Beyond Reality discussion

Have you finished reading The Sea Watch by Adrian Tchaikovsky, book 6 in the Shadows of the Apt series? What did you think? Likes, dislikes, strengths, weak points?

Spoilers through book 6 allowed here!

So many characters! So many factions! If you thought the landscape was complex and politically challenging before this, it is nothing to the undersea civilization.

I have become more and more impressed with Tchaikovsky's ability to take creatures of our natural world and envision them as "kinden". This book, in particular, is the most creative so far in envisioning a wide variety of undersea lifestyles.

I found the differences between the land and sea kinden very well drawn. There were so many small details -- almost forgetting that Stenwold might need breathing assistance to leave the palace, the idea that hand thrown spears are not effective underwater weapons, the failure of the sea kinden to understand the size and scope of land civilization. Overall, I thought this was well done.

There were a couple of things that fell flat for me, though. We learn very early that the sea kinden have been attacking and sinking merchant vessels --- but why, really? I must have missed what they gained by that. And I didn't care for Cleaon as a villain - he's just an evil, sadistic bully, plausible but not really very interesting.

I just finished this, finally - life got crazy and it took me a long time, but I loved it. The existence of underwater kinden in the Exalsee was barely explored in earlier books, so it was fun to see that they're in the ocean as well. I wonder if we'll find there is any connection between the two aquatic populations? I really enjoyed seeing more of Tchaikovsky's biology background come through in the names of the sea kinden - starfish and urchins are echinoderms, hence Echinoi, etc. I also am a bit obsessed with cephalopods so Arkeuthis the octopus made me happy.

I agree with you, Chris, about the attention to small details being really impressive. How they were so freaked out by Laszlo being able to fly, and everything else you mentioned.

I was always a bit suspicious of Arianna, and her choice to join Teornis, though it made sense for the character given her background, made me feel justified in that suspicion. I was sorry for Stenwold at her death, though. I really enjoyed the relationship between Stenwold and Teornis - how much Teornis admired Sten as an opponent - and I was actually more sad about his death than about Arianna's.

From reading the cover copy, it looks like the next book is about Tynisa, and I'm glad because that's a loose end that's been waving in the wind for a while.

I finished this today and I agree: incredibly creative and complex. I felt at times in the first half, the prose wasn't as strong because Tchiakovsky was focused on developing this part of the world.
My favorite elements were seeing the contrast between Sten's unease underwater and his deft moves in diplomacy with the various peoples at the end and the exploration of different leadership styles and the effect they had (such as Claeon's selfishness, Mandir's heavy hand, and Teornis' eagerness to please).
I also enjoyed that several of those who were selfish or angry suffered the consequences of their actions.

6.5/10
It probably didn’t help that I had some long pauses while reading this book, so it took me 2 weeks. My biggest complaint was the sheer number & variety of new kinden the author introduced. Yes, very creative & appropriate given that the story takes place largely underwater, so obviously, different sorts of people would have evolved to live & thrive there, but I sometimes felt like the author was just showing off how inventive he could be. I assume these kinden will continue to play a role as the overall story goes forward, but maybe not.

I also felt like the last few chapters, as Stenwold Maker’s plots unfold, were rushed. Obviously he made good use of all his time undersea,when he wasn’t escaping from one threat or another, but we were not privy to his thoughts & planning, so bing, bing, bing, things just fall into place like magic! (Yes, I know, it wasn’t quite that smooth…)

My relatively lower rating is mostly because I was overwhelmed with the number of new kinden & charaters and the amount of world-building the author needed to do in order to add the undersea world to the overall world of the Apt & Inapt.