# Shadows of the Apt



## ScipioSmith (Oct 14, 2011)

Has anyone else read this series? A truly excellent fantasy, with book seven of a planned ten published a fortnight ago, it combines classic High Epic elements with Steampunk aspects to create one of the most original, but also sadly most overlooked series of recent times. 

In a world where humans have acquired traits and abilities based on the various giant insects that inhabit their world, a version of World War Two is raging as the racial superiority obsessed Wasp Empire goose-steps toward world domination. In the Bettle city of Collegium (something of a cross between Oxford and a 19th Century German revolutionary democracy) spymaster and history professor Stenwold Maker uses his young students as his pawns, sending them out to fight the Wasps: his clumsy, conscientous niece Cheerwell (who prefers Che because, frankly, who wouldn't), his badass spider-kinden foster daughter Tynisa, foreign prince Salme Dien and halfbreed mechanical genius Totho. Opposing them is the ruthless, tortured, conflicted Major Thalric of the Wasp Rekef (a cross between the gestapo and the NKVD).

A series that deserves much more recognition than it gets, IMHO, this is both an enjoyable read with an exciting plot and fun characters but also contains thought provoking discussions around issues of race, gender, and how even the best intentioned societies discriminate against somebody. 

While Shadows of the Apt does have some weaknesses; most glaringly the lack of a figurehead villain between books 2 and 7, I would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy.

Does anyone agree with me? Disagree? Has anyone else read it?


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