A Shadow in Summer

Feb 17, 2010 Ceridwen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Ninja Sock Puppet

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, stolen-from-richard, it-s-alive

Cross-posted on Readerling

Regularly, I spend maybe too much time agonizing about star-ratings, because they are dumb and evil and should be abolished. There's a lot in this book to love – a lot – but I cheated on it with no less than three other books, profligate that I am, and usually when I get to cuckolding it is Not A Good Sign. But now, a week or so past when I finally finished this novel, I think the cheating was vital to my enjoyment. (Look at me justify the sluttiness!) No, seriously, th...more Cross-posted on Readerling

Regularly, I spend maybe too much time agonizing about star-ratings, because they are dumb and evil and should be abolished. There's a lot in this book to love – a lot – but I cheated on it with no less than three other books, profligate that I am, and usually when I get to cuckolding it is Not A Good Sign. But now, a week or so past when I finally finished this novel, I think the cheating was vital to my enjoyment. (Look at me justify the sluttiness!) No, seriously, this book is weird. It's difficult to sum up the plot; the ideas are subtle, textured, and more intimate that the usual OMG SMASH SMASH of science fiction or fantasy.

And now, a random digression into genre. I fight Richard tooth and nail about the distinction between fantasy and scifi, because he's always saying thing like, “I hate fantasy. All those godamn elves.” And then I point out that he totally hearts Neil Gaiman and Tolkien, so what is he talking about? And he says if it doesn't have elves in it, it's not fantasy. And then comes the name calling and taunting. When I went to class this book on my admittedly bullshit shelves here on GoodReads, I realized I'd internalized his hard line in the sand between genres – a book is either one or the other, with no meeting in the middle.

This book meets in the middle. There's magic, but it is so tightly circumscribed as to be just a mind-blowing metaphor for the ways in which a technology encompasses a world view. Tolkien, in all of the snore-inducing extra-biblical writings about Middle Earth, re-writes God's Divine Logos as a song, each life adding a note or chord into the chorus of history. Le Guin's Earthsea books use word-magic, the idea of a pre-Fallen language, to sketch her ideas about the Tao. Even crappy young Christopher Paolini, not so much standing on the shoulders of giants as having a piggy-back ride, sees magic as resting in language, even if his magic is stupid and pointless.

In A Shadow in Summer, the magic is language-based, but language-based the way my computer is programmed. I have a really bad background in math, so I took a lot of logic classes in college because they count as math credit – it's all, like, symbolic, man! So I'd translate an argument into a proof – all of those neat symbols adding up into incontrovertible proof of God's existence one page, or His divine non-existence the other, and eventually that translation seemed as slippery as fish, as cold as fish, as fishy as fish. The proof is not proof, as they say. The argument can be watertight and wrong. “And” and “but” are both translated into the same symbol - & - but they do not have the same connotation.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that in this book, a group of people called “poets” call into being beings called “andats” who are slippery folk, fishy folk, complex non-persons who embody an idea. Much of the plot of ASIS deals with the andat Removing That Which Continues, who is commonly called Seedless. He's person-like - he walks and talks but doesn't really breathe – but he was called into being by a poet for the purposes of continuing the monopoly on the cotton trade that his culture enjoys. The previous andat ripened cotton; this one removes the seeds. As an almost unintended effect, Seedless also presides over the Sad Trade, as abortion is called in this reality. The andat are called and bound by poets after long study, and the failure to bind the idea results in the death of the poet. Released after the death of their poet, the andat returns to the great-unbeing, and calling them up again becomes harder and harder for later poets.

Ideas are tricky; technology, magical as it is, is tricky. The pocket watch made of gears is rendered obsolete by the digital watch, not only because digital information is more useful to culture – arguably, arguably - but because the pocket watch was invented to compute longitude, and that's simply not a concern in the digital age, because the digital is an analog for the analog, and we've harness the digital to entirely different ends. And now I'm talking nonsense, but I'm sure there's something to my nonsense. Abraham's andats are technology manifest – the way a new invention, a new idea, insinuates into our history almost compulsively – reworking what we think about society and people and the order of those things. How much of our ideas of the nation-state are dependent on the Bomb, the machine gun? How did the printing press reorder Medieval notions of God - and would the Enlightenment have happened without it?

I've been blathering pseudo-metaphysically, but the beauty of this book is in how careful the character sketches are, how concise the language is. There were moments when I would ah-ah-ah ah ah – the way Abraham would describe the skin on almost-frozen water, or the moment of revelation when you see the possibilities blooming like blood into water, and I would be stopped cold by the power of his language. I've got some problems with the multi-volume fantasy/sf “trilogy”, and this is no exception: the first half is almost inert, stagy, setting the players very carefully on the playing field like little green army men about to work out their inevitable battle. But (and?) then in the latter half the characters come to life and start moving unexpectedly – not in violation with their characters, but in the way people make stunning choices that make sense only after the fact. Like logic, Abraham translates a technology into a person, a person who speaks back, who schemes and plans, and his translation turns on the subtle distinction between “and” and “but” - the diction of culture.

There's other clever things in this story – Abraham alludes to a language of posture that exists in the culture he's created – how someone can say something, and then raise their arms to mean welcome or irony or gratitude. This takes some getting used to, but this is subtly done, the way some characters use this body language easily, and others don't – how any ritualized behavior has implications as to cultural status and placement. My most giggle-producing moment was when I realized that Seedless is a Cotton Djinn – sound it out - maybe this is funny to me and maybe just me, but I wonder even now if that's what Abraham intended, this sly pun that turns on the way translation is both funny and sad, bound by language that is untranslatable. (less)

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Apr 05, 2011 Eh?Eh! rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: babble-added, ceridwen-sockpuppet

The review that hooked me: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The review that should've hooked me much earlier: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I don't think beginning this series with a marathon reading session while sick was the best approach, since fevers make me to skim faster and I missed some intricacies. Illness also makes me so lazy, such that I was unwilling to move even though I'd hunched down into a painful sitting/crouching/fetal position. Despite that (and despite the v...more The review that hooked me: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The review that should've hooked me much earlier: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I don't think beginning this series with a marathon reading session while sick was the best approach, since fevers make me to skim faster and I missed some intricacies. Illness also makes me so lazy, such that I was unwilling to move even though I'd hunched down into a painful sitting/crouching/fetal position. Despite that (and despite the visual trumpet-blare of the pompous title fonts, and my current aversion to epics) this was an incredible fantasy story. I skipped ahead and around to follow a character's storyline, just because it was so fascinating. I just finished stumbling through the last bits of the 4 books and I'm going to have to get over my epic aversion to re-read this all properly someday. I would give this series more than 4 stars, a little less than 5 stars.

10 generations ago (which isn't actually all that long, is it? a few hundred years?) an empire fell and now its remnants, called the Summer Cities, still dominate the world with its wealth, based on a fraction of the power it once had. This power comes from control of creatures called andats, 'ideas given volition' is the description from the book I think, that are created by poets; not those laureates who speak at inaugurations or publish slim volumes or, ahem, rhyme stuff ("Stop it! I mean it!" "Would anybody like a peanut?" – that's my kind of poetry), but scholars who strive to completely capture a concept with a special grammar meant for this purpose and hold it in their minds, bending it to their will...magic. The andat takes on the form and personality imagined by the poet, an embodiment of the creator's mind. Unfortunately, once caught and lost, the exact same idea can't be recaptured. If you try, you die. The grammar has to be adjusted to describe it differently if possible; as the years go on, it becomes impossible to find a unique description and the andat, the idea, has to be abandoned. It's possible to bestow an andat upon another person, another poet. Each of the cities has its own poet, each andat's power used to boost the particular trade that is the basis of each city's economy.

The Summer Cities culture is obviously drawn from Asia, with the almond eyes and teahouses, but how beautiful the added touches are! Letters having edges sewn with silk thread are tucked into sleeves; firekeepers maintain braziers along major thoroughfares during cold months; the language consists of as many gestures as words; the suffix -kvo is used for teachers, -cha for respect, and -kya for great affection – grace notes in this wicked awesome story. And man, can this author write. Too many lines that made me pause to appreciate, even in a feverish haze. I wish I had the head to remember quotes to share them, but all I remember is the lift that comes from knowing something is very good.

This first book introduces the world (building it, hah). It begins at the poet school where we learn how they attempt to select the right people to potentially wield andats. Then fast-forward to a young poet sent to one of the cities to be ready to take on the residing poet's andat when the time comes. A plot to destroy the current poet is revealed to be just a feeler. Threading around the plot are all the human relations that complicate everything. There is the expected love triangle, whatever, but better is the delicate hum of Marchat and Amat. Wonderful and quietly sad. Anyway, the feeler plot felt flabby and small until it swelled to include nations and then gut-punches a reader with a series of, uh, punches. In the gut. That final sentence, wow. It's like the whole book was an orchestra just before a performance, sawing bows and turning knobs, an oddly harmonious dissonance (heh, I know, dumb, but when the strings are tuning and don't quite match but all sound like a piece of silk running up your back...that!), and at the last sentence the conductor dramatically raises his baton....(less)

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Feb 06, 2011 Jacob rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, sci-fi-fantasy-etc

January/February 2011

In her review of the second book in this series, Ceridwen threatened to send the first book to all of her friends for their birthdays. Apparently the Long Price Quartet is just that good? I'm about to find out, because--as luck would have it--my birthday was on Friday and Ceridwen does not make idle threats. Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me indeed. This is a good book. This is a really good book. Ignore the three-star rating, that’s just me being old and grouchy--so...more January/February 2011

In her review of the second book in this series, Ceridwen threatened to send the first book to all of her friends for their birthdays. Apparently the Long Price Quartet is just that good? I'm about to find out, because--as luck would have it--my birthday was on Friday and Ceridwen does not make idle threats. Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me indeed. This is a good book. This is a really good book. Ignore the three-star rating, that’s just me being old and grouchy--somehow I missed a few plot points, so when a Big Thing happened near the middle of the book I got confused and had to do some re-reading to figure out what was going on. I must be getting old (24! Gosh!) Still, this book is so good I went out and bought the next two in the series (New! Full price! I had to go to Borders to find them, and I hate that store) and would’ve bought the fourth if it was out in mass market paperback. Is that going to happen? It had better, or I will be very cross.

But I digress. In A Shadow in Summer, the Summer Cities, last remnants of a dead empire, have avoided decay and ruin by harnessing the andat, powerful entities/gods/supernatural forces whose powers can be used for wealth. In the city of Saraykeht, the andat named Removing That Which Continues—also known as Seedless—is used (against its will, hence the passive verb) by its master, the Poet Heshai, to speed the cotton trade and help the city prosper. But there are some who plot the poet’s, and the city’s, downfall, and blah blah blah you’ve probably gotten bored by now and started skimming, haven’t you? Sorry. I'm terrible at summarizing books, and I have a bit of reviewer's block right now, but trust me, it's a cool book. Daniel Abraham tells an intriguing story in a fantastic setting, and he does it in under 400 pages! The whole series is less than 2,000 pages long! For those of you out there who are tired or wary of ridiculously bloated books and series in the fantasy genre, The Long Price should be a welcome relief.
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Apr 11, 2013 StoryTellerShannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-scifi

When you've read fantasy for as long as I have you get tired of the fact that 90% of fantasy tales revolved around a dumb farm boy who is the missing heir to the kingdom or to long gone magical powers, he has a good heart but can't seem to get the girl, he has to leave home and help the world/nation/kingdom against some Dark Lord, who tends to be archetype and has some old mentor who gives him the sword/magical talisman to win and kick the beejesus out of the Dark Lord. Oh, and then he gets the...more When you've read fantasy for as long as I have you get tired of the fact that 90% of fantasy tales revolved around a dumb farm boy who is the missing heir to the kingdom or to long gone magical powers, he has a good heart but can't seem to get the girl, he has to leave home and help the world/nation/kingdom against some Dark Lord, who tends to be archetype and has some old mentor who gives him the sword/magical talisman to win and kick the beejesus out of the Dark Lord. Oh, and then he gets the girl usually or finds someone better than the girl because the girl wasn't a very nice person. Heh.

Back then there weren't too many variations on this tale unless you wanted to read Michael Moorcock or maybe H.P. Lovecraft, though, he's more horror than fantasy.

Nowadays, fantasy is beginning to shift to grittier/realistic tales; George R.R. Martin being at the forefront. So, now, it isn't about such tales so much and if it is the dumb farm boy might not be such a nice guy or he may lose against the enemy. Maybe, unlike traditional fantasy, someone can wear black and not be a bad person.

So, saying all that for those who have walked with the fantasy genre as long as I have, we finally get to encounter a novel that takes another spin.

A SHADOW IN SUMMER has a distinctive Asian flair to it with almost no focus on the usual medieval European setting. Moreover, there isn't some Dark Lord to defeat.

The tale focuses on politics between various factions within the city of all cities. This city has gained the powers of a powerful spirit that has the ability to give the city a major up in the cotton trade by taking the seed out of cotton plants, thus, giving them a huge advantage upon other cities that need to hand pick the seeds out of each cotton bushel.

Naturally, other cities, most notably one similar to a European one, wants
to free that spirit or control that spirit so that they can then monopolize the cotton trade.

So the whole story is about various groups either trying to do this or about other people investigating this plot, not quite realizing the full details until later.

One of the world details I liked about this world and that is based on historical facts is that the people communicate very much in body language rather than words so people will be talking and then take on a pose of apology, love, joy, anger or conciliation. It's definitely a nice touch.

So read this book if you like intrigue, court politics and strong characters, who are not the usual archetypes and are actually doing something besides running the from the minions of the Dark Lord.(less)

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Apr 22, 2012 Mai rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: series-finished, 2010, fantasy, fantasy-epic, favorites, memorable-title, multicultural-setting, political-intrigue, redemption, revenge-justice-vengence, romantic-subplot, setting-generic-asia, social-issues, speculative-fiction, spies-assassins

UPDATE:
I don't have the writing chops to properly review this series. Fortunately, someone else does. This is an excellent review of the entire series and why it is so brilliant:http://www.pornokitsch.com/...

Warning! Slightly spoilery if you like to discover the world-building for yourself. Excerpt:

On the elemental level, this is the fantasy to end all fantasies. A sprawling cast that spans nations and generations. Tales of ascension and salvation. Magic that cracks the world and flattens mount

...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Brian Maicke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Daniel Abraham's first in the Long Price Quartet series feels like a mix of Brandon Sanderson and K. J. Parker. The book contains a unique magic system in the binding of 'andat' by poets. The economic and military impact of these andat, or abstract concepts given form and volition, is well thought out and has a Sanderson sort of feel to it.

The story follows a small group of characters who get caught up in a conspiracy to undermine the power of andat, which is where the Parker elements come in. W...more

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Mar 08, 2008 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mary by: review by GRR Martin

Shelves: sci-fi-and-fantasy

thoughts about reading sci fi/ fantasy:
I think of fantasy books in three tiers:

Tier 1: These are complete successes. I believe the world completely, the plots zoom along and the I care about the characters as if they were friends. Examples are Tolkien, the Fire and Ice series by George R R Martin, The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, and Harry Potter.

Tier 2: I can't quite believe in the world, but the plot and characters are good enough to be entertaining.

Tier 3: Don't believe it and don't ca...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

The debut (and first in a quartet) from a new voice in fantasy. . . . Which apparently I'm having trouble describing in fifty words or less, meaning it impressed me more than I quite realized. Okay, so skipping to the really interesting bit, poets are people who can express an idea so perfectly in language that they render form and volition out of unbounded power. They create minor gods, not to put too fine a point on it, who play a vital role in the economic and political security of the realm....more

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Dec 22, 2012 Dianna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took me some time to get into the story. The pacing of the first half is pretty slow as Abraham takes his time in establishing the unique world the story is set in as well fleshing out the characters who will be the main driving force. This book is told from the perspective of multiple characters who each have their own part in the conspiracy that plays out. Many of the characters struggle with the idea of morality and what's right or wrong, and the reader wonders along with him. There's Hesh...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is the first in The Long Price Quartet series of which three are published the fourth to come out in 2009. It is a fantasy novel although the only fantasy element is that of the andat who is a non-human construct that affects the world around them such as helping crops grow and such. I hesitate to call the andat a god because it does not appear to be omnipotent.

The story is about Otah, a young man from a influential family who is expected to become a poet. Poets are one of the highest...more This novel is the first in The Long Price Quartet series of which three are published the fourth to come out in 2009. It is a fantasy novel although the only fantasy element is that of the andat who is a non-human construct that affects the world around them such as helping crops grow and such. I hesitate to call the andat a god because it does not appear to be omnipotent.

The story is about Otah, a young man from a influential family who is expected to become a poet. Poets are one of the highest callings and the highest-level poets control the andats. Otah chooses to drop out and go to the big city to become a laborer under an assumed name. He meets a girl, falls in love, and they both become involved in an intricate plot to discredit the leaders of the city and bring the Empire down on it. The plotters intend to monetarily gain from this. The plot is subverted by Amat, a strong woman who is the chief overseer for a trading house, the same house who ends up as a main conspirator. Amat is left out of the conspiracy but manages to find out and with much pain and help from Otah and others, saves the day. Amat turns out to be the most interesting character in the book.

I have a hard time assigning this story to an genre. As I mentioned it is barely fantasy, it isn't action-adventure; it's not even an alternate history - although it is obviously based on Asian culture. A romance is probably as good as anything, though the romance is not very intense. Overall, the story is just so-so, spending too much time on the gestures and scene painting and not enough on action. Abraham writes decent prose but the story never hooked me. I almost put it down after the first few chapters but I had expectations that were never met.

Considering the blandness of this novel, I am somewhat surprised the next two books in the series were published. I hope that they are better but I will not know because they are not on my list. Looking at Abraham's credentials on the web, he obviously writes well as he has many books and short stories published. Maybe this is just an aberration.
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Sep 07, 2012 Catherine Fitzsimmons rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a debut novel from a colleague of George R. R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire series, which is one of the book’s primary selling points. It’s an eastern style fantasy about a city that thrives in the cotton trade with the help of the earthbound spirit Seedless, which keeps the city safe from invasion, and a conspiracy that would spell its downfall.

This ended up being an okay read, but it was hardly enthralling. It got off to a bad start with the typical cliche and melodramati...more This is a debut novel from a colleague of George R. R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire series, which is one of the book’s primary selling points. It’s an eastern style fantasy about a city that thrives in the cotton trade with the help of the earthbound spirit Seedless, which keeps the city safe from invasion, and a conspiracy that would spell its downfall.

This ended up being an okay read, but it was hardly enthralling. It got off to a bad start with the typical cliche and melodramatic lonely, abused child at boarding school scenario, and before the prologue was even half over, the lead character was given an opportunity and instantly became completely unlikable. None of the characters through the book was especially interesting or likable. The andat Seedless almost hit on a good archetype with the mysterious, playful, cunning, treacherous not-antagonist, but didn’t quite make it enough to be really interesting. The plot wasn’t exciting, which isn’t necessarily a problem as in George R. R. Martin’s works, but this world didn’t have the depth and complexity to back it up.

One problem a number of reviews I read online had with this book was the way people posed as part of dialogue. I don’t have a problem with the idea of posing being a formal method of communication, but I felt that the way it was written was something of a cop-out. What exactly entails a pose of regret or greeting or question? The author touched on the elaborate nature of the poses occasionally, as in the cant of a character’s wrists portraying sarcasm, but at least ninety percent, if not ninety five percent of the time, the character simply, “took a pose.” I understand it’s a lot to ask from an author, let alone a reader, to explain the dozens of different poses mentioned in the book, but when one is going to introduce a wholly unique and fundamental part of a culture in a book, one should expect to put the effort in to make the reader understand.

I like the idea of an eastern style fantasy, and there were some interesting original concepts in this book. But it wasn’t gripping and the writing, world, and characters weren’t enough to make up for it. It’s not a bad read, but I’m not enticed to seek out the following books in the series.(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Fel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm not submitting this review to the author, so I'll break the convention of opening with something nice and dive right into what my biggest issue with the book is: its failure of female characters. Now, I'm a feminist and believe in equality for everyone, but I really don't let that affect my opinions of books very much—all I ever ask for from a novel is believable characters and unfortunately, I don't find the women in Shadow very believable. Liat and Maj both have the problem of swinging bac...more I'm not submitting this review to the author, so I'll break the convention of opening with something nice and dive right into what my biggest issue with the book is: its failure of female characters. Now, I'm a feminist and believe in equality for everyone, but I really don't let that affect my opinions of books very much—all I ever ask for from a novel is believable characters and unfortunately, I don't find the women in Shadow very believable. Liat and Maj both have the problem of swinging back and forth without any notable consistency, though I find it quite a lot worse in Liat. Amat, the “strong female” of the novel, seems to be strong only for the sake of the plot, not because it's a characteristic of her growth over her many years. None of them have any justification for who they've become, or any background that makes them feel real to me, and that's a problem.

It isn't that Abraham can't develop characters—watching Maati progress from when he's first introduced to the last page of the novel is very satisfying, and Otah's growth is understated but extremely powerful. Heshai and Seedless have a complex, poignant relationship that I really have no hope of expressing in any brief way, but they're the two characters I'm most drawn to, and they do a wonderful job of reflecting how unique Abraham's setting is. It truly is the best thing going in Shadow; it takes concepts that I understand to be pagan (the idea that god-like forces exist everywhere) and gives them a reason to be personified. Gods in fantasy are so often depicted as human-like for no discernable reason—why be a frail fleshy body when you could be an untouchable force?—and it's very rewarding to see someone give them justification. I could write an essay on the concept of words and their power in Shadow, but suffice to say that if you're interested in that sort of concept, there's a wealth of interest to be found here.

Building on the concept of setting, Abraham's world-building technique is fabulous. I'm really not one to be interested in setting as a general rule, but I can say that Abraham uses what I think is the best technique for world-building: show, and never tell. I can't think of a single paragraph in the novel that sets out to justify or explain how the setting works or where the dominance of hand gestures comes from, but within the first few chapters, it's obvious how important they are to the culture. It's a rule writers rarely adhere to so well as Abraham does, and it gives the setting a quality of “just existing”, while we the readers are “just visiting” a place that thoroughly is. The inclusion of little details like the characters buying food every day and the throwaway descriptions of what that food is just add to the quality of realism here.

The last point I want to touch on is what I describe as the pace and payoff of the novel. While I can understand the writing technique of treating events as workaday because that's how the characters feel, I find it very unsatisfying as a reader to spend about half a novel building up to a single scene that ultimately feels flat and unimportant. The scene that really drives this home is the plucking of Maj's baby; the novel spends a good chunk of its first half preparing us for this scene, and it cuts away from the most emotional part of it. Although the act he performed clearly affects Heshai—and we see the results of that for the following several chapters—the scene itself seems to hold back. I don't quite know how to put it to words.

But I really find there's too little investment to go around—even the excellent understatement of the setting spakes of too little investment. It just leaves me wondering why I should feel attached to the novel. I feel there's no urgency to tell the story or share the characters' lives. I'll be reading the next three novels in the series, if nothing else because they're interesting. They won't become my favourites by any stretch, but they're solid enough that I'll spend the couple of days it takes to read each one.(less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Cynthia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I find it very hard to give A Shadow in Summer an accurate star rating that would fully capture my thoughts. It is very well-written, enough so that I will certainly be picking up the next in the series. That's not always an easy thing to find and I'm generally quite picky when it comes to writing quality in sci-fi/fantasy. The ideas that went into the worldbuilding - the idea of the andat and the poets, mainly - are both original and very interesting.

That being said there are also some rather...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Jessica Strider rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pros: lots of intrigue, complex characters, fantastic world building

Cons: characters make disappointing choices

Otah Machi, sixth son of the Khai Machi, gives up his chance to become a poet and leaves the training school he was sent to without a brand, in order to make his own way in life. Years later, one of Otah's pupils, Maati, comes to Saraykeht to apprentice with its poet. Poets keep Andat, spirits made flesh who perform particular tasks. Saraykeht's Andat, Seedless, helps with the cotton tr...more Pros: lots of intrigue, complex characters, fantastic world building

Cons: characters make disappointing choices

Otah Machi, sixth son of the Khai Machi, gives up his chance to become a poet and leaves the training school he was sent to without a brand, in order to make his own way in life. Years later, one of Otah's pupils, Maati, comes to Saraykeht to apprentice with its poet. Poets keep Andat, spirits made flesh who perform particular tasks. Saraykeht's Andat, Seedless, helps with the cotton trade. The Andat does not wish to be a slave and has plotted to bring his poet down.

Otah has built a new life for himself in Saraykeht, with a powerful trading house and a woman he loves. But everything changes when the overseer of the house finds out about Seedless's plot.

This is a very complex book. There are plots within plots and it's hard to know what will happen next. I loved all of the characters. Each one felt like a real person, with problems and strengths. In fact, when Maati makes a decision that would normally have angered me, in this book, it worked. I felt sorry for the characters involved and understood their complicated emotions when things went wrong.

The world also felt real. Abraham created a complex vocabulary of hand gestures meant to explain one person's rank in relation to another's, to ask questions, to give thanks. There's a flourishing bath culture for escaping the heat of the day as well as for doing business and learning gossip. The court ceremony and trade bureaucracy are intricate and time intensive. Though the greater politics between nations is only touched on in this volume, I expect it to show up more in later books.

Seeing the characters as real people made the ending difficult as I didn't like some of the choices they ultimately made. The good thing about having a two in one volume is that it's natural to keep reading, where I might otherwise have stopped, having enjoyed the book but not being sure I want to learn what happens next (as I suspect it will be bad).(less)

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Feb 23, 2012 Benjamin added it · review of another edition

Shelves: bedside-reading

I've liked several of Daniel Abraham's short stories that I've listened to from the Escape Artist podcasts (Escape Pod, Podcastle, Pseudopod); and I thought I had heard good things about this series and its interest in real-world issues (like economics).

(In fact, I think I meant to read his Dagger and Coin series, which I think has to do with fantasy banking and debt, which is an interesting topic to me these days. Note to self: check out Graeber's book on debt.)

A Shadow in Summer takes place in...more I've liked several of Daniel Abraham's short stories that I've listened to from the Escape Artist podcasts (Escape Pod, Podcastle, Pseudopod); and I thought I had heard good things about this series and its interest in real-world issues (like economics).

(In fact, I think I meant to read his Dagger and Coin series, which I think has to do with fantasy banking and debt, which is an interesting topic to me these days. Note to self: check out Graeber's book on debt.)

A Shadow in Summer takes place in a fantasy setting that seems like an uncolonizable Far East: Thailand, say, but with magic that keeps it safe from the machinations of Western trading houses. The magic in question is at the heart of this book and is very limited: monastery-trained poets in the city of the Khaiem are able to enslave the forces of the world if they find some way to describe/capture those forces; but unfortunately, the forces are hard if not impossible to capture a second time. There's something very self-conscious and wonderful about this magic and the idea of fantasy: cliches have no power, but an original form of thought can change the world.

There's conspiracy and ethical dilemmas all over the place in this book and some deftly sketched characters and world-building; for instance, in the cities of the Khaiem, a lot of communication is gestural--people take poses to greet, thank, question, ironize their comments, goad, etc. And Abraham never tells us anything more than that: people pose. What do those poses look like? That's a job of description he leaves open to the reader (and whatever movie or video game adapters).

And yet, as enjoyable as this book is, if I were the editor I would do two things: 1) catch all the inconsistencies and misspellings ("though" often substitutes poorly for "thought"; a character pulls out a chair and sits twice in one scene); and 2) shave off a little bit of the realistic descriptions--because while some of the world-building here is deft and clever and underplayed, Abraham loves telling you about water rippling any time there's water in a scene.(less)

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Sep 05, 2011 Derrick rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, fantasy

A loose confederacy of kingdoms keep the rest of the world at bay with the power of Andats. Andats are beings forced into physical form by poets and they have the power of their name. Seedless is the andat in this story. He removes all the seeds from wool, in the blink of an eye. Gives the kingdom a huge economic advantage. He can also remove the living seed from anything. So if another kingdom attacks, he would be used to kill all the unborn babies and destroy all the crops of that particular k...more

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Feb 21, 2011 PaulineMRoss rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star, genre-fantasy, price-cheap, reread

I read this as the first part of a double book - combined with 'A Betrayal in Winter' these are the first two volumes of 'The Long Price' quartet as 'Shadow and Betrayal'. The remaining two volumes, 'An Autumn War' and 'The Price of Spring', are combined into a second double book, 'Seasons of War'.
The central conceit of the book (and the only magic so far) is that after long training, poets are able to write a poem of such power that it can embody (literally) an idea. The idea then takes anthrop...more I read this as the first part of a double book - combined with 'A Betrayal in Winter' these are the first two volumes of 'The Long Price' quartet as 'Shadow and Betrayal'. The remaining two volumes, 'An Autumn War' and 'The Price of Spring', are combined into a second double book, 'Seasons of War'.
The central conceit of the book (and the only magic so far) is that after long training, poets are able to write a poem of such power that it can embody (literally) an idea. The idea then takes anthropomorphic form (called an andat), but bound to the will of the poet. The cities of the Khaiem then use these 'andat' beings to enhance trade and to deter invasions and avoid war.
In the first book, one of the powerful trading nations attempts to pervert this power in a way that would kill the poet and thereby release his andat, thus leaving the region undefended against invasion. The method used is quite complicated, and ultimately fails, and it seems to me that it would be far, far simpler just to kill the poet directly. He seems to move freely around the city, regularly getting drunk, so it would hardly be difficult, and far less risky than a public ceremony where there are bound to be recriminations. Since there seem to be very few poets with an andat (only one per city), it would surely not be too difficult to arrange a mass killing of poets, and release all the andat beings at once. And why, when the power of the Khaiem rests almost entirely on these few poets, are they free to do as they please, unrestrained and unprotected (quite apart from the unwisdom of letting the andat loose to brew his plots).
Logic flaws aside, the book is well written and absorbing. It is set in an eastern-esque world with a Japanese or perhaps ancient Chinese feel, with robes and teahouses and an intriguing use of 'poses' with the hands to add layers of meaning to spoken communication. The city of Saraykehm is nicely drawn, civilised and more or less orderly, a hub of trade and politics, and perfectly believable. I liked the idea of kilns and food carts on every street corner, the public bathhouses where much of the private discussions go on, and the beggars who sing for their charity, a nice echo of the elegant slave songs which are the backdrop for the Khai's courts.
The andat is actually the most interesting character, with his perfect form and his deeply flawed personality and his determination to defeat his creator and return to a state of 'unbeing', all a creation of the poet Heshai's own mind. The other characters behave with strange logic. Liat, who appears to be capable of loving two men at once without understanding the consequences (she thinks they will all be friends!), is quite unbelievable. Amat, who has such a horrible time held captive (essentially) in the brothel, yet chooses to buy it later purely to fund herself, is not particularly believable either.
By the end, I was finding it increasingly hard to suspend disbelief long enough to follow the story. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book, and I hope that the second volume is a little more soundly based.
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Jan 17, 2011 Annmarie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic-saga

This is one of those epic fantasies, with multiple volumes, much politics, intrigue, good world building, and multiple protagonists. It's set in a very Asian-influenced preindustrial fantasy world, where the people communicate not just by words but by elaborate protocol of arm/body movements.

The main protagonist is Otah, an intelligent, brave, compassionate young man whom we meet as a boy enrolled in a brutal school, where younger sons of the wealthy ruling families are sent to remove them from...more

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Charles I've been thinking about reading this one for a while, and your review sounds pretty good to me. If the characters are good and the writing is decent...more
Jan 18, 2011 09:49am

Annmarie Hi Charles,
The characters are both believable & likeable (and hey I liked the girl in Un Lun Dun!), it was just kinda slow. I seem to like rock'em...more
Jan 18, 2011 11:14am

Charles Stopping the Dune series after the first novel was an excellent idea, actually. Wish I had. As for Long Prince, I stayed with George R. R. Martin thro...more
Jan 18, 2011 11:40am

Jan 17, 2011 Jeff rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay, had a much longer review that Goodreads managed to eat. Nice.

Long story short, it had a great premise, I loved the non-western basis for the culture described. But as the series wore on, the author's tics began to bug me. "Grammar" does not mean what he seems to think it means, and the inclusion of a gestural language to modulate the tone of the spoken language winds up being a crutch that tells what characters are feeling instead of showing it.

Ultimately, though, events in subsequent book...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Probably like a number of others, I figured I'd give this a spin based on cover praise from GRRM. As well, I seemed to remember that Daniel Abraham wrote the Jonathan Hive parts of the first book in the latest Wild Cards cycle, and I liked those. I can see where there is potential in this series but not much of it is realized in the opening book. Missing is a big bang to really draw you in. The idea of poets taking intangible ideas and crafting them into corporeal existence and that's what magic...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Riki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a really difficult book to review, because the feel of the setting is one that I don't enjoy (Asian fantasy; grew up with this stuff on my TV, just can't enjoy it), but the story, the characters, and the writing is sheer brilliance. Daniel Abraham is truly a master of his craft.

I was wary of the whole poet/pose thing that everyone mentions, but there's really nothing to it. I never felt bothered by it, and in fact felt that it was quite nice to read on a few scenes. It was just one addit...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this whole series on vacation last week (thanks, Kindle!) and they were all great fantasy beach reads. The classic fantasy trappings apply: semi-medieval setting, lone iconoclast likable and multi-talented protagonist, strong supporting cast, love interest, etc. All of which, when done well, I love to see repeated in newish ways. The invention at the heart of the series, though, was great: poets are the most powerful people in the world, and when they describe a thought well enough, that...more

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Jan 12, 2009 J.C. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-reads, fantasy

Refreshing Fantasy. Promising Start to a Good Series

A SHADOW IN SUMMER was a wonderful read. It accomplished everything that a first fantasy book should. It introduced an engaging world, created interesting characters that were equally engaging, and completed the story while leaving the door open for the entire world to develop in future volumes.

I sometimes have difficulty starting new fantasy series because sometimes there is simply information overload on the world, the history, and the unique...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Michele (Mikecas) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, fantasy

Da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... Primo capitolo della saga The Long Price Quartet, titolo a cui al momento di questa lettura � difficile dare un significato preciso. Accolta con grandi lodi nel mondo anglosassone, si tratta di un'opera fantasy atipica, ma solo per chi cerca nel fantasy sostanzialmente i clich� a la Tolkien o situazioni simili. Per chi invece ama un fantasy di pi� ampio respiro, e sopratutto con decisi aspetti di originalit�, questa opera � una vera boccata di aria fr...more Da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... Primo capitolo della saga The Long Price Quartet, titolo a cui al momento di questa lettura � difficile dare un significato preciso. Accolta con grandi lodi nel mondo anglosassone, si tratta di un'opera fantasy atipica, ma solo per chi cerca nel fantasy sostanzialmente i clich� a la Tolkien o situazioni simili. Per chi invece ama un fantasy di pi� ampio respiro, e sopratutto con decisi aspetti di originalit�, questa opera � una vera boccata di aria fresca. Normalmente il primo volume di una saga di quattro consiste sostanzialmente nella presentazione del mondo in cui la vicenda si svolge, dei suoi personaggi principali e del contrasto che sta alla base della storia e che verr� sviluppato nei volumi seguenti. In questo caso Abraham ha fatto questo ma � anche riuscito ad inserire una vicenda di per se stessa compiuta, che fa arrivare alla fine del racconto con la curiosit� di sapere cosa succeder� ancora ai vari personaggi, almeno a quelli sopravvissuti, ma con la soddisfazione di aver assistito alla conclusione della vicenda principale del romanzo. Anticipo che questo � vero per ognuno dei romanzi successivi, per cui la loro lettura anche a distanza di tempo uno dall'altro non lascia mai con l'incognita di come andr� a finire. Una societ� di tipo orientale, tra il cinese e il giapponese, non � una novit� nel mondo del fantasy, basta pensare a Sean Russell con The Initiate Brother e The Swan's War, o Gli Anni del Riso e del Sale di Kim Stanley Robinson, per non parlare del monumentale Chung Kuo di David Wingrove, ma Abraham riesce a dare un tocco di originalit� che evita la banalit� di una ripetizione di stereotipi. Un po' � il linguaggio dei gesti che accompagna ed arricchisce, o a volte sostituisce, il normale linguaggio vocale, anche se la decisione (o l'incapacit�?) di mostrarlo in azione, con la limitazione di raccontare il suo effetto, ne riduce molto l'impatto narrativo. Inoltre una struttura sociale non appiattita sul modello di base, molto ben sviluppata nei suoi dettagli e perfettamente coerente rappresenta un grosso pregio di quest'opera. Ma sono i poeti e i loro andat l'aspetto pi� originale dell'intera storia. Gli andat sono idee, concetti astratti, costruzioni logiche che un poeta riesce a materializzare in un corpo semi umano e a controllare, obbligandolo ad agire secondo i propri voleri. Ci sono cos� andat che controllano l'acqua e possono far piovere o causare inondazioni o siccit�, altri che possono creare o distruggere montagne, sciogliere la roccia o solidificare la polvere. L'andat che � uno dei personaggi principali di questo capitolo pu� liberare qualsiasi cosa dal proprio seme, nel caso particolare liberare l'intero raccolto di cotone dai semi in un colpo solo e senza fatica, e come attivit� secondaria procurare qualche aborto terapeutico. Abraham padroneggia molto bene la tecnica narrativa per i romanzi di genere, e riesce a rendere esplicite le caratteristiche del mondo che vuole raccontare attraverso le azioni vive dei personaggi di cui sceglie di seguire le vicende, cos� come il rapporto nello stesso tempo intimo e conflittuale che lega un poeta al suo andat, dovuto anche all'inevitabile travaso dei desideri e pensieri pi� intimi e segreti del poeta nell'andat stesso al momento della sua creazione, � mostrato in modo perfetto dal racconto della vicenda del poeta Heshai e del suo andat Seedless, dando allo stesso tempo un'informazione generale sulle difficolt� di gestione degli andat e dei problemi che ne derivano. Il vero conflitto che � alla base dell'intera storia � per� quello tra le citt� dei Khaiem, eredi del Primo Impero in cui i poeti e la loro capacit� di legare a s� andat di ogni genere aveva raggiunto il massimo splendore, per poi finire per quasi autodistruggersi, governate ognuna da un Khai con il proprio poeta che controlla un andat che � la base della forza e della ricchezza della citt� stessa, e le varie societ� che le circondano, tra cui spiccano i Galts. Privi della capacit� di creare degli andat, i Galts, che mostrano caratteristiche simili ai popoli europei, sono tendenzialmente espansionisti, con strutture militari addestrate e l'inizio di sviluppo di una tecnologia scientifica elementare. Tenuti a bada dal potere semidivino degli andat, non cessano di cercare il modo di colpire i loro avversari utilizzando le loro stesse debolezze. A Shadow in Summer, oltre a presentare questo mondo complesso e affascinante, � la storia di uno di questi tentativi, con un finale che rappresenta una sconfitta per entrambi i contendenti, e l'inizio di un conflitto definitivo tra due filosofie di vita incompatibili.(less)

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Aug 10, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked up this book because of the laudatory blurbs from both George R.R. Martin and Connie Willis.
I know Abraham has co-written with Martin before; although this is his first solo novel, it doesn't read like a first effort in any way - it's definitely engaging, above-average fantasy.
The world is a somewhat familiar fantasy scenario with an Asian-ish flavor, but not so much so that it doesn't feel interesting and original. It's set in a kingdom whose power rests on the andat - powerful beings...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Duffy Pratt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I want to like this book more than I actually did. I like the basic premise: "Poets" capture ideas and give them flesh. These ideas, called "andats", then have the magical power embodied with their ideas. The only problem is that the andats want to escape their captivity, and when they do, they get harder and harder to capture, with a greater price. On the other hand, depending on the idea involved, an andat can be extremely powerful.

All the really great ideas have already been used up, and the...more I want to like this book more than I actually did. I like the basic premise: "Poets" capture ideas and give them flesh. These ideas, called "andats", then have the magical power embodied with their ideas. The only problem is that the andats want to escape their captivity, and when they do, they get harder and harder to capture, with a greater price. On the other hand, depending on the idea involved, an andat can be extremely powerful.

All the really great ideas have already been used up, and the poets need to stretch to find ideas that are useful. Here, the andat involved is called "Seedless". His main use is as a super quick de-seeding element for cotton. This gives the city an enormous advantage. Thus far, given the revolutionary nature of the cotton gin, this power seems plausible and is quite clever. Seedless is also an idea abortionist, and that's where the problems start. Seedless, together with some enemies of the city, conspire to bring about an unwanted abortion on an unwitting girl. They hope that this will break the spirit or mind of the poet who controls Seedless, and allow Seedless to escape his captivity. This is what Seedless wants, and the enemies of the city are looking to get a trade advantage.

It's a nice set-up, but it doesn't bear close inspection. The enemies of the city do not shy away from war. The poet who controls Seedless is an easy target. He regularly gets drunk on his own, and there's no guard on him. Why the big conspiracy? They have some hired thugs in the city who are more than willing to do dirty work. I see no good reason why these thugs would not just kill the poet, thus releasing Seedless. The only reason I come up with is that then there would be no book, and that just doesn't cut it.

If you forgive that loophole, then the book works well enough. Abraham's writing is graceful and pleasant. He's created a number of distinct characters, and I think two of them are notably good: Amat, who is a middle aged female accountant set on getting revenge/justice. Hers is one of the fuller characters I've read in a book like this, particularly for a first time author. And there's also Otah/Itani. He's more of a typical rogue character, not buying into any conventionality, and guided entirely by his conscience. But in this instance, his character doesn't strike me as being cliche. Moreover, this is just the beginning of this series, and I honestly cannot predict where is character is headed. That may be my lack of foresight, but I find it refreshing for a change.

Finally, there is a smallness about this book that I enjoyed. The magic is there, but not much is made of it. The implications of the actions that occur are vast, but they are as yet only implications and possibilities. As a result, the effect of the action lies more with the characters than on the world as a whole. I expect that will change some over the course of the four books, but it's good to see a writer working with some limitations, at least at the start of this series. Overall, I liked this book enough that I will probably continue to the next one, and I think Abraham is a promising author. But I'm not yet completely sold.(less)

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Oct 19, 2011 Jeni rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, fantasy

A Shadow in Summer is the first volume of a four part fantasy series also known collectively as The Long Price Quartet.
The book opens with a prologue that is set in what initially is taken to be a school, but soon is revealed to be more of an exclusive training academy for the male offspring of the ruling classes. The deliberately harsh, cruel regime of this school leads one boy to a difficult decision; the significance of which will become increasingly apparent as the story progresses.
The mai...more A Shadow in Summer is the first volume of a four part fantasy series also known collectively as The Long Price Quartet.
The book opens with a prologue that is set in what initially is taken to be a school, but soon is revealed to be more of an exclusive training academy for the male offspring of the ruling classes. The deliberately harsh, cruel regime of this school leads one boy to a difficult decision; the significance of which will become increasingly apparent as the story progresses.
The main story begins in Saraykeht, the wealthiest city and primary trade centre of the Khaiem Empire. We become embroiled in a sequence of events which are the result of a foreign trader conspiring to bring about the downfall of the Empire by removing the reason for its current dominance. That reason is the andat - the captured thought of a poet, bound in human form so that the poet may wield its unique ability in service of the ruler of the city, the Khai.
We follow seven characters as they plot, scheme, manipulate and in some instances, stumble blindly, through a web of mystery and intrigue that will forever change who they are and what they are to become. Some of the characters will end this book heading for a destiny they can’t even begin to imagine. The events of this summer in Saraykeht will change the world.

I have to say it has left me a little disappointed. I was aware before I begun that this was the first book in a series of four. However, I don't think I have ever read a first instalment that was entirely a prologue to a tale that seemed to begin at the end of the book.
The pace of the book was frustrating. It started slow, which I did not have an issue with initially as it allowed me time to settle in to a new world become familiar with the characters. However, it remained constantly slow throughout, which for me, significantly reduced the impact of the events and left me waiting for something sudden and unexpected to happen, and it never did. There were no surprises, no twists and no race to reach a goal. Towards the end I found the constant insertion of descriptive passages into a stream of dialogue irritating, as this slowed the pace even more.
Half the fun of reading a book is being able to get inside the heads of the characters, in a way that is just not possible when you see a story acted in front of you. Most of the character development in this book was achieved through the dialogue and interactions between characters and I missed knowing what they were thinking. It feels like I know more about the robes they were wearing than how they justified their decisions or actions to themselves. Also, the unique 'pose' aspect of the language, although very inventive, was for me a barrier to bonding with the characters. Of course, the author knows what form these poses take, how large or small the movements are and can see in his head all the subtleties of motion and position that indicate the complexity of the expression being displayed, but we cannot. At least, I cannot. They are a completely alien concept to me and I found myself getting distracted quite often, wondering how the characters were standing and moving and if facial expressions were part of the posing, or, did they all look like they were dancing?

Ultimately though, despite a little disappointment, I did enjoy reading A Shadow in Summer. My frustration with it stems from the simple fact that I wanted more. More about the characters, their personal histories, their feelings and their thought processes. More about the andat. Although we get to meet one, I find they are still a fairly vague concept. More about the enemy. Would a bit of competition for trade really be that bad?
And, although I am usually a very patient person, I wanted it NOW!

This story works well as an introduction to a vivid world and a unique culture. It leads us through a sequence of events that will shape not only the lives and destinies of the characters in this story but also the world they inhabit. It is definitely just the beginning of a much longer tale.
As a single volume it is disappointing, frustrating and unsatisfying.

I am now off to muster some patience, so that I can continue my quest for more with the second book of the quartet, A Betrayal in Winter.
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May 18, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2010, summer-of-series

"A Shadow in Summer" has been on my to-be-read radar for quite a while now even though I can't quite recall exactly why I put it on the list. But when Jaws Read Too began her Summer of Series program, I looked over at the first installment in the series, sitting on my to be read pile, mocking me mercilessly and decided it was a good time to commit not only to reading the first book, but also the entire "Long Price Quartet" series as well.

So, I pulled the book out of the pile, cracked open the pa...more "A Shadow in Summer" has been on my to-be-read radar for quite a while now even though I can't quite recall exactly why I put it on the list. But when Jaws Read Too began her Summer of Series program, I looked over at the first installment in the series, sitting on my to be read pile, mocking me mercilessly and decided it was a good time to commit not only to reading the first book, but also the entire "Long Price Quartet" series as well.

So, I pulled the book out of the pile, cracked open the pages and began to read.

And, again, tried to recall what it was that drew me to the book in the first place. I think part of it was a desire to sample more fantasy novels and to sample series that actually had a chance of being finished sometime within my lifetime.

Reading "A Shadow in Summer," it appears that Daniel Abraham had not only a plan for this book, but also his entire series. And, thankfully, this is an entry in a series that has a definitive plot arc that is resolved by the end of the book. Yes, there are still some threads left open for future development, but it doesn't feel like a massive build-up to a cliffhanger or a 300 page preview for book two in the series.

Instead what Abraham has done is set up a remarkably believable world with some well rounded, interesting characters. Yes, there is a magical system at work here, but reading "Summer" I was reminded of Laura Anne Gilman's "Flesh and Fire" where the magical system was more limited and while there are powerful people within the magical system created here, it can't always be used as a way to easily get out of a situation (aka the equivalent of the sonic screwdriver on "Doctor Who" where its use is defined by whatever situation the script needs to get the Doctor out of without too much effort). The system is also one that the world we're reading about is built around and it has implications both positive and negative to all the various players we see inhabiting the book.

In this world, poets are powerful men who can create andats for a specific purpose. The novel includes one called Seedless who can remove the seeds from things, which is vital to the economy of the setting here. The city is dependent on the cotton crop and the ease of removing seeds is necessity for daily life and the economic survival of the city. But the power extends beyond just the removal of seeds from various plants and into the arena of being able to remove an unwanted pregnancy.

And that plot forms the basis for the political maneuvering that drives much of what unfolds in "Summer." In many ways, the unfolding story is one that can be deceptively slow moving, allowing for the full implications of what's really going on to slowly occur to the characters involved and the reader. Abraham clearly assumes an intelligence by his reader and doesn't have page upon page of infodumps that can bog down many of the bigger fantasy names (I'm looking at your Terry Goodkind). He also avoids the habit of excessive recapping of events and having characters ponder what's gone on before in minuscule detail. The characters do reflect on what's happen, but it feels more authentic and real than I saw in another fantasy book I plowed my way through last summer that could have been shorter had we not had a recap or a character reflection every ten pages.

Thankfully, the novel is also inhabited by a set of fully realized characters, all of whom you'll like and dislike to various degrees as the novel progresses. Abraham takes the tactic of having the characters who serve as the antagonists for the story clearly believe that the story is presenting them as heroes and the novel works better for that. And his presentation of characters as having both noble and un-noble qualities is a nice touch.

And, again, it resolves the main storyline of the novel by the time the last page is turned, even though we have some indication of where things could head for the next novel and possibly the rest of the series.

In short, it's a successful standalone novel and a successful start to an intriguing new series.

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Oct 29, 2012 D.w. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, reviewed

This was very interesting. It opens with our study of our hero as a child at a school, an academy and I thought of the opening of Eddings and the Belgariad. But this is so much more depth, and we do not really see the development of the world as the protagonist develops.

But there is some foreshadowing and it becomes obvious later about our hero. Yet he is still developing and we have a very complex political and psychological telling of a story. With many strings being pulled by puppeteers far a...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Shanrina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

There were a lot of really interesting ideas here, and I really liked some of the characters, including a lot of the really important ones. The worldbuilding was original overall as well. However, I think the writing itself could have used a little more work. Like the phrase "took a pose of X," which I'd wager showed up several times in almost every scene--I like the idea behind it, but since none of these poses are ever described to the reader (and I would have loved to read what some of them l...more

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