Daniel Abraham

From New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author Daniel Abraham, co-author of The Expanse, comes a monumental epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city, over the course of one tumultuous year, where every story matters, and the fate of the city is woven from them all. Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold. This is Alys's. 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. 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. For more from Daniel Abraham, check out: The Dagger and the Coin The Dragon's Path The King's Blood The Tyrant's Law The Widow's House The Spider's War

Age of Ash

Emma Jones

Janice Hopper

Alys's brother Dorro is dead. Alys is afraid it's her fault.

Sammish loves Alys. Alys doesn't realize this. Sammish has other secrets too, and more power than people realize.

There's a big secret at the heart of Kithamar, the city. Maybe a bad secret.

All these story lines intersect in this quiet, well-written novel by one of my favorite authors.

Well done, Mr. Abraham. Can't wait for the next installment.

Alice Hyman

Kithamar runs on the life blood of its people, all of them from the very wealthy to the very poor, and maybe something more

We follow Alys - emo queen of bad decisions 

and Sammish - who is way too tired to be dealing with everything - and by everything I mean Alys' bad decisions. 

In the beginning we don’t know much, apart from the hardship the characters see and face everyday from children. They need to make money to buy food and they will do that anyway they can - running cons and cutting purses. 

They know as little as we do about magic, riches and crafted daggers. Then something happens that thrusts Alys, and through her Sammish, into a world where the decisions they used to make seem easy and nothing is certain

A great slow paced fantasy willed with morally grey characters, old gods and even older magic. 

I really enjoyed this book, though there were at times were I was wishing that the suspense and mystery would give way to action sooner - the descriptions and world building started to drag slightly. But the action when it does come is enrapturing and definitely worth the wait. The plot twists and turns and so do the characters !

(Massive thanks to Daniel Abraham and Orbit publishing for the opportunity to read this book !)

Lauren

Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series is an all time favorite of mine, so Age of Ash was a no-brainer buy. I did enjoy it, just not quite as much as I'd hoped to. I even went back to read The Dragon's Path afterwords to make sure I wasn't giving it more credit than it was due in hindsight. Age of Ash just didn't quite touch the mastery of his other historical fantasy, but my favorite parts of his writing are still very present.
Abraham's character work is impeccable. He's fantastic about communicating the interior quirks and insecurities of characters in the most relatable terms. The unpredictable and irrational moments of Alys's grief and pride are terribly human, as is the codependency and resentment of evolving childhood friendships. Like in Dagger and Coin, where he committed to a character and plot deeply revolving around the intricacies of banking, Alys and Sammit's story is inseparable from the mechanics of theft and subterfuge. They're characters who think in the language of their own world, but not with a habit of over narrating for the reader's sake.
Alys's motivation in the first third wasn't super convincing, and the world building and magic system were much too glossed over for me to really feel attached to or curious about. But by the end I had a protagonist's journey worth caring about, even if it wasn't what I expected initially.

Age of Ash

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