Age of Ash - Daniel Abraham [March 1, 2022]

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

This is a Buddy Read for Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham starting March 1, 2022.

[Chris]

In

[Silvana]

Thanks, Niki, and glad you're joining, Chris.

[Fazila]

I will be joining.

[Mayim]

Did someone say DANIEL ABRAHAM (in if only can get a copy)

[Rob]

My copy is sitting on the shelf, waiting to be devoured. Yum, paper.

[Silvana]

cmon, Mayim!

[Nirkatze]

Found it, yay!

[Silvana]

see you all soon!

[Veronica]

Maybe

[Kevin]

Count me in!! Love the expanse and can't wait to see how the author does a fantasy setting.

[Rob]

I might start this today.

[Chris]

I started last night, reading just a little bit. Looks promising

[Nirkatze]

I'll be along, but I'm running late.

[Silvana]

Same, I am still finishing my current book but hopefully can start this weekend.

[Kevin]

It makes me so happy others aren't ready to start immediately. I'm just about to finish A memory called empire and have to get to the book store to pick up the new book. This weekend would be perfect!

[Fazila]

Just started the book. I am reading an ARC copy. Does the book not have chapter numbers in? The ARC copy doesn't have the numbers.

9% in, quite a few things happening. I am liking Alys's chapters so far. The scene with the guard was hilarious. The way the author described the surroundings and the world, is very descriptive. (view spoiler)[I can see and smell the desolation and destruction of the world. I wonder who Darro is working with and what he is hiding. There seems to be something he knows and is not revealing at the moment. The lady who is broken, I wonder who she is( priest of the six) (is she the same woman, Darro was talking about, the one after the knife he has to procure?) and the old man Goro, the Lord, he seems to be again someone whose identity is unknown at the moment. (hide spoiler)]

[Chris]

Fazila wrote: "Just started the book. I am reading an ARC copy. Does the book not have chapter numbers in? The ARC copy doesn't have the numbers.

9% in, quite a few things happening. I am liking Alys's chapters ..."

I have the ARC copy too and was wondering. I went and looked at the Amazon preview and it looks like they just have gaps between each chapter rather than a number.

And there's no map in the ARC....grrr

[Nirkatze]

I have the regular book and can confirm--no chapter ANYTHINGS.

[Nirkatze]

Here's a link to the map: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQu5...)

[Veronica]

How bizarre. I wonder what the reasoning is behind having no numbered chapters.

[Fazila]

@Chris @Nirkatze Phew! Thought it was just ARCs. Mine is from Netgalley. It has a map. Is your ARC physical @Chris?

[Chris]

Nirkatze wrote: "Here's a link to the map: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQu5...)"

Awesome, thank you

[Chris]

Fazila wrote: "@Chris @Nirkatze Phew! Thought it was just ARCs. Mine is from Netgalley. It has a map. Is your ARC physical @Chris?"

Mine's from NetGalley too. What the heck? lol It has a placeholder for a map, but no actual map. Probably an earlier edition of the ARC.

[Fazila]

@Chris That's weird. Probably an older copy.

[Rob]

Ooh, thanks for the map. I'm going to print it out. It's in the front of the hardcover I have, but I can tell since it all takes place in the city, you have to constantly reference where the heck you are!

[Silvana]

I am at page 85 (around 19%)

I am loving the story so far. I don't event need a map so far to enjoy it haha, it's just so atmospheric.

I think we have three POVs so far.
(view spoiler)[was surprised that one of them was dead that fast. (hide spoiler)]

As for magic, I think this would be at the low end like his Dagger and Coins series? But it's still early to tell.

[Silvana]

Fazila wrote: "Just started the book. I am reading an ARC copy. Does the book not have chapter numbers in? The ARC copy doesn't have the numbers.

9% in, quite a few things happening. I am liking Alys's chapters ..."

Agree on it being very descriptive, but not boring. It just gives more life to the city. As for your spoiler, I bet we gonna find out soon enough!

[Fazila]

@Silvana So true. Not at all boring. I love when authors write descriptively. I can feel and smell everything. A lot of the vibe I am getting is very similar to the Darker Shades of Magic By VE Schwab. Also was shicked to find that.

[Fazila]

*shocked.

[Chris]

I kinda stalled early. Nothing wrong here, just got several review ARCs hit me at once and some are due soon...

Then I got totally absorbed in Malice and pushed everything to the side until I finished it lol

[Rob]

I'm about 70 or so percent of the way into this. The lack of chapters makes it hard to discuss for reference point purposes (and hard to sync my hardcover with audible since there are no chapter breaks in the audio!), but I've been enjoying it. The cover quote by Abercrombie really says it all. A very slowly, unveiling mystery but has my full attention. What I've always liked about Abraham is that he has this ability to start with a seemingly conventional situation and then make it all his own. His world building feels more organic than Sandersons (whose I still love) whose feel outlined and system-oriented. Still so much to learn that our POVs are completely ignorant of.

Spoilers for people at about 320 or so pages into the hardcover(view spoiler)[Which gods are beneficial and which are not! It feels like a greater good situation where "Kithamar" is passed from host to host on a certain bloodline, keeping everything in check. Is that a good thing or not? Andomaka's (sp) experience just now seemed a bit terrifying, but is that evil still better than the alternative? (hide spoiler)]

[Veronica]

Rob wrote: "I'm about 70 or so percent of the way into this. The lack of chapters makes it hard to discuss for reference point purposes (and hard to sync my hardcover with audible since there are no chapter br..."

Yeah, the lack of chapter numbers makes discussion hard. Ihave the HC version, Rob, but am not up to page 320 yet so your spoiler will have a wait a bit. Overall I've been enjoying it so far.

[caisha]

I'm joining really late but so far the beginning seems very promising

[Mayim]

Got it! will be here tomorrow with thoughts.

[Mayim]

I am nearly done with part one. I love the way Abraham writes, always so difficult for me to stop. And this book is truly written like you'd write about a journey through a foreign city that is alien and unknown but becomes more friendly as you start to recognize the most important landmarks and get used to the funny accent of the locals.

[Silvana]

That's an apt description, Mayim. I haven't got the chance to continue due to work and stuff but will power on this weekend.

[Mayim]

I had more work and stuff than healthy in recent months so I completely understand!

[Rob]

I finished and really enjoyed it as well as the way it turns out which gives me a sense for the rest of the series. (view spoiler)[I suspect we're probably done with Alys and Hamish as characters, certainly the former. It feels like the main character is the "thing that called itself Kithamar", so I wouldn't be surprised by at least a few year's jump in the timeline. I am getting a whole "lesser of two evils" sense about the "thing". (hide spoiler)]

[Chris]

Well, since this buddy read started I've received ARCs for three books that are releasing soon and I'll be writing reviews for Grimdark Magazine...

Not a complaint, but it's put my non-committal reading on slow mode.

[Silvana]

Starting part two, now in Page 122 in my Kindle.

I am a bit confused on why (view spoiler)[Alys did not ask for any detail of the so called threat to the city when she met Andomaka? Is she just stupid or? just like that, agreeing to follow the lady? (hide spoiler)]

[Mayim]

Well, she is not the smartest cookie in the jar. She has wit, but it's based on honed survival skills, not on intelligence (and definitely not on emotional one!).

What confused me was why (don't read if you have not finished part 2) (view spoiler)[didn't they go for Andomaka in the first place? they obviously could and the emergency was there because the thread has been broken. It would save them a lot of trouble and delay with the Brnoze Coast boy (hide spoiler)] a surprising pothole if you ask me.

And yes, I finished and I liked it. What I love the most is that I expect the next book to have a different set of protagonists and I am really looking forward to it!

[Nirkatze]

Joining the book party a little late. I'm about 60 pages in, where Samma finds Alys. The world is slowly unfolding.

I'm wondering if the lack of chapter numbers is to unhinge the reader in time a little.

[Mayim]

I think it is more because the story flows rather like the river that cuts through the city. It doesn't happen in slices. I didn't mind personally that all we got were three big chunks. It made sense.

[Nirkatze]

That's a really nifty way to describe it Mayim. Hits right on.

I read an interview with the author about the book, and was especially interested in his description of the structure of the series: instead of a typical chronological trilogy, the three books would cover the same time period, but a different aspect of the city life and events, from a different viewpoint. Some characters from the previous books might have background or regular cameos, and the main POVs for the other books, in Abraham's words: (view spoiler)[ "I list them at the end of the prologue. It’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the next book is about the guy with the wounded hand, and the last one is about the old man by the river." (hide spoiler)]

Here's the interview:
(https://winteriscoming.net/2022/02/12...)

Knowing this, it's made me really curious about the holes and bits that we're not seeing in the timeline, and also about any random pass-by characters that the text lingers on for more than a sentence. I'm not done with the book yet so I'm curious to see how @Rob said "I finished and really enjoyed it as well as the way it turns out which gives me a sense for the rest of the series."--very curious for that spoiler tag! I'm curious for exactly that--how finishing the story will give me that sense of the structure of the rest of the series, how a story can be complete when there is still 2/3rds of it yet to come, and how the other two books will fill in the holes.

So far, I've finished part 1.

Guard dude w/no belt (view spoiler)[when we got the 5 minute chapter from his POV, it made me feel really bad for the poor guy. Just like everyone else, he's trying to keep his head down and get his work done so he can survive. I'm hoping he pops up again, but I'm doubting it too at this point. Alys & Sammish left him falling asleep/unconscious on the street after being beaten up--and we've gotten several comments on how that can lead to death easy in cold weather. When I feel too bad about it I remember that he was willing to kill Alys--pretty much a child--in well, not cold blood, but hot blood. Not really any excuse for that. (hide spoiler)]

Sammish (view spoiler)[I just want to give her a hug. Alys doesn't deserve her. (hide spoiler)]

@Silvana & Mayim, re: Alys & Andomaka (view spoiler)[I wonder how much of her willingness to trust Andomaka without question is due to her grief over her brother and immediate desire to latch on to any part of his life. In early part 2, she does the same with (view spoiler)[ with the Ullin & his friends--they knew Darro; she just jumps right in to their companionship without question or thought. Sammish is the one to look at her staggering her way home and express worry. (hide spoiler)] Darro trusted Andomaka, was working for Andomaka--or so Alys thinks--so she doesn't even question the assumptions she is making in order to feel closer to her brother--to keep him alive by living his life.

I wonder, if she hadn't been lost in her grief fugue, if she would have been more cautious? Or if she really is just not that sharp of a cookie. Are cookies sharp? Now I want a cookie. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

About six sections into Part 2. Sammish is asking questions. (view spoiler)[I like how it is shaping up into Sammish & Alys as representatives of different sides of a conflict that we still don't understand.

And an heir... as Soo would say, dun dun DUUUUN! (hide spoiler)]

[Mayim]

re future books Nirkatze, it makes total sense and I came to an exact same conclusion after finishing the book without knowing that Abraham planned it so

(view spoiler)[I highlighted al those people's names when I was reading the prologue, and then I was like: where are you? why are you not having a role here? come out please! and so I know what to expect, plus the epilogue is also telling (hide spoiler)]

by the by: I hope the poor guard will also make a comeback in the next book

I love Sammish, I simply love her. What a wonderful character. A respite from Alys in how she was consumed by her obsession. (It was very difficult for me to read and I have had my share of grief in my life).

[Nirkatze]

Sammish is an interesting... I don't want to say "foil" because her character is bigger than just that, but mirror, maybe? for Alys. Alys is totally absorbed in her grief, and it gives her blinders and sends her barreling down a dark path without looking at her feet. I feel you Mayim--I had a big death in my family a few years back that still echoes today, and I find Alys's chapters ping that echo louder still. I recognize her grief.

On the other hand, Sammish also has an obsession--but hers is one of love, and instead of the story driving her deeper and closing her mind off the way Alys's grief is, it opens her to more observations and suspicions, and may even be drawing her out of her obsession. Just a lot of interesting parallels going on here.

About 10 sections in to part 2, on comparative religions. (view spoiler)[The way that Andomaka describes being prepared as a vessel, and that Saffa describes becoming a priest of the six at the spirit house are strangely similar. Both involve divesting themselves of the personal attachment to the world. But also kind of opposite--I'm thinking of the slice where Andomaka was doing the illusion meditation, stretching her awareness outside of her body. It's like, she makes herself empty by stretching herself outwards, while Saffa makes herself empty by cutting off the overflow. (hide spoiler)]

Kithamar inheritance rite, dagger and boy (view spoiler)[The city-god inhabiting his line is an interesting twist. My first impression wasn't that the father of Byrn wasn't taking revenge against his father/brother for some childhood slight or other pettiness, but rather for inhabiting, and thus murdering the his father/brother, and thus didn't want to see the awareness that took over his family's life take the life of his child. Interesting that the god is so self-centered that he doesn't even see it that way.

I wonder if Andomaka will have a change of heart before the end?
I wonder if the conspirators had a deeper purpose behind sabotaging the rite, or if it was purely personal? How much will be revealed in this book, and how much do we need to wait for the next? (hide spoiler)]

I also just realized that my ereader is only changing the page count ever 2-3 pages, so I've actually read a lot more than the 160 pages it tells me. Stinker. I keep looking at the pages and being like, no way I've only read 4 pages! It feels like 10! Well, it was 10. *thwbpt* <-- sound effect of sticking my tongue out at my ereader.

[Silvana]

I finished it last night. Have conflicting feelings about the book. Put this in spoiler just in case:

(view spoiler)[I did enjoy it at first but somewhere in the middle of part II I felt the pacing needed to be faster for me to enjoy and that more things should happen. I struggled finishing part II, tbh and when I thought oh in part III it surely would be more exciting. It did not. To me the story - which was really simple - could be told in 2/3 of the total pages or even less. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Nirkatze wrote: "Sammish is an interesting... I don't want to say "foil" because her character is bigger than just that, but mirror, maybe? for Alys. Alys is totally absorbed in her grief, and it gives her blinders..."

I enjoyed reading your thoughts!