Synopsis:
The Church of Armes of the Light has battled the forces of Darkness for as long as anyone can remember. The great prophecy has foretold that a band of misfits, led by a high priestess will defeat the Dark Lord Darvezian, armed with their wits, the blessing of the Light and an artifact stolen from the merciless Spider Queen.
Their journey will be long, hard and fraught with danger. Allies will become enemies; enemies will become allies. And the Dark Lord will be waiting, always waiting…
Spiderlight is an exhilarating fantasy quest from Adrian Tchaikovsky, the author of Guns at Dawn and the Shadows of the Apt series.
Review:
Tor UK sent me a copy of Spiderlight in exchange for an honest review.
Adrian Tchaikovsky writes DnD, turns everything you thought you knew on its head, and writes the perfect length book. Spiderlight is a very classic quest story at it’s heart, our band of misfits (the classic cleric, rogue, mage etc) are following a prophecy in which they will defeat the Dark Lord. Simple, classic, already a great story. Then we have a Spider turned into human form (and, yes, you will sympathise with him), and a journey through some of the darkest parts of the land, where deeper personalities are revealed, and darker storylines take place.
The real stand-out part of this book for me is how much I ended up sympathising with Nth. They’re a spider turned into human form by the mage, but they don’t automatically get human speech/understanding, so Nth spends a fair part of the book confused and just trying to please the Mother Spider who sent him on his quest. I ended up caring so much for Nth as Tchaikovsky cleverly changes the narrative to include Nth in your list of ‘good guys (or at least morally grey guys’ and some of the things which happen to him are so far out of his control. He just wants to complete the task he was given, yet he’s forced into a form that is not his own, and to travel through lands filled with unfamiliar things. Nth’s eventual friendship with some of the characters was magical, and such a highlight of Spiderlight.
At under 300 pages this is a short and fast-paced book that is ultimately the perfect length. The story is told, the quest is complete and it hides many a surprise along the way. Tchaikovsky doesn’t try to make this an epic, the story perfect fits into the pages, and I finished the book feeling satisfied that everything had been wrapped up. While there are avenues to explore, I never felt like I needed it. The world is perfectly contained within these pages, and Spiderlight is a wonderful standalone story.
If you love a classic quest fantasy, pick this up. It’ll have you reading late into the night.
Leave a Reply