Review Day: Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There are no explicit plot spoilers in these reviews.

Empire in Black and Gold is Adrian Tchaikovsky's very first published book and kicks off the ambitious, ten-volume Shadows of the Apt series in high form. It took me a while to begin, as I'd heard it blandly described as "insect people fighting each other", but the book is so much deeper and more imaginative than that false encapsulation.

In a world of industrial city-states and provincial rivalries, mankind has taken on traits of different arthropods, like the Ant-kinden who can communicate telepathically with each other or the Spider-kinden who can charm or manipulate and are masters of political intrigue. Stenwold Maker returns from a distant land to warn his people that the Wasp Empire is expanding through invasion and slavery, but struggles to get through to others content with the status quo.

The book reads very easily with just enough world building information planted along the way to deepen the experience without slowing the frenetic pace. It's particularly intriguing when the story takes us to a new locale and we learn about a new "kinden" trait. And unlike Children of Time which was the last series I'd read, the story doesn't exist just to revolve around the cool ideas -- Tchaikovsky introduces very memorable characters with believable motivations here, and having those characters to root for makes the cool ideas less abstract.

It feels like there's a lot of unexplored complexity buried just below the surface, with themes of magic vs. technology and innate prejudices raised but not (yet) deeply explored. I'm looking forward to continuing on with Book 2!

Final Grade: B