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Buy from Amazon| Reviews of A Shadow in Summer (The Long Price Quartet) - Page 1 of 1 | «1»
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A reader posted a review at 2009-08-07 21:45:29.
(Language: English)
   
different...nice writing
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A reader posted a review at 2009-05-07 19:05:32.
(Language: English)
I really enjoyed this one. All of the characters were a shade of gray. The villains were fairly sympathetic. The characters were human; even the one who wasn't human. There was some poor editing, but I'm not holding it against the author or the story itself. If you want a fantasy story that isn't your classic style with obvious right and wrong, then you'll enjoy this one.
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A reader posted a review at 2008-10-03 13:49:35.
(Language: English)
An excellent debut novel A Shadow in Summer is an excellent debut novel by Daniel Abraham, and a promising opening to the "Long Price Quartet" of which it is the first volume. Abraham, an experienced writer of short fiction, creates a universe that manages to be both exotic and mundane, and features a cast of captivating characters, often conflicted and drawn in shades of grey. The scenery and settings are beautifully evoked through light and elegant descriptions that reveal only as much as they need to in order to spark the imagination. The story revolves around a plot to liberate the "andat" Seedless, a god-like figure chained in corporeal form by the "poet" Heshai, and forced to serve and protect the city of Saraykeht. With Seedless out of the way, Saraykeht would lose its competitive advantages in textiles and trade, and be vulnerable to military assault. The central characters are Maati, Heshai's apprentice and one of the very few selected to become poets, and Maati's former mentor Otah, now a renegade who rebelled against the cruel processes used to weed out potential poets. They are connected to the aging trade advisor Amat through her apprentice, and their mutual lover, Liat. Caught up in the whirl of events, Amat and the others attempt to defend Saraykeht and maintain its andat's captivity, while being driven in other directions by forces outside their control. Unlike volumes in many recent fantasy series, A Shadow in Summer manages to resolve this plotline, and can be read as a stand-alone novel, not merely one portion of a larger work. Even better, it is not the sort of doorstopper work that has also become common in the genre, clocking in at 350 pages in a small, mass-market paperback edition. Granted, A Shadow in Summer is not perfect -- it was a bit slow to get started, not really grabbing me until about a third of the way in, and many reviewers have commented on a troubling plot hole. However, despite its few flaws, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and look forward to getting my hands on Abraham's next work.
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A reader posted a review at 2008-02-03 23:31:57.
(Language: English)
I enjoyed reading this book very much. It takes a unique approach to "magic." In it, poets are able to capture ideas; however, every time the same idea has to be captured, it must be thought of in a new way. Once captured, these ideas provide their power for a city. This book is the first of an intended four, and offers a view of a poet's mind, as well as that of the andant, or idea.
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A reader posted a review at 2007-12-14 19:42:07.
(Language: English)
A fantasy setting with less medieval western flavor and more eastern seafront. It managed to surprise me when characters presented with limited decisions strike out and find their own alternatives. It made it feel different and more complex and that just endears the story to me. I believe Abraham mentioned in an interview that one summation of this book could be: prevent genocide, deliver justice, save the city - pick two. He did a fair job making a narrative out of that with a varied and well-meaning cast full of people who are people first and abilities second. It makes it feel more fulfilling that way. Despite that, there's a quiet and inevitable feeling sometimes. The plot grinds to a slow crawl when these normal people, as forward and aggressive as they are, cannot magically climb over the red tape. It's reasonable and fair but it also makes it dreadfully dull for the reader in some stretches.
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