Salute the Dark: 4 (Shadows of the Apt, 4) - Tapa blanda

Intense fighting scenes, finely tuned politicking and a few genuine surprises effortlessly coalesce to generate a spectacular instalment * TheTruthAboutBooks.com * Salute the Dark fulfills the promise of the Apt series . . . An A++ based on my three reads of the book so far * FantasyBookCritic blog *

Adrian Tchaikovsky's epic Shadows of the Apt continues with the fourth instalment in this bestselling fantasy series, Salute the Dark. All must face the end of days . . . The vampiric sorcerer Uctebri has at last got his hands on the Shadow Box and can finally begin his dark ritual - a ritual that the Wasp-kinden Emperor believes will grant him immortality. But Uctebri has his own plans both for the Emperor and the Empire. The massed Wasp armies are on the march, and the spymaster Stenwold must see which of his allies will stand now that the war has finally arrived. This time the Empire will not stop until a black and gold flag waves over Stenwold's own home city of Collegium. Tisamon the Weaponsmaster is faced with a terrible choice: a path that could lead him to abandon his friends and his daughter and to face degradation and loss. Yet it might bring him before the Wasp Emperor with a blade in his hand. But is he being driven by Mantis-kinden honour, or manipulated by something more sinister?