Empire in Black and Gold
Shadows of the Apt, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Ben Allen
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Written by:
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Adrian Tchaikovsky
About this listen
Empire in Black and Gold is the first instalment in the critically-acclaimed fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.
The days of peace are over....
The Lowlands’ city states have lived in peace for decades, hailed as bastions of civilization. Yet that peace is about to end. A distant empire has been conquering neighbours with highly trained soldiers and sophisticated combat techniques. And the city states are its desirable new prize.
Only the ageing Stenwold Maker – spymaster, artificer and statesman – foresees the threat, as the empires’ armies march ever closer. So it falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of the cities’ leaders. He sees that war will sweep through their lands, destroying everything in its path.
But to warn his people, he must stay alive.
Empire in Black and Gold is followed by the second book in the Shadows of the Apt series, Dragonfly Falling.
©2020 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2020 Macmillan Publishers International LtdYou may also enjoy...
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Performance
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Story
The Wasp Empire’s armies are on the move – and the city of Tark will be first to feel their might. Salma and Totho prepare for battle, alongside their Ant-kinden brethren. And within Tark’s walls, they’ll face a force greater than any Lowlander has ever seen. Stenwold Maker predicted this threat, and the Empire's secret service now deems him too dangerous to live. So he’s to be eliminated, and his beloved city of Collegium destroyed. For if this centre of learning is lost, it will crush Lowland resistance.
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City of Last Chances
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Overall
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Performance
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There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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-
SF masterwork in the style of Brin or Vinge
- By Blythe on 2018-09-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Cage of Souls
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor.
-
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Great
- By Jake Bezaire on 2024-06-06
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
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Service Model
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
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Dogs of War
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- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
My name is Rex. I am a good dog. Rex is also seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics especially designed to instil fear. With Dragon, Honey and Bees, he's part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, Mexico. A genetically engineered Bioform, he's a deadly weapon in a dirty war. All he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and Master says he's got to kill a lot of enemies.
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meh...
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What the critics say
Brimming with imagination (SciFiNow)
The Shadows of the Apt series is simply one of the best epic fantasy series out there (LEC Book Reviews)
Super worldbuilding, great characters and extreme inventiveness (Fantasy Book Critic)
What listeners say about Empire in Black and Gold
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jonathan Alexiou
- 2022-04-23
Great Original Fantasy
Really enjoyed this book, the world is very immersive. Adrian is an amazing writer and the narration is really really well done. Ben Allen does the different voices so well at times it feels like there are multiple voice actors.
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- Kindle Customer
- 2020-12-17
this series needs more attention!
I adored this book and I am shocked I have never herd of it before. please give this book a chance if you love interesting creative Worldbuilding and epic fantasy stories with a steampunk flare.
can't wait to listen to the second one!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Carolyn
- 2024-01-25
Great series, fantastic performance
I just finished the final book in this series and I highly recommend it. It has such a unique premise, the worldbuilding is second-to-none, and the narrator does a great job interpreting the characters and giving each Kinden a distinct accent. Tchaikovsky has been one of my favourite sci-fi authors ever since I read his Children of Time trilogy, and this foray into steampunk-type fantasy didn’t disappoint. My only regret is that it had to end, I wanted to keep exploring this world forever
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