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    A Shadow in Summer: Book One of The Long Price Quartet
    A Shadow in Summer: Book One of The Long Price Quartet
    A Shadow in Summer: Book One of The Long Price Quartet
    Ebook451 pages7 hours

    A Shadow in Summer: Book One of The Long Price Quartet

    By Daniel Abraham

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    From debut author Daniel Abraham comes A Shadow in Summer, the first book in the Long Price Quartet fantasy series.

    The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit, Seedless, an andat bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, a juggernaut of an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht, though, has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity. If they can dispose of Heshai, Seedless's bonded poet-sorcerer, Seedless will perish and the entire city will fall. With secret forces inside the city, the Galts prepare to enact their terrible plan.

    In the middle is Otah, a simple laborer with a complex past. Recruited to act as a bodyguard for his girlfriend's boss at a secret meeting, he inadvertently learns of the Galtish plot. Otah finds himself as the sole hope of Saraykeht, either he stops the Galts, or the whole city and everyone in it perishes forever.

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9781429910156
    A Shadow in Summer: Book One of The Long Price Quartet
    Author

    Daniel Abraham

    Daniel Abraham is best known as the co-author and executive producer of the Hugo Award–winning series The Expanse under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey. He has also written novels under his own name and as M. L. N. Hanover.  

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    Reviews for A Shadow in Summer

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Finally got around to reading Daniel Abraham's fantasy debut, A Shadow in Summer, and it was quite enjoyable. The premise: there are "poets," magicians of sorts who can capture an idea, an "andat" and bind it into corporeal form. The bond between poet and andat is strong, and in many ways, the andat is a reflection of everything the poet is, wants, or isn't, and the powers of the andat (put to use by the poet) keeps the cities wealthy and safe. But all of that's about to change when an andat does everything in its power to break free of its bond to its poet, and it doesn't care who it uses to do so.It's a quiet fantasy, and not really epic in an adventure/action sense. Abraham really, really focuses on character, and it's fascinating to watch the relationships play out. Also enjoyable in this was the Asian-influenced culture, obvious in the names (Otah, Maati, Liat, Amat), setting, and even gestures. The prologue, I'll tell you right now, is the weakest part of the book, so when you give it a shot, get through the first chapter at least. :) The rest of it is solid, and I look forward to getting the rest of these books.The full review, which does include spoilers, may be found in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Daniel Abraham's A SHADOW IN SUMMERHappy Reading!
    • 2/5
      This book was ok. Like others have said, not very much actually happens in it. The book is all story-driven with little to no action, which is fine. However, the story that IS going on is just somewhat interesting. I listened to this on audiobook, and I found myself zoning out several times when it came to people I just didn't care about, which is most of them.

      However, I will say that the writing itself is very good. I was also interested in the magic that was used in regards to Seedless and Heshai. I am intrigued enough with that relationship to continue with the series.
    • 4/5
      A Shadow in Summer is the first in the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. I went into this book blind based entirely on my enjoyment of reading his Dagger and Coin series. Due to that experience I went in hoping for a character based fantasy with a rich world. To that end I was not disappointed.The city-state of Sarayketh is unknowingly poised on the edge of disaster. It has grown quite wealthy by cornering the market on the cotton trade. This is due to the city's poet, Heshai, putting an idea into words and binding a spirit that can remove seeds from cotton with the wave of its hand. Commerce and trade is the way of life, with high and low born all doing business knowing that their city is a safe haven in a harsh world. Far to the west the merchants of Galt have other ideas. They have hatched a plan to strike at Saraykeht and take back the cotton trade. The head of Galt's trading house in the city is planning a crime so vile that if it succeeds, Sarayketh will fall.This is definitely a book with great ideas. The concept of a poet-sorcerer giving shape and form to an idea and then binding it to a spirit, granting is human shape and speech, is pretty cool. That a city is able to capitalize on this is no surprise. Being able to magically remove seeds is a highly useful ability, one that has far greater applications than just with cotton. Abraham has also come up with a form of silent language where his characters take poses to enhance their verbal speech. This goes beyond mere body language and into the realm of art with how nuanced some character's poses can take. Unfortunately the poses are not well described so I had a hard time visualizing them in my head, constantly switching from full body martial arts style poses to something more like sign language. I mostly settled on a type of sign language primarily utilizing hands and arms as it would be easiest for all ages and levels of mobility.The characters are solid. Abraham has quite a gift for writing elderly women! Amat was easily my favorite with Seedless as a close second. Heshai, Marchat Wilsin, Maati, Otah and Lait were good, but didn't capture my attention the way Amat and Seedless did. If this series follows a similar progression as his other works, most of the characters will have a complex character arc they go on over the next three books, which I'm very much looking forward to reading. The story moves at a glacial pace as we wait for these characters lives to start twining together. This is a fairly short book at 330 pages and it still took me over a week to read due to the pacing. Also highly annoying was the obligatory love triangle and angst it caused. Oy. I'm hoping that now that the foundation has been laid the rest of the series will pick up the pace. I am invested enough by the end that I will definitely be continuing.
    • 4/5
      I became aware of Daniel Abraham as one half of the J.A. Corey partnership that penned the Expanse Trilogy, so I decided to try out his fantasy novels - and what a find it was...

      The main definition I can come up with for this first volume of The Long Price Quartet is enchanting: the unusual, almost-far-Eastern setting , with its customs and sights and smells, is so very different and so aptly described that I could practically feel it taking shape all around me.

      More than once I wondered if there was not some subtle message in the concept of poets giving shape and life to ideas (the andats) with their thoughts, because while I was immersed in Mr. Abraham's words I thought that he had managed the same feat, to create a vivid world that lived and breathed under my eyes. The same notion that andats do possess a will of their own, often in contrast to the poet's, seemed to reinforce my belief, because sometimes a story does indeed take off in a direction a writer had not foreseen at all.

      The tale is all about subtle games of power, intricate plots and far-reaching consequences more than about clashes between good and evil or warring empires; struggles are more focused on the inner workings of a character's mind rather than on armies; choices and decisions, and their consequences, have more impact on an individual's moral compass rather than on a kingdom or a world. And yet, for this very reason - and not despite it - they resulting anguish and strife feel more profound and meaningful.

      This subtlety is mirrored by the fascinating detail of hand gestures that supplement and enhance the spoken language, adding nuances of meaning that cannot be conveyed by word alone; these gestures, together with the different name suffixes that define the various social relationships, are so very pervasive and yet unexplained, adding to the depth of the story in an undefined but very effective way.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written. It's nice to see a fantasy novel that doesn't rely on elves with swords.
    • 2/5
      I didn't finish this book. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get interested in the characters. It had an interesting premise and I was intrigued in the beginning. But one day it got put back on the library shelf by one of the children and I just never picked it up again. I'm willing to be convinced that I should retry :)
    • 3/5
      I liked a lot of things about this (especially the old lady hero! she is so awesome!), but it hasn't quite blossomed into true love yet. I'll see how the next one is.
    • 3/5
      Shadow in Summer had one of the most interesting magical systems and cultures I've encountered. In this world, poets use words and rhythms to trap ideas into the corporeal forms of andat. In the main culture, gestures and positions play as much role in conversation and nuance as words. The whole sense of the book is that of a complex, intricate world that we barely glimpse. It is beautifully done.

      My problem with the book, as seems to be my constant refrain, is the characters. They are all so desperately unhappy, and most of their misery is self-inflicted. It seems that all of the characters are unable to distinguish between justice and vengeance, and seek the latter without counting the potential cost. The characters have high aims--or at least what they perceive to be high aims--but it is somewhat appalling how low they will stoop to achieve their goals. As I read on, I kept thinking of the old poem, "all for a horseshoe nail." I have the sense that the rest of the series will follow the collapse of civilization, all for a petty plan to improve trade, a woman's desire for vengeance caged as justice, and the pride and arrogance of the other members of the cast.

      I also felt distanced from the characters, somehow. Their emotions and goals felt stilted, and I had real trouble relating to them. I also absolutely detested one of the main characters: a vain, stupid, selfish girl who I think we are supposed to sympathize with. No one in the world was kind without exacting a price later on. Almost all the characters are consumed by hatred, and those who are not are consumed by guilt. I found it difficult to inhabit such a place long enough to even finish the book.

      The book really brought up a lot of questions about the difference between vengeance and justice, but it wasn't something that the characters actually explored. Each chose a position and went pig-headedly onwards, apparently not even considering the pain they will bring to others.

      Overall, although I loved the world the characters inhabited, I kept switching over to other books (something I don't generally do) just to get away from the characters' self-inflicted misery.
    • 4/5
      Set in a vaguely Eastern sort of world, where thoughts can be made flesh by ‘poets’ who then enslave the resultant creature. The creature, an andat, is then held captive and forced to act in ways to increase the power of the city-state the poet serves.One young man in training to be a poet, leaves the school because he finds the brutality of the training unacceptable. He eventually meets up with a young man he’d himself trained and who is now a poet, and finds himself drawn into a mystery involving murder and disappearances and treachery. And even discovers the andat is somehow involved.Complex plotting, very well drawn characters, and an intriguingly different world. I enjoyed this greatly and plan to continue the trilogy.
    • 4/5
      This was very interesting. It opens with our study of our hero as a child at a school, an academy and I thought of the opening of Eddings and the Belgariad. But this is so much more depth, and we do not really see the development of the world as the protagonist develops.But there is some foreshadowing and it becomes obvious later about our hero. Yet he is still developing and we have a very complex political and psychological telling of a story. With many strings being pulled by puppeteers far above the puppeteers we think are pulling the strings.I don't want to rave because Abraham let me done in some place unclear about such things as magic, or that he allowed the political structures to be in place and I could only find out about them as he brought me further along.His prose was tight, and I can't see how he crammed so much into the 330 pages that he did. Yet he was successful. A well written story and now I am onto the next...
    • 2/5
      I gave this one a little over 4 hours out of a total of just under 15 hours in audio format. It was REALLY slow. The world seemed interesting if sometimes confusing, and it seemed like the main character of the first section disappeared completely so I didn't know if it was going for some kind of linked short story thing or what. Anyway, as Colin Hay would say, "Suddenly, nothing happened." And nothing continued to happen until I just found myself drifting off to different fantasy worlds or more dreadfully the mundane world.
    • 3/5
      The empire of Galt has been making war against the entire world with their powerful machines, but the cities of the Khaiem are not afraid. They are protected by their poets who control the andat, physical manifestations of a certain idea bound by the poet's words. However these poets are growing rare and there is a plot brewing that could undermine the security that the city of Saraykhet has enjoyed for so long. The city's fate lies in the hands of a poet's apprentice, a manual labourer, an aging overseer of a merchant house and her young and beautiful apprentice.There is a gaping plot hole in this book that makes it somewhat hard to enjoy. Skip the next paragraph if you don't want to be spoiled.**SPOILERS**There is a convoluted plot to free Saraykhet's andat that depend on a very precise sequence of events and a good deal of conjecture. However, a much simpler plot would have been to simply assassinate the city's poet, who is constantly wandering around the city unprotected and drunk. Since the whole book is centered around this plot, it falls kind of flat. At the end, the poet gets assassinated by one of the good guys to "save the city" - it seems a lame excuse to create internal conflict for the main character.**END SPOILERS**Other than the plot hole, though, the book is pretty good. I enjoyed the writing and the characters, especially Amat the extremely competent overseer. It's not often that you have female characters in their fifties being protagonists in a fantasy novel.The story is well told, although somewhat matter of fact. Abraham's characters are very decisive and pragmatic, almost to a fault - any internal conflict is either resolved or put aside to deal with pressing matters. This makes the book fast reading, but the characters aren't as likeable or sympathetic, and it made the characters' actions not really have any impact on me.I'll be reading A Betrayal in Winter, but I'm not in any huge rush.
    • 4/5
      On publishing, Daniel Abraham's debut novel was - and remains - a stark contrast to most mainstream fantasy. Leisurely, character-driven, little violence and plenty of strong female characters. This may not be for everyone, but it was a breath of fresh air for me.The cities of the Khaiem retain trade control through the use of andats - spirits made flesh - that no one else can master. But the andats themselves chafe under Khaiem domination, as do neighboring countries. A conspiracy to destroy an andat's master - a "poet" - has far reaching consequences in the port city of Saraykeht. A Shadow in Summer reminded me very much of Guy Gavriel Kay's work. Limpid, measured prose is married to a barely-magical setting, and I really enjoyed it. There's a sense of care and investment in this book that is rare in contemporary fantasy. The characters are diverse, interesting, and it is their personal emotions and conflicts that propel the story, as much as the conspiracy itself. Abraham doesn't shy away from writing female characters, and it's a nice change. Most intriguing of all is the andat, Seedless. Its bitter, sardonic, tortured voice is a great premise and character to hang the narrative from, and every scene featuring it is undeniably magnetic. Despite that, this is not a book for those who like a quick moving plot. There's a sense of... fate or predestination in A Shadow in Summer (also like Kay) that gives the book a melancholy tone, and an undeniably reserved pace. I enjoyed the characters and found spending time with them no onerous, but not everyone will feel that way. Nonetheless a refreshing read and interesting entry to contemporary fantasy.
    • 5/5
      It's hard to review this book separate from its companions in the series. Though the first book, A Shadow in Summer, has its own self-contained plot, the 4 books together are 1 story. It is an emotional, character-driven plot dressed in all the trappings of fantasy, but in a creative and well-formed world that reveals piercing insights about humanity and the consequences of their actions that you would more often see in science fiction. The first volume is the weakest, but only in comparison to the superb strength of the sequels. These books, particularly the final volume, The Price of Spring, are so phenomenal that I consider them some of the best books that I have _ever_ read. It's been two years for me and I still can't stop thinking about them -- to the point where I felt compelled to write this review, even though I hate writing reviews.If the synopsis on the flap sounds even vaguely interesting to you at all then you should definitely read this book and the sequels. The series is rewarding, and the ending profound. That's rare enough in itself to merit your attention.
    • 2/5
      This was an interesting book to read and my first experience with Daniel Abraham. While I thought the book was well written I was not drawn into the experiences of the characters in any meaningful way. The world was interesting and the posture custom was new. The best developed character seemed to be the city itself. Strangely, after finishing the entire novel the city is the only character I feel I know anything about. That said I will be reading book 2 of this series in the future to see if the pace of the plot and the development of the characters picks up.
    • 5/5
      A Shadow in Summer is the first of the Long Price Quartet, and Daniel Abraham’s spectacular first novel. It’s of the genre I’m inclined to call “epic fantasy,” except for most people that means swords and elves and Good Versus Evil, and what I mean by it is just second-world fantasy with a huge cast and extraordinary world-building. And let me tell you, this has it in spades.

      It’s hard to say who the main characters are because everyone is important in their own way. There’s Amat, the aging overseer for House Wilsin, who was good friends with the head of that house until she found herself objecting to his political tactics, and Liat her apprentice. Maati, the apprentice to the poet Heshai, and his extraordinary relationship with the poet’s slave, the andat Seedless. And the remote Khai, the ruler of the city; the vile pimp who Amat finds herself working for for a time; and not least, Otah, who could have been a poet but refused the brown robe.

      Aside from Otah’s prologue, the action all takes place in the city of Saraykeht, one of a number of loosely allied city-states each ruled over by their own Khai. The cities of the Khaiem have one thing in common that holds them together against other nations like Galt, and that is the andat. The poets describe the andat as “an idea translated into a form that includes volition.” They’re essentially the embodiment of an idea that has been described and enslaved by the poet, who is then responsible for holding and controlling the andat. The andat for Saraykeht is Removing-the-part-that-continues, called Seedless — and he’s central to the city’s dominance of the in the cotton trade. No cotton gin for them, they have an andat to pull the seeds from the cotton.

      And Galt, a nation whose dominance is in military rather than in economic matters, knows that the only way to conquer the cities of the Khaiem is to remove the andat. House Wilsin is their tool in a plot to drive the poet mad and force him to release Seedless, destroying Saraykeht, and the plot of the novel revolves around not only this plan but on all the characters’ various reactions, objections, and desperate attempts to halt or at least avenge the Galtic scheme.

      It’s an amazing world, based on Asian cultures in the same way that most fantasy is based on European cultures, with no direct parallels to real-world cultures and nations but providing the overall shape of the culture and history of the world. The characters are universally deep and well-drawn, and for the most part intelligent – I do so hate following around people who can’t see what’s happening in front of them. And the sequels! I’m about a hundred pages into A Betrayal in Winter, and the sense one gets is that the whole of A Shadow in Summer was necessary just so that you could understand what is happening in this book. It’s glorious, and I love it.
    • 3/5
      I got this for free with Leviathan Wakes, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a low fantasy (medieval with a variety of humanoid races, but virtually no magic or the like) work that follows three different sets of characters (two of which merge by the end).

      The world that's built up is an interesting one. Dragons ruled it in ages past, creating the human races as slaves. The dragons since died out, leaving behind a network of roads and a number of warring human kingdoms. The only magic that the reader sees is a small priesthood that, by virtue of parasitic spiders, can act as lie detectors and have powerful oratorical skills.

      Of the character groups followed, one (a banker and a guard captain and a street performer) was quite good, with real character development and interesting problems. The other two (dealing with nobles and court intrigues) were fairly boring most of the time.
    • 4/5
      Il mondo descritto da Abraham è sostanzialmente normale: commerci tra le città, governatori potenti, principi pronti a uccidere per poter governare, quartieri di lavoratori e prostitute. La particolarità sta però negli andat, idee che possono assumere una forma umana mantenendo il loro potere una volta legati da un poeta.
      La città Saraykeht subirà il desiderio di libertà dell'andat Seedless che muterà anche le sorti di diversi personaggi.
      In questo romanzo l'azione è sostituita da complotti e alleanze continuamente mutevoli; una volta abituati ai nomi e alla tipica gestualità dei personaggi il romanzo scorre fino alla conclusione in cui molto viene determinato mentre diverse strade sono lasciate aperte per il seguito.

      ---
      The world described by Abrham is mostly a normal one: trades between cities, powerful governors, princes ready to kill to gain power, quarters of laborer and prostitutes.
      The peculiarity are the andat, ideas in human form once bounded by a poet.
      Saraykeht city will be subjected to Seedles desire of freedom, who will change also the life of various characters.
      In this novel action is replaced by conspiracies and unstable alliances; once accustomed to the names and the communication by body movements the novel flows until the ending, where much is determined while some is left open for the following books.
    • 3/5
      Where to start? First off this book was not what I thought it would be. It is more of a literary work that a standard fantasy trope. This is a book about relationships and human interaction. What is the true nature of love? Responsibility, loyalty, nurturing, sex? How do we express our love of others? Just a few questions this book raises.I must say the first half of the book was slow for me and I was tempted to not finish the book, but I pushed through and the story picked up pace and held my interest.My problem: No real action. Lots of narrative (too much), and dialogue (not a bad thing). For such interesting world magic, trapping "forces" in human form bound by a poet, this was not explored much. We see only one of these "forces." For what it is, the books is good. Just not my favorite type of read.Overall a pretty good read, but do not expect any action to speak of. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      The thing that drew me into this book was the blurb on the cover from the Genius himself, George R. R. Martin. I took this book home and began reading it that night–something that doesn’t always happen–and was fairly impressed by the prologue (I believe this is the original short story). However, there were a few problems from the get go that seemed apparent throughout the book.First off, Abraham seems to be too much of a narrator instead of going into his character’s heads. He doesn’t tell me what they’re thinking as much as I’d like, and when he does their motives seem odd, and too often does he have a character do something, ‘not knowing why, even as they did so.’ It feels like he’s forcing his characters to have an arc, or at least advance a bit.Most of the characters were good, although some of them felt a bit similar and had strange reasoning for the choices they made. Another problem I had with them–an issue I had with Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth–is that none of the characters seems to have a sense of humor, or even be amusing to read about. In both debut’s, the darkness is too over-the-top because of this, compared to characters like Tyrion and Glokta in the works of Martin and Abercrombie, respectively.One of the shining points of Abraham’s writing is his dialogue, which comes off the page feeling very realistic. Yes, some of the scenes were a bit melodramatic, and I didn’t feel very emotionally attached to any of the characters, it was still good, all in all.The plot was odd, since there wasn’t much of one. Some would argue the same for other books that I immensely enjoyed (like Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself, for example) but these are two different beasts. A Shadow in Summer could’ve started anywhere before page 200 of this volume and I still would’ve understood everything and perhaps enjoyed the book more. It could’ve started at chapter 16 of 31, now that I look back, and might’ve been a better read. That being said, once this thing got going, it was very good. And yet, there weren’t any cliffhangers in this book. In every book I’ve read, just about, there is at least one end of a section or chapter where I tell myself that I simply have to see what happens next. That wasn’t the case with this, not once.Worldbuilding is a large part of some authors’ writing, and is almost a sub-genre in and of itself. Personally, as long as it doesn’t overpower or leave me guessing, I don’t much care. The building here is good, and seems to be well thought out. Abraham is good at sprinkling in this information without completely overpowering the reader, yet I still felt like I knew a substantial amount of stuff from this world by the end.All in all, it appears I may have been spoiled recently. With debut’s like The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Name of the Wind in bookstores, it’s hard to remember that not all debut’s are of such quality. Abraham’s isn’t, more at the level of Elantris or the before mentioned Winterbirth. This is a decent book from a promising author and, despite it all, I will be reading book two, A Betrayal in Winter.
    • 4/5
      In celebration of their new website, Tor placed two dozen titles in electronic formats available as free downloads. I downloaded the entire set and this is the first I'm reading. Daniel Abraham is a new author for me. So far (a couple chapters in), I'm enjoying it.I really appreciated the complex characters and setting of this novel. The author has created a system of magic quite unlike any I've encountered before and the ways in which the characters are touched by this adds depth to the work. A very fine first novel and one I recommend highly.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this read about a vividly imagined world in which the city Saraykeht possesses a prominent place. The characters drove the action, and I liked seeing each of them develop as the novel progressed, especially the figure of Otah. I look forward to reading the sequel.
    • 4/5
      I picked up this book because of the laudatory blurbs from both George R.R. Martin and Connie Willis.
      I know Abraham has co-written with Martin before; although this is his first solo novel, it doesn't read like a first effort in any way - it's definitely engaging, above-average fantasy.
      The world is a somewhat familiar fantasy scenario with an Asian-ish flavor, but not so much so that it doesn't feel interesting and original. It's set in a kingdom whose power rests on the andat - powerful beings in human form who are concepts incarnate - trapped/created by 'poets.' These poet/magicians are like monks, and have to go through a rigorous training program which few succeed in.
      The plot involves a conspiracy which may be rooted in a personal desire for revenge, but entwines business and politics as multiple layers are revealed. Along the way there are twists and turns, a love triangle, and more. For me, though, the star of the show was the character Amat - an older woman, an accountant. Not your usual hero (or anti-hero), but she was a compelling, complex person.
      Good characterization and interesting worldbuilding together mean I'll definitely have my eye out for more of Abraham's work.
    • 3/5
      This is one of those epic fantasies, with multiple volumes, much politics, intrigue, good world building, and multiple protagonists. It's set in a very Asian-influenced preindustrial fantasy world, where the people communicate not just by words but by elaborate protocol of arm/body movements. The main protagonist is Otah, an intelligent, brave, compassionate young man whom we meet as a boy enrolled in a brutal school, where younger sons of the wealthy ruling families are sent to remove them from the line of succession lest they be killed. Otah is being trained to have the slim chance of becoming a "poet", which in this world is someone who, through use of an ancient, well structured language, can magically bind and hold an elemental force or idea into the form of a man, whose force can then be used for the good of the city-states. These beings are called andats, and they arer what keep the Asian kingdom safe from the fierce Galt people who conquer lots of other peoples and are clever with engineering. They sound sort of like Mongolia crossed with Germany.Basically this book is a like a fantasy version of Shogun, but sadly with a lot less sword action. It has a great world though, the author really makes it come alive with his evocative descriptions and language. The story moves a little slowly, and, hello, three more volumes :(, but the protagonist is very appealing and realistic, and the struggles of all the protagonists are moving.
    • 4/5
      An intriguingly obscure and increasingly difficult to establish control of supernatural entities has protected the city states of the long gone empire from predatory powers with advance war technology. An old trader, his primary local aid, her apprentice and two young men, all well drawn, get caught up in the struggle for power in an unfortunate intrigue that both succeeds and fails.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      George R. R. Martin blurbed it, and I can see the similarities, but Abraham seems to be working in a much smaller world. The characters and story kept me entertained, but the ending seemed concrete enough that I have no desire to move on to the rest of the series.
    • 3/5
      This one really didn't grab me right out of the gate; I'll try it again later some time.
    • 4/5
      The book is set in the city-states of the Khaiem, cities each ruled by a leader and which are world powers due to their control of andats, spirits made flesh by well-trained poets. The andats are the power that keeps the Khaiem from being overpowered by the other countries in the world, and are thus a huge tactical power as well.The story in this book revolves around one such andat, who hates his poet, and the poet, and the poet's trainee, and the boy who could have been a poet but left, and a foreign trade company and its machinations and employees. One employee of the trade company, Amat, is a badass and completely awesome and I want an entire book about her.Anyway, the world-building is quite good. The story has enough twists that it might just verge on overdoing it, but it comes out feeling like a complex and nuanced and thus real plot instead. And the characters are very real. I liked it quite a bit and do look forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes up in my rotation.
    • 4/5
      In this world, poets can literalize their poetry into slaves who have to do the poets’ bidding. Cities who control one of these beings have huge advantages both militarily and in trade—in fact, their presence protects a loose agglomeration of cities from being overrun by an expansionist nearby power. This book, first in a “quartet,” follows one boy who walks away from his training as a poet and one who doesn’t, along with a woman working for a major trade house associated with the expansionist power and her apprentice. It’s very engaging, with everyone ethically compromised; interesting worldbuilding and good palace intrigue.

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    A Shadow in Summer - Daniel Abraham

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