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A review by joeri81
Shadow and Betrayal by Daniel Abraham
3.0
“Shadow and Betrayal” is the first omnibus of two in the Long Price Quartet series. It contains the first two books in the series: “A Shadow in Summer” and “A Betrayal in Winter”. Both books will first be discussed separately and afterwards I'll give an overall conclusion.
A Shadow in Summer:
The first book mostly plays out in Saraykeht, the dominating city of the Summer Cities. It has immeasurable wealth and a lot of this wealth comes forth from an andat named Seedless. It’s a creature made by the poet Heshai, most often described as an 'idea given volition'. It's Heshai who also controles the andat and he will do so until he dies and/or another poet takes his place. Together the poet and the andat not only ensure the wealth of the city, but also its safety, mostly from the Galts in the west who would like to conquer Saraykeht. This means that before the Galts can conquer Saraykeht they will need to remove Heshai and his andat. They already have the perfect plot to accomplish this …
I have to say that the story starts of pretty interesting with the prologue; it starts at the school where young children (sons of the Khai) are trained and educated in the hope to finally be chosen by the Dai-kvo to become one of the future poets. What follows next are some interesting chapters at first, following the main characters in Saraykeht, but unfortunately it doesn't take long before the story starts to dragg out. The pace goes down quickly and overall there isn't all that much happening.
Luckily the story has several aspects going for it. The characters are solid and the relationships among them make out an interesting and important part of the story. The story also has good world building; the society and its structure are nicely described and the world is also fleshed out nicely. On top of this the magic system with the andats is very different from what we’re used to. It also provides a satisfying ending with great consequences for Saraykeht and its future.
In the end I feel this was mostly an introduction to the world and the characters and a setting up for the next books. It certainly isn't an action packed story, it's more about the intrigue and the character relationships. A decent read!
Rating: 6.8/10 (3 Goodread stars)
A Betrayal in Winter:
Contrary to what I expected the story in the second book doesn’t continue in Saraykeht. We only get some glimpses of the fate of Saraykeht after the events in the first book. This time the story moves about 15 years into the future and is mainly situated in the north, in the city of Machi. Again the Galts try to manoeuvre the city politics in order to gain some advantage from it; they are responsible for the assassination of one of the sons of the Khai and with this they have set in motion the succession war for the Khai’s throne in Machi.
I felt that this one started off pretty strong as well, just like the first one. And although this one was also a slow burner, I felt it was more interesting as a whole. We again have a lot of intrigue and heart-breaking betrayals and in the centre of this are some of the characters we got to know in the first book. We learn what has happened to them these past years and how their lives have developed.
As with the first book the main strengths also lie in the characters; probably the most interesting new characters are the young poet Cehmai and his andat Stone-Made-Soft. I thought the concept of the andat and how it was controlled was also more interesting in this book. The character development and relationships were again greatly done, as was the world building. The story itself is slow placed, but provides some more interesting scenes then the first book does. In the end I also feel the second book is slightly better than the first.
Rating: 7.2 /10 (3 Goodread stars)
Conclusion:
I can say that the book has good writing, interesting and good developed characters, nice world building and intriguing magic. The story itself is good but not very exciting; it doesn’t have much action. The excitement there is mostly comes from intrigue and tension between characters. So in the end I can say that Daniel Abraham does a lot of good things in this book, but he doesn’t do anything extraordinary. My overall feeling is that this was just an ok read.
Does this mean that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else? Not necessarily! In the end it all depends on what you want from a fantasy novel. If you are satisfied with a lot of intrigue, solid characters and good character relationships, an interesting world with a different kind of magic … then this book could be something for you. If you absolutely search for a lot of action and you prefer epic fantasy with large battles, I think you’d better pass on this one. I myself don't need a full action packed story, but in this case the book really was way too slow for me to enjoy it a lot. It did get more interesting in the end, but by then I just wanted to be done with it and move on to my next read. That’s also the reason I’m currently reading something completely different before heading into the second omnibus.
Finally, I want to emphasize that “Shadow and Betrayal” certainly isn't a bad book, overall I still liked it, but it just wasn’t exactly what I want from fantasy (or at least not at this moment). From what I understood things will improve a lot in the second omnibus which contains the final two novels in the series; there should be a lot more excitement to come. I’ll be delving into this once I’ve finished my current read.
Rating: 7 / 10
A Shadow in Summer:
The first book mostly plays out in Saraykeht, the dominating city of the Summer Cities. It has immeasurable wealth and a lot of this wealth comes forth from an andat named Seedless. It’s a creature made by the poet Heshai, most often described as an 'idea given volition'. It's Heshai who also controles the andat and he will do so until he dies and/or another poet takes his place. Together the poet and the andat not only ensure the wealth of the city, but also its safety, mostly from the Galts in the west who would like to conquer Saraykeht. This means that before the Galts can conquer Saraykeht they will need to remove Heshai and his andat. They already have the perfect plot to accomplish this …
I have to say that the story starts of pretty interesting with the prologue; it starts at the school where young children (sons of the Khai) are trained and educated in the hope to finally be chosen by the Dai-kvo to become one of the future poets. What follows next are some interesting chapters at first, following the main characters in Saraykeht, but unfortunately it doesn't take long before the story starts to dragg out. The pace goes down quickly and overall there isn't all that much happening.
Luckily the story has several aspects going for it. The characters are solid and the relationships among them make out an interesting and important part of the story. The story also has good world building; the society and its structure are nicely described and the world is also fleshed out nicely. On top of this the magic system with the andats is very different from what we’re used to. It also provides a satisfying ending with great consequences for Saraykeht and its future.
In the end I feel this was mostly an introduction to the world and the characters and a setting up for the next books. It certainly isn't an action packed story, it's more about the intrigue and the character relationships. A decent read!
Rating: 6.8/10 (3 Goodread stars)
A Betrayal in Winter:
Contrary to what I expected the story in the second book doesn’t continue in Saraykeht. We only get some glimpses of the fate of Saraykeht after the events in the first book. This time the story moves about 15 years into the future and is mainly situated in the north, in the city of Machi. Again the Galts try to manoeuvre the city politics in order to gain some advantage from it; they are responsible for the assassination of one of the sons of the Khai and with this they have set in motion the succession war for the Khai’s throne in Machi.
I felt that this one started off pretty strong as well, just like the first one. And although this one was also a slow burner, I felt it was more interesting as a whole. We again have a lot of intrigue and heart-breaking betrayals and in the centre of this are some of the characters we got to know in the first book. We learn what has happened to them these past years and how their lives have developed.
As with the first book the main strengths also lie in the characters; probably the most interesting new characters are the young poet Cehmai and his andat Stone-Made-Soft. I thought the concept of the andat and how it was controlled was also more interesting in this book. The character development and relationships were again greatly done, as was the world building. The story itself is slow placed, but provides some more interesting scenes then the first book does. In the end I also feel the second book is slightly better than the first.
Rating: 7.2 /10 (3 Goodread stars)
Conclusion:
I can say that the book has good writing, interesting and good developed characters, nice world building and intriguing magic. The story itself is good but not very exciting; it doesn’t have much action. The excitement there is mostly comes from intrigue and tension between characters. So in the end I can say that Daniel Abraham does a lot of good things in this book, but he doesn’t do anything extraordinary. My overall feeling is that this was just an ok read.
Does this mean that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else? Not necessarily! In the end it all depends on what you want from a fantasy novel. If you are satisfied with a lot of intrigue, solid characters and good character relationships, an interesting world with a different kind of magic … then this book could be something for you. If you absolutely search for a lot of action and you prefer epic fantasy with large battles, I think you’d better pass on this one. I myself don't need a full action packed story, but in this case the book really was way too slow for me to enjoy it a lot. It did get more interesting in the end, but by then I just wanted to be done with it and move on to my next read. That’s also the reason I’m currently reading something completely different before heading into the second omnibus.
Finally, I want to emphasize that “Shadow and Betrayal” certainly isn't a bad book, overall I still liked it, but it just wasn’t exactly what I want from fantasy (or at least not at this moment). From what I understood things will improve a lot in the second omnibus which contains the final two novels in the series; there should be a lot more excitement to come. I’ll be delving into this once I’ve finished my current read.
Rating: 7 / 10