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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Le iba a dar 2 estrellas, porque se me ha hecho muy pesado, pero al final no me ha resultado tan malo. Creo que quiere ser muy ambicioso pero peca precisamente de eso, porque al final cuenta una historia muy manida, muy sencilla. Es difícil, en ocasiones, seguirle el ritmo a la novela de Abraham cuando la recompensa es tan bajita. Creo que con un estilo menos rocambolesco hubiera ganado mucho.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I received a proof copy from Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, murder, death, child death, body horror, grief, abandonment, kidnapping, fire, injury, toxic friendship
--
Daniel Abraham has woven together an alluring tale that is but one section of the tapestry that makes up the venerable city of Kithamar - the heart of this all new epic fantasy series.
Part of a trilogy of stories that occur within the same year, this first instalment predominantly accustoms us to the slums of Kithamar and follows two young street thieves from Longhill – Alys, as she stumbles down a path of grief and vengeance in the aftermath of her brother’s death and Sammish, who’s heart is set on helping her friend see through this dark period of her life in any way that she can. However, their lives soon become intertwined with the political machinations of the city and the darker secrets lurking in its shadows.
An ambitious jigsaw puzzle of a book, the opening pages of Age of Ash give us a completed picture that we gradually collect the pieces of as the story progresses to see how everything comes to be and I quite enjoyed this style of narration. Though I will outright say this book is one hell of a slow burner which may not be a lot of people’s cup of tea.
**I received a proof copy from Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, murder, death, child death, body horror, grief, abandonment, kidnapping, fire, injury, toxic friendship
--
Daniel Abraham has woven together an alluring tale that is but one section of the tapestry that makes up the venerable city of Kithamar - the heart of this all new epic fantasy series.
Part of a trilogy of stories that occur within the same year, this first instalment predominantly accustoms us to the slums of Kithamar and follows two young street thieves from Longhill – Alys, as she stumbles down a path of grief and vengeance in the aftermath of her brother’s death and Sammish, who’s heart is set on helping her friend see through this dark period of her life in any way that she can. However, their lives soon become intertwined with the political machinations of the city and the darker secrets lurking in its shadows.
An ambitious jigsaw puzzle of a book, the opening pages of Age of Ash give us a completed picture that we gradually collect the pieces of as the story progresses to see how everything comes to be and I quite enjoyed this style of narration. Though I will outright say this book is one hell of a slow burner which may not be a lot of people’s cup of tea.
"The world is so much rounder when you have more than just the one life in it."
Along with laying out a string of events that keep you intrigued, Abraham perfectly captures the atmosphere of the setting. With each chapter the prose full on drops you into the streets of the scene, touching on both the rich history that has shaped it into the place that it is and giving you a glimpse of the array of lives that keep it going. Kithamar is very much portrayed as a character itself.
Nevertheless, despite the worldbuilding being remarkably immersive it did start to drag the story out a little too much to the point that I kind of lost track of what made the different areas that we pass through actually stand out – other than which were the poorer areas and which were the richer areas.
"That's not fair."
"Who gives a shit? Who promised you fair? I didn't. Fair is good people get treated good, and bad people get the bad. That sound like anyplace you know? I've never been there."
What I personally found to be the strongest part of the story were the primary character arcs.
Alys isn’t the most likeable of characters and is downright frustrating for the most part however, a sense of empathy towards her situation gradually crept up on me the more I read. I became absorbed by her journey and the theme of grief which was so masterfully explored through her character.
However, Sammish was the character that I found myself rooting for the most. Her storyline surprisingly seemed more immediate to the overarching plot and I loved following how her compassion drove her to both utilise and step up from her predetermined role of “walk away” in order to set things straight.
“Everything stood on everything else, until she didn't know what she was mourning for except all of it. She was overwhelmed by a storm she couldn't see, but felt it beating at her from every direction.”
Along with these primary protagonists we also come across and are briefly put into the shoes of a handful of other interesting characters of varying morality, who give us glimpse into other lifestyles within the city. Perspectives that were higher up the social ladder and more directly involved with the politics and magic of the world, the latter of which hardly had enough attention in this first book.
Thus I’m very intrigued to see who is going to be shadowed in the forthcoming books in the series and what further secrets about Kithamar are to be revealed.
Final Rating – 3.75/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing style that I love in the Expanse series is evident in Abraham's step out into Fantasy. Alys and Sammish are a fascinating pair of characters to follow through out the book. You watch them struggle through grief, loss of first love, the person you love not being who you thought and general bad guys.
Also, the personification of the city. Albeit as living in the ruler. I am interested to see how Kithamar grows and what would happen if the city did not continue living on inside of the ruler.
Over all good first book and I look forward to seeing where the series goes.
Also, the personification of the city. Albeit as living in the ruler. I am interested to see how Kithamar grows and what would happen if the city did not continue living on inside of the ruler.
Over all good first book and I look forward to seeing where the series goes.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kithamar is a city populated by the typical cast of characters: the ruling elite, the middle class merchants, and the struggling poor. The story we are told in Age of Ash is concerned with the secrets of the ruling elite, but populated by the poor. We are taken into the impoverished areas of Kithamar and introduced to thieves running “pulls” to make enough money to survive. After a “pull” gone wrong, two of these thieves, Alys and Sammish, are caught up in a plot much bigger than themselves, changing how they see themselves and each other.
I was looking forward to this book. I have really enjoyed the work Daniel Abraham has been doing in the Expanse series, and was anticipating great things from his solo work, but it did not live up to my expectations. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but there were things that made the reading experience less enjoyable.
I’ll start with the good:
I really liked Sammish. She is smart, capable, and firm in her convictions. Alys is a bit less likeable, but I found her character arc believable. The villain (once we find out who that is) is convincing, but not so openly despicable that it’s over the top. While we are not given answers to every question, the end is satisfying and this could act as a stand-alone read for readers not interested in continuing the series.
Now the things that I didn’t like, or that didn’t make sense:
The biggest issue I had was in pacing. It took half of the book to actually figure out what was really going on, and while sometimes this makes a lot of sense for the story, I just felt confused.
There is also a lot of implied history, but it’s never fleshed out. We are often told whether people are Hansch or Inlisc, but not what this distinction means to the characters (other than they are different people groups, and one is more generally poor and looked down upon). This world building, however, might be fleshed out a bit more in the next instalment of the trilogy.
A small issue I had with the characters was that while we are told that Alys and Sammish are young, we are never (as far as I could tell) told how old they are. In general, I don’t need to know the ages of the characters I read, but it does help guide expectations around reactions and behaviours. I initially thought they were in their early teens, but then the rest of their behaviours didn’t make sense.
Overall, this ended up being a good read, and I’ll probably read the next one, but it wasn’t the big hit I was hoping it to be.
Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Age of Ash in exchange for an honest review.
I was looking forward to this book. I have really enjoyed the work Daniel Abraham has been doing in the Expanse series, and was anticipating great things from his solo work, but it did not live up to my expectations. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but there were things that made the reading experience less enjoyable.
I’ll start with the good:
I really liked Sammish. She is smart, capable, and firm in her convictions. Alys is a bit less likeable, but I found her character arc believable. The villain (once we find out who that is) is convincing, but not so openly despicable that it’s over the top. While we are not given answers to every question, the end is satisfying and this could act as a stand-alone read for readers not interested in continuing the series.
Now the things that I didn’t like, or that didn’t make sense:
The biggest issue I had was in pacing. It took half of the book to actually figure out what was really going on, and while sometimes this makes a lot of sense for the story, I just felt confused.
There is also a lot of implied history, but it’s never fleshed out. We are often told whether people are Hansch or Inlisc, but not what this distinction means to the characters (other than they are different people groups, and one is more generally poor and looked down upon). This world building, however, might be fleshed out a bit more in the next instalment of the trilogy.
A small issue I had with the characters was that while we are told that Alys and Sammish are young, we are never (as far as I could tell) told how old they are. In general, I don’t need to know the ages of the characters I read, but it does help guide expectations around reactions and behaviours. I initially thought they were in their early teens, but then the rest of their behaviours didn’t make sense.
Overall, this ended up being a good read, and I’ll probably read the next one, but it wasn’t the big hit I was hoping it to be.
Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Age of Ash in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character