I was a little disappointed in this one. ( )

I was going to rate this 3.5 stars. There were large parts of the book which I didn't really like reading and overall I felt that this book was somewhat tangential to the main plot. But it ended well. Tchaikovsky writs conflicts and conclusions well and this book is another example of that. ( )

Wow and double Wow! Loved this episode of Shadows of the Apt! Easy 4.5 stars if that were permitted.

Like The Scarab Path - this is a pretty much a standalone novel. The pace picks up again after a more sedate book 5 with pirates, submarines's, underwater cities and a whole new "kinden" (minor gripe: there are a lot of new kinden introduced and each has a number of sub - divisions so you don't get to really identify with a particualar type as they are not as cleary defined as the land kinden. ( )

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Title: The Sea Watch
Series: Shadows of the Apt #6
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 720
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The city of Collegium is trying to catch it's collective breath since the cease-fire agreement with the Wasp Empire has gone into affect. Stenwold Maker continues his job as an embassador and is trying to get 2 more Ant Cities to at least become trading partners with Collegium.

Of course, the Wasp Empire has it's own agents in the city and they are doing what they can to undermine Collegium for when the Empire resumes it war footing.

At the same time, it is revealed that the Spider Family Aldenrael, which pretty much rescued Collegium during the last war with Vek, has been preying on Collegium ships and playing pirate. When one of those “pirates” is killed and turns out to be a minor Aldenrael member, the entire Spider Nation goes on the warpath and prepares an armada to take over Collegium.

Since that's obviously not enough, it turns out that there is an entire underwater culture of Kinden, which wants to invade and take over Collegium as well. Stenwold is kidnapped by these kinden while dealing with the other 2 issues (Wasps and Spiders) and gets sucked into another whole world. He must survive, escape and somehow broker a peace deal with these Sea Kinden. To seal the deal, he must find the lost ruler who is now a young man.

Neither the Empire nor the Spiders want peace, so treachery continues to abound and things look really bad for Collegium. Until Stenwold finds the heir, brokers a deal with the Sea Kinden, sinks a whole bunch of Spider ships and wipes out a nest of Rekef Inlanders (Wasp agents) in Collegium.

Now it's back to business as usual with the Wasp Empire being the main threat.

My Thoughts:

My Review for This from back in 2011 still stands true as all get out.

This was the perfect way to end my reading year, on a very good note. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and since it's been 6 years, enough things were dulled that it wasn't a slog. In many ways, this re-read made me appreciate Tchaikovsky's writing skills even more. I liked this book. I begrudged my time away from it and made the most of when I was reading it. I read the final 30% this afternoon in one sitting.

To see Stenwold having almost everything taken from him (Che's not returning from Khanaphes, Arianna's demise, Teornis's betrayal, Sten's capture and imprisonment under the sea) and not have it break him? I thought Tchaikovsky did a fantastic job of creating Sten and turning him into someone I want to cheer on and hope that things work out for. He was a true Hero, even if deliberately not cast into the Warrior Knight mold.

It was also nice to simply have the focus be on one character. Stenwold is our point of view for the whole book and everything is through him and revolves around him. It made for a nice linear read. It also wasn't a puzzle with trying to fit 5 different storylines together. Sometimes I like complexity but other times I just want something straight forward. Tchaikovsky gave me that in spades with this.

When I bought this series in trade paperback (I'm going to try to do a shelfie of just these 10 books for the last book) I almost immediately had buyers regret as I wasn't sure I was going to like them enough to read them again. Well, this re-read has grabbed those regrets and tossed them into the Marianna Trench. These have been BETTER this second time around and I'm already looking forward to another go in 10 years or so even while I'm not finished this first Re-read!

★★★★★ ( )

It seems like it is Stenwold Maker against the entire Kinden world. I feel pretty bad for the poor guy. Everything seems to go wrong for him.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Not quite as much as the previous books, but I think the Wasp Empire makes a fantastic antagonist, and the underwater kinden made me feel kind of creepy/crawly and Tchaikovsky's descriptions made ME feel claustrophobic.

I have to say, it sure would be nice if somebody besides Stenwold became the major character. I just have this image of an 80 year old tottering around. I know that isn't accurate, but from the descriptions in previous books, that is how I see him.

Looking forward, with great anticipation, to the next book, Heirs to the Blade[I think that is the name]. ( )