The Long Price Quartet

[wolverine]

Spring did not rock my world by any means, but it was good and interesting enough to make me want to continue reading.

[williamjm]

I actually accidentally started reading An Autumn War right after A Shadow in Summer (I assumed it was the next one based on seasons!). I think I got about 20% into it before I was sure that I had skipped something. At first I just assumed we had skipped ahead to the next "important" part of his life, with just a few hints and references to what had got him there. So I don't think it would be totally un-doable to start with An Autumn War.

I think I was lucky I had the omnibus editions since I also assumed that they would be in order of seasons (maybe having flashbacks to reading the season-themed Dragonlance books many years ago) so was a bit surprised when Summer was followed by Winter. I think maybe A Betrayal In Winter might be the least crucial of the books to the series, it does add to Otah and Maati's characterisation but I don't think it's as important to the series as A Shadow in Summer.

[frodostark]

I think what I liked so much about the final book was the push to get another Andat by Maati and his group, the eventual success, and then the catastrophic consequences of having a mentally unstable poet. And Otah's side trying to deal w/ it all with Eiah sort of on both sides. I thought that andat created a lot of tension, and it really brought home the whole "how did we ever think we could control these things" theme.

This is very true and I was also extremely moved by Maati's and Otah's relationship and how it had changed since the first book.

[Shryke]

I think I was lucky I had the omnibus editions since I also assumed that they would be in order of seasons (maybe having flashbacks to reading the season-themed Dragonlance books many years ago) so was a bit surprised when Summer was followed by Winter. I think maybe A Betrayal In Winter might be the least crucial of the books to the series, it does add to Otah and Maati's characterisation but I don't think it's as important to the series as A Shadow in Summer.

It's why it's my least favourite. It very much feels like a book that had to happen to move characters from A to B and that's it.

[Tears of Lys]

It seems like the drama w/ Idaan is the main thread in that book, and I just don't see how it really matters all that much at the end of the day. Also, my memory isn't all that great, but I feel like all of the andat in the quartet end up being very significant in one way or the other. Seedless creates a lot of tension in the first book. The rogue poet's short-lived andat in book 3 had huge implications. Blindness and Sterile as well. But I don't really remember how Stone-Made-Soft factored in too much other than maybe just to help illustrate via Cemai (sp) how the poet has to work a bit to control them.

Stone-Made-Soft was AWESOME! This opinion may be due to the fact that I had a bit of a literature-crush on Cehmai and his alter ego, though. The interactions between the andat and their poets was one of the most fascinating parts of this series, if not THE most fascinating.

[Durckad]

It seems like the drama w/ Idaan is the main thread in that book, and I just don't see how it really matters all that much at the end of the day. Also, my memory isn't all that great, but I feel like all of the andat in the quartet end up being very significant in one way or the other. Seedless creates a lot of tension in the first book. The rogue poet's short-lived andat in book 3 had huge implications. Blindness and Sterile as well. But I don't really remember how Stone-Made-Soft factored in too much other than maybe just to help illustrate via Cemai (sp) how the poet has to work a bit to control them.

Stone-Made-Soft is really the least overtly malicious of the andat seen in the story, compared to Blindness, Wounded and Sterile, but it has an almost casual disregard for human life. Consider the way Cehmai has to restrain it from bringing down entire mountains or collapsing mines, just because that's what it does. It just shows that even the best of the andat (or the least worst) is an incredibly terrible thing to keep around.

[Tears of Lys]

Who hasn't wanted to bring a wall down on a douchebag now and then?

[Arbor Gold]

It just shows that even the best of the andat (or the least worst) is an incredibly terrible thing to keep around.

One of the most tense scenes in the entire series for me was the one where Stone-Made-Soft makes Cehmai play the game while he is emotionally devastated over Idaan. The point when Cehmai realizes that he is losing, and the realization at just how much of a cunning bastard Stone-Made-Soft can be was incredibly well-done.

[Tears of Lys]

That WAS a great scene. I was pretty much sweating it right along with Cehmai as his control teetered on the brink. And then later, how lost Cehmai was when the andat just disappeared on him. I could really feel the mental anguish, confusion, and desperation Cehmai experienced.

Cehmai comes across as a... not shallow, but kind of boyish, innocent, inexperienced kid when he's first introduced. His control of an extremely powerful andat like Stone-Made-Soft and their casual, bantering relationship was quite a contrast to Seedless and Heshai. To have him then fall in love with someone like Idaan - such a tortured person! - revealed even greater depths.

But that's not unusual in this series. So many characters are riveting and vital. There's a couple that probably weren't used to their fullest extent, like maybe Otah's wife and the mercenary (can't recall his name - and I never did understand what the heck was going on between the two.) But these are miniscule flaws in an otherwise fantastic series.

[polishgenius]

Regarding the whole 'it's all of a piece discussion': well, for me, almost. To me, A Shadow in Summer feels almost like a prologue and then the next three are a whole, continuous unseparable story. Which is why I agree with those who think that book 2 felt the weakest, as it does cover some of the same introductory ground, and I think conceivably a person could start with Winter, though they'd miss out on a lot, especially in terms of character motivations and relationships and I wouldn't recommend it.

It is generally much more difficult to separate out this series into discrete parts though, which is interesting as there's a hell of a lot more time between each part than most series. Certainly, while the latter 2 books have lots of stuff going on it's very much rooted in emotional heft that runs right through the series, much more than most - like, if a person read a Storm of Swords first, while they might not feel it quite as strongly as someone reading the series in order, they'd still get that visceral shock from things, whereas I do seriously doubt if a person starting with the last two books in Long PRice would get much out of them emotionally.

[Lyanna Stark]

That WAS a great scene. I was pretty much sweating it right along with Cehmai as his control teetered on the brink. And then later, how lost Cehmai was when the andat just disappeared on him. I could really feel the mental anguish, confusion, and desperation Cehmai experienced.

Cehmai comes across as a... not shallow, but kind of boyish, innocent, inexperienced kid when he's first introduced. His control of an extremely powerful andat like Stone-Made-Soft and their casual, bantering relationship was quite a contrast to Seedless and Heshai. To have him then fall in love with someone like Idaan - such a tortured person! - revealed even greater depths.

I loved this too, how Cehmai came across as so boyish and innocent and yet he was so steadfast when it came to fierce, untamed Idaan. Completely agree too on how it really shone a new light on his character that he was so unflinching and determined about Idaan despite what she had done and who she was.

Idaan herself really blew me away too. A female character that is allowed to do terrible things and still achieve some sort of redemption, while still retaining her own personality and not submitting to some sort of stereotype of the Good Woman. Like the cherry on top, she also has this amazingly complicated relationship with motherhood which is described only briefly but so incredibly well.

In fact, I think TLPQ has some of the best and most moving romances, and one of them is Cehmai/Idaan.

[Jaxom 1974]

*Le Sigh*

[Errant Bard]

*Le Sigh*

Your point is interesting, please elaborate. Is it maybe related to this thread?

[Jaxom 1974]

Oh no. Not at all.

Merely stating, in my own way, I'd finally finished LPQ and it was so bitter sweet...

[Tears of Lys]

About the ending...

WRT the issue of death, it's always been a philosophical comfort to me that when an individual dies, while still a great loss, so much of humanity remains and continues. Qualities an individual had are not singular and unique, but shared among Humankind. IOW, we're all just grains of sand on the beach or stars in the sky; that when one winks out, it does not diminish the great whole.

The ending of LPQ really gave me a sock in the stomach and laid waste to my theories.

ETA: Damn. i must have been on crack when I wrote that. I cleaned it up so it made sense. :P

[Starbuck]

Wow, the second part of book IV really made amends for the slow start

What a thriller it became once Vanjit lost her marbles

Really felt the series ended quite satisfying, did not see the end coming as I thought the whole world was gone downhill too far, they can't possibly save this mess anymore... :-)

What I really did not understand in the fourth book was Maatis & Eias motivation. Of course Maati wanted to make up things for his mess in book III, but how could they be so mad at Otah when he just tried to keep his people from getting extinct? For me, the logical conclusion of the happenings in "Autumn" was that now these two countries have to work close together to survive - how it took them 15 years to get there is beyond my imagination... mankinds thrive to populate their planet has always been majorly strong so it would not really take them so long to search for different solutions! I thought that was not very realistic, and maybe that added to my feeling of alienation during the first half of "spring". A country without children? I don't buy it with so many other women from other countries to procreate with.

But all in all: A really good story, glad that I've decided to give it a try.

[Tears of Lys]

You really can't understand how two countries took 15 years to come to the conclusion that they needed each other to survive??

What was amazing to me was that they were able to come together at all!

Just look at our own example here on Earth!

[Starbuck]

You really can't understand how two countries took 15 years to come to the conclusion that they needed each other to survive??

What was amazing to me was that they were able to come together at all!

Just look at our own example here on Earth!

Is this spoiler stuff anymore? Not sure about it.

You're making a good general point there. But what we're talking about here is extinction. Both people are on the brink of getting extinct, and I don't see the women of Galtland standing idly by saying "oh my darling you can't procreate, so I'll have no children at all" :-) If Issandra and Ana are any example of how powerful Galtish women are, no way they are standing there 15 years, biological clock ticking, just doing nothing. Of course you don't have to reconcile the two enemies to reach that target. Galtish women just have to go over the border, meet some Western, Eddensea, Eymond or Baktish hunk and be done with it ;-) Some might be too morally restricted to do so, but the majority would try to find a practical solution like that - never underestimate the power of the biological clock :-).

[Rob B]

Well, I'm halfway through An Autumn War and each book gets better. I'm really enjoying the slower paced, more measured feel of these books.

[Marcus Cicero]

Just finished A Betrayal in Winter. A big bump up over the first entry.

The best aspects of the story were Idaan's escalating quest for power and Otah returning home to face his roots. The relationship between Otah and Maati is more complex and compelling than in Shadow. The end is a little too neat; Idaan's fall and Otah's ascendance happen with somewhat of a whimper. Perhaps this won't matter if it segues well into the third book, which I'm pretty excited about reading. I have the second omnibus in the mail now.

Also, I find the characterization to be a mixed bag. Abraham handles character decision and conflict well, but so far he isn't a master of personality. Three characters central to the book, Otah, Maati, and Cehmai, all have unique storylines and conflicts, but they're not very distinct from one another. So far the strongest characters in the series have been Seedless, Stone-Made-Soft (I know, he's technically an aspect of Cehmai), and Idaan.