The Spider's War

The Dagger and Coin series is probably one of the more memorable fantasy series to be released in recent memory. While there were times in the first book where I felt like it was a bit too similar to previous, well-known series, I'm glad that I stuck with it.

Abraham's writing is clean, accessible and smart, which continues forward into The Spider's War. After getting to watch all of the characters grow and deal with the world around them, this was their last act. While there were a few moments midway through the book where I found myself not particularly interested in some of the brief interludes, it wasn't a big deal.

Things came together well, were interesting and each character had their own challenges to overcome along the way.

What really stuck with me was the ending for Geder. Geder was a complicated character in many ways. Geder had a horrible temper and had done some truly terrible things, but he was still carrying out most of his worst acts while under the control of the spiders. That being said, he was so easily manipulable because of these flaws. When he died it was clear that he felt that he was doing the heroic thing, that he wanted to be remembered as a hero instead of a fool and a villain, but the reality was that he was avoiding having to face his own actions and Cithrin. Deep down inside he had to know that Cithrin would reject him again, or he was at least afraid of it. Instead he got to die believing that he was a hero who was going to kiss the girl and have a happy ending before his heroic (and completely unnecessary) sacrifice. He also didn't have to face all of the people that he had wronged or have to help out in any of the hard work to repair the world that he had so horribly ruined. So his final sacrifice was his final act of cowardice and instead of everyone mourning him as a hero like he wanted, they simply shrugged it off. That was really tremendous, because Geder was such a pivotal character that we knew was conflicted and that deep down inside he wanted to be good, but he didn't get a heroic ending, he didn't get redeemed, he died as he lived instead.

A great ending to a great series.

Executive Summary: A really satisfying ending to an excellent series. I hope that Expanse doesn't keep Mr. Abraham away from fantasy for too long (even though I love that too). 4.5 stars.Audiobook: Pete Bradbury does an excellent job with the narration. I love his voices and the inflections when he reads. My only minor complaint is at times he can be difficult to hear. He's a bit soft spoken, and I wish they had adjusted the volume up a bit to compensate. Overall though, I think audio is an excellent option for this series.Full ReviewAfter reading and falling in love with the Expanse books a few years ago, I went looking for other books by the authors I might enjoy. I opted to go with this series over his completed Long Price Quartet for some reason, though I ended up reading that too while waiting for this book to come out.I haven't read another series quite like this one. Most fantasy series completely ignore economics all together and focus on magic and combat. If they do include economic issues they are a minor issue most of the time. Mr. Abraham not only includes economics, but he makes it front and center. Some people might read that and think the story would be boring, but I think Mr. Abraham does an excellent job.This series at its core is about power. The power of military strength (dagger) and the power of the banks (coin). Through some of the best character development I've ever read, we follow the story of two people on their path to power by very different means.More than anything, it's the characters and their development that makes this series shine for me. I've never been so conflicted by an antagonist as from this series. Geder's an absolute monster, with largely good intentions. I started out liking him for the most part. He's a bit of a nerd with self esteem issues, something I can identify with. But he's got a really bad temper. Given power, he's quick to make those he feels are laughing at him pay.Meanwhile you have Cithrin who started out a bit flat and annoying for me, but grew to be a really interesting and complex character. I never really identified with her and her motivations at all, but I always enjoyed reading about them. Through Cithrin, Mr. Abraham made economics pretty interesting for me.Marcus is on the surface a standard fantasy trope character. The grizzled military veteran haunted by his past. However, Mr. Abraham does a great job giving him depth that elevates him above a mere trope. Some of my favorites bits of dialogue in the whole series are the banter between him and Master Kit, Yardem, or Inys.My favorite character though has to be Clara. Her development as the series goes on outdoes even Geder's. In a genre that is severely lacking in female characters, Mr. Abraham decides to focus on a 50-something women. She offers a nice contrast to the other characters. She's conflicted about her place in the world, but doesn't let that stop her from accomplishing her goals. She's politically savvy without being unlikable or conniving. She's not quite as good as Avasarala from the expanse, but is definitely a close second.In addition to the excellent POV characters, the supporting cast was well done too. I'm particularly fond of Yardem, Master Kit and all of the actor company. This world feels large in scope and it's minor characters and a lot of depth to the story.This book was delayed a few times, likely due to Mr. Abraham's involvement in both the Expanse novels and the TV series. I felt it was worth the wait. The book comes to a decent stopping place, and resolving many of the major conflicts, without wrapping things up in a nice bow. There are still issues to be resolved, but I'm perfectly content leaving them where they are.And on top of all that, I LOVED the epilogue of the book. It was not only very satisfying, but I felt it offered really nice symmetry with the prologue of [b:The Dragon's Path 8752885 The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin, #1) Daniel Abraham https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1292362307s/8752885.jpg 13626110]. Overall, I really enjoyed this series, and I hope that Mr. Abraham will start on a new fantasy series at some point in the near future.

A fine finish to a great series.

Alas, the series ends here. It grew a little slow around the halfway mark, then rammed its way to the end in a blazing path of glory.