Salute the Dark cover art

Salute the Dark

Shadows of the Apt, Book 4

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Salute the Dark

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: Ben Allen
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About this listen

All must face the end of days . . .

Salute the Dark is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. As spymaster Stenworld makes a stand in his home city, others must choose where their loyalties lie.

The mighty Wasp armies are on the march. And with war imminent, spymaster Stenwold must finally separate allies from false friends. He knows the Empire won’t stop until its flag hangs over Collegium, Stenwold's home city. Tisamon the Weaponsmaster favours a more direct strategy – facing the Wasp Emperor himself, with a blade in his hand. He’d be abandoning both friends and family to do so. Yet is he driven by honour, or being manipulated by something far more sinister?

With the Shadow Box in his possession at last, Uctebri can begin his dark ritual. The Wasp-kinden’s Emperor believes this will grant him immortality. However, Uctebri has his own plans – for the Emperor and the Empire.

Salute the Dark is followed by the fifth book in the Shadows of the Apt series, The Scarab Path.

©2021 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction

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Critic reviews

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)
All stars
Most relevant  
Depth of the characters, richness of the story as it all unfolds, each thread woven, tangled then unravelled in a tapestry that transcends the imagination. As complex a story as there has ever been however follow able with micro stories along the way, each one has you holding your breath till in unfolds into the next.

Enthralling, captivating and somehow believable

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an absolutely incredible fourth book in this brilliant series. fearless writing, and so many twists and turns that I'd defy anyone to predict the outcomes.

spectacular

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I nearly stopped reading this series after the first book. I liked Empire in Black and Gold well enough but it didn't get it's hooks in to me to any great degree. I got the second one in a sale and loved it so much that I ended up devouring the following books in quick succession, the stakes escalate and the fascinating works becomes ever more intriguing. Excellent narration as well, by the way.

Tchaikovsky continues to impress

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The narration is excellent as with the other books in the series. Great dialects. This book is my favourite in the series so far and the second half of the book is very climactic

An excellent climax to the first books

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I'm a fan of the author, but wasn't sure I would be able to lose myself in this fantasy world. I needn't have worried as I have loved all of the books so far. love the narrator which seems similar in style to the first law audiobooks (a good thing). have already purchased next in the series so here goes!

loved it

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The story is very good, the characters fascinating and the performance is excellent!!! Proper read this

Super series

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What did I hate? how heavy handed the authors hand was with placing everyone where they needed to be in very contrived ways. This also with some of the relationships.

...but towards the end it won me over, and it works well on many ways. It just takes a long time to get there. When it starts wrapping things up it gets really good.

Hated a lot of it...but turned out pretty good.

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excellent book in the saga, highly recommended. Great narrator and author. You get consumed into the world and it's characters.

excellent story

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The story is gripping…albeit somewhat distressing with its parallels about the philosophy of war and ‘progress’ within our own reality.
However…what lifts these books to a totally different level is the narration by Ben Allen, which is superb!!! His range of accents and voices is really impressive …but his ability to narrate, and flawlessly move from one character to another within a vast array of different characters, made this one of the most enjoyable listens on audible.

Excellent narration-griping story

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