/lit/ - Literature

>>19806731
A Shadow in Summer, Long Price Quartet #1 - Daniel Abraham (2006)

I may have enjoyed this prologue more than any other I've ever read. Although it's only a small part, I feel like the entire book, and indeed the whole of the series, will be commentary on the decision made then. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite PKD stories, "The Exit Door Leads In". The reason why this prologue, and the book, had such a strong effect on me is due to my personal beliefs and experiences. I can't separate myself from my enjoyment, so my rating on this is hopelessly biased and likely will not be of much predictive value for you. There's a lot in this book that I could see as being off-putting to many readers for several different reasons. After reading a lot of reviews, there's apparently also a lot that I don't understand why they believe it's so off-putting. None of that bothered me in the slightest though, which again is an indictment, but I make a lot of allowances for fictional works. Based on the book's GR rating and those of /sffg/, clearly that wasn't the case for many.

This book is political intrigue, moral quandaries, and ethical dilemmas from the beginning to end. There aren't any heroics, let alone heroes. Not only isn't there any adventure, the narrative openly mocks thinking there could be. Instead, it's an assortment of people who are just trying to get through life and are inexorably and unknowingly drawn to the tragedy at the center of the story and surviving the aftermath the best that they can. The viewpoint characters are two teenagers, a young adult, and a late middle-aged woman. I enjoyed reading all of them. Although there is a protagonist, overall it's more like an ensemble as they each have an important role to play. Romance plays a significant role and there are a number of sex scenes, but none are described in any particular detail. That's all I have to say about that because there are too many who are too sensitive about such matters. This book is about character interactions to the exclusion of almost all else. I greatly enjoyed that.

Aside from being able to bind concepts into physical manifestations that do the binder's bidding, there are no other fantastical elements other than it taking place in a secondary world. Those who expect a traditional, high, epic, heroic, or similar sort of fantasy will probably be disappointed by what they read. That's the case with this first book at least, I can't speak to the others yet. Because of this, the author's next fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin, was more traditional. I enjoyed that one well enough, but already I prefer this series. The only thing I'm disappointed by is that I haven't read more fantasy like this. I'm eager to see how this series progresses. If it maintains this level of enjoyment for me, then this will easily become one of my favorites.

Rating: 5/5

A Betrayal in Winter, Long Price Quartet #2: Daniel Abraham (2007)

And so, almost fourteen years go by and the story resumes yet again. I wonder if each book will have a timeskip. I wonder if each book will do so. The primary characters from the first book are now in their thirties. They've changed in many ways and stayed the same in other ways, same as most anyone. There's an argument to be made that character development should only occur within the text, but as long as I'm enjoying myself it's irrelevant to me. I find series that cover the entirety of a character's life, or are intergenerational sagas, to be fascinating and I really ought to read more of them.

I continue to appreciate how this series plays with fantasy conventions. I don't think it does so quite as much as in the first book, though it does have a dialogue with what was established in the first book in its subtext. If the first book was "Adventure isn't what you think it is", then this one is "I'm reluctant to be involved in Adventure". The focus this time is primarily centered on power plays, court intrigue, and what is owed to those whom one cares about. Character interactions remain the most important part of the story, though this time there's somewhat more of a plot. Romance and messy relationships are still present and meaningful.

There are several questions that are presented to the reader without being discussed and thus consideration outside of the act of reading is required. Of course, doing so may not interest various readers, though I think an entirely surface level reading here may limit enjoyment. Philosophical discussions too often become boring infodumps for readers so it's understandable why they were avoided, but that also runs the risk of being misunderstood. The question I've thought about the most is that people tend to internalize the behaviors of their oppressors and think that equality is becoming them rather than any sort of reformation.

I'm very interested in how the third book will address the situation at the end of this one and what it will mean for the lifelong thematic arc of the protagonist. Overall, I may have enjoyed the first book a bit more, though at this level of personal enjoyment for me it doesn't making any difference with the rating. I think that the books that readers love and hate the most are also those that have the least predictive value for others, especially when their personal experience is an outlier from the aggregate average.
Rating: 5/5

>>19962803
An Autumn War, Long Price Quartet #3 - Daniel Abraham (2008)

And so, once again 14 more years have passed, which means that 36 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The viewpoint characters of the first two books are now in their 40s, nearing 50. Their relationships with each other continue to be of vital importance. A few story beats were used again, but I'll say it was because people often repeat the same behaviors throughout their life. As with the previous two books, this one doesn't follow the standard epic fantasy conventions either, which I continue to appreciate. I don't know that I agree with it, but the case is presented that magic fundamentally inhibits technological progress.

I greatly enjoyed the antagonist viewpoint character that was introduced. The closest that I can think to him would be Billy Butcher from The Boys comic, not the TV series. It's not the same, though he does have a similar ideology, and this was published a couple years after the comic began. He's very much the "the ends justifies the means" sort and is convinced that he's saving the world. Maybe he is. I haven't felt so conflicted in a long time. Most of what I saw from others was complete condemnation of him, which is also understandable.

As noted by the name of the book, this one involves war. It may not be the sort of war you'd expect though. There's no glory, honor, heroics, or anything I'd describe as epic. However, it also doesn't revel in being grim or dark. A portion of the soldiers who lose themselves are executed because they're a detriment to an orderly and well-disciplined military force. It was refreshing to read a book where the adversary's competence was only surpassed by their confidence. What resulted was from this was even better than I expected it to be.

The ending was amazing. It was all I could've wanted. I was impressed by both how thematically appropriate it was and how much of a natural progression it followed. It turned out that that the decision that I thought was important in the prologue of the first book wasn't the one that truly mattered. That rebuke gave me a lot to think about. Normally I would wait a while before reading the next book, especially since it had such an emotional impact, but I can't. I have to know how it all ends.

Rating: 5/5

The Price of Spring, Long Price Quartet #4 - Daniel Abraham (2009)

Yet again 14 more years have passed, bringing the previous protagonists into their 60s, as 50 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The central themes for this book are grief and renewal. While there are still fantasy tropes, I was moderately surprised to see how many science fiction tropes were added in as well. Two science fiction novels in particular come to mind, though I don't know how much of an influence they were, as it may just be coincidence. Naming them would be too much of a spoiler. I didn't mind, but for fantasy purists their inclusion may be distracting.

This book also included many more parallels to modern and contemporary events as well as what could be seen as speculation on the future. The primary social issues are the rights of women (or lack thereof), the greying of society, war trauma, ethnic nationalism, immigration, and assimilation. Almost everything that happens is in reaction to these.

There are new viewpoint characters, though the older generation remained active. Relationships continued to be very important, on both a personal and international level. Unfortunately, I think this was the weakest books for characters. A few of the characters sometimes seemed to have inconsistent characterization and their motivations were questionable at times, but strongly held delusions can do that. There were some cases of this in the previous books, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment until now.

The narrative is split into two opposing sides. I thought one side was clearly the correct path to follow, but by looking at the opinions of others there's substantial support for both sides. I read the incorrect path as a cautionary tale of a traumatized group with delusions of grandeur and a savior complex who put aside their destructive history and ignored the harm they were causing. I assume it wasn't intentional, but two of the overarching themes of this series to me has been "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and that unwarranted kindness and mercy is destructive.

I'm not sure how I wanted the series to end, but I'm satisfied by how it did. It isn't a bleak ending, though it is definitive, which is probably for the best. Despite that I've finished the series I remain uncertain as to what series name "Long Price" refers to. I assume it means the cost that our actions from our earliest years may have on the rest of our lives. Overall, this is one of my favorite fantasy series now.

Rating: 4/5