The Kithamar Trilogy by Daniel Abraham

[ser naes yennet]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:30 PM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I recently finished the first book.  The city had life that really impressed me.  The idea of the city having a spirit all its own is facinating.  I’m looking forward to the next book.

reminds me of The Black Iron Legacy by Gareth Hanrahan.

[Spockydog]

Eek. What are they thinking? Probably won't end well.

 

 

[ljkeane]

I just finished Blade of Dream. I enjoyed it but there's a definite shift to a nicer, more pleasant story than Age of Ash maybe reflecting the circumstances of the characters. Which is interesting.

On 8/18/2023 at 6:17 PM, dog-days said:

In Age of Ash we were mostly following low-life. Winter seemed to swallow up the whole book, and although our middle and upper class Blade of Dream characters go through the same season, they have warm baths and fires tended by servants to keep the cold at bay. Alys and Sammish don't get any of that. Our BoD characters came across as rather nicer, softer people, having not spent large parts of their childhoods struggling on the edge of existence.

On that note Elaine comes across as generally a nice person, she cares for Theddan and she generally treats the people around her reasonably well given her circumstances, but it does seem like she doesn't know the names of any of her servants. She spends quite a lot of time with her coachman and trusts him to sneak her around but she's still thinking of him as 'the coachman'.

[Werthead]

Book 2: Blade of Dream

Quote

 

Garreth Left is the heir to one of the merchant families of Kithamar, but their economic prospects have become dire. An alliance with a faction outside the city provides salvation, but at a price that Garreth is not willing to pay. Elaine ab-Deniya Nycis a Sal is a princess of the city, the daughter to the heir apparent to the throne. Moving into the palace for the first time, she uncovers mysterious secrets that she should - but cannot - let go. Elaine and Garreth's destines entwine with those of a city watch captain and the ruler of the city's criminal underground, and a tumultuous year continues to turn around the great city of Kithamar.

The Kithamar Trilogy is Daniel Abraham's latest fantasy work. The co-author of the Expanse space opera series and the solo author of the Long Price Quartet and the Dagger and the Coin series, Abraham has long been praised as an author of character-based fantasy with interesting, original worlds and forms of magic. This trilogy takes a new approach, with three books set in the same city at the same time but involving different characters, sort of a fantasy version of Krzysztof Kieslowski's classic Three Colours film trilogy. Each story more or less stands alone but reading the whole trilogy results in greater understanding of the epic events unfolding under the surface: each book has a piece of the puzzle that becomes clear when all three are read.

 

Balancing this metaplot with the needs of the book at hand can be tricky, and the first book in the triad, Age of Ash, did not always succeed in doing so. It remains an excellent book but there was a greater feeling that you didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle. Blade of Dream is much more successful in crafting a compelling narrative on its own as well as working as part of a broader whole.

 

The story this time is perhaps a tad more traditional fantasy. Garreth is the young man unsure of his station and ambitions who rebels against the stifling destiny his family want to force on him. Elaine is the noblewoman likewise unsure of her station who has few friends she can trust, as opposed to those who want to take advantage of her station. They are thrust together by circumstances and find a new way forwards, through political intrigue, back-alley stabbings and full-on conflict between the city guard and a criminal organisation. Blade of Dream is literally a "higher" book than Age of Ash, taking place in the mercantile and royal districts whilst Age of Ash was more at home in the downmarket slums.

 

Blade of Dream certainly works as a far above-average example of a medieval (ish) city-set fantasy, but it's also a powerfully emotional book. Abraham delves into his characters' heads to craft very three-dimensional and interesting protagonists, and what drives and motivates them. I've occasionally mused that Abraham could be the closest author we have to becoming a natural heir of Guy Gavriel Kay, but that feeling is hugely intensified by this book. The traditional fantasy trappings could be dropped altogether and this would still work wonderfully as a character study. But those traditional fantasy trappings are here, and realised well with a compelling mystery and some fascinating worldbuilding.

 

Blade of Dream (****½) is an improvement on its forebear and marks this trilogy as Abraham's most mature and interesting work yet. The final novel in the trilogy, with the working title Judge of Worlds, is due out next year.

 

 

 

 

[williamjm]

I just finished Blade of Dream. I've been reading through the posts in this thread about it and I saw Karsen being brought up several times as a character who is still quite mysterious. I agree that he seems an obvious choice for one of the viewpoint characters in the third book. One theory I had when reading Blade of Dream about him was...

Spoiler

I think it is stated at some point early on that he is the same age as Bryn a Sal, so I wondered if the reason that Bryn isn't part of Kithamar's bloodline isn't because (as Kithamar thinks) Bryn's mother was unfaithful but whether the babies could instead have been swapped soon after birth, perhaps even with their parent's knowledge if their parents knew about Kithamar. It would explain why Aunt Thorn talks about killing him, because he could be used as a new host by Kithamar. It might also provide an explanation why Elaine is so confused about how to feel about the conversation she has with Karsen at the end.

Do we know whether there's a confirmed date for book 3 yet?

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, williamjm said:

Do we know whether there's a confirmed date for book 3 yet?

Judge of Worlds will be released on 24 April 2025, apparently.

[shortstark]

Doing a re read of Blade of Dreams and am just realizing that the Gods that exist in the World are like Andats that exist in Long Price.. although these are not bound..

@DanielAbraham am I bugging?

[DanielAbraham]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:32 AM, shortstark said:

Doing a re read of Blade of Dreams and am just realizing that the Gods that exist in the World are like Andats that exist in Long Price.. although these are not bound..

@DanielAbraham am I bugging?

There are some similarities, it's true.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 4/16/2024 at 12:32 PM, shortstark said:

Doing a re read of Blade of Dreams and am just realizing that the Gods that exist in the World are like Andats that exist in Long Price.. although these are not bound..

@DanielAbraham am I bugging?

I got the impression during LPQ that the binding created the Andat.  Yes there was sort of ambient magic that allowed the creation of Andat but it wasn’t like they were running around doing things until the poet defined and created the Andat with their writing.

[shortstark]

22 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

I got the impression during LPQ that the binding created the Andat.  Yes there was sort of ambient magic that allowed the creation of Andat but it wasn’t like they were running around doing things until the poet defined and created the Andat with their writing.

“She said that by our thoughts, we called forth forms. And those forms are what you and I call gods. Not really divine, but rather an expression of the congregation who summoned it. Summoned isn’t the right word. She uses egrygor . An Inlisc word that means ‘reflected lights.’ We focus and reflect these parts of ourselves into a thought that gains form and power. And that, she said, was what we worship and pray to, and what answers our prayer as well.” 

This the section that had me thinking Scot.. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

On 4/19/2024 at 7:25 AM, shortstark said:

“She said that by our thoughts, we called forth forms. And those forms are what you and I call gods. Not really divine, but rather an expression of the congregation who summoned it. Summoned isn’t the right word. She uses egrygor . An Inlisc word that means ‘reflected lights.’ We focus and reflect these parts of ourselves into a thought that gains form and power. And that, she said, was what we worship and pray to, and what answers our prayer as well.” 

This the section that had me thinking Scot.. 

I do see your point.  However, Andat resented their binding and existence and constantly attempted to destroy themselves as a result… this isn’t true of the “Gods” of Kithamar… but then the “Gods” in this series are free to act and aren’t bound by their creators as the “God” of Kithamar demonstrates.

Edited April 22 by Ser Scot A Ellison

[polishgenius]

I'd suggest that the Kithamar description is a version of the 'gods are created by belief' setup we've seen a few times down the years- Discworld and Sandman both use it, and there's a few others. The approach here is less direct than typical, and seemingly not the focus of the story, but it's something a bit different than the Andat, where belief doesn't have much to do with it (except maybe specifically the belief of the Poet). 

[DanielAbraham]

I'd say in both they are abstractions that acquire intentionality.  One of the transitions out of abstraction is effortful and difficult to maintain (LPQ) and the other is effortless to the point of being almost impossible to avoid (K).  Not the same system, but with some similar underlying metaphysics.