Shadow and Betrayal

Not an instant favorite, but an impressive and interesting curiosity in the world of 2000s fantasy. Beautifully written, with a wonderfully and attentively crafted, Eastern-inspired world.

The character work is the highlight of this, with some of the most tightly intertwined cast I've seen in a fantasy book from this era. There are not many fantasy books that could be staged without many props or a huge cast, but this is one of them, despite the fact that this book's soft magic system has a central place in the plot and the worldbuilding.

The writing comes across as simply high quality. The prose is intellectual, distant, calm, and neutral. While it's not a heavily immersive book, Abraham very slowly and methodically uncovers details of the world, letting the reader experience the full story only when the book has ended. While the setting and many of the scenes are reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson, this is a high-effort, far more literary read.

A left brain read, best recommended to those who enjoy epic fantasy but sometimes don't mind not being swept away by an immersion tsunami.

Rating: 8/10
Closest comparison: The Grace of Kings

3.5

Been a while since the last time I felt this swept away by a novel, even though it took me way longer than usual to read. The characters in A Shadow in Summer feel like old friends, and being in their skin and seeing them act on their fate is almost like feeling the hurt and disappointment yourself. Really, I hoped I wouldn't like this as much as I did—now I'm gonna have to seek out the sequel eventually.

For me this book wasn't the whole package, but there was something about the plot that kept me interested. The writing was clean, I didn't love or hate any of the character work, the magic didn't suck me in either. But it was solid overall and I want to see where the rest of the series goes. It's a nice short book for me that was an easy read, it will be nice to intersperse the rest between some of the larger physical series I'm tackling next. This is not a rollercoaster plot-wise, but if you're into political plots or like books that question themes around the ethics of “the right thing” and associated costs, this could be up your alley.

I'm a huge fan of the Expanse series, but this is the first time I've read Daniel Abraham's work outside of his co-writing. I'm happy to say that the sense of scale and depth of characters is as strong in this fantasy setting as it is in space. Abraham is a master of writing complicated characters with complicated relationships, and it shows. It's also a magic system that I've never seen done before. My only quibble is that the world-building as a whole seems so directly pulled from Japanese history as to feel a bit appropriation-y. It's not offensive (at least not to the white woman writing this), but I'd be curious to here what a Japanese person thinks of it. On the whole, I enjoyed it and plan to continue the series.

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).