Blood of the Mantis
Shadows of the Apt, Book 3
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Narrated by:
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Ben Allen
About this listen
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.
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- Tales By Masters of Fantasy
- By: Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, and others
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Marc Vietor, Bronson Pinchot, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
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A TRULY BAD COLLECTION OF DOGS
- By Randall on 12-21-18
By: Terry Brooks, and others
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Ship of Smoke and Steel
- By: Django Wexler
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, the port city of the Blessed Empire, 18-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. The money she collects goes to keep her little sister living in comfort, far from the bloody streets they grew up on. When Isoka's magic is discovered by the government, she's arrested and brought to the Emperor's spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: Steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship - a ship from which no one has ever returned. If she fails, her sister’s life is forfeit.
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The Long Pauses Ruins the Book
- By Joseph on 05-29-19
By: Django Wexler
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City of the Fallen Sky
- By: Tim Pratt
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Once a student of alchemy with the dark scholars of the Technic League, Alaeron fled their arcane order when his conscience got the better of him, taking with him a few strange devices of unknown function. Now in hiding in a distant city, he's happy to use his skills creating minor potions and wonders - at least until the back-alley rescue of an adventurer named Jaya lands him in trouble with a powerful crime lord.
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Two stories in one
- By Kirk MacNeil on 10-18-15
By: Tim Pratt
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The Brightest Shadow
- The Brightest Shadow, Book 1
- By: Sarah Lin
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore, Elizabeth Evans
- Length: 32 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Tani’s world has never been peaceful. Torn between the many cultures that meet on the Chorhan Expanse, the greatest threat they now face is an expansionist army of monstrous nonhumans who call themselves the mansthein.
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Couldn't finish
- By Alli G on 11-18-20
By: Sarah Lin
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The Frozen Flame: Publisher's Pack
- The Frozen Flame, Books 1-2
- By: Paul J. Bennett
- Narrated by: Tim Bruce
- Length: 24 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic is the key...but will it save them, or consume them? For Natalia, there is no choice. Trained as a battle mage, she has the potential to be the most powerful spellcaster the family has ever produced. Yet their price is too high. Meanwhile, Athgar's life is about to change forever. On the day his village is burned to the ground, his magical potential is released by the very fire that nearly consumed him. He is driven by revenge until he learns he may not be the only survivor.
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this book a a recurring issue thats very annoying
- By LitRPG Reader on 05-27-22
By: Paul J. Bennett
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Ink and Bone
- The Great Library
- By: Rachel Caine
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly - but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden. Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market.
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don't give up too soon.
- By Janel on 09-11-15
By: Rachel Caine
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Child of the Flames
- A Sword and Sorcery Saga
- By: D.W. Hawkins
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The Red Swords came with the sunrise and took everything Shawna Llewan held dear. Her family massacred, her home destroyed, she escapes with nothing but her mother’s heirloom and the desire for vengeance. When she’s found by Dormael, a Warlock of the Conclave, she learns that her mother’s keepsake - the very reason her family was killed - holds the power to unleash boundless destruction.
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Great start!
- By Gordon on 08-18-19
By: D.W. Hawkins
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Savage Legion
- Savage Rebellion
- By: Matt Wallace
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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They call them Savages. Brutal. Efficient. Expendable. The empire relies on them. The Savages are the greatest weapon they ever developed. Culled from the streets of their cities, they take the ones no one will miss and throw them, by the thousands, at the empire’s enemies. Evie is not a Savage. She’s a warrior with a mission: to find the man she once loved, the man who holds the key to exposing the secret of the Savage Legion and ending the mass conscription of the empire’s poor and wretched. But to find him, she must become one of them....
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It could have been good, but wasn't
- By M. Wightman on 09-20-21
By: Matt Wallace
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Servant of the Crown
- Heir to the Crown, Book 1
- By: Paul J Bennett
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Tragedy tears Gerald's world apart, and only his unwavering loyalty to the Baron of Bodden saves him. After serving as a soldier for years, a single act of self-sacrifice thrusts his future into the world of politics. Cut off from all he knows, he becomes no more than a pawn to those in command. Banished with little more than the clothes on his back, he seeks a new purpose, for what is a warrior who has nothing left to fight for?
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Well written and interesting
- By Kevin Potter on 05-24-19
By: Paul J Bennett
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Onyx & Ivory
- By: Mindee Arnett
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king of Rime. Cast out of the nobility, Kate now works for the royal courier service. Only the most skilled ride for the Relay and only the fastest survive, for when night falls, the drakes - deadly flightless dragons - come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: She is a wilder, born with forbidden magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals.
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Fantastic.
- By Alex Tollefson on 06-04-18
By: Mindee Arnett
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The Lost War
- The Eidyn Saga, Book 1
- By: Justin Lee Anderson
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 20 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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With a ragged peace in place, demons burn farmlands, violent Reivers roam the wilds and plague has spread beyond the Black Meadows. The country is on its knees. In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first magically-skilled draoidh to be named King's Envoy. Now, charged with restoring an exiled foreign queen to her throne, he leads a group of strangers across the ravaged country. But at every step, a new mystery complicates their mission.
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Holy Cow!
- By Lisa M. Perkey on 05-11-20
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Gears of Troy
- By: Daniel Pierce
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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When naval officer Troy Weston loses his hands in a training accident, the doctors present him with a unique offer: robotic replacement hands with added strength and durability. He'll be a new man with a new life, far more capable than he ever was before. He accepts, and during his recovery he returns to Lake Superior to pilot his sailboat on bays he's known since childhood. During a fierce and wild thunderstorm, Troy and his craft are sent through a portal and into an unknown world. When the rain settles, he finds himself on a foreign coastline surrounded by Greek architecture.
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Needs more
- By John on 05-22-19
By: Daniel Pierce
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The story of what happens after the epilogue.
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barely more than a short story.
- By Daniel Smith on 09-10-23
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"Alien Clay" is officially best ROAST I have ever read and I hope the people it roasts are indigent, offended, furious. . .
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What listeners say about Blood of the Mantis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kady
- 08-09-24
So captivating!
The stories are so fascinating and captivating that I look forward to listening every day and actually look for private time to do so😊
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- Karen S. Coyle
- 04-30-21
This series just gets better and better
This series just gets better and better. Such a fascinating world, and such wholly believable, completely fleshed out, complex characters! It's so rare to get BOTH of those things right. Often in sci fi and fantasy you get great characters in silly plots, or cardboard cutouts but great world-building. This author seems to be a master of it all. Really, really well done.
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- DeeDee S
- 05-09-21
third of 4
This book continues to grow the characters as the story unfolds. One is drawn into a magical and ancient world.
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- Jack Rothermich
- 01-03-24
keeps getting better
I just all around love this book, and everything by this author. The pacing is solid, the combat is skillful, the dialogue clicks (and the narrators voices are wonderful and add such color to the story!). I've never been good at writing combat, and am extremely jealous of the author's ability, and am trying to learn from his style in that regard.
My only regret of listening via audiobook and not having a physical copy is that I feel this story almost requires a map of the world for reference. I'm beginning to realize a need to look one up online.
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- Miles
- 07-15-21
solid
Great series. They all read like a seamless story and the performances minus 1 voice for me is great as well.
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- Vaughn Platt
- 03-11-21
awesome story teller. Adrian is one of the best at
Adrian is one of best story teller around. Paint a vivid description of his worlds.
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- Bob Kenny
- 03-05-22
another good one
another win for the series I still want to continue reading the books and story
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-23-24
Great series, in spite of Stenwold
This is a pretty interesting series. Top notch. All around - story, narrators, characters, etc.
However, I absolutely despise the character Stenwold. This guy is the exact opposite of what a “spymaster” is. He thinks like a little girl. At best like a weak diplomat. I like all the bad characters far more than this character.
A weak, delusional good guy is a far greater liability than any evil character.
The story progresses in spite of this guy’s inexplicable naïveté and failure to grasp the obvious. This guy is literally the anti-“spymaster”. If this guy is your spymaster, you almost have a duty to betray him, or make him go away.
In a way though, that adds to the story. I really hope this guy doesn’t survive much longer.
Regardless, it’s a great series.
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- A H Booches
- 05-06-21
Great series, great narrator
Story is progressing nicely. Narrator does a good job with all of the characters involved.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-24-21
Breath holding suspense filled with imaginative and vivid world building.
I absolutely love this series. I think the thought behind the world construction is unique and well executed and the plot thickens nicely throughout the series. Specific blood of the mantis has amazing suspense mixed with witty dialogue. NO SPOILERS but the climactic ending was well done! All around a great addition to a great series.
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