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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As a big fan of The Expanse series, which is co-authored by Daniel Abraham, I was excited for this new release fantasy solo project of his. The premise sounded very intriguing so when the chance to get an arc came up I jumped on it. It sounded like a murder mystery intertwined with fantasy and that is something I love. In fact the way that was executed in The Justice of Kings was almost perfect. However, what I got with Age of Ash left quite a bit to be desired.
First of all let me say that I don't think this is a bad book or poorly written. I think it has a lot of things that just didn't appeal to my personal taste and maybe one or two strange character choices. To give a little background the book starts with the murder of the brother of one of the two main characters who live the large city, and only setting of the book, Kithamar. Our main characters Alys and Sammish are both from the poor side of the city and survive by doing "pulls" or schemes to steal and commit petty thefts from wealthier marks. When Alys' brother is murdered under mysterious circumstances I was initially pretty hooked because it had the potential to be a murder mystery and revenge story. Instead what we get is a very very slow and lengthy exploration of grief and a tiny tiny bit of that other stuff. The other main character, Alys' friend Sammish, was just not an enjoyable pov to read. Her character seemed extremely one note, and I struggled to see what she brought to the book. Other than stating repeatedly she had unrequited love for another character and being motivated to get mad and do something because the plot required it I thought she was pretty worthless and has practically half the page time. Given that Alys gets the other half and she's not exactly super fun to follow or even that interesting either it was tough for me.
As for the story itself I was told Abraham books start slow, but honestly thus never kicked into gear in my opinion. Some cool concepts were hinted at or introduced, but we didn't really get enough information to get me really invested. Things are kept so mysterious it's hard to get a grasp on what the stakes are or why things are important. We know there are at least a couple factions at play, but what the consequences are for each side is not really explored.
I will however give credit where credit is due. Even if his characters and storytelling in this particular book weren't to my taste there is no doubt that Abraham can write. There were many passages and sentences that I thought were extremely well crafted. Additionally I think its very gutsy to set a fantasy story like this in a single city state without an expansive world and cultures for world building depth. Abraham gets plenty of depth out if Kithamar and it feels very real with a lot of depth with different cultures and norms among its inhabitants. Also he is very adept at introducing us to these things naturally without any info dumps. And finally, despite wanting to know more about the magic and the lore since it was kept at arms length, I will say I thought it was a very cool idea that I hadn't seen in a lot of fantasy books.
My final thoughts here are that this really isn't a book I can say I enjoyed, but I imagine a lot of other fantasy readers will especially those who already are fans of Abraham's solo stuff. I would recommend anyone who is curious about this book to watch Allen's review of it on his The Library of Allenaxndria YouTube channel. He really liked the book, and I agree with a lot of what he says that the story contains. It just clicked with him more. So if you're on the fence it might be a good perspective to hear.
As a big fan of The Expanse series, which is co-authored by Daniel Abraham, I was excited for this new release fantasy solo project of his. The premise sounded very intriguing so when the chance to get an arc came up I jumped on it. It sounded like a murder mystery intertwined with fantasy and that is something I love. In fact the way that was executed in The Justice of Kings was almost perfect. However, what I got with Age of Ash left quite a bit to be desired.
First of all let me say that I don't think this is a bad book or poorly written. I think it has a lot of things that just didn't appeal to my personal taste and maybe one or two strange character choices. To give a little background the book starts with the murder of the brother of one of the two main characters who live the large city, and only setting of the book, Kithamar. Our main characters Alys and Sammish are both from the poor side of the city and survive by doing "pulls" or schemes to steal and commit petty thefts from wealthier marks. When Alys' brother is murdered under mysterious circumstances I was initially pretty hooked because it had the potential to be a murder mystery and revenge story. Instead what we get is a very very slow and lengthy exploration of grief and a tiny tiny bit of that other stuff. The other main character, Alys' friend Sammish, was just not an enjoyable pov to read. Her character seemed extremely one note, and I struggled to see what she brought to the book. Other than stating repeatedly she had unrequited love for another character and being motivated to get mad and do something because the plot required it I thought she was pretty worthless and has practically half the page time. Given that Alys gets the other half and she's not exactly super fun to follow or even that interesting either it was tough for me.
As for the story itself I was told Abraham books start slow, but honestly thus never kicked into gear in my opinion. Some cool concepts were hinted at or introduced, but we didn't really get enough information to get me really invested. Things are kept so mysterious it's hard to get a grasp on what the stakes are or why things are important. We know there are at least a couple factions at play, but what the consequences are for each side is not really explored.
I will however give credit where credit is due. Even if his characters and storytelling in this particular book weren't to my taste there is no doubt that Abraham can write. There were many passages and sentences that I thought were extremely well crafted. Additionally I think its very gutsy to set a fantasy story like this in a single city state without an expansive world and cultures for world building depth. Abraham gets plenty of depth out if Kithamar and it feels very real with a lot of depth with different cultures and norms among its inhabitants. Also he is very adept at introducing us to these things naturally without any info dumps. And finally, despite wanting to know more about the magic and the lore since it was kept at arms length, I will say I thought it was a very cool idea that I hadn't seen in a lot of fantasy books.
My final thoughts here are that this really isn't a book I can say I enjoyed, but I imagine a lot of other fantasy readers will especially those who already are fans of Abraham's solo stuff. I would recommend anyone who is curious about this book to watch Allen's review of it on his The Library of Allenaxndria YouTube channel. He really liked the book, and I agree with a lot of what he says that the story contains. It just clicked with him more. So if you're on the fence it might be a good perspective to hear.
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretty middle of the road imo. Abraham is an engaging writer and Kithamar is pretty well thought out, but this doesn’t really have a solid grasp on its characters and practically nothing happens for the middle 200 pages. It’s fine if you want to build atmosphere by having characters walk through your intricately detailed fantasy city, but it helps when they have an objective! Also, this is supposed to be the first in a trilogy that covers the same timeframe in every book, but I feel like pretty much everything big that could possibly happen is covered here?? That said, I read a portion of the synopsis for the second book halfway through my read after I heard this trilogy would switch POVs with each installment, so I did enjoy the little references and crossovers with the next books main character. I don’t know. This was fine.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence