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A review by the1germ
A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
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.