Begin again

First post of 2013!

I've been busy reading, but I didn't do a post for the first five books yet as four of them are in a series and I wanted to talk about them all together. So...

Books 1, 2, 3 and 5 are:
A Shadow in Summer
A Betrayal in Winter
An Autumn War
The Price of Spring
by Daniel Abraham

There's a lot going on these books; 'magic' and courtly politics, family dynamics and war. We're introduced to our main character, Otah Machi as a young boy. He's been sent away by his family to learn to be a poet, a man who will control the power of an andat, which is basically the magic of the country of the Khaiem, and this is a magic no other country in the world possesses. The cities of the Khaiem rely on the Andat; in Saraykhet, the main commerce is cotton, and the andat Seedless takes the seeds from the cotton instantly, meaning Saraykhet can turn it's cotton around faster than anywhere else in the world. Machi's andat is Stone-Made-Soft, and so is home to vast, intricate mines. But there is a darker half to the benevolence of andats, Seedless can also end unwanted pregnancies, and Stone-Made-Soft could level mountains. With power like that, the other countries, including war-like expansionist Galt, have left the cities of the Khaiem alone for centuries, fearing that the andat would be turned on them if they ever invaded.

But I get ahead of myself. It is as a child that Otah makes a decision that will contribute to the breaking of the world many times over; after a moment of cruelty to an even younger boy, Otah then attempts to make amends for the cruelty and tells the younger boy basically the 'secret' to succeeding at the school. And so the younger boy, Maati, is selected to be a poet, and in the scheme of things, this ends up being not the best decision.

Abraham is not shy about doing drastic things and I always admire that in a good fantasy story. I wasn't being hyperbolic when I said that he breaks his world numerous times and in different ways and all are a kick in the gut. He also advances the timeline between books significantly, which is also great because yes, things don't always move at breakneck speed but instead take time to root and be planned and fester before shit happens.

These books are very melancholy, but it's a beautiful, terrible melancholy that makes them highly enjoyable.