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truthlessofcanada's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Somehow both these first 2 books have had a love triangle thing center stage and yet it hasn't been annoying at all. That's a neat trick.
Betrayal in Winter is a novel full of political scheming, and heart. It is one of the novels that manages to have deeply honourable characters who still are complex, conflicted and human, showing that you don't have to write bastards to write characters who feel human.
It also shows that you can write bastards who seem human, as it also has a fantastic antagonist point of view who a lot of people seem to actually like (?), like as a person? huh, but who I consider a fantastically written antagonist whose motives come from an extremely understandable place, but it is destroyed by ambition, ruthlessness, and frankly a lack of self-awareness, and unwilligness to consider their own responsibility in the outcome of events. They managed to be a somewhat tragic antagonist who I felt for as the reader, while also not liking them....like really at all.
In general, compared to Shadow in Summer the events of this book felt more important as I was reading them, and to me the characters stood out more. I thought while reading book 1 and continue to think that Abraham is extremely efficient at characterization, but book 1 for me didn't have stand out moments where while reading it I was blown away by the characters I was reading, and Betrayal In Winter did.
Also, the Andat, and how they interact with their poet is such a good idea.
8.8
Betrayal in Winter is a novel full of political scheming, and heart. It is one of the novels that manages to have deeply honourable characters who still are complex, conflicted and human, showing that you don't have to write bastards to write characters who feel human.
It also shows that you can write bastards who seem human, as it also has a fantastic antagonist point of view who a lot of people seem to actually like (?), like as a person? huh, but who I consider a fantastically written antagonist whose motives come from an extremely understandable place, but it is destroyed by ambition, ruthlessness, and frankly a lack of self-awareness, and unwilligness to consider their own responsibility in the outcome of events. They managed to be a somewhat tragic antagonist who I felt for as the reader, while also not liking them....like really at all.
In general, compared to Shadow in Summer the events of this book felt more important as I was reading them, and to me the characters stood out more. I thought while reading book 1 and continue to think that Abraham is extremely efficient at characterization, but book 1 for me didn't have stand out moments where while reading it I was blown away by the characters I was reading, and Betrayal In Winter did.
Also, the Andat, and how they interact with their poet is such a good idea.
8.8
kadomi's review against another edition
4.0
A Betrayal in Winter greatly improves the premise of the first book in the series. It's set 14 years after the fall of Saraykeht in the first book, and set in Machi, a city far in the north. The andat, the servant demon of the city, is Stone-Made-Soft, and just like Seedless in the first book, he longs for his freedom, in a less menacing way. The ruler of Machi is dying, and as is tradition, his sons are now meant to kill each other, to determine succession. The first son is killed, but as it turns out not by the brothers, and Maati from the first book, the poet without an andat, is sent to investigate. And of course there's Otah Machi who has left his family behind, who is a legitimate heir and suspected to be behind the first murder.
This description should already point at the main strength of the book, political intrigue. It's very slow, and the reader knows all along who's behind the killings.
If I have to nitpick, it's that yet again, my least favorite trope, the love triangle, rears its ugly head. Though it's hard to even describe it as love.
I was ultimately satisfied with the outcome, and am looking forward to seeing where this goes next. A thing I have to mention is that Abraham manages to make this culture seem utterly alien to me. It's not classic Western fantasy at all. I appreciate that a lot.
This description should already point at the main strength of the book, political intrigue. It's very slow, and the reader knows all along who's behind the killings.
If I have to nitpick, it's that yet again, my least favorite trope, the love triangle, rears its ugly head. Though it's hard to even describe it as love.
I was ultimately satisfied with the outcome, and am looking forward to seeing where this goes next. A thing I have to mention is that Abraham manages to make this culture seem utterly alien to me. It's not classic Western fantasy at all. I appreciate that a lot.
archergal's review against another edition
4.0
This novel continues the story started in A Shadow in Summer, albeit maybe 12 - 13 years later. It has a number of the same characters as the first book - Otah, failed poet and son of the Khai Machi; Maati, another failed poet. The location is in another kingdom, the kingdom of Machi in the far north of the world.
There's a lot of palace intrigue going on here. The normal route of succession for the Khaiate is for the sons of the family to kill each other off until there's only one left. (Exceptions are made for younger sons who are poets, or branded, or otherwise out of the picture.) But nobody - and I mean, NOBODY, suspects that a daughter might have a desire for the throne. In this world, women don't do that. But Idaan, daughter of the Khai, is ambitious. She thinks she might have a way to be at least part-ruler in this kingdom. But ultimately, is the price more than she can pay?
It's a good sequel. We meet another andat (Stone-made-soft) and its poet-controller Cehmai. There's not quite as much conflict between poet and andat in this book, but the tension is always there. Powers like the andat don't like being slaves.
Good writing. My personal taste doesn't run to palace intrigue/assassination/politics, but Abraham makes it pretty tolerable.
There's a lot of palace intrigue going on here. The normal route of succession for the Khaiate is for the sons of the family to kill each other off until there's only one left. (Exceptions are made for younger sons who are poets, or branded, or otherwise out of the picture.) But nobody - and I mean, NOBODY, suspects that a daughter might have a desire for the throne. In this world, women don't do that. But Idaan, daughter of the Khai, is ambitious. She thinks she might have a way to be at least part-ruler in this kingdom. But ultimately, is the price more than she can pay?
It's a good sequel. We meet another andat (Stone-made-soft) and its poet-controller Cehmai. There's not quite as much conflict between poet and andat in this book, but the tension is always there. Powers like the andat don't like being slaves.
Good writing. My personal taste doesn't run to palace intrigue/assassination/politics, but Abraham makes it pretty tolerable.
wjsanger's review
5.0
Love he discovered could feel very much like sorrow
Daniel Abraham is in complete control of his craft here. He writes such tragically real characters that often make brutal decisions but you completely understand the motivations. The smallest decisions often have the biggest consequences. I cannot wait to see how this continues to play out.
Daniel Abraham is in complete control of his craft here. He writes such tragically real characters that often make brutal decisions but you completely understand the motivations. The smallest decisions often have the biggest consequences. I cannot wait to see how this continues to play out.
saraubs's review against another edition
4.0
I will save my full thoughts for the live show, and just say that I am continuing to enjoy my time with this series. Abraham is a meticulous plotter with exquisite prose and he makes you fall for his characters within a relatively short time (compared to most epic fantasy). This one fell just shy of the first volume for me, but left me eager to continue on and experience the unfolding of this masterfully crafted story.
hamil73's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Great Idaan stand out character 👍🏾
the1germ's review
4.0
I read the first book a few years ago, and while I enjoyed it, I described it like a fever dream, and my final feelings were: "After just setting it down, I feel like I've woken up and I'm trying to catch the details of a dream before they fade away."
And, what do you know, when I began to consider picking up #2 I found myself unable to remember a single thing about that first book except for the posing. And the cool poet/andat magic. I almost didn't continue. But I'm glad that I did.
This book is an enormous improvement on the first, with much tighter plotting, pacing, and laser focused. Despite having little memory of the first, this volume hooked me quickly and I sank right in. Some of the details returned to me, but it turns out this book is set 15 (ish?) years in the future so remembering the finer details of book one didn't matter (as much) as I thought it would. You could probably jump right into this one and be just fine, it's pretty self-contained.
Very melancholy, but with the pace of a cat-and-mouse thriller - as odd as that sounds. Low on fantasy, there's barely any magic to speak of as it's focused primarily on politics and backstabbing. Still a bit of a fever dream feel, which may just be because the setting and world are so original compared to other fantasy series I sometimes had difficulty keeping up. Overall, this read more like a tragic Shakespearean play than your typical fantasy novel, and I liked that.
My only complaint is that, for how character focused it is, I still find myself detached from most of the characters. It doesn't quite live up to the bar set by character writers like Robin Hobb or George RR Martin. I enjoyed Otah & Machi's bromance, but could take or leave most of the other characters that I couldn't even tell apart until over halfway through the book.
Looking forward to the third.
And, what do you know, when I began to consider picking up #2 I found myself unable to remember a single thing about that first book except for the posing. And the cool poet/andat magic. I almost didn't continue. But I'm glad that I did.
This book is an enormous improvement on the first, with much tighter plotting, pacing, and laser focused. Despite having little memory of the first, this volume hooked me quickly and I sank right in. Some of the details returned to me, but it turns out this book is set 15 (ish?) years in the future so remembering the finer details of book one didn't matter (as much) as I thought it would. You could probably jump right into this one and be just fine, it's pretty self-contained.
Very melancholy, but with the pace of a cat-and-mouse thriller - as odd as that sounds. Low on fantasy, there's barely any magic to speak of as it's focused primarily on politics and backstabbing. Still a bit of a fever dream feel, which may just be because the setting and world are so original compared to other fantasy series I sometimes had difficulty keeping up. Overall, this read more like a tragic Shakespearean play than your typical fantasy novel, and I liked that.
My only complaint is that, for how character focused it is, I still find myself detached from most of the characters. It doesn't quite live up to the bar set by character writers like Robin Hobb or George RR Martin. I enjoyed Otah & Machi's bromance, but could take or leave most of the other characters that I couldn't even tell apart until over halfway through the book.
Looking forward to the third.
pastaylor's review against another edition
5.0
Daniel Abraham’s books are often slow to get off the ground, more focused on nuances and subtleties of character interactions than on action. Thus, they can be a little hard to get into. The trade off is that they are incredibly rich and value writing and characterization as much if not more than plot and magic systems. There’s a little magic in here, in the form of the andats, but this is basically a modern take on Macbeth, with a very sympathetic female character. Abraham understands female characters, and does a great job of writing them and making them sympathetic, even when they are doing bad things. The betrayal mentioned in the title happens on multiple levels between multiple characters. I loved it. The first book took me some time to get into, and I was annoyed by the voice of seedless in the audiobook. The voices are better here, and it really builds on the characters and relationships developed in the first book. Highly recommended.
veronica87's review against another edition
3.0
I finally finished this last night. I hadn't picked up the book in about a week and I had to make myself power read the last 50% of it. The writing is good so no problems there and it's not a question of pacing for me. I'm just finding that I don't really care about these characters. In the first book I felt for poor Heshai and I really liked Amat and was invested in her story. In this book absolutely everyone could've died and I wouldn't have cared. Otah and Maati from the first book are back but everyone else is new. I just didn't care. Hopefully the next book will give me at least one character to care about.
hanienr's review against another edition
4.0
Another strong book in this series. I put this series off for so long and two books in I regret having done so.
It's political fantasy at its best. There are chess pieces moving which I'm sure will have bearing on the coming two books. It's exciting to see how it will all fall into place.
It's political fantasy at its best. There are chess pieces moving which I'm sure will have bearing on the coming two books. It's exciting to see how it will all fall into place.