Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt, #2) in Beyond Reality

Jun 14, 2024 Candace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, second-in-series, war, bad-ass-women

Everything turned up to 11!

This world of the -kinden is growing. This world is complex, awesome, and original.

Whereas in book one, we saw Stenwold and his agents prep for war, book two is WAR with detailed pages of sieges, battles, strategy, and weaponry. I preferred the one-on-one fighting that we saw more of in book one. It highlights the characteristics of the fighter and its kinden in a more specific way.

In book one, I fell in love with many of the main characters and enjoyed their differe ...more

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Mar 02, 2010 Jason rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2010, e-books

This is really such a great novel, that it is hard to believe that is the second book of a series. This is an extremely fast paced, relentless, and unforgiving story that puts all our heroes in death's way. This novel is filled with plot twists and character development all the while it is a novel about war. I really have grown to love the insect kinden take on race and think that it makes for great fantasy. I will definately pick up the 3rd book now and recommend all fantasy readers to jump int ...more

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Mar 10, 2010 Justin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Dragonfly Falling is the amazing follow-up to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Empire in Black and Gold. The story directly follows the events of book 1. The wasps have increased their hold on the lowlands, and the position of our heroes is much more precarious. The empire has begun its assault and the blood is flowing. Tchaikovsky’s battle descriptions are nothing short of epic, bloody, and gritty, with nail-biting sequences that seem to run for pages. Empire in Black and Gold introduced you to the players ...more

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Jan 19, 2016 Maggie K rated it liked it

Shelves: series-challenge

Wow this had a LOT of battles. War battles, fighting between characters, ambushes. Im not one to read all the details of a fight, so I found this a hard slog. When things happened, though, they were important, just a lot of wading through for me.

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May 26, 2024 Kathi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 52-book-club-2024-challenge, fantasy

9.5/10
A lot happens in this second book of the Shadows of the Apt series: the author sheds more insight into the strengths and failings of the various kinden, includes plenty of intrigue and action, and introduces challenges that are both personal to individual characters and broader to groups of allies and even cities. I think however, there are layers to several kinden that have yet to be peeled away and revealed.

(view spoiler) ...more

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May 15, 2024 Natalie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Rating 4.5. The 2nd entry into the Apt series was great in that it added to the world and characters wonderfully, bringing greater understanding to the characteristics of various kinden, advancing the characters arcs of familiar and new characters, and adding new depth to several of them. The downside was I felt some of the battle scenes overly long.
As in the previous book, we see events from the point of view of the "good guys" including Mantis, Moths, Beetles, Flys, and good Ants, as well as t Rating 4.5. The 2nd entry into the Apt series was great in that it added to the world and characters wonderfully, bringing greater understanding to the characteristics of various kinden, advancing the characters arcs of familiar and new characters, and adding new depth to several of them. The downside was I felt some of the battle scenes overly long.
As in the previous book, we see events from the point of view of the "good guys" including Mantis, Moths, Beetles, Flys, and good Ants, as well as the "bad guys," which include the Wasps and evil Ants. All the characters are human looking but have some of the traits of the insect they are. Stenwold works hard to protect Collegium. Tisamon travels with daughter Tynisa to discover Wasp plans. Che goes with Achaeos to get help from his people (Fly). And we get insight into several Wasp leaders, including General Maxin and Imperial Alvdan. We also get new characters including Nero, an ugly fly kinden who helps Stenwold, Arianna, a traitor who tries to seduce Stenwold, Drephos, a half moth, half wasp who is mesmerized by artificers, and Parops, and ant kinden who offers help to Stenwold.
But most fascinating to me were the characters who had divided allegiance or competing interests. These include:
Felise Mienn-a half crazy Wasp who intends to kill Thalric for killing her children but cannot keep focused on her plan.
Totho-a skilled artificer who is captured by the Wasps (specifically Drephos) and forced to design weapons for them in exchange for letting Salma go free. He loves to create but hates the purposes of his designs.
Arianna-the woman sent to take down Stenwold by seducing him who finds herself unwelcome by the Wasps who she served.
Thalric-powerful Wasp military leader who is told he must sacrifice his life for the Wasp Empire but refuses at the last minute and escapes, hoping to find refuge with the enemy.
I loved how these characters battled their inner feelings as they had to act in contrast to their inner self.
The prose is strong. And the pacing is wonderful as we learn the Wasps keep succeeding in their quest to overtake the Lowlands and make it part of the Empire. And there are so many complex, interesting characters! ...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Cody rated it really liked it

After this re-read, I'm upping my rating of this one to 4 stars, as well.

Similar problems exist with Dragonfly Falling just as with Empire in Black and Gold, but the kinden idea is just so neat, to me, that I can forgive the sometimes sloppy writing and character interactions. I just want to know more and more about what different abilities each kinden has at their command. Not to mention that older, forgotten kinden races being name-dropped and I really want to know what these ancient kinden we ...more

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Sep 07, 2013 Kelly Flanagan rated it it was amazing

I read this book some time soon after the first but I think I'll have to skim it again before continuing the rest of the series. I do remember most of it but not enough to review except to say that I was relishing the idea of getting into the third just as fast so it was definitely good. Glad to hear it's a ten book series as so much can come out of it
I'll review after re-reading it. ...more

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