought it sounded boring the first time I picked the books up (why choose ants and beetles when you could have had eagles or wolves?) but Tchaikovsky handles the worldbuilding superbly, dividing his kinden into Apt (science) and Inapt (magic) races in a world where magic is beginning to give way to technology and using his impressive knowledge of entomology to great effect.

The prologue of the series begins with a motley band of assorted students (stay with me here) fighting a losing war against the great Empire of the Wasps (read, Romans who can fly and shoot flaming 'stings' with their hands). The next chapter begins with another motley band of assorted students being drafted into the Machiavellian schemes of the Beetle intelligencer and scientist Stenwold (one of the surviving students  from the prologue) who's been fighting a singlehanded yet moderately successful war against the Empire ever since.  

Stenwold is a great character, wonderfully Machiavellian in the best Ex Urbe tradition (see earlier blog entry) in that he cares about his city, Collegium, more than anything else, and he'll do anything to save it. This happens to include drafting his ward Tynisa, his niece Che, and their friends into the fight , and it's Che and her friends who we follow through most of the series. Characters are often introduced to showcase a particular purpose or point of view. Some fall quickly by the wayside, while other reoccur in sometimes surprising ways. Tchaikovsky's website (shadowsoftheapt.com) features a number of short stories involving bit-part players for free. 

Tchaikovsky is one of the few fantasists I've read who can handle a huge cast effectively and still excel in characterisation.  The battle between Stenwold and the Wasps evolves throughout the books into something spanning most of Tchaikovsky's invented world, but the writing focuses on the effect the war has on the characters that fight it (on both sides) a much as it does on the battle between science and magic (or science and more science). And have I mentioned the worldbuilding? Because the world of Shadows of the Apt is complex and as intricate as one of the many clockwork machines that jolt into action beneath the hands of its heroes and its villains. It's steampunk in the best sense, and completely lacking in the usual thin veneer of gears and grease that rubs away to reveal a world just like our own. 

Plus, Thalric and Che have to be one of the genre's great double-acts, and it you have no idea who I'm talking about, then now's the time to read this series and find out.