A Shadow in Summer

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Starting Mar-15-17

[Shaitarn]

The quartet's been on my shelf for a long time; this is the perfect excuse to read them!

[Emma]

Great! I'm really looking forward to this one myself!

[Quinn]

I will read it as well

[Emma]

Here's hoping it is as good as the Dagger and Coin series!

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

It's better! IMO :)

[Emma]

Even more excited in that case!

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

First one is definitely a slow burn folks... FYI. But I stuck with it and at the end of the series was applauding DA's world building and style

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Emma wrote: "Here's hoping it is as good as the Dagger and Coin series!"

You and I went wire to wire.

[Emma]

Scott wrote: "Emma wrote: "Here's hoping it is as good as the Dagger and Coin series!"

You and I went wire to wire."
We certainly did! I can't understand how this series can be so underrated!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Emma wrote: "We certainly did! I can't understand how this series can be so underrated!"

It's funny because to me the writing and characters are so good that it more than makes up for the pacing which for a lesser writer would kill me.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

A reminder this starts a week from today. I'm next on the waitlist for the Kindle version from the library so I'm hoping it comes due in time.

[Laura]

I'd like to join too.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

My copy should come due from the library any day now but I'll catch up.

[Emma]

I've made a start and am just a couple of chapters in

[Shaitarn]

I'm about to start; I have the omnibus two-novels-in-one editions (Shadow and Betrayal), so hopefully I'll be able to stop when I get to the end of the first book!

[Emma]

Shaitarn wrote: "I'm about to start; I have the omnibus two-novels-in-one editions (Shadow and Betrayal), so hopefully I'll be able to stop when I get to the end of the first book!"

Me too! But I'm not promising!

[Jakyro]

I read this series last year. It wasn't really the thing I was looking for; not bad but it couldn't match my expectations. Characters and worldbuilding were decent enough but it was too slow paced for my liking. I liked the third book the best in the end

[Emma]

Jakyro wrote: "I read this series last year. It wasn't really the thing I was looking for; not bad but it couldn't match my expectations. Characters and worldbuilding were decent enough but it was too slow paced ..."

Have you read the Dagger and Coin. Series? It was brilliant.
I'm not really into this....but I have only read 6 chapters. I'm finding it quite difficult and not terribly interesting..

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

First one is definitely tough Emma, if you can get through this one the books do get better and better. I was on the fence with continuing too

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Mine came due from the library just now so I'm able to start on time.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Interesting - with this one I was hooked from the very first page. The immediate culture infusion and world building had me sold.

[Laura]

I'm starting today also.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I read the first 5% and liked it instantly as well for the same reason as Niki.

[Jakyro]

Emma wrote: "Have you read the Dagger and Coin. Series? It was brilliant.
I'm not really into this....but I have only read 6 chapters. I'm finding it quite difficult and not terribly interesting.."

I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list. I moved it down after finishing LPQ and I'm not planning on starting it soon

[Emma]

I'm nearly half way rough and it's starting to pick up as the pieces come together and make more sense. I do remember in the Dagger and Coin series, some were a bit slow to take off (for me).

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

Yep the cool cultures with the gestures/postures and the unique premise of the story was what kept me going. By the end of the book I decided that I was interested and definitely wanted to know where it was going. Plus I had already finished Dagger & coin, and I knew his writing is more about the long game.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

And another comment I have is DA has a very distinct style that I appreciate. If you read his Expanse series you'll see his flavor there too. Its a mix of very cool culture/world building, easy to read (we all need a little break from having to pour over every detail *cough Malazan), and he's one of the best at portraying the humanity and problems of people living in a society together- particularly mental illness and the true cost of war

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Margaret did you do malazan on audio?

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

^Margret

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

And that's and excellent summation!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Malazan on audio would be tough to understand with all the character POV changes.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

Nope, not on audio. I'm only on DHG at the moment. I feel like it would be ok as a re-read to do audio.. but as a physical book I have to go back and reread whole paragraphs as it is.. so I don't think audio will work for me on that series

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

I'll take that advice from you both. :) thank you

[Laura]

I'm at the end of Chapter 1 and I find a little difficult to get through for now. It's not that I don't like it - on the contrary: the description of the world and civilizations seems great and the questions raised in the field of morality are incredible. I get it also that the plot is just building and I don't mind that - lots of the books i love are slow paced ones. I don't quite get the concept of andat and poets controlling them. The andat are referred to as ideas that are controlled but they seem like some sort of spirits with power. I'm not quite getting it for now and it's irritating me a little. I'm the organizational freak logical type and I like everything orderly and clear - no loose ends ... hope I'll understand it clearly little later though.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I thought the twist at the end of the prologue was awesome.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

I try to think of it as the mages call themselves "Poets", so they seek to find the perfect prose in which to make an idea take shape and form. There's kind of a chicken/egg conundrum in my mind there as did the poet bring the spirit into existence or was it always there just waiting for the proper poetry to bind it? It has to be perfect as the Andat do not want to be bound, and "taking the price" meaning if their poetry isn't well formed enough (or possibly improper binding could warp the idea taking shape) it will fail to bind them and the Andat can kill them. You'll see different variations on how the bond is kept itself throughout the series.

I don't consider this a spoiler at all, but if anyone finds it so I can change that

[Laura]

so did I Scott!

[Laura]

Thank you Margret. I don't think it's a spoiler as we are after all only talking about concepts here, not giving anything off from the plot.
In other words, for the logical type of reader (meaning me:)) it's symbolism for mages trying to bind spirits of power to their will and trying to find the perfect way of binding these without getting their fingers fried in the process. I still find the talk about the ideas a little confusing but I'm only at the beginning after all so I'll get back to it later.
one of the things I love about this book is that it makes you stop and think at times. you can't just read it like that and get it over with. It sticks and makes you wonder. At least that's how it feels for me.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

It's funny but I feel like I complain more than most about slow moving books. Yet with Abraham I never feel that way when I'm reading. I'll reflect back and think well there were no action scenes. Yet his writing style just spins the descriptive intrigue so well I'm always engrossed.

Finished chapter one

(view spoiler)[
Loved that it was the child Otah showed compassion to showing up in the story line. I was thinking Otah would be coming to the city and still yet will probably be twined into the story but I hadn't considered Maati.

Love Amat. I read references Abraham made about the series and the cycle of a life in reference to his grandmother so I'm naturally inclined to see the parallels to my grandmother.
(hide spoiler)]

[Laura]

I am at Chapter 8 and it's starting to pick up. I understand a lot more now about the poets and I realized that even though there doesn't seem to be much action in this book I still find myself wanting to go back to it and see what happens next. Less time to read though these days! :(

[Laura]

Scott wrote: "It's funny but I feel like I complain more than most about slow moving books. Yet with Abraham I never feel that way when I'm reading. I'll reflect back and think well there were no action scenes. ..."

(view spoiler)[even I was expecting the story to continue with Otah and didn't expect Maati. I agree with you. It's great that he shows up and i am curious about how his personality developed. I like Amat also but can't really say i love her for now. I'm still waiting to see how she fits into everything. (hide spoiler)]

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Chapter two was quite good as well. I was hesitant coming into the series since people who had read both this and Dagger & Coin said this was much slower but I like the world and characters and love his writing style.

[Emma]

I've finished. Definitely not as caught up in this as in Dagger and Coin. I don't really feel attached to any of the characters. But Abrahams has called this the Long Price quartet so I have to imagine that there is a long game with this series and I understand the next is set about 10 years later. I may give the next one a try as I have the double version with the first two books in one.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Through chapter 4. I like this as much as Dagger & Coin so far. I'm somewhat surprised you don't like it more Emma but not shocked at all you didn't wait for next month for book two.

(view spoiler)[
I love the eastern body language, a pose of query, a pose of contrition.....I think we overlook these things day to day and they are so much more prominent and exaggerated in that society.

Imagine the Seedless being a big ball of everything you have about yourself and it's only happy when you're not and plots to take you down at every turn. So well thought out.

When Amat gets backhanded that was a great scene with her pulling in on her anger and the pimp begging her for the chance to put her in her place.
(hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

I'm enjoying a betrayal in winter much more!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Emma wrote: "I'm enjoying a betrayal in winter much more!"

Sweet.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

Hooray! Glad you're liking the next one better. It became one of my favorite series as I kept reading. Very emotional

[Shaitarn]

I'm just past the halfway point and am enjoying it, even though I suspect there's a whole load of stuff I'm just not seeing right now (I imagine I'll re-read it in the future and catch a lot more of the nuances).

[Chris]

Emma wrote: "I'm enjoying a betrayal in winter much more!"

That was how I felt when I read these last year.