This one is more like 4.5 stars, or almost 5 stars. I struggled with the beginning of the book because I was little burned out from plowing through the first 3 so quickly. However, this book picks up around the midpoint and then does not slow down until the end. I particularly found it interesting how the author chose to sew up several plotlines (and associated characters) at the end of this book. I am assuming in book 5 we will get some new characters to replace the ones that we had grown to know in books 1 through 4.I continue to thoroughly enjoy this series and I am curious to see what direction the series goes in from here. I'm gonna review the first four books, the first story arc of Shadows of the Apt, instead of just book four.After reading many good reviews on the internet, I was intrigued by the world of insect kinden. It was something fresh and unique. Unfortunately, although the premise was interesing, I found the story itself pretty boring. When you struggle to pick the book up, you know there is something wrong.First of all, if I knew that these would be military novels, focusing on large battles and various skirmishes, I would probably stop reading after book 2. It's one of the genres I never found especially interesting.The second book, Dragonfly Falling is by many considered the best, full of non stop action and great battle scenes. Unfortunately, I found the second book the most boring of the bunch. I just didn't care about any of these kinden and their little cities. I didn't care who lives or dies. I also never hated the Wasp kinden, the main antagonist of the stories. They never seemed evil enough for me, not even their Emperor.The story is just plain ridiculous. I just couldn't believe that Stenwold is the only one in the ENTIRE world who witnessed the Wasp invasion and how he has the duty to warn his city of incoming army. Speaking of Stenwold, I hated this character. He is a spymaster, artificier, warrior and a senator. But he fails in all these duties. He is slow, clumsy and clueless. He is constantly hiding behind Tisamon and he sends his "agents", which are just college kids, left and right around the world, without any specific plan. The only characters I enjoyed were Thalric and Totho, but that's probably because they are the only ones who actually alternate between good and evil.Tchaikovsky also isn't really good at descriptions. For example, I found only in later books that Stenwold is bald, or that Tynisa is blonde. Also, the various machines, automotives and ornithopters, as well as various cities and people are never described in a satisfied matter, as if the author itself doesn't really know how these things look like.The third book is probably my favorite one, as it doesn't focus on large scale battles, but instead follows a group of individuals trying to recover a specific artifact.The forth and final book is fine. I liked the fact that Tchaikovsky killed so many characters, even some of the main ones, but I didn't like how many of these deaths happened off-screen. We never see these deaths, we are just informed later that person X and Y is dead, which I found a little lazy. Also, a lot of characters in book 3, like the little girl from the lake, don't even appear in the last one, which I found annoying.All in all, a series with great promise and ideas but unfortunately with many flaws and poor execution. I believe that Shadows of the Apt would work greatly as a motion picture to show massive battles in their full glory, but as it is, it was just a boring read to me.
What do You think about Salute The Dark (2010)?
Too many good characters die :(, but I guess that is war
—christiani76
Great story as is the rest of this series.
—jamesdean5525
