‘Dragonfly Falling’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK)

It’s not often that I put a book down, read something else and then come back to the first book. I’m more black and white about this kind of thing; I’ll either read the whole thing (no matter how bad it is) or put the book down half finished and never go back to it again. Every so often though I find myself taking breaks from a book to read something else instead; back in 2007 it was J.V. Jones’ ‘A Sword from Red Ice’ and over the last couple of weeks it was the turn of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dragonfly Falling’ (sequel to last year’s ‘Empire in Black and Gold’) to get the same treatment.
Having thoroughly enjoyed ‘Empire in Black and Gold’ I wasn’t expecting to have this reaction to ‘Dragonfly Falling’. To be fair, part of it was down to me suffering a severe lack of attention in my reading just recently. Waking up at three in the morning and grabbing the first book to hand probably isn’t the best way to really get into something!
It wasn’t all down to that though. As much as I enjoyed reading ‘Dragonfly Falling’ (which I did), it didn’t really do it for me as much as it’s predecessor did...

Despite the setback in Helleron, the Wasp Empire still has designs on the Lowland cities. Next to feel the might of the Wasp armies will be the Ant City of Tark, the Ants are prepared to fight to the last but are woefully unprepared for siege weapons that will change the face of warfare forever...
In the midst of the politicking and fighting, Stenwold Maker and his allies constantly seek to derail the Wasp advance (by any means possible) and their success means that the Empire’s secret service has decided that Stenwold is too dangerous to live. Not only must Stenwold die but his home city of Collegium must go with him...
If a whole continent at war wasn’t enough, the Wasp Emperor seeks to take dominion of his realm to new heights. At stake is nothing less than a reign lasting a thousand years but darker forces are at work in the background and the stakes are far higher than anyone could imagine...

Having started this post the way I have, I guess what I really ought to do first is go into why reading ‘Dragonfly Falling’ has been such a stop/start affair for me. The bottom line is that the book felt a little bit imbalanced in terms of the characters and what Tchaikovsky had them doing. ‘Dragonfly Falling’ is just under seven hundred pages long but there is still a large cast all vying for attention and getting up to lots of mischief. A result of this is that Tchaikovsky has to make room for them all and sacrifices have to be made in terms what the reader gets to see, this is where I had problems really getting into the story....

I’ll admit that some of the problems I faced arose from a personal preference for reading about some characters rather than others. I’m willing to accept that Cheerwell Maker is a character is slowly growing into a role that will be worth the read in future, it doesn’t mean that I have to enjoy her chapters in the meantime however (I find her role as ‘hanger on’ frustrating as it’s not going anywhere at the moment).
Totho is a similar character in this respect although he is now beginning to realise his potential in some of the plotlines that Tchaikovsky sends him down. My problem with Totho though is that him constantly bemoaning his fate (and whining over an unrequited love) is really starting to get me down... I told you this was a personal thing!

The main problem I found though was that by having to concentrate on so many characters, bits of story seemed to go missing that I really wanted to know more about. Certain points would be built up to a climax that happened off the page and be explained away ‘a couple of days later’ because the story demanded that we find out what happened with another character. It’s always the way that the things that are hidden away are the things that I want to know more about...

As much as this frustrated me I still kept coming back to ‘Dragonfly Falling’ for another read. I couldn’t help myself; I really wanted to know what happened next to Stenwold and his friends. Despite the sometimes clunky feel, Tchaikovsky fills ‘Dragonfly Falling’ with a heady mix of action and politicking that had me hooked right from the opening pages. The siege scenes are stunning not only in their power but also in the innovations that the Wasps bring to the field. Anything can happen and it makes the impact all the more powerful when it does.
The machinations of various factions, behind the scenes, also made for gripping reading as far as I was concerned. Not only do the constant back stabbings and betrayal result in some action packed moments, you can also never really tell where certain alliances are going to lead and this uncertainty adds a little spice to the story.
The action and politicking also combine to give the reader a wider look at the world of the Lowlands and beyond. We’re constantly finding out more about the Lowlands in the way that doesn’t feel as if we’re having information dumped on us, we’re also getting tantalising hints of lands and people that we are still to meet. I hope we meet them...

Despite owning up to being annoyed by certain characters, I found that the people I met in ‘Dragonfly Falling’ were just as engaging as they were in ‘Empire in Black and Gold’. It’s good to catch up with people like Stenwold Maker, Salma Dien (fast becoming a favourite of mine) and even the Wasp Major Thalric. I found myself really understanding what they were about and sympathising with them (and their actions) all as a result. I’m looking forward to meeting them again in the next book.

Like I said, I found ‘Dragonfly Falling’ to be a frustrating clunky read at times but the good shone through in such a way that I’m in for the long haul more than ever. I’m glad I stuck with it, if you’re a fan then I reckon you’ll enjoy it too.

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten