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  • Blood of the Mantis

  • Shadows of the Apt, Book 3
  • By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Narrated by: Ben Allen
  • Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (225 ratings)
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Blood of the Mantis cover art

Blood of the Mantis

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: Ben Allen
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Summary

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.

A dread ritual casts a deadly shadow....

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. 

©2009 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

What listeners say about Blood of the Mantis

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Blood of a Mantis

Very enjoyable characters and story line, looking forward to the next book in the series.

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Brilliant

Love this third book in the series. The first 2 were great too. Such a big story. Can’t wait to get the next one. I love the narrators range of accents.

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So glad I kept with it. Hooked now.

Another sweeping epic. This series just keeps improving. For some reason I thought this was a trilogy so I cannot express my joy at finding out there’s much more to come. And to think I ummed and aahed after the first book whether to progress. And they are hefty tomes too. The author is certainly prolific! To sum up: great writing, stupendous narration and addictive as heck! I like this as much as Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series which is high praise from me.

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Love this series.

I think this series would make an amazing TV adaptation. Another amazing book, love all the stories and the lore.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Masterfully written

A true genius piece of work that only Adrian could have written with his deep understanding of the animal kingdom perspective.

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Keeps getting better

Between Adrian's story telling and Ben Allen's narration, this is turning into being an amazing listening experience

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Awesome steampunk novel

Loved it - best in the series yet! Interesting character development and the plot races on in a very satisfying manner...

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continues the quality

with this being the third in the series I thought maybe it would get baggy and so so. impressively not so! the complexity of intrigue, drama and fabulous world building maintains pace and builds interest. I'm still loving the reflection, the prism of humanity in an escapist world, the tension and the unfolding.

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Still good...

...but it has the same issues as the previous book. Keeping a lot of the characters around without giving them much to do, or reason to be there.. This, while introducing more and more new characters. So it all feels a bit diluted.

The big positive that is keeping me around are the world building. It's still really interesting to explore this world.

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so engaging

fantastically read again by Ben Allen I'd say easily my favourite reader on here.
the story feels like a bridge to something bigger in the next book and I mean this in the best way possible I know what my next credit will be spent on

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