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Apr 05, 2011

Eh?Eh! rated it:

...and the real show begins.

This book starts about 10 years later. The character who turned out to be the main guy in the first book is now a courier, wavering towards leaving his trade. For a woman, of course. But his past ruins that plan and he ends up having to return to his first home that he hadn't seen since he was a child.

Each of the Summer Cities has a ruler who holds the throne on the blood of his brothers. Each ruler is expected to take many wives and have m More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2011

Pauline rated it:

The second book of the series, 'The Betrayal of Winter', is a much more racy read than the first, moving along at a cracking pace. It focuses on the means of inheritance of the Khaiem (the three eldest sons compete for the right to inherit by killing their rivals, and all other sons are sent away to attempt to become poets, or be branded and live normal lives), and the action takes place in the northern city of Machi.
The central conspiracy which drives the plot is just as hare-brained as t More...

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Jan 04, 2011

Ceridwen rated it:

It pisses me off how good a writer Daniel Abraham is. It pisses me off more that you lot don't seem to be reading him at all. I'm going to start buying his books and mailing them to you for your birthday, L. Ron Hubbard style. This is not an idle threat.

A Betrayal in Winter is the second in the Long Price Quartet. I always feel a little weird writing reviews for later books in series, because I'm going inevitably to drop spoilers from the first book. With that in mind, there may be mi More...

22 comments like (11 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2010

Bookboy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 21, 2010

Jessie rated it:

A few years ago, a friend of a friend--who happens herself to be a friend of Abraham's--sent me a copy of his short story "Flat Diane." Then last year another friend lent me a copy of the first novel in the Long Price Quartet, A Shadow In Summer. It's good to have friends--I don't know that I would have discovered this work without help.

Abraham is a local and a collaborator with one of New Mexico's other outstanding fantasy writers, George R.R. Martin, whose rich, ruthless, More...

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May 24, 2010

Michael rated it:

Opening fifteen years after the events of "A Shadow in Summer," the second installment in the Long Price Quartet opens with the death of one of the Khai's sons, a signal that the battle for succession among his sons has begun. In Daniel Abraham's political system, the Khai's sons all fight and kill each other for the right to take over the throne when their father dies (similar to rising in rank in the classic "Star Trek" episode, 'Mirror, Mirror') while the women are eithe More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Luciusoso rated it:

When i read my previous review of A Shadow in summer, i said that it was a fair enough book. That it wasn't really lacking something, but it was a small part of what could come up next. And now i reassure that opinion.

From the start it totally caught me off guard by seeing again Maati and Otah. I don't know why, but because of the first book i expected a semi-long, boring introduction to new characters and a whole new story.

So back on topic, A Betrayal in Winter confirms my i More...

3 comments like

Jun 23, 2010

Jesse rated it:

I’ve mentioned before my frustration with most mystery novels. The authors seem to think that withholding information from the reader, even when the point-of-view character knows that information will make things more tense. It just makes me bored, or frustrated. Hiding information is immensely difficult to pull off and almost always fails. I can only think of one example that works (Ocean’s Eleven) and I think that only does because it’s the point of the story that nothing is fully explained un More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2011

Ruth rated it:

c2007. The sequel to A Shadow in Summer. Certainly not a joyous read although the bad person does not profit from the wrong doings. a simple tale told simply but with some wonderful sentences. I do not understand Walter Jon Williams' comment "An architecturally-perfect fantasy world filled with a fascinating, highly distinctive set of characters" - not that I disagree with the description of the characters but I am not sure whether the world created was necessarily architecturally perf More...

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Jun 09, 2011

Jen rated it:

This second book in Abraham’s Long Price Quartet takes us to the Winter Cities, about as far from the setting of the first book as possible. Machi spends half the year frozen, and tunnels under the city offer an opportunity for social life even when it’s too bitter to go outside. (I love the attention to setting in these books; I live in a climate with very volatile weather, so I miss it when the seasons never get a mention.)

The Khai Machi is dying, and his sons must start killing ea More...

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Sep 23, 2009

Mike rated it:

A Betrayal In Winter is the second book in Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet and is set fifteen years after the events of A Shadow In Summer. A Betrayal In Winter is, if anything, a text book example of how to write a politic heavy novel in a fantasy culture. While A Betrayal In Winter doesn’t chance the “slow burn” pacing Abraham employed in A Shadow In Summer the familiar characters made it much easier for me to settle into the book and the new characters were complex, brilliantly drawn, More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Scott rated it:

So in book 1, Abraham took 160-170 pages to get to the plot of where the characters that we identify and connect with start actually acting, versus merely reacting to the environment.

In book 2, one would expect this to get better. And the author does do a better job, by giving us more people doing stuff, but not the protagonists. Ultimately, it is 150 pages in when the story finally has some rising actions for characters we give a damn about.

I'm going to finish the series More...

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Jul 17, 2010

Steve rated it:

I'm torn by this series. It seems as if Abraham is vaguely aware of the power of some of the ideas in his books. The concept(s) of the Andat have tremendous potential. Unfortunately Abraham doesn't seem able to draw out that potential. Instead the books are filled with largely mundane and uninteresting minutia of the world...

Frankly, I'm interested in the concept of an idea made into a flawed and oblivion-seeking semi-mortals who seek to undermine their keepers. I'm not as inter More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2011

Shaka rated it:

Although I still like the series, I'm feeling somewhat frustrated by the abilities of the characters. What do I mean? Well, as in the Harry Potter series, Harry seems to be a hero, yet, his friends are the ones who perform heroic acts. In this series, the characters seem to come to a resolution through a series of circumstances or actions brought upon by strong emotions. I must enjoy this on an empathic level at least, as I've finished the first two books of the series in three and half days. More...

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Sep 05, 2011

Derrick rated it:

<spoiler>Turns out the common laborer from the previous book is an heir to another kingdom, except heirs figure out who is going to rule by killing off all the competition. Brother against brother. However, this time a sister enters secretly so she can have her lover/husband be the new king. So the sister conspires with outside forces to kill off all the brothers and blame it all on the main character. In the end the sister is revealed and the hidden heir takes over.</spoiler>
More...

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Jun 01, 2009

Russ rated it:

I think this book was just as good as the first in the series. The book combines fantasy with a touch of political thriller, romance, mystery, etc. I think Abraham was brilliant in putting over a decade between the end of the first book and the beginning of this one. That allowed for him to hint at interesting and important events that happened in-between, piquing a reader's interest and really contributing to the sense of wanting more. Many of the same characters returned, with several new ones More...

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Jan 30, 2010

Petra rated it:

I did not like this book as much as I liked the first one, perhaps becuase Seedless was not longer in it and becuase it was not as much of Otah as I thought it would be, it more felt like Mati was the maincharacter. We get to read the book from four charcater point of view and I confess that it helped the book to move forward but I would still have liked to have more of Otah and little less from the others. But I guess that is more a question about personal opinion than anyting other, some may h More...

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Aug 06, 2011

sologdin rated it:

Superior to the first volume in several respects, this installment does shed some additional light on the central mechanism of the setting, the supernatural master/slave relation, thus remedying one of the principal defaults of the first volume, which withheld information on this point, perhaps in an attempt to generate mystery and suspense that simply came across as coy.

This central mechanism is kinda cool insofar as it is platonist Forms taken literally and made manifest in the set More...

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May 15, 2010

Erika rated it:

For Otah Machi and Maati it’s been 15 years since the events A Shadow in Summer. The end of that book saw a happy, if wary ending for Liat and Maati. Otah was troubled by his friend’s confession and preoccupied with the Galtic involvement threatening thousands of innocent lives. As Betrayal in Winter opens, we discover things have turned out quite differently for our protagonists, except, perhaps, for Otah, than when we left them.

Otah’s father, the Khai Machi is dying. Already the More...

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Jan 22, 2012

Josh rated it:

After having read A Shadow in Summer, I became fond of Daniel Abraham as an author, but it wasn't until I read A Betrayal in Winter that I became a true fan. This isn't to say that I didn't like the first book, but the second book of his Long Price Quartet is nothing short of amazing and for me it surpasses the first book in every way.

Like the first book, Betrayal is a novel of political intrigue. It revolves around the use of politics to destroy a city that can not be eliminated b More...

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Jul 01, 2009

Ann rated it:

I picked up the first book (A Shadow in Summer) of the Long Price Quartet on a recommendation from author George R.R. Martin's blog and was impressed enough to move on to volume 2 (although not quite hooked enough to move on as soon as I put the first book down).

The Quartet has a lot of things in common with Martin's Ice and Fire series, enough so that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a readalike. I'm also set to pondering, given the huge popularity of Martin's series and the c More...

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Jan 25, 2012

Brian rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Aug 20, 2011

Neil rated it:

This one has even more in common with a shakespearean tragedy and while the characterisation is excellent the plotting is still a little pedestrian. Part of the problem is that the readers know exactly who is behind it, leaving the characters trying to solve the mystery look a little stupid and leaving me a little frustrated in places. I hope the remaining half of the series starts to address the bigger machinations at work within this world. Excellently written but could do with a sharper exec More...

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May 31, 2009

Kcraybould rated it:

Much like a Shadow in Summer, the first book in this series, the plot is not the point. There is enough plot to keep the characters moving, but it is really the characters and the world building and the fine writing that make this book so much fun to read. The ending feels a bit rushed, but that just might be because you want to spend more time with the characters.

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Feb 16, 2010

William rated it:

Like the first book in the series, this is another good read with some interesting characterisation (particularly the focus on a villain struggling to deal with the moral consequences of the crimes they have committed). The world-building is also very good, with an alien but convincing society and the implications of the supernatural elements of the story have been well thought-out (even if they're only loosely related to the main plot).

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Jan 16, 2010

Adam rated it:

I appreciate that Abraham didn't invest much space to explaining how the world works or what the various titles (Khai, utkhaiem, etc.) mean. Instead he just tells the story and trust his readers to be intelligent enough to figure it out as they go. This was an interesting story, particularly because it's unlike most fantasy I've read. There aren't any battles, the main characters aren't warriors or magicians, and much of the action is in the form of political intrigue. I'm finding it hard to exp More...

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Aug 27, 2010

Karlo rated it:

The second book in this series picks up a dozen years after the first book, but features a similar set of characters. The plot moves the conflict between Galt and the Khaim forwards and resolves a few plot threads from the previous volume. Once again it's the relationships between the characters that make this book a fun read.

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Jun 23, 2010

Matt rated it:

Another fantastic read from Abraham. It picks up quite a few years after A Shadow In Summer but we still get to live the lives of Otah and Maati with a few new point of views added into the mix.

So far this series has not let me down at all. I read lots of great reviews regarding it and you can add me to the list of fans. This is political fantasy at its best.

Now on to An Autumn War.

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May 13, 2010

Jeff rated it:

I don't like condemning a series after reading only the first book, so I gave the second book in the Long Price Quartet a shot. I just couldn't finish it. It started with promise, but failed to keep my interest. The problem wasn't with the plot, but with the characters. I didn't like any of them, so I didn't care what happened to them. This is a carryover from the first book in the series which I was hoping would end with the death of all but a few minor characters.

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May 27, 2009

Ryan rated it:

Finished at 3am this morning, if that gives you any indication of how much I liked it. Also, how strapped I am for reading time.

Again, not much of the magic, and now I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get much. What I really want to see is a creation of andat. We got a hint with the essay on Time and Imprecision, but it was far too brief.

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