Age of Ash: The Sunday Times bestseller - The Kithamar Trilogy Book 1

Product Information

I'd like to thank Orbit Books, Daniel Abraham, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review an early copy of Age of Ash - y'all made my year! Age of Ash is a stunningly written, character driven story, centred on thieves, grief and dark magic. Abraham certainly knows how to enchant his readers and transport them to the city of Kithamar, a place of beauty and of forbidding secrets' Fantasy Hive

The character stories in Age of Ash are phenomenal . . . Abraham is one of the most creative and original authors in the genre . . . I can't wait to learn more about what lurks under the streets of Kithamar Much like The Expanse, Age of Ash is an incredible exercise in realistic and detailed world building Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything. Gates of Fire (PvP): Two teams clash over possession of the flag. Gain points by flying through gates while holding the flag!When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives. Abraham’s thematic explorations in this book are resonant, and I really appreciated how he was able to explore the inner lives of his characters without bombastic and over-the-top plot events. Abraham explores the importance of family (biological and found), the various ways that people experience grief, and overarching structures of oppression. These themes are not unique to the fantasy genre (particularly in modern fantasy), but Abraham handles them in a nuanced and character-driven way rather than making them front and center. Fantasy is my favorite genre because it allows commentary on the real world in slanted and skewed ways and this is a quietly political book that examines the relationship between the ruler and ruled, the ties between a nation and the physical space it occupies, and the underhanded and nefarious ways power is transferred.

Moreover, the tone of this story was a tad bit too depressing for my taste. Age of Ash is not a story filled with hope, love and happiness. On the contrary, this world is rough and is filled with injustice and adversity. I loved Alys’s character, her journey is raw and painful, and although many times she sorely needed to realise the downfall she was heading towards, I understood why she couldn’t. Her relationship with her mother is strained, her friendships with others become distant, and instead of building bridges she shatters them and forges new ones, but with the wrong people. Abraham's prose is beautiful and the early chapters where he is building the city for the reader were a joy to readI enjoyed this book but I suspect my tempered response will need to be revised after books 2 and 3. As always, Abraham’s writing is beautiful in many places. However Kithamar itself is a fairly standard fantasy city that could fit just as easily in Mistborn, Gentleman Bastards, etc…and the antagonist similarly echoes many other series—I have to wonder if I’ll feel differently after seeing these events from other perspectives. I did feel Alys’ emotional arc in particular was a very rewarding story. What I enjoyed the most were the characters. We have a very diverse set of them ranging from petty thieves, witches from another country, slavers, and members of the (cultish) royal family. They all scheme, and it is all personal: we see grief over losing a loved one shapes one's path; we see someone's idealizing her (unrequited) love interest and grieving with the letting go when that person changes; we see someone losing themselves in a scheme for who is close to their hearts; and we see someone's actions being shaped by their past and her slow realization that she was a pawn, but can no longer be with the right group of friends. Above everything and everyone, I loved Darro and Sammish. Sammish was just very dear to me, I loved witnessing her development from a literal shadow to what she becomes. It's been a long time since I rooted for a character as bad as I have for her. The main plot might be the least interesting part, and it is still very good. I won’t go into much detail so as to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say, there is a dark secret at the heart of the city and its leadership. But the people who maintain this secret have enemies who want to see them fall. Abraham implies that these people aren’t very good, but it’s also unclear if their fall would really be all that better than the system that currently exists.

Mind you, I love the way Abraham writes. Regardless of the book’s design (he can do chapters, too!), it is always so difficult for me to stop. And this book is truly written like you'd write about a walk 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. Or perhaps it would be more apt to state that the story flows like the river that cuts through the city. The current is not that rapid, but it is relentless; it ebbs and flows. That’s why personally, I didn't mind that all we got were three big chunks. In the grand scheme of things, it made sense. What is the most captivating about the book is that while it is not so much character-driven, it definitely is character-dependent. And one of those characters is the city. It is always in the spotlight. We can see and smell its crooks and nooks, its best and worst; the city itself becomes a protagonist that can help you or kill you if you’re careless. It is also incredibly atmospheric.The character work is good, although I felt some of the more interesting character development was right at the end of the book, so there was little time to enjoy this. The story definitely had its moments, with some of those interesting character developments driving the plot forwards in the latter stages of the book.

Daniel Abraham builds this world up with all the confident craftsmanship you'd expect from an author of his pedigree . . . So hang on to your cloak and dagger, Kithamar is in the hands of a pro. The book also poignantly explores grief in all its forms. Abraham reflects the way grief is never a singular formulaic response; when we lose someone we hold close to us we lose a part of ourselves, and the way our mind copes with the trauma is different for everyone. Many may say “with time it gets easier”, but for some people it just doesn’t. Throughout Age of Ash, Alys experiences grief in various ways, from denial, to sorrow, to anger and finally to becoming more and more like Darro to keep a part of her brother alive. My heart broke for Alys, the way she would remember Darro’s words, repeating them like a mantra, her fond memories of when he’d look after her when the world abandoned her in the cold, and the way she takes on his mannerisms and begins to live by “what would Darro do?” His death clearly colours her every action, and this to my mind is exactly what grief does. Which radioactive isotope or isotopes would you use to date each of the following objects? Explain each of your choices. Having said that I will say I'm not disappointed at all bu there were a couple that things that weren't exactly my cup of tea.

Now, the real winner of this book is not Alys or any of the other characters, it is Kithamar itself. I didn’t realise until I finished the book that the series was going to be connected through the city rather than the individuals in the novel, but it does make the heightened focus on the setting make more sense. It is clear that the city is sunlight bright in the author’s mind, a place painstakingly developed and offered to the reader with loving enthusiasm. It’s not just that the setting is thoroughly detailed, though it is, but the reader is given a sense of tradition and community that add meaning to the ways in which people live and die, how they celebrate and mourn. For this, the author deserves all the praise. It is a rare talent to be able to create such a truly livid-in place, one that seems worn. There's plenty of intrigue and politics, mostly seen through the eyes of people in well over their heads, and Abraham's latest is certainly an intriguing introduction to a series, hinting at plenty of larger events to come Well, it is true. Age of Ash is a slowly unveiling mystery. There are no fireworks in terms of plot, the magic is only very subtle, and the pace, as you can surmise, is very sedate. In fact, it unfurls as naturally as the seasons of the year. You know how winter follows autumn or how imperceptibly spring matures into summer? Sometimes it is impossible to pin down when one ends, and another begins because the grand change is merely an effect of small things that add up. And this story is about small things adding up, day after day. It takes talent to write like this. This outstanding series debut [. . .] instantly hooks readers with dual mysteries [. . .] Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel' Publishers Weekly If an element decays by losing an alpha particle, it will lose 2 protons and 2 neutrons. If an atom decays by losing a beta particle, it loses just one electron.