Blood of the Mantis

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Ben Allen

A dread ritual casts a deadly shadow . . .

Blood of the Mantis is the third novel in Adrian Tchaikovsky's richly imagined Shadows of the Apt series, following Dragonfly Falling. Stenwold must rally his allies for battle against the Empire, even as it seeks a dangerous artifact of enormous power.

Achaeos the seer has finally tracked down the stolen Shadow Box. But he has only days before this magical artefact will be lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the Empire's dread forces are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather allies, before the enemy's soldiers march again – to conquer everything in their path. If Stenwold cannot hold them back, the hated black and gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end.

Yet a more insidious threat awaits. Should the Shadow Box fall into the hands of the power-mad Emperor, nothing will save the world from his relentless ambition.

Blood of the Mantis is followed by Salute the Dark, the fourth book in the Shadows of the Apt series.

The entire series is narrated by Ben Allen (Alien Clay). Listeners love the series in audio:

‘Fantastic narration that really got you to imagine this amazing world’

‘You get consumed into the world and its characters’

‘The characters are distinct with masterful accents’

‘The narration and sound design is jaw-dropping’

‘Ben Allen's narration was frankly phenomenal all the way through’

Critic reviews

Brimming with imagination

The Shadows of the Apt series is simply one of the best epic fantasy series out there

Super worldbuilding, great characters and extreme inventiveness

Epic fantasy at its best. Gripping, original and multi-layered storytelling from a writer bursting with lots of fascinating ideas

Full of sparking, speculative innovation (Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence, on The Doors of Eden)

Breathtaking scope and vision. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of our finest writers (Gareth Powell, author of Embers of War, on Children of Ruin)

A joy from start to finish. Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human (Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, on Children of Time)

This series just gets better and better

This series just gets better and better. Such a fascinating world, and such wholly believable, completely fleshed out, complex characters! It's so rare to get BOTH of those things right. Often in sci fi and fantasy you get great characters in silly plots, or cardboard cutouts but great world-building. This author seems to be a master of it all. Really, really well done.

keeps getting better

I just all around love this book, and everything by this author. The pacing is solid, the combat is skillful, the dialogue clicks (and the narrators voices are wonderful and add such color to the story!). I've never been good at writing combat, and am extremely jealous of the author's ability, and am trying to learn from his style in that regard.

My only regret of listening via audiobook and not having a physical copy is that I feel this story almost requires a map of the world for reference. I'm beginning to realize a need to look one up online.

So captivating!

The stories are so fascinating and captivating that I look forward to listening every day and actually look for private time to do so😊

unstoppable momentum

I have no choice but to finish this wonderfully narrated ballet of fantasy politics war intrigue and honor.

third of 4

This book continues to grow the characters as the story unfolds. One is drawn into a magical and ancient world.