163 replies to this topic

[Migey]

I was lucky and managed to get The Price of Spring for hardcover for around 30 pounds. However i have all the other three as paperbacks which kinda annoys me.

[Starbuck]

Finished the first book yesterday. I thought it was okay, the story being not overly exciting but not being a quick reader at all (mostly into audiobooks due to time reasons), I consider it a small miracle that I actually finished the book in five days :-)

I did not have any problems with the poses at all. I just thought it was the peoples way to speak, like Italians tend to speak supporting their words with their hands a lot. So when in Rome... :-)

Abrahams writing I was overly excited about - it's totally different than GRRMs classy, kind of medieval-ish language, Abrahams being rather contemporary (at least in the German translation). But as I stated before, it ready astoundingly quick... the world itself feels rather bland compared to ASOIAF, and the number of characters is pretty small, but I already ordered the second book. So something must be right about it...

[Shinrei]

Rather bland compared to Westeros...uh ok...to each his own i guess. I found Daniel's world much more enticing in that it has its own flavour (which i appreciate) compared to Martin's much more "mix of usual suspects" aka mirror to medieval europe with slight twists.

Anyway, back to topic: Finished the third book yesterday...oh my...that was harsh . What an emotional impact...and i found it brilliant. Although after reading the synopsis for the last book i kind of fear what will happen
If that is not what any writer tries to awaken in his readers...i don't know

Now i am off to start Price of Spring...

[dornish prince]

my kindle tells me that i am just past the half way point of the first book and i am really enjoying it so far.  i am another who has no problem with the poses.  to me, it adds a touch of embellishment to the culture and i dig stuff like that.  i just finished reading wise man's fear before this and  the hand language of the adem is very similar so maybe that prepared me for it

i'll certainly be continuing on after the first book.

[Triskele]

Of all the things to not like, I find the poses to be a really strange one.  When I was kind of "meh-ing" my way through the first two books, I thought the poses were one of the coolest parts.

Shinrei and DP - If you guys are liking them from the spot you're at, I think you're going to love what remains.

[sologdin]

the posture stuff is great.


managed to obtain a hardbound of volume four for $9.00, rather than the $900.00 that some vendors want, which signifies that the market for abraham books is sufficiently distorted to require a federal bailout.

[Ser Plissken]

Just finished A Shadow in Summer.

While I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading the next instalment in the series, I am somewhat confused by the event which the story revolves around.

I got the impression that everyone knew Maj's baby was going to die before Heshai/Seedless pulled it from her body.  Is this not what the Sad Trade is?  If so, then why all the fuss?

[polishgenius]

Ser Plissken, on 11 April 2012 - 10:40 AM, said:

I got the impression that everyone knew Maj's baby was going to die before Heshai/Seedless pulled it from her body.  Is this not what the Sad Trade is?  If so, then why all the fuss?

Spoiler

Maj didn't know, because of a corrupt translator, and apart from the conspirators the others obviously didn't know that she didn't. Hence Heshai's guilt: it's over killing the baby against the mother's wishes.

[Starbuck]

Wow, this series really is picking up speed with the second book. Abraham is constantly expanding the canvas of the Khainiverse, right now I'm in the middle of the third book and really hooked... what a difference to the rather "small" story of the first book.

Now I understand why this series was recommended to fans of ASOIAF. Very exciting.

[Marcus Cicero]

I read the first a few months back, and am now trying to figure out whether to continue. The poses didn't bother me, and there was a lot to like. The end was fantastic. However, although they were well developed, the characters weren't really quirky enough for my preferences.

[Galactus]

I always kind of felt that the concept of the Andat was way too under-used, oddly enough.

[Jaxom 1974]

Okay, book two is done and it was on another level than the first.  I'm 20 or so pages into the third and the prologue alone of that one was worth the price of admission...

My one confusion from the second book though:

Spoiler

What about Otah's brothers?  Maati is meets them at the outset of the story and they never appear again together, but when we're done with the scene, it's not clear at all that they were looking to go into the killing each other business...yet one is dead and the other appears later on...did I miss something there?  Or is there something going to happen later on?

[Errant Bard]

Spoiler

It's been a long time, but as far is I remember, it was Idaan, the sister, who murdered them, and neither of them had really taken offensive measures against the other.

[The Lion of Valyria]

Not sure if it has been posted here, but the second omnibus (with books 3 and 4), titled The Price of War, will be released November 27 (according to B&N at least).

[Jaxom 1974]

Errant Bard, on 02 July 2012 - 12:10 AM, said:

Spoiler

It's been a long time, but as far is I remember, it was Idaan, the sister, who murdered them, and neither of them had really taken offensive measures against the other.

Spoiler

The Galt agent got the first brother in the Prologue.  The other two brothers are in the first chapter at the Dai-Kvo's meeting Maati.  Then later one of those two brothers shows up to claim the seat of the Khai, having killed the other brother.  My issue is that there was no indication that the two of them were prepared to kill each other at that point.  Subsequently, their sister kills the claimant brother and her husband kills their father.

I truly thought there was some other conspiracy in place for the longest time as the claiming brother showed so quickly after Otah was in chains.  That his sister killed him and had their father killed spoke of a wrench in the plan.  The other brother I expected to arrive at the end and be hale and healthy.

I obviously missed something somewhere.

[Spartanstark]

I've read the first two books.  I would say the series so far is good but not great.  I think the best thing to say about the series is that it at least tries to be something new and different. It stays away from most of the old D&D fantasy/Tolkein style cliches that dominate genre.

[Jaxom 1974]

I honestly am not sure what I felt at the end of the third book.  I know I wanted it to go further, for there to be some sort of Hollywood save ending to make things better.  I know it went in a direction I didn't expect.  I kept waiting for something grand to turn with Sinja, but it didn't, so I never got the chance to truly root for him, it was always on the edge of thinking he might become a legendary second tier character in fantasty lore (a la The Hound or Jaquen).  It was good.  It was really good.  But like a lot of the characters of the story, I felt hollow after I was done.

Needless to say I jumped right into book four...

[Tears of Lys]

Galactus, on 03 May 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

I always kind of felt that the concept of the Andat was way too under-used, oddly enough.

I could have read about the Andat forever, even though I understand why they were a dangerous, unpredictable and, therefore, unsuitable long-term weapon.  Reading about their "prices" was absolutely fascinating too.  I would have gladly sat at the knee of the Tai-Kvo to hear stories of failed Poets.

[Shryke]

Jaxom 1974, on 09 July 2012 - 08:50 PM, said:

I honestly am not sure what I felt at the end of the third book.  I know I wanted it to go further, for there to be some sort of Hollywood save ending to make things better.  I know it went in a direction I didn't expect.  I kept waiting for something grand to turn with Sinja, but it didn't, so I never got the chance to truly root for him, it was always on the edge of thinking he might become a legendary second tier character in fantasty lore (a la The Hound or Jaquen).  It was good.  It was really good.  But like a lot of the characters of the story, I felt hollow after I was done.

Needless to say I jumped right into book four...

Well the plot can be epic at times, the characterization in the series is very much quiet and turns on smaller things. It's not the series for grand epic epiphanies and catharsis.

[Durckad]

One of the best series I've read recently and certainly one of the best finished series I've ever read.

I liked pretty much everything about the books, from the slow-to-deliberate pacing, the poses, the low-key worldbuilding, the cultures, the andat, the characters and how, while the main characters do err on the side of being flawed but good people, there are really no true villains either.  I was actually rooting for the 'villain' (if you could call him that) in book 3, even if his methods were overly harsh, he had a point and he was right.  Great series, I just wish I hadn't waited so long to jump in.  I remember when I first read the blurb about the first book and I thought 'That sounds boring as hell. I'm not reading that.'  Oh how wrong I was.

I'm actually one of the weirdos who doesn't think the first book is the weakest.  I really liked the setting of the summer city and the stories of these young kids just starting out their lives and getting caught up in something big.  I'd actually say the second is the weakest, there are a few parts that I kinda had to slog through, but even then it was very good.  Books 3 and 4 are pretty much perfect though.

I'm really looking forward to doing a reread as I read the four books over the course of a year and a half, so it'll be interesting to revisit books 1 and 2 again.