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A review by kadomi
A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
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.