Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is to be a Buddy Read of the Shadows of the Apt series, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. One of his earlier works, it's finally getting the audio treatment it deserves this year, and the schedule has been developed accordingly...

#1 -- Empire in Black and Gold -- April 14th, 2021
#2 -- Dragonfly Falling -- May 14th, 2021
#3 -- Blood of the Mantis -- June 14th, 2021
#4 -- Salute the Dark -- July 14th, 2021
#5 -- The Scarab Path -- August 14th, 2021
#6 -- The Sea Watch -- September 14th, 2021
#7 -- Heirs of the Blade -- October 14th, 2021
#8 -- The Air War -- November 14th, 2021
#9 -- War Master's Gate -- December 14th, 2021
#10 -- Seal of the Worm -- January 14th, 2022

Like most of Tchaikovsky's work, this is series that incorporates his zoology background...

From the series page:

The series is set in a hypothetical universe populated by different kinden. Each kinden is a fictional race of humans, named after (and having certain characteristics of) an insect. Kinden are typically divided into two categories : Apt and Inapt. The Apt do not have magical abilities, but are able to understand, use and design mechanical devices. The Inapt have varying amounts of magical abilities, but cannot use mechanical devices, even those as simple as latches. The series focuses on the attempted conquest of the lowlands by the Wasp-kinden empire.

Once we finish the main series, we might tack on Spoils of War, an anthology of short stories in the world...

Members of the Vagabond Treehouse Book Club thread have shown interest, but anyone is welcome to join.

I’ve started but only read the first 4 then got sidetracked. Might join again! :)

Woo, a plan! =)

Also, we ended up already planning into 2022. LOL *amused*

Olivia wrote: "I’ve started but only read the first 4 then got sidetracked. Might join again! :)"

Solseit also showed interest... she just wants to wait until April/etc to be sure she'll have time...

Looks like we're picking up most of the people I got interested in the BR 2 years ago, before I realized I would have to read the ebooks myself... I naively thought all Tchaikovsky books had audio available...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Olivia wrote: "I’ve started but only read the first 4 then got sidetracked. Might join again! :)"

Solseit also showed interest... she just wants to wait until April/etc to be sure she'll have time..."

I bought the paperbacks secondhand, and somehow managed to lose one. I don't know where it is. It must have dropped down the back of one of my many bookshelves. So, need to find that before *checks notes* May.

Or buy the new editions.

2020 was such a reading bust for me - think I maybe read three books all year - but I might try to give this a go. It's been on my list for several years now.

Veronica wrote: "2020 was such a reading bust for me - think I maybe read three books all year - but I might try to give this a go. It's been on my list for several years now."

I knew you'd been quiet... didn't realize you'd practically quit reading...

Rhythm of War came out, and I read spoilers on the wiki (still haven't read the book, yet)... and I was like VERONICA NEEDS TO FINISH MISTBORN... THIS IS HUGE... you've been killing me with the secrets I know from Era 2 and Secret History... and it's only getting more relevant as connections are drawn across all series...

I'll join for the first one in April, then perhaps more if I like it enough to want to immediately binge the whole series. :-)

Veronica wrote: "2020 was such a reading bust for me - think I maybe read three books all year - but I might try to give this a go. It's been on my list for several years now."

Missed you! Hope you're doing well.

Timelord Iain wrote: "Rhythm of War came out, and I read spoilers on the wiki (still haven't read the book, yet)... and I was like VERONICA NEEDS TO FINISH MISTBORN... THIS IS HUGE... you've been killing me with the secrets I know from Era 2 and Secret History... and it's only getting more relevant as connections are drawn across all series...."

Oh man, I feel like I barely remember what happened in Oathbringer. It still boggles my mind that you intentionally seek out spoilers, lol. I soooo suck at finishing series. When you say finish Mistborn, you mean like the original trilogy or ALL of them?

I did leaf through some pages of RoW at the bookstore. It's huge. The pages were so thin you could practically see through them.

Soo wrote: "Veronica wrote: "2020 was such a reading bust for me - think I maybe read three books all year - but I might try to give this a go. It's been on my list for several years now."

Missed you! Hope yo..."

Thanks, Soo! I work in a hospital so, as you can imagine, it's been crazy. I haven't had much mental energy left to focus on books. I'm going to make more of an effort to get back to books this year. :-)

Things look a little different around here though. I feel a little lost.

Pandemic hit everyone in a different way for books. Most seem to have less desire to read and others have read more.

Buddy Reads were going well for most of the Team Challenge & then people starting using the Book Clubs for quick BR's.

I'm still hoping that a Master/Monthly list will come back! I miss those threads. It's weird to not have them as part of my montly prep to see what I may read sooner vs later.

Veronica wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Rhythm of War came out, and I read spoilers on the wiki (still haven't read the book, yet)... and I was like VERONICA NEEDS TO FINISH MISTBORN... THIS IS HUGE... you've been k..."

For some of the biggest (to me) Cosmere connections, you need to read all 6 current Mistborn books, so you can safely read Secret History, so you can find out one of the big reveals of Rhythm of War, if you don't catch it yourself :D

I try not to spoil myself... but once I spoil something big (which happened), I kinda just keep going...

Soo wrote: "I'm still hoping that a Master/Monthly list will come back! I miss those threads. It's weird to not have them as part of my montly prep to see what I may read sooner vs later."

I'm missing that thread too. It was nice having a single spot where I could see at a glance what BRs were coming up that I might like to participate in. I still haven't quite figured out the new arrangements. :-(

Timelord Iain wrote: "For some of the biggest (to me) Cosmere connections, you need to read all 6 current Mistborn books, so you can safely read Secret History, so you can find out one of the big reveals of Rhythm of War, if you don't catch it yourself :D

I try not to spoil myself... but once I spoil something big (which happened), I kinda just keep going...."

If I'm looking at things correctly, it appears there is a current BR for Well of Ascension. If that group carries on with Hero of Ages then I'll join in and FINALLY finish the first Mistborn trilogy, lol. That'll be progress.

My issue, as I've come to understand it, is that I am a binge reader by nature. I like staying immersed in a world (and with a specific set of characters) until I run out of books in that particular series or until I stop liking the direction the story's going ('cuz I'm an entitled reader!). If I try hopping around from one series to another, it breaks my momentum for any given series and it's always hard for me to get back to it, even if it I really liked it.

Veronica wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "For some of the biggest (to me) Cosmere connections, you need to read all 6 current Mistborn books, so you can safely read Secret History, so you can find out one of the big r..."

Sanderson is great at releasing material every year... not so great at releasing material for the series you want finished...

The 7th Mistborn book and end of the 2nd Era should be out next year, I think... he's planning to write it this year, after Skyward 3 and something else secret, if I remember correctly... not overpromising with coronavirus still slowing things down...

Okay, I will join for April 14 as Iam planning to read this in April anyway. First time reading this series and only have book 1 for now.

sounds good, the more the merrier...

I'll join this in April! I'm not sure if I can keep up (I tend to read series more slowly than one book per month), but I'll try. :-)

Eva wrote: "I'll join this in April! I'm not sure if I can keep up (I tend to read series more slowly than one book per month), but I'll try. :-)"

I'm exactly the same. I rarely keep up with a schedule of one book per moth but I'll start book 1 this month but if I fall behind in future months I'll just take the series at my own pace.

I am in!!!

Almost forgot about this one! I'm going to try to make it.

I'm glad this turned into a real Buddy Read... so many people... I have high hopes for this series, after my previous Tchaikovsky experiences... altho I tried The Expert System's Brother once and paused it for later... so they've not all grabbed me immediately...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I'm glad this turned into a real Buddy Read... so many people... I have high hopes for this series, after my previous Tchaikovsky experiences... altho I tried [book:The Expert System's Brother|3794..."

There are a few of his books that I didn't like, The Expert System's Brother is one of them.

But most are amazing!

I am going to start today. The first three or four books are a re-read for me and I struggle to contain the excitement!

hype

@ Solseit: I bought the books when we began reading them. I also made it to 4. But I can not find book 2. It’s vanished. I’ve searched all my shelves :o

@Olivia - noooooooooo it is very annoying to have misplaced the second book. I hate it when I cannot find my books. As if I lived in a palace where I can actually lose books. In my case it’s just my scattered brain!

I think it must have dropped down behind a shelf??? I’m frantically searching!!

@Olivia - hopefully you will find it soon!

As for the book, I read chapter one and I just love the scope of the story since the very beginning!

Started... great stuff... chapter 1 reminded me of Malazan... rest so far kinda reminded me of Codex Alera... up to chapter 7 so far...

(view spoiler)[worried the spymaster is going to die and the pupils are going to have to muddle their way through trying to save the Lowlands alone... (hide spoiler)]

I started and it is still early days for me to make a prediction. I stopped at chapter 4. Having not read Malazan as yet, can't comment. But it was definitely an interesting prologue to set the tone.

I was unsure about some of the characters in the first couple chapters... but its interesting seeing them starting to work as a team around chapter 8

Who were you unsure about at first?

Olivia wrote: "Who were you unsure about at first?"

Mostly Che... (view spoiler)[if she'd had to stay behind in the Colosseum town, I wonder how whiny she would have been as a POV... she quickly proved herself useful in the airship escape, tho, and now I'm at the cousin's house... (hide spoiler)]

The plot seems to be following a bit of my expectations... (view spoiler)[with the team spread out, and presumably gaining skills/contacts that will prove useful later in the story... (hide spoiler)]

Ah yes, Che had the potential to become whiny, but I think they’re all interesting in a way for now!

and I think the plot set-up is pretty straightforward so far.

I had a couple extra days off this week, and used them to get into ebook reading for the first time in forever... a sci-fi series I wish was on audio so I could do a relisten, I suddenly started re-reading... might lead to a bit more ebook reading in the future...

In the meantime, I'll probably get back to this at work tomorrow or the day after... kind of in the middle of 3-4 audiobooks at the moment... totally unlike me... mostly because I triple-booked myself with Buddy Reads...

Still near the start of the (view spoiler)[team split-up (hide spoiler)] I mentioned in the previous comments...

I'm there as well, and I should get a chunk of reading done this weekend :)

Just read a bunch more... just past the halfway mark... so much is going on... not sure how much is going to be accomplished in this first book, but all the tangled relationships ate being fleshed out...

I’m not sure how many are romantic, and how many will be acted upon, but if even half are and 1 or 2 eventually do, it’s gonna be awhile, because it’s a real Love Dodecahedron... no indication any of the feelings are reciprocated, so far...

Solid book... finally finished...

Things played out satisfyingly, setup a ton for book 2, and explained why I was pretty clueless to what the book 1 climax would be the whole time...

Relationships also made a surprising amount of progress... and had repercussions on the plot...

Veronica wrote: "My issue, as I've come to understand it, is that I am a binge reader by nature. I like staying immersed in a world (and with a specific set of characters) until I run out of books in that particular series or until I stop liking the direction the story's going ('cuz I'm an entitled reader!). If I try hopping around from one series to another, it breaks my momentum for any given series and it's always hard for me to get back to it, even if it I really liked it.."

I'm right there with ya!

I just found this thread. (Sorry, I get *very* lost around here.) This series has been on my TBR for a very, VERY long time. I will try to read (or listen) along with y'all. Are most of you listening or reading? How is the audio?

Snarktastic Sonja wrote: "I just found this thread. (Sorry, I get *very* lost around here.) This series has been on my TBR for a very, VERY long time. I will try to read (or listen) along with y'all. Are most of you listeni..."

I liked the audio, but I like most audio... the audio is new, and narrated by Ben Allen... you can find some samples on Audible...

I've wanted to read this series since I read Children of Time, but the lack of audio hampered me when I tried to setup a Buddy Read a few years ago... I got this one rolling with Soo, when I learned about the audiobooks releasing this year...

I’m really liking how the characters are portrayed and fleshed. It’s not your typical tropes; in my opinion Tchaikovsky’s really good at creating three-dimensional characters.

I'm sure I'm missing a ton here, but I feel like we can also draw parallels between Kinden/Empire and nations... the Wasp Empire kinda reminds me of the Mongolian Empire?... not sure how accurate that is, but a quick wiki search seems reasonably accurate...

I hadn’t actually considered that but that makes a lot of sense!

I just finished the book and I really loved it the same way when I read it the first time!
The characters are very solid, male and female. The world building is fantastic and, most importantly, made me want for a lot more.

Iain, I always thought the Wasps were the Roman Empire conquering through the rest of the known world, (view spoiler)[ focusing on the military life, women less relevant and slavery (hide spoiler)].

I am really excited about this series. I still cannot believe this is relatively unknown and less relevant in the fantasy readers world. I find it compelling and fascinating.

Roman probably works too, with the city state system... from what I remember from history...

Looking forward to continuing... my research shows the series is broken into 3 arcs... 4 books, 3 books, 3 books, I think...

I prefer some characters over others. So for example I’m not a huge fan of Totho but I LOVE the mantis :D and I have a thing for Thalric’s story. I like seeing a villain who is just working for his side and not inherently bad.

Started book 2, almost on time...

I have a feeling I'll read this one faster, now that I'm engaged in the story...