Twila's Reviews > Spiderlight

I’ve got a special place in my heart for all things D&D. All I needed was one look at this book’s cover and blurb to convince me to buy Spiderlight, to be honest. I’m that easily swayed!

On the surface, this is the exact story I was expecting, the one that I’ve read a million times by now. It’s very clear that Tchaikovsky generously borrowed some of the bigger D&D tropes to set up what is an immensely traditional fantasy world. Here, he uses the sub-genre’s concept of alignment. There are creatures of the dark that are born “evil” and there are creatures of the light that are born “good” and the two are always at war. So yeah, the typical and stock D&D setting. The plot driving the narrative is also very familiar. There’s a band of ragtag heroes (our main characters) adventuring across the land to kill a great evil lord who has been causing a lot of trouble in their world. It’s that same story we’ve heard over and over and over again. But really, a story doesn’t have to be original to be brilliant. It’s in the way the familiar is retold that can make something special. And oh boy, was Spiderlight special!

Frankly, the simplicity of Spiderlight really DOESN’T MATTER because Adrian Tchaikovsky is an author that has clearly read a great deal of fantasy and has noticed so many of its problems. He’s noticed the whitewashed characters, the lack of well-written women, the one-dimensional moralities, the same tired motivations of the villains, to name a few. Yes, he uses the typical fantasy formula/template, but in his execution, he sufficiently takes it apart bit by bit. That’s what makes Spiderlight so different and so great. It is epic fantasy deconstructed!

What impressed me the most were the characters. The dialogue between them was sharp and laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s their marvelous inner moments of existential revelations that really wowed me. In Spiderlight, I found a shocking amount of depth hidden beneath what I initially believed to be another standard issue cast of fantasy heroes. But throughout only 300 pages, the author somehow gave himself space to expose the more hidden parts of them in a way that did not feel forced but made me genuinely care for them. And not only did he do this, but he used an incredibly diverse tone of voice for each of them and made them feel real. I was the most compelled by Nth, a main character who is also a spider! His extremely alien POV accomplished SO MUCH. Through him, the author got to explore the more subtle truths about power and the destructive nature of humanity alongside some compelling introspection on what it means to be human, or to even just have emotions and how it can sometimes completely warp reason. It was fascinating and I was shocked when I realized how much I sympathized with him.

Not only was Nth a spider but he’s also a slave being dragged along with the rest of the band and it was interesting to see someone forced to live in complete servitude to people who were completely unlike him and who were blinded to his true self and could never understand him. He was seen and treated as a monster and labeled as “evil” because he’s of the “dark” but we in his head knew the truth. But we also got to see him through the others’ eyes and understand why they saw him that way. I mean, he IS a giant spider for crying out loud and I wouldn’t like him either, to be honest! But really, Tchaikovsky packed more into 300 pages than a lot of authors do in an entire series and it’s stunning.

I only came for classic D&D storytelling and while this book could have easily been something totally predictable and forgettable, it was instead spun into something fresh while still giving me enough of the genre’s greatest hits to make me happy and satisfied. If you’ve read Nicholas Eames’ Kings of the Wyld, this book might remind you of that.

About a month ago, I didn’t know this author even existed and I think it’s a real shame that he doesn’t get more recognition and hype. I’m no arachnophobe, but any author that can make my sympathize with a freaking SPIDER of all things must be immensely talented. He’s now got my full attention and I can’t wait to try his other books. I hear several of them also have spiders and I can’t believe it but I’m very excited about that.

4 – 4.5 stars

Would highly recommend.