Fantasy Aficionados discussion

How many of you have read Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet: A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, An Autumn War and The Price of Spring?

I read all four last month or the month before, though more to the point, recently. It's a series that I think is written beautifully and is very unique. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. The first three books all left me with a bitter-sweet feeling at the end and the fourth book has a chapter/section/scene/part that ranks up there as my favorite of all time.

There are certain books that have lines or parts that affect me immensely. The lines are burned into my memory and I often think about them and the beauty that they evoke. The parts elicit physical reactions. I cry, I cheer, I stand up and celebrate - that sort of thing. Or the parts connect with me so deeply that I cannot remember if they have influenced me - that I have adopted their ideas and made them my own - or I like them because they closely align with my own thoughts or values.

This series has both of them and much more. There is a line in the first book that made me start to love this series.

The line itself is "He answered with a pose so gentle and complex—thankfulness, requesting patience, expressing affection—that it neared poetry.”

The line itself may be unremarkable without the context of the events that lead up to it and so, it is probably difficult to explain without those events but I will endeavor to give a little context. The line is about Otah, the main protagonist of the series. He is a man who could be a Poet, the people with the ability to use the magic in the world but, for his own reasons, has rejected the training and the institution necessary to become one. Also, the people of this particular nation communicate verbally and physically. Almost every conversation is enhanced by the physical poses of the people speaking. The perspective of this section is from Otah's lover and she has asked him to spend the night with her and this line is how he refuses her.

In my head, I imagine that this one line justifies the entire structure of being able to communicate physically. How does one verbally communicate the feeling expressed in the line? I don't think you can. To me, the poses signify a beautiful, nuanced communication that can express feelings and intent more effectively than words.

It is that line that makes the physical communication so strong and powerful for me.

The part that of the book that sealed my love for this series is in the prolog of the last book. It's the part that starts with Otah's son finding all the letters Otah wrote to his wife after her death. Otah writes letters throughout the fourth book to his wife and his wife died between books 3 and 4. I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers with this information. I believe each book is separated by about 15 years or so. But I won't explain anymore about the section that I'm talking about except to say that after I finished the series, I went back and re-read that part about ten times. I wish every book I've read could make me go back and re-read my favorite parts.

The other thing that I really liked about this book was the blurring of the lines between good and evil. No one person was wholly good or evil. The characters who did good or bad things were all real people with valid motivations whether you agreed with them or not.

The relationships in the books were multi-faceted, nuanced and touching. They evolved and changed as, I believe, real relationships would over the course of a lifetime. And not just for one character but for many of the characters in the series.

I think these books deserve to be talked about and appreciated. They affected me so much that I want to talk about them. If you haven't read them then I think you should. I'll wait - :). If you have read them then I'd love to talk about them.

I will have to take you up on this recommendation.

This was one of the first series I read when I rediscovered fantasy almost three years ago, and it completely blew me away. It remains the series by which I judge every other book I read. Your post makes me want to rush off and reread it.

Don't know whether you know, but Abraham is midway through a new fantasy series, The Dagger and The Coin. The third book (of 5) is just out. It's not very similar to Long Price, it's much more conventional fantasy, but in Abraham's inimitable style, which means great characters and a lot of depth. First of series is The Dragon's Path. The first two I rated as good but not awesome, but the third - definitely into awesome territory. There's also a sci-fi series starting with Leviathan Wakes, and an urban fantasy series (sorry, can't remember the title of that). Yes, the guy is prolific as well as awesome.

Good to hear he's reaches the awesome category by the third book! I felt the same way you did about The Dragon's Path and haven't gotten to book 2 yet. I thought The Long Price Quartet was superb.

I've read all three books in the dragon and the coin series. I'm loving it too! For some reason I thought it was a trilogy so when I realized there were two more books, I was both upset and delighted. Upset because I prefer to read finished series. I don't like to wait and long series tend to aggravate me. I read the first six of the Sword of Truth before I gave up on it. I read the first eight or nine books in the Wheel of Time before I gave up on it. It was more the content that irked me on those series than the wait. However, the wait is killing me on GRRM and Rothfuss. I try to avoid waiting whenever it's possible.

I believe Abraham writes under different monikers for different genres. James S.A. Corey for science fiction and MLN Hanover for urban fantasy. I have yet to pick up any of those but I imagine they will be just as good. I've heard good things about the Blacksun's daughter - I think he's 6 books into that.

Dragon and the Coin has turned out pretty darn good. The Tyrant's Law had a supreme ending.

Just finished 1-3 of The Dagger and the Coin and very much enjoyed them. I particularly liked The Dragon's Path and didn't like the others quite as much, but that might just be world fatigue. It could also be that I enjoyed the Geder sections less and less. Now frustrated at my local library because, logically, they only have books 2 and 4 of The Long Price Quartet. Might have to *gasp * buy them!