Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Welcome one and all to the insect-tastic adventure that is “Blood of the Mantis”.
Hold onto your antennae as Adrian Tchaikovsky buzzes back into the bug-sprinkled world of Shadows of the Apt with this third installment, where our chitin-clad heroes race against the clock in an aerial dance of fate.
Achaeos the moth-seer, with his cape flapping like wings in the wind, is on a shadowy quest. He's tracked down the Shadow Box, a mystical artifact that's more slippery than a buttered slug. This box has more secrets than a spider has legs, and it mustn't, at any cost, fall into the hands of the power-crazed Emperor with a stinger for world domination.
Stenwold, the wizened Beetle-kinden tactician, is no slouch either. He's gathering a bug's dream team to rally against the impending swarm of the Empire's black and gold troops, who are more numerous than ants at a picnic.
Meanwhile, brace yourself for the introduction of a soaring new character: a daredevil ladybug fighter pilot with a sense of honour that's sky-high. Picture her zooming through the air, doing loop-de-loops around her bewildered foes.
Like a kid in a candy store, Tchaikovsky showers us with an insectopia of new Kinden races. Imagine warriors with the agility of grasshoppers, spies with the grace of dragonflies, and scholars with the wisdom of beetles.
The plot zigzags like a drunken bumblebee through a maze of magic, high-flying duels, shadowy figures, and subplots as sticky as spider webs. The action buzzes from marshy Jerez with its water-skating Skater-kinden to the free city of Solarno that teems with intrigue as potent as beetle musk.
As the pages turn faster than a mantis's strike, will Stenwold manage to unite the multifarious bug-kin against the Wasp Empire? Will Achaeos's antennae lead him to victory or will the Shadow Box be forever lost in the marshes? And can anyone thwart the Emperor, who's as relentless as a mosquito on a summer night?
Buckle your elytra and get ready for a whirlwind ride through an exoskeleton-clad world of thrilling fantasy, wild action, and a bit of bug romance (but no actual bugs, we promise) in the “Blood of the Mantis”.
Warning: Side-effects of reading may include spontaneous metamorphosis into a fantasy-loving entomologist.