Salute the Dark cover art

Salute the Dark

Shadows of the Apt, Book 4

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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.

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’

Action & Adventure Animals Epic Fantasy Genre Fiction

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)
All stars
Most relevant
This is what war is. Grisly. Brutal and the wrong people die. Adrian does not protect his heroes and crafts an appropriately horrifying tragic ending for this part of the story. Still heartbroken by the outcomes. A deep dive into the shattering impact s and lives forever changed by the war machine. Ben is amazing as ever.

Adrian, my heart is broken

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Loved the story and the characters are amazing! Can't wait for audible to release the next book!

What a nail bitter!

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