A Shadow in Summer, Book One of The Long Price Quartet, by Daniel Abraham

A Shadow in Summer, Book One of The Long Price Quartet, by Daniel AbrahamDaniel Abraham’s first published novel, A Shadow in Summer, is better and more original than the novels published by seasoned professionals, but perhaps that is to be expected. It is easier to teach a new dog new trick than and old dog. Much of modern popular fantasy fiction is simply a retread of Tolkien. Brave warriors befriend elves and fight orcs and dragons while wizards play with impossible powers in far too many novels. Because of this, it is very refreshing to find an original voice.  But more than that, too many heroes in fantasy are predictable. How many times have you, dear reader, known what was going to happen and how the characters would react far before the author tells you? Quite often, I have found. And how often, if the character does not follow your prognosis, do his actions make no sense? Far too often, I think.

In A Shadow in Summer, the characters, especially the strong-willed Otah, react in ways that show a much better understanding of the world in which they live than the reader would have guessed. You are willing to follow the characters through the story because you know they will surprise you.

More after the break…

Unfortunately, in most fantasy novels, magic is predictable. There is little difference, besides superfluous trappings, between the spell slinging of most wizards in popular fiction. The names change, but the feel of magic is usually stale. A fireball is a fireball, and a lightning bolt is a lightning bolt. Not so here, because Abraham has created a world where magic is literally alive.

Magic in this world is wrought by poets, and the magic is a being, often an important character, called an Andat. In A Shadow in Summer his name is Removing The Part That Continues, or Seedless, and he has his own goals and intrigues. Others are called Petals Falling, or Three Bound as One. They are all powerful, but they are also slaves.  Some poets have fallen in love with their Andat creations, and some are despised by them. Seedless’s ability to remove the seeds from anything with a glance is a boon the cotton-based economy of Saraykeht, but he wants to be free.

All the major characters, Otah, the nobleman’s disowned son, Maati, the apprentice poet, Amat, the overseer of a major trading house, Liat, her inexperienced student, and Itani, the mysterious laborer, interact in a complicated, but never confusing, web of love, deceit, and vengeance. Amat is on the run for her life, because of what she knows. Liat is in over her head, trying to keep the trading house together and in love with Itani, a man far below her station who has powerful secrets. Maati is undyingly loyal to Otah, who ruined his own future to save Maati from abuse in school, while waiting to be the poet that must someday takeover for his failing master.  And watching it all is the omnipotent Seedless, who cannot have the one thing he wants, his freedom.

This is Abraham’s first novel, and there are a couple of insignificant rough patches that a more seasoned veteran would have avoided, but let me ask this. Would you rather have a polished piece of glass, or a rough-cut diamond? I choose the latter, and you would be wise to do the same by reading A Shadow in Summer, by Daniel Abraham.

4  out of 5