'In recent years Tor, in the UK at least, have developed something of a reputation for publishing more serious, innovative fantasy. China Mieville has been around for a while, but new, exciting authors have emerged from the Tor stable: Alan Campbell, Hal Duncan, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Something all these authors have in common is that they've delivered novels that deviate from the norm, that are a cut above much of the bubblegum fantasy being peddled around at the minute. Their novels actually try to do something a little different'

SpeculativeHorizons.blogspot.com

'A novel brimming with imagination and execution ... The Shadows of the Apt series is quite distinct, mainly due to the insect-kinden and Tchaikovsky's fertile imagination. His writing is accessible, if dense, while the sheer amount of extra content he has published on the web with regards to his series adds nuanced flavour to the proceedings'

SciFiNow

'With all the groundwork laid so well in book one, book two leaps straight into the action and rarely lets up for the entire of its almost 700 page length, and while the scale of book one was big, the story has now become nothing less than epic ... Reminiscent of much that's gone before from the likes of Gemmel, Erikson, Sanderson and Cook but with its own unique and clever touch, this is another terrific outing from Mr Tchaikovsky and a worthy sequel in this epic saga'

Sci-Fi-London.com