Listen free for 30 days
-
Empire in Black and Gold
- Shadows of the Apt, Book 1
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 23 hrs and 4 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $23.22
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
Dragonfly Falling
- Shadows of the Apt, Book 2
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 25 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
decent second book
- By Tom M on 2023-03-30
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Children of Time
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
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.
-
-
Great post apocalyptic story
- By Tom M on 2024-01-18
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
City of Last Chances
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Twisting Tale of Great Characters
- By K. Tough on 2024-02-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Infinity Gate
- Written by: M. R. Carey
- Narrated by: Dami Olukoya
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds–except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.
-
-
Really good
- By M on 2023-12-05
Written by: M. R. Carey
-
The Tainted Cup
- A Novel
- Written by: Robert Jackson Bennett
- Narrated by: Andrew Fallaize
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible. Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.
-
-
Why Would Anyone Give This OUTSTANDING Book anything But 5Stars
- By Bunni Morris on 2024-03-23
Written by: Robert Jackson Bennett
-
Dragonfly Falling
- Shadows of the Apt, Book 2
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 25 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
decent second book
- By Tom M on 2023-03-30
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Children of Time
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
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.
-
-
Great post apocalyptic story
- By Tom M on 2024-01-18
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
City of Last Chances
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
A Twisting Tale of Great Characters
- By K. Tough on 2024-02-16
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Infinity Gate
- Written by: M. R. Carey
- Narrated by: Dami Olukoya
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds–except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life.
-
-
Really good
- By M on 2023-12-05
Written by: M. R. Carey
-
The Tainted Cup
- A Novel
- Written by: Robert Jackson Bennett
- Narrated by: Andrew Fallaize
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible. Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.
-
-
Why Would Anyone Give This OUTSTANDING Book anything But 5Stars
- By Bunni Morris on 2024-03-23
Written by: Robert Jackson Bennett
-
The Bone Ships
- Written by: RJ Barker
- Narrated by: Jude Owusu
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted. Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favor. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.
-
-
A good tale though some aspects got tiresome
- By J Brandon. on 2024-02-15
Written by: RJ Barker
-
The Dreaming Void
- Void Trilogy, Book 1
- Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.
-
-
Normalization is important.
- By Ignatius Nelson Cognito on 2022-12-29
Written by: Peter F. Hamilton
-
The Bear and the Serpent
- Echoes of the Fall, Book 2
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maniye, child of both Wolf and Tiger clans, has been named Champion of her people. But they're unsure if she's an asset - or a threat. To buy time, she joins Prince Tecuman's warband of outcasts and heads south, to help him gain his crown. She wants to discover her true place in the world but instead heads into the jaws of a fierce new conflict. Civil war threatens as Tecuman and his twin sister battle for the throne, for only one can rule. Yet whoever triumphs will carry a heavy burden, as a great doom has been foreseen that will fall across their whole world.
-
-
Terrific
- By VetteL89 on 2018-11-22
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Elder Race
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).
-
-
Amazing short story
- By Kundalini student on 2023-07-04
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Dogs of War
- Dogs of War, Book 1
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Nathan Osgood, William Hope
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Excellent
- By Grandsome on 2024-01-06
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
The Tiger and the Wolf
- Echoes of the Fall, Book 1
- Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maniye's father is the Wolf clan's chieftain, but she's an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger, and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan's animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution.
-
-
Good story but predictable.
- By SV on 2019-11-01
Written by: Adrian Tchaikovsky
-
Hyperion
- Written by: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
-
-
Simmons is a complete hack
- By FuzzyThoughts on 2021-04-14
Written by: Dan Simmons
-
Montego
- A Glass Immortals Novella
- Written by: Brian McClellan
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Montego al'Bou is an orphan, a provincial peasant boy left alone by the recent death of his grandmother. Possessing nothing more than his grandmother's cudgel, he strikes out to the capital where the influential Grappo have offered to bring him up in the luxury of an Ossan guild-family. He finds his welcome frosty, his new home full of confusing responsibilities.
Written by: Brian McClellan
-
Revelation Space
- Written by: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
Rough Narration
- By HoldFast on 2021-04-22
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
The Justice of Kings
- Written by: Richard Swan
- Narrated by: Lucy Paterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne. Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire.
Written by: Richard Swan
-
Eversion
- Written by: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
-
-
Found it very dull
- By Anonymous User on 2024-01-07
Written by: Alastair Reynolds
-
Renegade
- Spiral Wars, Book 1
- Written by: Joel Shepherd
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity’s new homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity’s most powerful industrial family, is framed for his murder.
-
-
will make a heck of a movie
- By Shem Spillane on 2022-12-09
Written by: Joel Shepherd
Publisher's Summary
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.
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)
More from the same
What listeners say about Empire in Black and Gold
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!