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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was an interesting concept, though I found the pacing to be a bit slow, especially in the first half of the book. Once you understand what's really happening, the plot picks up a bit.
The world is quite bleak as well, which took some getting used to, though the descriptions of living in poverty and it's day to day realities felt like more than you usually get in fantasy, which makes for an interesting perspective and motivations for some of the characters.
It felt a bit like setting things up for the rest of the series, though it does have a fairly satisfying conclusion as a standalone.
My favourite parts were the writing about the villain of the story, which were quite chilling and creepy.
The world is quite bleak as well, which took some getting used to, though the descriptions of living in poverty and it's day to day realities felt like more than you usually get in fantasy, which makes for an interesting perspective and motivations for some of the characters.
It felt a bit like setting things up for the rest of the series, though it does have a fairly satisfying conclusion as a standalone.
My favourite parts were the writing about the villain of the story, which were quite chilling and creepy.
Daniel Abraham does it again, ladies and germs. He (and Ty) rocked my world with The Expanse series and not that it's gone, and I'm in the period of mourning, I can say the Kithamar series has been like a drug for the past few days. I am going to add a bit under my review in case anyone who was an Expanse fan wants to know if this is for them.
Kithamar is a city of many colors and many schemes. Those who have coin and royalty hire petty thieves and lowlives to perform roles in their stratagems. Alys, a poor girl from Longhill, gets herself involved in the midst of a pull that can shake the entire city. Some lose coin, some lose their lives, and she may even lose herself as she plays as a little wolf for the puppetmaster.
Age of Ash is a slow fantasy with a methodical unravelling of the plot that shows everything is a plot, within a plot, within a plot. And surprisingly, while there is magic in the story, none of the main characters - Alys and Sammish - know how to use it. The Kithamar world is one where people fear magic and those who practice are powerful and few, often unknown. The two characteristics reminded me of [b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|29588376|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458646334l/29588376._SY75_.jpg|2116675] by [a:Scott Lynch|73149|Scott Lynch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1332432746p2/73149.jpg], though I must say that I find Abraham's writing more of my style (I have seen reviews mentioning the style is a hit or miss, it is a total hit in my case; I'd read Abraham's grocery shopping list and give it five stars at this point).
What I enjoyed the most were the characters. We have a very diverse set of them ranging from petty thieves, witches from another country, slavers, and members of the (cultish) royal family. They all scheme, and it is all personal: we see grief over losing a loved one shapes one's path; we see someone's idealizing her (unrequited) love interest and grieving with the letting go when that person changes; we see someone losing themselves in a scheme for who is close to their hearts; and we see someone's actions being shaped by their past and her slow realization that she was a pawn, but can no longer be with the right group of friends. Above everything and everyone, I loved Darro and Sammish. Sammish was just very dear to me, I loved witnessing her development from a literal shadow to what she becomes. It's been a long time since I rooted for a character as bad as I have for her.
My only complaint about the story was the lack of description of the characters. Hair color is rarely mentioned and whereas we know people of Inslic or Hansch origin tend to have this or that characteristics, I needed more. I only got to know Sammish's hair color and eye color by the end of the book; same with the witch (who, for some reason, I pictured with shaven blonde hair? I can't even explain). It was weird to reach the end and realize I had misimagined some of them, while most of the characters were still not described at all. Alys, for example - how does she look like? I know she looks like her brother and wears hoods often, but that's pretty much it.
Here's my favorite quotes:
"If and if and if. They'll poison us if we let them, these ifs."
Violence is the nature of the world. Peace is the pause between blows.
"She went to sleep, and she didn't wake up." And then, with a solemn knowing not, "She woke down." - This is something I would say and I cracked up.
And now, for the Expanse fans who are thinking 'can this be my new thing?': This is very different from the Expanse. You will not have an Amos or an Avasarala here, though there is a character who may recall you of her. It's not only fantasy but the writing and unraveling of the plot are slower-paced and known to you. There is no found family and, obviously, there is no space nor the Rocinante. That being said, this book has plans within plans within plans. If you enjoyed the character exploration and development in the Expanse, the political intrigue, and how one plan could shake everything (and did), you may certainly enjoy this. Is this going to scratch that The Expanse itch? Probably not, but it is still an insanely good book.
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Any bias here comes from my own fangirl ass. I am still happy dancing that I got to read this early.
Kithamar is a city of many colors and many schemes. Those who have coin and royalty hire petty thieves and lowlives to perform roles in their stratagems. Alys, a poor girl from Longhill, gets herself involved in the midst of a pull that can shake the entire city. Some lose coin, some lose their lives, and she may even lose herself as she plays as a little wolf for the puppetmaster.
Age of Ash is a slow fantasy with a methodical unravelling of the plot that shows everything is a plot, within a plot, within a plot. And surprisingly, while there is magic in the story, none of the main characters - Alys and Sammish - know how to use it. The Kithamar world is one where people fear magic and those who practice are powerful and few, often unknown. The two characteristics reminded me of [b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|29588376|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458646334l/29588376._SY75_.jpg|2116675] by [a:Scott Lynch|73149|Scott Lynch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1332432746p2/73149.jpg], though I must say that I find Abraham's writing more of my style (I have seen reviews mentioning the style is a hit or miss, it is a total hit in my case; I'd read Abraham's grocery shopping list and give it five stars at this point).
What I enjoyed the most were the characters. We have a very diverse set of them ranging from petty thieves, witches from another country, slavers, and members of the (cultish) royal family. They all scheme, and it is all personal: we see grief over losing a loved one shapes one's path; we see someone's idealizing her (unrequited) love interest and grieving with the letting go when that person changes; we see someone losing themselves in a scheme for who is close to their hearts; and we see someone's actions being shaped by their past and her slow realization that she was a pawn, but can no longer be with the right group of friends. Above everything and everyone, I loved Darro and Sammish. Sammish was just very dear to me, I loved witnessing her development from a literal shadow to what she becomes. It's been a long time since I rooted for a character as bad as I have for her.
My only complaint about the story was the lack of description of the characters. Hair color is rarely mentioned and whereas we know people of Inslic or Hansch origin tend to have this or that characteristics, I needed more. I only got to know Sammish's hair color and eye color by the end of the book; same with the witch (who, for some reason, I pictured with shaven blonde hair? I can't even explain). It was weird to reach the end and realize I had misimagined some of them, while most of the characters were still not described at all. Alys, for example - how does she look like? I know she looks like her brother and wears hoods often, but that's pretty much it.
Here's my favorite quotes:
"If and if and if. They'll poison us if we let them, these ifs."
Violence is the nature of the world. Peace is the pause between blows.
"She went to sleep, and she didn't wake up." And then, with a solemn knowing not, "She woke down." - This is something I would say and I cracked up.
And now, for the Expanse fans who are thinking 'can this be my new thing?': This is very different from the Expanse. You will not have an Amos or an Avasarala here, though there is a character who may recall you of her. It's not only fantasy but the writing and unraveling of the plot are slower-paced and known to you. There is no found family and, obviously, there is no space nor the Rocinante. That being said, this book has plans within plans within plans. If you enjoyed the character exploration and development in the Expanse, the political intrigue, and how one plan could shake everything (and did), you may certainly enjoy this. Is this going to scratch that The Expanse itch? Probably not, but it is still an insanely good book.
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Any bias here comes from my own fangirl ass. I am still happy dancing that I got to read this early.
Very good character development and motivation in an interesting fantasy urban setting (but not urban fantasy). Also I kept finding lines and sentences from it that were good enough to share, it's very well written.
It seems a long time ago now that both Rob Bedford and I were first singing the praises of Daniel Abraham over at SFFWorld. Although he has more recently been known as James S. A. Corey, one of the co-writers of the Expanse novels, turned into a very successful television series, we first noticed him with his fantasy novels – The Long Price Quartet and the Dagger and the Coin series.
It is therefore with pleasure that I turned to the first in a new Fantasy series, Age of Ash.
Whilst it can be said that we’re travelling along well-trodden paths here, there’s a lot to like. This is a low-grade fantasy novel on the whole. What I mean by that is that it is a story of petty theft and poverty in the main, rather than a story that deals more uplifting qualities such as honour and valour. Although the book begins with a royal funeral, the book goes back to an earlier time to show how we get to that point and focuses more on life on the streets.
Throughout we get the idea that Kithamar is a big city (and the maps at the front suggest this too, admittedly.) Clearly there is much to describe and much going on in this sprawling urban area, but Daniel keeps the focus tight by mainly concentrating on Alys. When Alys’s older brother Darro is killed, which may have been Alys’s fault, she goes on a hunt determined to find the cause and the killer. This leads to her becoming a gangster-like adversary on the streets of Kithamar. With her friend Sammish, Alys searches the streets looking for answers.
However, Darro’s death may be only one death amongst others in a power struggle, involving the cousin of the recently-enthroned Byrn a Sal. Arcane practices mean that this struggle seems to involve a silver knife which Darro had.
In terms of the bigger picture, what Alys has got herself involved in by accident is a clandestine war between opposing political factions that in turn are associating with certain gods and goddesses. An attempt to usurp the prince and create a change in power may be being covertly nurtured.
Where does this one score?
The setting is impressively vivid and the descriptions of the city, when they are given, provide an impressive image of life in Kithamar. Daniel is quite unremitting in his descriptions of the city of Kithamar as it changes through the year, so much so that the setting is almost a character in itself as we see things change from Autumn to Winter and then Spring. Admittedly, for all of the beauty created by the change in the seasons (and the weather!) much of the book shows us that Kithamar is not usually very pleasant – most of the colourful descriptions of the city concentrate most on the depravation and squalor than the baroque lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Where Daniel scores as per usual is his characterisation, and this is perhaps the book’s strength. The characterisation can be nuanced and pretty complex. In particular, Alys and her friend Sammish show clearly what it is like to struggle, and what the harsh lifestyle of living in poverty has done to many of Kithamar’s people. Alys finds that in order to discover what happened to Darro she has to become like he was, with a brutal gangster-like presence. This, of course, contrasts with the opulence of the wealthier groups, although brutal yet covert assassination is still part of the political game.
On the downside, I felt that less strongly written was the role of those involved in the political side of the novel. Whilst such imperial shenanigans are clearly an important part of the plot, and I suspect something that will become more important in later novels, it is not until the last part of the book that those elements are explained, and even then they feel less strong than those scenes in the grubby end of the city.
I also felt that the pace of the story was variable. Whilst there is undeniably progression through the story to the quite exciting (yet a cliff-hanger) conclusion, I must say that there were points in the middle where not a lot seemed to be happening and the pace became slower, to the point where I began to lose interest a little. There are points where we get exposition dumped into the plot, in that James-Bond-villain kind of way. This lower key progression of plot is pretty much through the whole book. If you come looking for big epic battles, you will be disappointed. This is not that sort of Fantasy novel.
But I quibble. There’s a lot to like here, for all my issues, and it must be said that Age of Ash is different to Abraham’s other Fantasy series. Age of Ash is a very good example of those fantasies focused on the unpleasantness behind the gleaming facades of a sprawling city. Whilst it may not be quite as violent or as unpleasant as, say, Joe Abercrombie’s books, the overriding impression at the end is that Kithamar, and the people within it, is a complex tapestry of life – even if it is not a place you want to hang around too long in. I suspect that we may have much more to discover in future books.
It is therefore with pleasure that I turned to the first in a new Fantasy series, Age of Ash.
Whilst it can be said that we’re travelling along well-trodden paths here, there’s a lot to like. This is a low-grade fantasy novel on the whole. What I mean by that is that it is a story of petty theft and poverty in the main, rather than a story that deals more uplifting qualities such as honour and valour. Although the book begins with a royal funeral, the book goes back to an earlier time to show how we get to that point and focuses more on life on the streets.
Throughout we get the idea that Kithamar is a big city (and the maps at the front suggest this too, admittedly.) Clearly there is much to describe and much going on in this sprawling urban area, but Daniel keeps the focus tight by mainly concentrating on Alys. When Alys’s older brother Darro is killed, which may have been Alys’s fault, she goes on a hunt determined to find the cause and the killer. This leads to her becoming a gangster-like adversary on the streets of Kithamar. With her friend Sammish, Alys searches the streets looking for answers.
However, Darro’s death may be only one death amongst others in a power struggle, involving the cousin of the recently-enthroned Byrn a Sal. Arcane practices mean that this struggle seems to involve a silver knife which Darro had.
In terms of the bigger picture, what Alys has got herself involved in by accident is a clandestine war between opposing political factions that in turn are associating with certain gods and goddesses. An attempt to usurp the prince and create a change in power may be being covertly nurtured.
Where does this one score?
The setting is impressively vivid and the descriptions of the city, when they are given, provide an impressive image of life in Kithamar. Daniel is quite unremitting in his descriptions of the city of Kithamar as it changes through the year, so much so that the setting is almost a character in itself as we see things change from Autumn to Winter and then Spring. Admittedly, for all of the beauty created by the change in the seasons (and the weather!) much of the book shows us that Kithamar is not usually very pleasant – most of the colourful descriptions of the city concentrate most on the depravation and squalor than the baroque lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Where Daniel scores as per usual is his characterisation, and this is perhaps the book’s strength. The characterisation can be nuanced and pretty complex. In particular, Alys and her friend Sammish show clearly what it is like to struggle, and what the harsh lifestyle of living in poverty has done to many of Kithamar’s people. Alys finds that in order to discover what happened to Darro she has to become like he was, with a brutal gangster-like presence. This, of course, contrasts with the opulence of the wealthier groups, although brutal yet covert assassination is still part of the political game.
On the downside, I felt that less strongly written was the role of those involved in the political side of the novel. Whilst such imperial shenanigans are clearly an important part of the plot, and I suspect something that will become more important in later novels, it is not until the last part of the book that those elements are explained, and even then they feel less strong than those scenes in the grubby end of the city.
I also felt that the pace of the story was variable. Whilst there is undeniably progression through the story to the quite exciting (yet a cliff-hanger) conclusion, I must say that there were points in the middle where not a lot seemed to be happening and the pace became slower, to the point where I began to lose interest a little. There are points where we get exposition dumped into the plot, in that James-Bond-villain kind of way. This lower key progression of plot is pretty much through the whole book. If you come looking for big epic battles, you will be disappointed. This is not that sort of Fantasy novel.
But I quibble. There’s a lot to like here, for all my issues, and it must be said that Age of Ash is different to Abraham’s other Fantasy series. Age of Ash is a very good example of those fantasies focused on the unpleasantness behind the gleaming facades of a sprawling city. Whilst it may not be quite as violent or as unpleasant as, say, Joe Abercrombie’s books, the overriding impression at the end is that Kithamar, and the people within it, is a complex tapestry of life – even if it is not a place you want to hang around too long in. I suspect that we may have much more to discover in future books.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reasons I picked up this book:
- the cover
I can't help it, I do really care about them and do rather pick a book with a stunning one.
- the author
I have 'the expanse' for soo long on my tbr pile, and just found out that Daniel Abraham is the co-author, but I wasn't in a sci-fi mood and so I rather chose this book to dive into his prose and writing.
- it's new and has not a hype (not yet)
I watch, follow and read a lot of booktubers and bookstagramers and thus a lot of books get the "must read-stamp" which can sometimes mislead and build a hype which some Books cannot handle for my taste. Therefore reading this book without having a kind of pressure felt really fresh and sober (this may sound weird but I kind of give a lot on other opinions. wish I could mute it)
-
This book was fun and a fast read and again I did not read the blurb which let me dive into a unknown world with characters and a plot I really had no clue about and wow! that was a wild ride into such an amazing city.
And this is the strength of this book and Abrahams writing: his worldbuilding. You really run along the streets of kithamar.
Another thing which really stood out was that we have no romance and barely action/fighting scenes, which I really really really liked because I cannot stand these scenes any more.
If there need to be any, just write "they fought and our maincharacter won." and "they made love and our maincharacter won."
I'll handle the rest.
- the cover
I can't help it, I do really care about them and do rather pick a book with a stunning one.
- the author
I have 'the expanse' for soo long on my tbr pile, and just found out that Daniel Abraham is the co-author, but I wasn't in a sci-fi mood and so I rather chose this book to dive into his prose and writing.
- it's new and has not a hype (not yet)
I watch, follow and read a lot of booktubers and bookstagramers and thus a lot of books get the "must read-stamp" which can sometimes mislead and build a hype which some Books cannot handle for my taste. Therefore reading this book without having a kind of pressure felt really fresh and sober (this may sound weird but I kind of give a lot on other opinions. wish I could mute it)
-
This book was fun and a fast read and again I did not read the blurb which let me dive into a unknown world with characters and a plot I really had no clue about and wow! that was a wild ride into such an amazing city.
And this is the strength of this book and Abrahams writing: his worldbuilding. You really run along the streets of kithamar.
Another thing which really stood out was that we have no romance and barely action/fighting scenes, which I really really really liked because I cannot stand these scenes any more.
If there need to be any, just write "they fought and our maincharacter won." and "they made love and our maincharacter won."
I'll handle the rest.
