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

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The story begins by weaving the subtle mystery surrounding the death of one of it’s rulers, and some of the history of this long-standing city, before focusing on one of its varied occupants. There are rich people with some kind of agenda, but save some ill-defined darkness, the consequences of them getting what they want or not was never truly addressed. I love fantasy books that are more confined, instead of a gigantic fantasy world, so this one was right of my alley. Age of Ash is the first volume of a new trilogy set in Kithamar, a massive walled city divided by a deep river, and ruled by the Hansch, a race of people who live mostly in the wealthy districts on the river’s west side. 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.

In short, the two main characters of this story are secondary and tertiary characters with respect to the important events occurring within the city. I liked seeing their friendship and all the angst alongside the exploration of how high political stakes and constant threat put close relationships under a lot of strain. Sammish seeing her beloved Alys suffer and struggle under her grief, tries to help her friend in any way she can, but the more she learns the truth about the murder and the multitude of connections surrounding it, she soon realises she has to try to save more than just her friend. Abraham builds on The Dragon's Path to create and sustain a rich, satisfyingly complex epic fantasy. I think that unless you delve into the themes, or the specific character motivations, that is sometimes the conundrum with reviewing a Daniel Abraham book though.Additionally, when the story of these girls ends, it has only very little to do with the more important story at large. Daniel Abraham at long last completed the groundbreaking Expanse series with writing partner Ty Franck at the end of 2021. The central conflict of the book lacks the moral complexity more common in recent fantasy works, but makes up for it with Abraham's trademark excellent prose and thoughtful descriptions. The contrarian reader that I am, I loved this story that only starts here in a rather inconspicuous way.

When Alys' brother is murdered under mysterious circumstances I was initially pretty hooked because it had the potential to be a murder mystery and revenge story. When things finally started to pick up, I didn’t care enough to try and get fully reinvested in the plot. Considering it takes place amongst the slums of a city, surrounded by crime, poverty, and violence, and one of the key plotlines is to uncover the cause of a brutal murder, I thought it would have a much darker feel. Fiona is a former secondary school teacher and current stay at home parent to two very wild and active children. There are some very well-put musings on the nature of both, but I think the trouble is that they don’t really feel like naturally-occuring parts of the characters, but more like pithy philosophising from the author.Other times I wondered if it was because I didn’t feel properly introduced to Alys’s backstory for a while.