I bought this book the night before last. I went to the bookstore to grab a copy of "Red Wolf Conspiracy" by Robert V.S. Redick, and whilst there I recalled seeing a new author and his book in Pat's site, so I went looking for it.
Found.
Empire In Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The premise to this book set it immediately apart from other stuff I have read recently and piqued my interest. For those who don't know...
<i>Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest. Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path. All the while, Stenwold has been training youthful agents to fight the Wasp advance, and the latest recruits include his niece, Che, and his mysterious ward, Tynisa. When his home is violently attacked, he is forced to send them ahead of him and, hotly pursued, they fly by airship to Helleron, the first city in line for the latest Wasp invasion. Stenwold and Che are Beetle-kinden, one of many human races that take their powers and inspiration each from a totem insect, but he also has allies of many breeds: Mantis, Spider, Ant, with their own particular skills. Foremost is the deadly Mantis-kinden warrior, Tisamon, but other very unlikely allies also join the cause.</i>
Insect-totem humans (ie. Mantis-kinden look human, but also have bonelike claws protruding out of the backs of their forearms to attack with, and wear a glove on their other hand that has a spring mounted blade that protrudes from between the knuckles attached)....VERY cool idea, not something that has come along often. The world is also very steampunk-ish fantasy, and so that adds to my like of it.
I worried about the new author syndrome, as I've been stung by some before that were below the sub par level, and made me want to throw the book across the room. It seems as if every new year, we get a slew of new authors in the fantasy genre, but only 2 or 3 make the grade.
Goddamn this book is good!
Tchaikovsky is not only one of the ones that makes the grade, but I wager to say that I am enjoying his first book more than any other new author's work this whole year....I even like it more than last years "Name Of The Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss, and it sits about on par with how much I enjoyed "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch the year before that.
Now, PLEASE bear in mind (those that have read this book all the way through) that I am on about Page 120 and so if you want to talk about stuff, spoiler tags is likely the way to go.
The storyline in the book is template-like. Invading empire, war, old hero's helping new ones against a common foe, ect.....but he adds the insect idea overtop and it feels fresh here. The characters are interesting, and I find myself involved enough with them (the side running characters feel fleshed out without being overdone), but where this novel REALLY, really shines (so far) is in the pacing and prose. I find myself not being able to put this book down at all, and when I do I find I can't wait to get back to it. It starts off with an attack and from there moves at a quick clip and Tchaikovsky has suffered none of the over-descriptiveness that a lot of new writers seemed to fall victim to, and we get a nice clean prose that helps with pacing as well. I find that at every corner in this book so far is something that keeps me rapt.
A great book so far, and I hope it continues to be so. I'll let you know, but I thought we ought to have a thread about it so others might discover this guy, and this great book! Check it out.
This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 April 2012 - 05:50 PM