on the fence with The Dragon's Path

[Greg]

I started reading The Dragon's Path last week, and I haven't gotten very far. I think I like were this story is going and the characters, so far, a very interesting.
However, am I the only one that has a hard time getting past not really knowing what the 13 Races look like?
Without a good sense of their appearance, I can't even keep straight what race is what. (I had the same problem with Erikson's Malazan series.)
How do you get past this or is it just a personal problem?

[Pouria]

I had the same problem, the world is just massive and the different races make it really hard to visualize and get a good grip on the world.
I just powered through it though. About halfway through the book it no longer bothered me and I felt I could visualize the races more easily.
So I think you just need to give yourself time to get to know the world better, and the problem will go away.

/P

[Greg]

@Pouria - I had actually come this close to getting another book last night. With all the good fantasy out there right now, is this series worth powering through for?

[Pouria]

I'm really happy I did, the story is really good, and it didn't take that long to read, since it's quite short for being a fantasy book (only about 500 pages per book).
I still think the book would've been better if the world wasn't as complex with the races though. I'd recommend trying to get halfway through it before deciding to give up on it.

But it's always hard to recommend books since I can't promise you'll like it as much as I did, and I'd feel bad if you read it all, cause of my recommendation, and ended up not enjoying it :)

[Greg]

LOL- Don't feel bad over whether I like it or not. That's awful nice of you though.
My taste in books can be kinda twisted so it seems to me that most readers don't agree with my opinion.
I'll give it some thought though. Maybe I'll give it at least half-way. Does the action pick-up any? The prologue had a good chase, but then the story starts and it slows down quite a bit.

[Pouria]

The pace does pick-up yes, but I wouldn't say there's a lot of action, in the sense of fighting and such really, if you compare it to Abercrombie's books for instance.

But the plot moves along quite nicely after a hundred or so pages.

[David]

I thought trying to keep straight which race was which was kind of annoying too.
Luckily it's not really important to follow the book.

I thought it was a decent read overall.

[Huixian]

I felt the same way, especially at the start. I've sort of lost interest in the sort of fantasy where there are many different races with all sorts of exotic names,some of which you can barely pronounce, but I decided to give this book a go as I quite enjoyed his 'Long Price Quartet' series. I'm glad I did. The race thing becomes a minimal issue as you press on, as you get wrapped up in the shenanigans of the various characters. The pacing is great, with each chapter ending in a way that makes you wanna read on. I do wonder how the races look like though..can't quite visualize some of em in my head.

[Dana]

I felt the same at first, but found that as I went along, Abraham did a good job of subtly reminding readers which race was which. "...a glowing-eyed Dartinae...a pelted Kurtadam," etc. I had a tough time visualizing some of them and ended up picturing giant walking lizards and otters at times. Made for an interesting visual when we met the half-Firstblood/half-Jasuru character!

I believe it's something like this:
Firstblood: human
Timzinae: "roaches," scaly lizard-eyed people
Dartinae: small, glowing eyes
Kurtadam: thick pelts designed for swimming
Cinnae: very pale, young-looking
The Drowned: mermaids? We don't see them in this book
Yemmu: big tusked people
Tralgu: big human-like people but with long ears
Jasuru: Big, scaly lizard-like people
I forget: some race we only see once that has long fingers lol

I think I'm missing some, but those are the main races.

Honestly, I had a harder time keeping the nobles straight.

[Greg]

Just an update; I still haven't picked up this book back up. I learned to read by picturing in my head what was going in on the story and I just can't seem to enjoy a book any other way.

[Juli]

I just finished the book. Apparently I picked it up some time ago, got a couple of chapters in and then quit. I decided to give it another try over the weekend, and got into it. Yes, I would have liked more race descriptions, but it didn't slow me down much. I liked the focus on politics and the banking company, which surprised me. Usually, I like my fantasy to be about magic, monsters and battles, but this one had little of that and grabbed me anyway. Looking forward to the next book.

[Mark]

Best fantasy series going, IMHO and that includes 'A song of Fire & Ice'.
As far as the races go, I have a decent idea in my own head how they appear, but everytime a Tralgu appears, I'm envisioning Scooby Do.