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Long Price Quartet #3-4
The Price of War
Otah Machi, caught between ancient wonders and a modern empire, has survived more than most men endure in two lifetimes. In Price of War , an omnibus collection of An Autumn War and The Price of Spring , magic and treacherous politics bring a bitter harvest of violence and tragedy to the world he must defend.
But when all is darkest and the world seems utterly lost, there is yet hope for the salvation of a future yet undiscovered. All depends on Otah, and those with the power to shape it, if they can find the courage to forgive their own trespasses and redeem their lost hopes.
This unforgettable fantasy epic series, the Long Price Quartet, marks Daniel Abraham as a unique voice and one of the most enthralling fantasy writers to emerge in recent years.
But when all is darkest and the world seems utterly lost, there is yet hope for the salvation of a future yet undiscovered. All depends on Otah, and those with the power to shape it, if they can find the courage to forgive their own trespasses and redeem their lost hopes.
This unforgettable fantasy epic series, the Long Price Quartet, marks Daniel Abraham as a unique voice and one of the most enthralling fantasy writers to emerge in recent years.
576 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2009
19 people are currently reading
734 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Abraham
224 books3,078 followersDaniel James Abraham, pen names M.L.N. Hanover and James S.A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of
The Long Price Quartet
and
The Dagger and the Coin
fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of
The Expanse
series of science fiction novels, written under the joint pseudonym James S.A. Corey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
November 17, 2021
A very good story, the ending was done well and kept me engaged throughout the series. Highly recommended.
March 8, 2025
Beautiful story from beginning to end.
October 16, 2011
(Re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com)
There was this fantasy series I loved like a mad thing when I was about fourteen or so, but I won’t say which one as I don’t want to spoil anyone. There was one character in particular I was very fond of, a dashing young prince. The trilogy, among other things, followed Prince Dashing on various adventures until he saves the land and his lady love and lives happily every after.
But the author did not stop with just this trilogy, he went on to write many (many, many) more set in the same universe, one of which was set seventy or so years after the original trilogy. This new trilogy opens with a courier announcing to a country town that the Prince from the first trilogy had died. At 80. By falling off his horse. Over ten years later and I still remember the specific details.
When you think about it, dying of natural-ish causes at 80 is pretty much the most anyone can ask for. And yet, I was gutted. It took me a long time to bring myself to return to the new trilogy, and I never was able to enjoy it fully. It was just too sad, seeing the characters I had loved so much become old and weak. In my mind Price Dashing had exsisted in his prime, but now that memory was replaced by 80 year old dead Prince Dashing. I just couldn’t shake the feeling of melancholy.
Which brings me to Daniel Abraham’s Long Price quartet. I've seen a lot of words getting used to describe these books: Underrated, amazing, masterpiece. And I’m not suggesting that those words aren’t apt, because they are, but for me only one descriptor truly applies; melancholy. Because like mystery author of my youth, Danial Abraham also employs the big jump forward. An average of fifteen years passes between each of the Long Price’s four volumes, so the characters we are introduced to as teenagers in volume one are nearing the ends of their lives by the last.
I mean, yes, these books are amazing. The world building is nothing short of stunning, and the prose is just beautiful. More than once I was stopped in my tracks by the sheer elegance of a metaphor or line of description. But it’s just so sad, watching the characters grow old.
Watching how time ravages not only their bodies but also their relationships with each other. Sad, but also pretty damn impressive. I myself have little experience with growing old, but it feels like Abraham nailed it perfectly. Writing from the point of view of a much older character isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it carries more gravitas in the Long Price. The older character watching the younger character making the same mistakes they did carries more weight somehow when you were in that characters head while the made the mistakes. I don't think I really understood the folly of youth v. the wisdom of age before.
It might be easy to think, with all this talk of aging, that the books lack excitement, (which is exactly what I would have thought, if I’d known about the time jumps before hand). But it’s not the case! Set aside the fact that Abraham's skill grows viably with each book, and so to does our bond with the characters strengthen, the plot of each book just gets more and more thrilling. The stakes are upped in each volume, so where the first books deals primarily with the relationships between the characters, by the fourth volume empires are crumbling. The third volume, An Autumn War, was my personal favourite of the bunch and an excellent example of how to build suspense, and how to build it damn well.
Overall, these books are bittersweet. It’s a unique experience to stick with characters well into old age, (at least in this genre), and watching them age is very sad. But then we also see the birth of new characters, and new hope, which balances out that sadness out. Kind of like real life, I guess.
So, is the Long Prince quartet an easy read? Not even a little bit. But you’d be mad to pass over it.
There was this fantasy series I loved like a mad thing when I was about fourteen or so, but I won’t say which one as I don’t want to spoil anyone. There was one character in particular I was very fond of, a dashing young prince. The trilogy, among other things, followed Prince Dashing on various adventures until he saves the land and his lady love and lives happily every after.
But the author did not stop with just this trilogy, he went on to write many (many, many) more set in the same universe, one of which was set seventy or so years after the original trilogy. This new trilogy opens with a courier announcing to a country town that the Prince from the first trilogy had died. At 80. By falling off his horse. Over ten years later and I still remember the specific details.
When you think about it, dying of natural-ish causes at 80 is pretty much the most anyone can ask for. And yet, I was gutted. It took me a long time to bring myself to return to the new trilogy, and I never was able to enjoy it fully. It was just too sad, seeing the characters I had loved so much become old and weak. In my mind Price Dashing had exsisted in his prime, but now that memory was replaced by 80 year old dead Prince Dashing. I just couldn’t shake the feeling of melancholy.
Which brings me to Daniel Abraham’s Long Price quartet. I've seen a lot of words getting used to describe these books: Underrated, amazing, masterpiece. And I’m not suggesting that those words aren’t apt, because they are, but for me only one descriptor truly applies; melancholy. Because like mystery author of my youth, Danial Abraham also employs the big jump forward. An average of fifteen years passes between each of the Long Price’s four volumes, so the characters we are introduced to as teenagers in volume one are nearing the ends of their lives by the last.
I mean, yes, these books are amazing. The world building is nothing short of stunning, and the prose is just beautiful. More than once I was stopped in my tracks by the sheer elegance of a metaphor or line of description. But it’s just so sad, watching the characters grow old.
Watching how time ravages not only their bodies but also their relationships with each other. Sad, but also pretty damn impressive. I myself have little experience with growing old, but it feels like Abraham nailed it perfectly. Writing from the point of view of a much older character isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it carries more gravitas in the Long Price. The older character watching the younger character making the same mistakes they did carries more weight somehow when you were in that characters head while the made the mistakes. I don't think I really understood the folly of youth v. the wisdom of age before.
It might be easy to think, with all this talk of aging, that the books lack excitement, (which is exactly what I would have thought, if I’d known about the time jumps before hand). But it’s not the case! Set aside the fact that Abraham's skill grows viably with each book, and so to does our bond with the characters strengthen, the plot of each book just gets more and more thrilling. The stakes are upped in each volume, so where the first books deals primarily with the relationships between the characters, by the fourth volume empires are crumbling. The third volume, An Autumn War, was my personal favourite of the bunch and an excellent example of how to build suspense, and how to build it damn well.
Overall, these books are bittersweet. It’s a unique experience to stick with characters well into old age, (at least in this genre), and watching them age is very sad. But then we also see the birth of new characters, and new hope, which balances out that sadness out. Kind of like real life, I guess.
So, is the Long Prince quartet an easy read? Not even a little bit. But you’d be mad to pass over it.
June 20, 2024
An Autumn War: 4 stars
Maybe it was just a bit hard to get back into the series.
The Price of Spring: 5 stars
A perfect ending
Maybe it was just a bit hard to get back into the series.
The Price of Spring: 5 stars
A perfect ending
April 5, 2018
The world changes. Sometimes slowly, sometimes all of an instant.
But the world changes, and it doesn't change back.
In ‘Seasons of War’ Abraham continues even better as he takes us into a story of war and survival, and with the characters maturing, as they search for their own redemption in a world that is changing; while showing us more about the Galts, the rivals of the Khaiem, as also managing to combine some very nice ideas and even leaving a taste of steampunk.
Although Abraham introduced the Galts a little in the previous novels, he didn’t show who they really are and why they hate the Khaiem and the creations of the “poets”; since until now they were trying to destroy them only through intrigues and machinations, and always keeping their existence hidden.
So, the Galts are a more “western” race, that I could say reminds a lot to Europeans, and, in contrast with the Khaiem with their cities and the andat, they have the High Council, that determines all the important decisions in their country, while also they build their steam-engines, which gives them a more significant force in their military actions.
Of course the Galts they never had a real power in the world because, since the fall of the Old Empire and the creation of the andat, they live under the intimidation and humiliation of the Khaiem and their “god-ghosts”, which made them to hate them and wanting to destroy them.
An Autumn War
In the third novel the story jumps fourteen years after the events of the previous one with Otah and the rest of the characters having now grown up, and having found their own “peace” in the winter city Machi.
However, for the Galtic General Balasar things are very different as, having lived for a long time under the fear of the Khaiem and their “god-ghosts”, he will travel in the wastelands of the Old Empire to search for something that will restore the Galts to power, and also bring war and destruction to the Khaiem and their cities.
In the cities of the Khaiem though, the people have stayed under the safety of the "poets" and their andat much longer than they can remember, leaving the new empire without any real army, and forgetting what war really means which will bring them in a very hard path of survival.
Otah and Maati will try to change that and to face this new threat, against an enemy that has both the strength and the experience, and they will have to take critical decisions for the survival of the cities; but that will put them in an even harder path than they expected as the price for that may prove much higher and could bring the new empire to its destruction.
In the third novel of this series the story becomes even better than its predecessors with Abraham having now found his own pace, and managing to bring more action and bigger twists.
Of course, the pace of the story doesn’t change much but Abraham manages, through the characters, to enchant you, which is one of his strongest parts in this series, as he handles them very beautiful and also makes you love them even through their faults.
The best part though he leaves it for the end as he manages to make a very strong and subversive ending, bringing the world on the verge of its destruction, and showing that there is always a price for the actions of the characters, but also leaving you in a very special place that will make the next novel even more unique. 8.5/10
The Price of Spring
In the fourth and final novel the story jumps again a few years later, with the war now being over but the price for peace for Otah and the cities of the Khaiem with the Galts is just beginning as, he’s trying to find a common ground with their rivals and save his people, he will get entangled in a game of intrigues and machinations, whose only purpose is for power, and thus making his task even harder.
However, for Maati his path in the world after the events of the war was not easy as he had to stay hidden like a wanted man, seeking for his own redemption and trying to find a way to restore the world as it was before.
The only way for that though is to try and train new students to create a new andat, but this may prove something much worse than he’d expected and on the way he will have to seek Otah’s help, even though that they had separated as enemies, because if it gets out of control the price will be, not only the destruction of their cities but for the whole world.
The final novel is perhaps the slowest one compared to the previous novels of the series, but the way, I must say, Abraham shifts between Otah and Maati is really great as he takes us through their thoughts, and shows us that their actions are not always infallible, even if they want to believe otherwise; which puts their friendship, and the world, in a very hard place.
On the other hand of course as long as I keep reading this series I start enjoying Abraham’s writing even more and this book, I believe, is no exception as he manages to make a very emotional and unique finale, as he closes the series and the characters very beautiful. 8/10
Overall, the next two novels continue really great as Abraham has done a very good job, even through his flaws, and managing to create a really wonderful series with some, truly, enchanting characters. Highly recommended!
Ελληνική κριτική:
But the world changes, and it doesn't change back.
In ‘Seasons of War’ Abraham continues even better as he takes us into a story of war and survival, and with the characters maturing, as they search for their own redemption in a world that is changing; while showing us more about the Galts, the rivals of the Khaiem, as also managing to combine some very nice ideas and even leaving a taste of steampunk.
Although Abraham introduced the Galts a little in the previous novels, he didn’t show who they really are and why they hate the Khaiem and the creations of the “poets”; since until now they were trying to destroy them only through intrigues and machinations, and always keeping their existence hidden.
So, the Galts are a more “western” race, that I could say reminds a lot to Europeans, and, in contrast with the Khaiem with their cities and the andat, they have the High Council, that determines all the important decisions in their country, while also they build their steam-engines, which gives them a more significant force in their military actions.
Of course the Galts they never had a real power in the world because, since the fall of the Old Empire and the creation of the andat, they live under the intimidation and humiliation of the Khaiem and their “god-ghosts”, which made them to hate them and wanting to destroy them.
An Autumn War
In the third novel the story jumps fourteen years after the events of the previous one with Otah and the rest of the characters having now grown up, and having found their own “peace” in the winter city Machi.
However, for the Galtic General Balasar things are very different as, having lived for a long time under the fear of the Khaiem and their “god-ghosts”, he will travel in the wastelands of the Old Empire to search for something that will restore the Galts to power, and also bring war and destruction to the Khaiem and their cities.
In the cities of the Khaiem though, the people have stayed under the safety of the "poets" and their andat much longer than they can remember, leaving the new empire without any real army, and forgetting what war really means which will bring them in a very hard path of survival.
Otah and Maati will try to change that and to face this new threat, against an enemy that has both the strength and the experience, and they will have to take critical decisions for the survival of the cities; but that will put them in an even harder path than they expected as the price for that may prove much higher and could bring the new empire to its destruction.
In the third novel of this series the story becomes even better than its predecessors with Abraham having now found his own pace, and managing to bring more action and bigger twists.
Of course, the pace of the story doesn’t change much but Abraham manages, through the characters, to enchant you, which is one of his strongest parts in this series, as he handles them very beautiful and also makes you love them even through their faults.
The best part though he leaves it for the end as he manages to make a very strong and subversive ending, bringing the world on the verge of its destruction, and showing that there is always a price for the actions of the characters, but also leaving you in a very special place that will make the next novel even more unique. 8.5/10
The Price of Spring
In the fourth and final novel the story jumps again a few years later, with the war now being over but the price for peace for Otah and the cities of the Khaiem with the Galts is just beginning as, he’s trying to find a common ground with their rivals and save his people, he will get entangled in a game of intrigues and machinations, whose only purpose is for power, and thus making his task even harder.
However, for Maati his path in the world after the events of the war was not easy as he had to stay hidden like a wanted man, seeking for his own redemption and trying to find a way to restore the world as it was before.
The only way for that though is to try and train new students to create a new andat, but this may prove something much worse than he’d expected and on the way he will have to seek Otah’s help, even though that they had separated as enemies, because if it gets out of control the price will be, not only the destruction of their cities but for the whole world.
The final novel is perhaps the slowest one compared to the previous novels of the series, but the way, I must say, Abraham shifts between Otah and Maati is really great as he takes us through their thoughts, and shows us that their actions are not always infallible, even if they want to believe otherwise; which puts their friendship, and the world, in a very hard place.
On the other hand of course as long as I keep reading this series I start enjoying Abraham’s writing even more and this book, I believe, is no exception as he manages to make a very emotional and unique finale, as he closes the series and the characters very beautiful. 8/10
Overall, the next two novels continue really great as Abraham has done a very good job, even through his flaws, and managing to create a really wonderful series with some, truly, enchanting characters. Highly recommended!
Ελληνική κριτική:
February 19, 2022
3.5
This had both the best book of the quartet (Autumn War) and the worst (Price of Spring). Overall, this was a very ambitious and daring series . Daniel Abraham is an amazing author who is not talked about enough.
This had both the best book of the quartet (Autumn War) and the worst (Price of Spring). Overall, this was a very ambitious and daring series . Daniel Abraham is an amazing author who is not talked about enough.
June 15, 2017
This is the second omnibus of the last two books of the Long Price quartet. As with the previous volume, it is brilliantly written. The world building and characterisation are flawless; this is a fantasy world that really has the feel of an entirely different world, not simply a medieval Europe that never was (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it makes a refreshing change). The plot is engrossing and gripping: again, this differs from most fantasy novels in that the danger here is not some ancient-evil-come-again that can be defeated simply by sticking a sword in it - this is far more dangerous and harder to defeat. Though it isn't grimdark, Abraham doesn't shy away from dealing with the consequences of bad decisions and isn't afraid of drawing the reader through all the inevitable conclusions.
In short, if you like your fantasy with battles and action on every page, you may not enjoy this book. If however, you like your fantasy more considered, with less action but (possibly) more depth, then you should enjoy this. I already know I'll be re-reading it in the future. Highly recommended.
In short, if you like your fantasy with battles and action on every page, you may not enjoy this book. If however, you like your fantasy more considered, with less action but (possibly) more depth, then you should enjoy this. I already know I'll be re-reading it in the future. Highly recommended.
July 29, 2010
A fitting conclusion to the Long Price Quartet, and one of the best darn books I've read this year (and I do average 4 books a week). A meditation on the nature of power, of man vs. woman and of forgiveness. The epilogue is a kick in the gut (in a sad but good way).
February 20, 2022
What a gripping second half of the quartet!
With "An Autumn War," the series really takes off. All the thematic groundwork of the first two volumes pays off, and these last two books score with a comparatively compact plot. Although the general pacing is still slow, it is nearly perfect, and everything just flows exceptionally beautifully and naturally.
The greatest strength of "An Autumn War," in my opinion, is the plot itself, which shakes up the reality of our familiar characters on a grand scale and dramatically expands the world.
In "The Price of Spring," I found most moving the deep friendships, the dynamics between old and young generations, but also the ever-emerging glimmers of hope in this sorrow-ridden world.
Rarely have I read a book series with such nuanced, deep, and believable characters. The fact that we accompany the protagonists over much of their lives throughout the narrative allows for intimate relationships with the characters. Well, and that Abraham is a master of his craft.
An Autumn War: 5 stars
The Price of Spring: 5 stars
With "An Autumn War," the series really takes off. All the thematic groundwork of the first two volumes pays off, and these last two books score with a comparatively compact plot. Although the general pacing is still slow, it is nearly perfect, and everything just flows exceptionally beautifully and naturally.
The greatest strength of "An Autumn War," in my opinion, is the plot itself, which shakes up the reality of our familiar characters on a grand scale and dramatically expands the world.
In "The Price of Spring," I found most moving the deep friendships, the dynamics between old and young generations, but also the ever-emerging glimmers of hope in this sorrow-ridden world.
Rarely have I read a book series with such nuanced, deep, and believable characters. The fact that we accompany the protagonists over much of their lives throughout the narrative allows for intimate relationships with the characters. Well, and that Abraham is a master of his craft.
An Autumn War: 5 stars
The Price of Spring: 5 stars
March 6, 2024
Really enjoyed the second half of this excellent quartet. A compelling and unusual “fantasy epic” which stands out from an increasingly crowded field of Game Of Thrones rip-offs. I did think the final instalment could have been about 100 pages shorter but overall this was a great read.
June 7, 2020
Consolidates the extraordinary character development of the first two books.
January 26, 2026
Another review in two parts, from the second omnibus of the series.
An Autumn War (4 ⭐)
Ohhhh, that was brutal. Holy shit!
Daniel Abraham has truly mastered pacing, because what the hell. It’s been a long time since I felt so much dread getting to the end of a page. My brain is so totally scrambled now that I’m blanking with this review.
There’s no coherence to be had, so here’s a list of Thoughts, in no particular order:
➼ The lore is just so bloody good. After Book Two’s turn to mundane, if rather Shakespearean, melodrama, which overshadowed the whole fantasy element of this fantasy novel, it was a relief to get back to magic. And what magic it was. The way the andat’s bindings are so entirely rooted in wording and the nuances of things, forcing the story and the empire and all the characters to always teeter on the precarious knife-edge between peace and devastation, is such a startlingly clever plot device. There’s so much fucking tension throughout that I was just full-on stressed the entire time reading this book. The concept of Freedom-from-Bondage made manifest is so deliciously horrifying and fitting, and it is so symbolically right that such an andat would spell the end of the world, after centuries upon centuries of binding the andat.
➼ Maati’s binding of Sterile is so fucked up and I knew it would be a disaster the moment he got impatient with Cehmai for critiquing his work. And I was right, but I couldn’t look away from the morbidly magnificent trainwreck that was the aftermath, nor did I see any of it coming. Talk about a monkey’s cursed paw. Like, of course the price would deflect off Maati onto everyone else. Of course this andat made for the purpose of stopping a war between two warring peoples would spitefully create a situation where said peoples would have no choice but to depend on each other for their future survival. Of fucking course. It just all falls into place. Terrible, but bloody brilliant.
➼ War is always evil and I’ve rarely read as meticulous a war account in fantasy novels as this one. The consequences are calamitous. It’s not explicitly gory and there’s not even many “action scenes”, but making Balasar a POV character is a painfully brilliant way to showcase his horrifyingly logical reasonings, the almost matter-of-fact way the cities and people are destroyed and hurt. And then it just keeps going and going and going, because Balasar is a damn good warmaker. And even as I’m screaming in my head, the brilliance of the world-building shines through, because of course the Khaiem have zero military prowess, as ridiculous as it sounds. They’ve just depended on the andat for centuries, and the results of that are so entrenched in every aspect of their culture. It was utterly devastating to read about Balasar’s complete victory at each city, but also so completely unsurprising that it played out the way it did. The burning of knowledge after the sacking of each city and the Dai-kvo’s village is especially terrible and entirely antithetical to my very senses, and the voluntary burning at the end of the book even more so. I think I mostly forgot Otah was almost a poet himself, given how he’s been so distanced from the work of it all, so it’s twice as painful to see him agree with Balasar on the dangers of the andat and to burning it all.
➼ Of course, I have to talk about the characters. Where to even begin. I don’t like all of them, but of course, they are all so undeniably well-crafted that I feel something for every one of them.
I want to hate Balasar, but I can’t because he makes so much damn sense. It would be a shallow reading to position him as a villain, or at least as the only villain, because I think I would do the same; Liat even accidentally comes to this same conclusion, when she tells Maati she doesn’t care about what happens to the Galts as long as her family is safe. Sinja, I spent the entire book flipflopping over; the guy incited dread and hope by turn every time he appeared. But now that I know he isn’t a full traitor, I wish we got more of him. I want to pull my hair out over Maati, who was my best boy back in Book One; but the ugliness of being human rears its head here, to complete and utter devastation when he pours it straight into Sterile. And then he tries to deflect some of the responsibility to Otah - a true fucking tragedy, watching him fall back on emotional crutches, and look at that, Sterile is an accurate reflection after all. I don’t know that I believe that he really wasn’t meant to be a poet because Otah gave him the cheat code back at the school; but his vibe is so off that I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up a villain in the last book in some form of warped revenge. Liat is also back as a POV character, and while she’s improved since the first book, is still on my shitlist for her indulgence of her piece-of-shit son. And speaking of him, Nayiit pissed me off, and I feel only a little sorry that he died; Liat’s moment of redemption (in my eyes, at least) is when she admits to Nayiit being a deadbeat dad and husband. Otah’s come a long way but he still bears a certain arrogance I think, of thinking that his way is the best way, especially if that way defies convention; I don’t know how I feel about that but I do think he is unfortunately one of the less interesting characters in the series now. Eiah is annoying in the same way Liat was annoying in Book One - a stupid, teenage girl; frankly, I think the author suffers in this aspect because he clearly doesn’t know how to write young girls who aren’t annoying.
I’m taking a star off because it was a rather slow middle, before it hit its stride. Also because some characters irked me beyond belief. Also because I had lowkey wanted a reunion between Seedless and Maati and I didn’t get it (there’s still nothing that comes close to the intensity of the relationship between the two from Book One).
The Price of Spring (4 ⭐)
It always feels like every book in this series co-opts a new sub-genre and this final one is no different. The Price of Spring is (some kind of) a psychological horror, in that its pacing is breakneck compared to previous books, and also that Vanjit and her andat are straight up nightmare fuel. You’d think Daniel Abraham would’ve run out of ways to stress me out after three books.
For all that, this is a much “cozier” book than all its predecessors and you get the sense that it’s a deliberate winding down, the kind that precipitates goodbyes. We narrow all the way back to two central figures, Otah and Maati, and their lifelong circling of each other. Eiah, the other POV character, is daughter to them both and inescapably entwined. There’s no major war or battle or fight, and when disaster strikes (because of course there’s always a disaster), it hits quietly and unannounced. We linger on specific Galts, so we see exactly what Clarity-of-Insight’s and Vanjit’s unhinged brutalisation of the Galts has wrought. The despair is palpable. Again, I wonder how the author is going to get us out of the end-of-the-world.
And then a miracle of miracles. Eiah succeeds in summoning Wounded (scream), heals the entire damn world, and dismisses the andat. The scream I let out. The chills. The way I didn’t see any of it coming. I hadn’t known she had it in her; and for all Vanjit’s tirades that she could dismiss Clarity-of-Insight to call Wounded, she never so much as loosened her hold of the reins of power. But Eiah did. Scream.
Other thoughts:
➼ Idaan is back???????? Unbelievable in every sense of the word. What magic crack are you imbuing in your writing, Daniel Abraham, because I got to the end of the book and realised I’m now fond of her. Of Idaan! After the way she pissed me off in book two! Idaan’s last few lines about finding family late and her determination to kill anyone who would cross her family are so her, and at the risk of sounding trite, it was in her all along.
➼ Forgiveness is a major theme. The way two warring peoples forgive each other. Otah and Maati. Maati and Vanjit. Idaan and Otah. Cehmai and Idaan. I don’t know that they all got the forgiveness I think they deserve. But I appreciate endlessly that there’s never any straightforward black-and-white resolution; the road to forgiveness is messy as hell.
➼ Maati, oh Maati. He annoyed the fuck out of me this book. I suppose it’s been a long time coming. But his insane obsession with Otah and blaming Otah for everything that ever happened to him, and making out Otah to be some privileged powerful noble who gets away with anything, got incredibly tiring, incredibly fast. And then to top it all off, this delusional self-indulgence causes him to hand Vanjit (traumatised and vengeful) the power to cripple anyone and everyone, which she does, promptly. Like, anyone could’ve seen that coming. With Maati, it’s just excuses after excuses, fuck up after fuck up, and even at the very end, he never feels any sort of true remorse/conflict for the consequences of his actions on the Galt. He simply burnt through all the goodwill and sympathy I had held in store for him. It’s not disappointing per se, but sad.
➼ Otah?? I think he turns into a boomer. Sorry, I had to say it. Eiah is right to call him out on abandoning a generation of women who he, however indirectly, had a hand in wounding. But he’s been our anchor POV for four long books. I realised at the end that he really, truly never tried to become poet. He walked away from it and he stayed away. And I think at the heart of it, he means well. It doesn’t save everything, but I teared up at the end. And when Danat found all his letters to Kiyan.
➼ Eiah surprised me, given how annoying she was in the last book. I’ll admit I spent the first half annoyed with her, because I actually do think andats are not the answer and tend to make things worse. Opening a can of worms that can’t be closed, and all. But of course, this never applies to her because Eiah herself dismisses the andat and soon as she’s finished with it. Incredible work.
➼ I didn’t think Danat would survive the last book but I’m glad he did, and grew up into a good egg.
➼ The andats. As horrifying as the baby creature is, I wish we got to see more of the andats and just simply the magic of it all. For the massive shadow they cast over the entire series, we actually don’t really get a lot of the andats, besides the first book.
➼ We just left Liat behind. LMAO.
And that’s a wrap. Holy shit. But really, this has been such a truly rich, fleshed out world to immerse myself in, with all the messiness and tribulations of having characters who are real rather than walking cardboard figures. This series pulled me in and it didn’t let go until the very last page.
An Autumn War (4 ⭐)
Ohhhh, that was brutal. Holy shit!
Daniel Abraham has truly mastered pacing, because what the hell. It’s been a long time since I felt so much dread getting to the end of a page. My brain is so totally scrambled now that I’m blanking with this review.
There’s no coherence to be had, so here’s a list of Thoughts, in no particular order:
➼ The lore is just so bloody good. After Book Two’s turn to mundane, if rather Shakespearean, melodrama, which overshadowed the whole fantasy element of this fantasy novel, it was a relief to get back to magic. And what magic it was. The way the andat’s bindings are so entirely rooted in wording and the nuances of things, forcing the story and the empire and all the characters to always teeter on the precarious knife-edge between peace and devastation, is such a startlingly clever plot device. There’s so much fucking tension throughout that I was just full-on stressed the entire time reading this book. The concept of Freedom-from-Bondage made manifest is so deliciously horrifying and fitting, and it is so symbolically right that such an andat would spell the end of the world, after centuries upon centuries of binding the andat.
➼ Maati’s binding of Sterile is so fucked up and I knew it would be a disaster the moment he got impatient with Cehmai for critiquing his work. And I was right, but I couldn’t look away from the morbidly magnificent trainwreck that was the aftermath, nor did I see any of it coming. Talk about a monkey’s cursed paw. Like, of course the price would deflect off Maati onto everyone else. Of course this andat made for the purpose of stopping a war between two warring peoples would spitefully create a situation where said peoples would have no choice but to depend on each other for their future survival. Of fucking course. It just all falls into place. Terrible, but bloody brilliant.
➼ War is always evil and I’ve rarely read as meticulous a war account in fantasy novels as this one. The consequences are calamitous. It’s not explicitly gory and there’s not even many “action scenes”, but making Balasar a POV character is a painfully brilliant way to showcase his horrifyingly logical reasonings, the almost matter-of-fact way the cities and people are destroyed and hurt. And then it just keeps going and going and going, because Balasar is a damn good warmaker. And even as I’m screaming in my head, the brilliance of the world-building shines through, because of course the Khaiem have zero military prowess, as ridiculous as it sounds. They’ve just depended on the andat for centuries, and the results of that are so entrenched in every aspect of their culture. It was utterly devastating to read about Balasar’s complete victory at each city, but also so completely unsurprising that it played out the way it did. The burning of knowledge after the sacking of each city and the Dai-kvo’s village is especially terrible and entirely antithetical to my very senses, and the voluntary burning at the end of the book even more so. I think I mostly forgot Otah was almost a poet himself, given how he’s been so distanced from the work of it all, so it’s twice as painful to see him agree with Balasar on the dangers of the andat and to burning it all.
➼ Of course, I have to talk about the characters. Where to even begin. I don’t like all of them, but of course, they are all so undeniably well-crafted that I feel something for every one of them.
I want to hate Balasar, but I can’t because he makes so much damn sense. It would be a shallow reading to position him as a villain, or at least as the only villain, because I think I would do the same; Liat even accidentally comes to this same conclusion, when she tells Maati she doesn’t care about what happens to the Galts as long as her family is safe. Sinja, I spent the entire book flipflopping over; the guy incited dread and hope by turn every time he appeared. But now that I know he isn’t a full traitor, I wish we got more of him. I want to pull my hair out over Maati, who was my best boy back in Book One; but the ugliness of being human rears its head here, to complete and utter devastation when he pours it straight into Sterile. And then he tries to deflect some of the responsibility to Otah - a true fucking tragedy, watching him fall back on emotional crutches, and look at that, Sterile is an accurate reflection after all. I don’t know that I believe that he really wasn’t meant to be a poet because Otah gave him the cheat code back at the school; but his vibe is so off that I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up a villain in the last book in some form of warped revenge. Liat is also back as a POV character, and while she’s improved since the first book, is still on my shitlist for her indulgence of her piece-of-shit son. And speaking of him, Nayiit pissed me off, and I feel only a little sorry that he died; Liat’s moment of redemption (in my eyes, at least) is when she admits to Nayiit being a deadbeat dad and husband. Otah’s come a long way but he still bears a certain arrogance I think, of thinking that his way is the best way, especially if that way defies convention; I don’t know how I feel about that but I do think he is unfortunately one of the less interesting characters in the series now. Eiah is annoying in the same way Liat was annoying in Book One - a stupid, teenage girl; frankly, I think the author suffers in this aspect because he clearly doesn’t know how to write young girls who aren’t annoying.
I’m taking a star off because it was a rather slow middle, before it hit its stride. Also because some characters irked me beyond belief. Also because I had lowkey wanted a reunion between Seedless and Maati and I didn’t get it (there’s still nothing that comes close to the intensity of the relationship between the two from Book One).
The Price of Spring (4 ⭐)
It always feels like every book in this series co-opts a new sub-genre and this final one is no different. The Price of Spring is (some kind of) a psychological horror, in that its pacing is breakneck compared to previous books, and also that Vanjit and her andat are straight up nightmare fuel. You’d think Daniel Abraham would’ve run out of ways to stress me out after three books.
For all that, this is a much “cozier” book than all its predecessors and you get the sense that it’s a deliberate winding down, the kind that precipitates goodbyes. We narrow all the way back to two central figures, Otah and Maati, and their lifelong circling of each other. Eiah, the other POV character, is daughter to them both and inescapably entwined. There’s no major war or battle or fight, and when disaster strikes (because of course there’s always a disaster), it hits quietly and unannounced. We linger on specific Galts, so we see exactly what Clarity-of-Insight’s and Vanjit’s unhinged brutalisation of the Galts has wrought. The despair is palpable. Again, I wonder how the author is going to get us out of the end-of-the-world.
And then a miracle of miracles. Eiah succeeds in summoning Wounded (scream), heals the entire damn world, and dismisses the andat. The scream I let out. The chills. The way I didn’t see any of it coming. I hadn’t known she had it in her; and for all Vanjit’s tirades that she could dismiss Clarity-of-Insight to call Wounded, she never so much as loosened her hold of the reins of power. But Eiah did. Scream.
Other thoughts:
➼ Idaan is back???????? Unbelievable in every sense of the word. What magic crack are you imbuing in your writing, Daniel Abraham, because I got to the end of the book and realised I’m now fond of her. Of Idaan! After the way she pissed me off in book two! Idaan’s last few lines about finding family late and her determination to kill anyone who would cross her family are so her, and at the risk of sounding trite, it was in her all along.
➼ Forgiveness is a major theme. The way two warring peoples forgive each other. Otah and Maati. Maati and Vanjit. Idaan and Otah. Cehmai and Idaan. I don’t know that they all got the forgiveness I think they deserve. But I appreciate endlessly that there’s never any straightforward black-and-white resolution; the road to forgiveness is messy as hell.
➼ Maati, oh Maati. He annoyed the fuck out of me this book. I suppose it’s been a long time coming. But his insane obsession with Otah and blaming Otah for everything that ever happened to him, and making out Otah to be some privileged powerful noble who gets away with anything, got incredibly tiring, incredibly fast. And then to top it all off, this delusional self-indulgence causes him to hand Vanjit (traumatised and vengeful) the power to cripple anyone and everyone, which she does, promptly. Like, anyone could’ve seen that coming. With Maati, it’s just excuses after excuses, fuck up after fuck up, and even at the very end, he never feels any sort of true remorse/conflict for the consequences of his actions on the Galt. He simply burnt through all the goodwill and sympathy I had held in store for him. It’s not disappointing per se, but sad.
➼ Otah?? I think he turns into a boomer. Sorry, I had to say it. Eiah is right to call him out on abandoning a generation of women who he, however indirectly, had a hand in wounding. But he’s been our anchor POV for four long books. I realised at the end that he really, truly never tried to become poet. He walked away from it and he stayed away. And I think at the heart of it, he means well. It doesn’t save everything, but I teared up at the end. And when Danat found all his letters to Kiyan.
➼ Eiah surprised me, given how annoying she was in the last book. I’ll admit I spent the first half annoyed with her, because I actually do think andats are not the answer and tend to make things worse. Opening a can of worms that can’t be closed, and all. But of course, this never applies to her because Eiah herself dismisses the andat and soon as she’s finished with it. Incredible work.
➼ I didn’t think Danat would survive the last book but I’m glad he did, and grew up into a good egg.
➼ The andats. As horrifying as the baby creature is, I wish we got to see more of the andats and just simply the magic of it all. For the massive shadow they cast over the entire series, we actually don’t really get a lot of the andats, besides the first book.
➼ We just left Liat behind. LMAO.
And that’s a wrap. Holy shit. But really, this has been such a truly rich, fleshed out world to immerse myself in, with all the messiness and tribulations of having characters who are real rather than walking cardboard figures. This series pulled me in and it didn’t let go until the very last page.
January 2, 2022
The omnibus of an Autumn War and the Price of Spring completes the Long Price Quartet, one of the best fantasy series i have ever read. These books are deep, expertly written, vivid, melancholy, immersive and thought provoking. There is no black and white here but neither is it grimdark. In fact the main thing you can say about the characters is that they try to do their best under difficult circumstances and that they are flawed because they are human. The author's decision, rare in fantasy, to follow his protagonists as they age and have to deal with the consequences of their actions is brilliant. Otah finds himself a ruler in times of change, having to make hard decisions and find common ground with bitter enemies in order for his people to have a future. Maati ends up a despised fugitive for taking an action under the revered Otah's orders and struggles to make things right so much that he blinds himself to the ramifications of his decisions. Balasar, the galtic General starts a horrible, genocidal war to save his people once and for all from what he perceives as the tyrany of the andat and ends up almost destroying them. Former enemies, people as well as nations, try to find understanding, common ground and respect. A hurt child tries to find healing and another even more hurt tries to find revenge. People have to see beyond the comfort of the old ways to the deep flaws inside of them and make new paths, others have to face their limitations or those of their loved ones. The complexity of the themes In this series is staggering. It shows that fantasy is not only action but the ability to create worlds that speak to our deepest selves and showcase the complexity of life's questions and dilemmas.
April 13, 2016
This second omnibus collection of Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quarter, The Price of War, is a page turner from beginning to end in a complete contrast to the first omnibus that was characterized by being a slow burner. Otah and Maati again dominate the two novels that tell the two sides of a devastating war and its long disastrous consequences in which both men take different paths to solve, in both novels previous secondary characters return as well as new tell about how high the price of war is.
An Autumn War: Otah governs over the city of Machi continuing is nontraditional life with only one wife and one heir, in addition to hosting not one but two poets, one of which his friend Maati. Even as Otah thinks and plans about a possible problem with the neighboring power, Galt, he doesn't know that events are in motion to end the Khaiem as he knows it. Balasar Gice, the greatest general in Galt, has spent is life wanting to end the threat the andat present not only to his country but the world. After retrieving information from the lifeless dessert that the Old Empire became thanks to the powers of the andat, Gice plans to forever end the threat that the poets and andat pose to the world. These good men face off and the foundations of two great empires are shaken to their core.
The Price of Spring: A Third Empire as arisen after the Galtic War with Otah at its head looking to his old foes to save not only his people but theirs as well, but his former friend the poet Maati looks save his people by returning the andat to the world to heal the wounds he blames the Emperor for creating and neglecting with his scheme. These two old men must navigate an uncertain future through women like that of Eiah Machi, who's loyalty is divided between her father and Uncle Maati, and Vanjit, a survivor of the sacking of Udun. The fate of the world, let alone the Khaiem and Galt, is in the balance as two men realize the price their previous decisions have cost.
I am going to be honest, if there are any flaws in either of these two novels I didn't notice them. From the beginning I was gripped by the tale Abraham continued from Shadow and Betrayal. If you are a fan of fantasy, you must read The Long Price Quartet and I recommend you read this book.
An Autumn War: Otah governs over the city of Machi continuing is nontraditional life with only one wife and one heir, in addition to hosting not one but two poets, one of which his friend Maati. Even as Otah thinks and plans about a possible problem with the neighboring power, Galt, he doesn't know that events are in motion to end the Khaiem as he knows it. Balasar Gice, the greatest general in Galt, has spent is life wanting to end the threat the andat present not only to his country but the world. After retrieving information from the lifeless dessert that the Old Empire became thanks to the powers of the andat, Gice plans to forever end the threat that the poets and andat pose to the world. These good men face off and the foundations of two great empires are shaken to their core.
The Price of Spring: A Third Empire as arisen after the Galtic War with Otah at its head looking to his old foes to save not only his people but theirs as well, but his former friend the poet Maati looks save his people by returning the andat to the world to heal the wounds he blames the Emperor for creating and neglecting with his scheme. These two old men must navigate an uncertain future through women like that of Eiah Machi, who's loyalty is divided between her father and Uncle Maati, and Vanjit, a survivor of the sacking of Udun. The fate of the world, let alone the Khaiem and Galt, is in the balance as two men realize the price their previous decisions have cost.
I am going to be honest, if there are any flaws in either of these two novels I didn't notice them. From the beginning I was gripped by the tale Abraham continued from Shadow and Betrayal. If you are a fan of fantasy, you must read The Long Price Quartet and I recommend you read this book.
August 11, 2016
I just love this series. Oh, I quite understand why it isn't for everyone. The worldbuilding is dense and lush and constant, as much in the scrutiny and poetry of description and slow pace as those details included, though those details are thorough and coherent and magnificently used. The plot pivots on choices and small actions, on people being people, and while it's incredibly tense, it's not the swash and buckle of usual epic fantasy. I can see why these books might be too slow and careful and intricate for some readers.
But they're also canny and unflinching and heartbreaking, and I love them.
But they're also canny and unflinching and heartbreaking, and I love them.
January 3, 2016
An autumn war
Terzo libro del Long price Quartet, primo del secondo tomo Seasons of war.
Finalmente i Galtici fanno la loro mossa, guidati dal generale Balasar Gice, e niente sarà più lo stesso.
Lo stesso Otah, ora Khai Machi, aveva più volte provato ad avvisare gli altri Khai e i Poeti sulla fragilità dell’equilibrio raggiunto. La sua esperienza con Seedless era stata illuminante, e aveva intravisto cosa sarebbe potuto succedere senza il controllo sugli Andat. Senza il controllo su queste entità semidivine, che ogni volta diventavano più difficili da catturare e controllare.
Aveva anche provato a organizzare un piccolo esercito, ma la cosa era stata talmente mal vista che aveva dovuto inviare gli uomini lontano, nelle terre dei Galtici, per fare esperienza guidati da Sinja.
Sono passati parecchi anni, ora Otah ha una figlia di quattordici anni e un figlio malaticcio che è ancora bambino.
Più, si scoprirà, un figlio da Liat… il figlio che si pensava di Maati. Un figlio che ha preso molto caratterialmente dalla madre, e che l’accompagnia a Machi quando la donna (che ha dedicato la sua vita a tenere sotto controllo i Galtici) chiede udienza al Khai Machi e a Maati per chiedere aiuto.
Ha scoperto che i Galtici hanno un poeta con loro, quindi possono avere un andat. Gli equilibri sono infranti, e i Poeti devono intervenire quanto prima per evitare il disastro.
Maati e Otah la appoggiano inviando missive al Dae-kvo, ma nessuno può anche solo lontanamente immaginare la portata del piano di Gice.
La distruzione degli andat. O meglio, la loro liberazione, e la certezza che più nessuno possa nuovamente catturarne.
Sono troppo instabili e pericolosi, hanno distrutto il vecchio Impero e un capriccio di un Poeta basterebbe a distruggere intere nazioni, con un andat ai suoi ordini.
Paradossalmente Gice è un buon uomo, onesto e franco. Sarebbe stato un ottimo protagonista.
Assomiglia abbastanza a Otah, i due si troveranno infatti bene una volta finita la guerra, e lo stesso Otah non può dire che Gice sbagli.
Fin dove si può spingere un uomo per cambiare uno status quo che vede profondamente sbagliato, che mette in pericolo costantemente tutto ciò a cui tiene?
Quante morti possono essere troppe, se servono a evitare lo sterminio di una popolazione?
E se si paragona la sopravvivenza di un impero alla vita dei propri figli, quanto peso hanno tutte quelle vite lontane, distanti, anonime in confronto ai due bambini cui hai dato la vita e che hai cresciuto?
Ma del resto, l’assenza degli andat non darebbe un nuovo equilibrio, darebbe un nuovo squilibrio.
I Galtici hanno l’esercito, e sono addestrati alla guerra. I Khai non hanno esercito, fino a ora non hanno mai visto una guerra o una battaglia.
E quando gli andat spariscono, quando i Galtici arrivano alle porte, le prime città e i primi Khai cadono come mosche.
Solo un Khai combatterà realmente, solo uno sfrutterà ogni sua risorsa per sconfiggere il nemico, unendosi a un altro Khai: Otah. Khai Machi.
Il nuovo Imperatore.
La storia è bella, lo stesso lettore non riesce a decidere se stare con Otah o con Gice, sotto sotto, dato che i due essenzialmente la pensano allo stesso modo. Ma ognuno deve proteggere la sua gente.
Gice deve evitare che un capriccio di un poeta o di un Khai porti l’Apocalisse sul suo impero. Otah deve salvare le sue città, i suoi bambini, il suo popolo dalla guerra portata dai Galtici.
Il finale è stupendo, il lieto fine che adoro. Maati, Seedless, Sterile, il prezzo. Un andat stupendo, che alla fine si rivela davvero amico del poeta facendo in modo, pur nella sua sconfitta, di farlo vincere.
L’unico difetto del libro è che sembra tutto troppo favorevole a Otah. Poeta, lavoratore, corriere, Khai, Imperatore. Il prossimo step quale sarà, diventerà lui stesso un andat?
E tutto questo essendo riluttante, non volendo queste cose, queste responsabilità, questi onori e oneri.
Un po’ troppo.
A parte questo, un bellissimo libro, che ci lascia in attesa del gran finale: l’Imperatore contro le mire espansionistiche di Galt e delle altre nazioni, contro i pirati, e contro gli stessi Khai uniti sotto di lui. Un esercito da creare, una mentalità da cambiare… sarà interessante vedere come cambieranno i Khaiem, e sopratutto se Abraham porterà un nuovo equilibrio alla fine del quarto volume o se invece resteranno in uno stato di guerra.
Perché senza gli andat non vedo possibile uscire dallo stato di guerra, e l’operato di Sterile avrà ripercussioni potentissime nel volgere di pochi anni…
The price of spring
Quarto e ultimo libro della saga di Daniel Abraham, The long price quartet.
Senza dubbio il ritmo è andato aumentando, e la visione che noi lettori abbiamo si è espansa sempre di più, ma alla fine la saga mi ha lasciato con qualche perplessità e senza che sia mai scoccata la scintilla.
Ho anche cercato di leggere i quattro libri -anzi, i due tomi- in un momento favorevole come le ferie, per evitare che una lettura troppo frammentata inficiasse il mio giudizio. La cosa non è bastata, alla fine non ho provato né partecipazione alle vicende né apprensione per i personaggi né un particolare interesse per la storia. Non c’è stata attrazione con il libro.
Il personaggio che mi era risultato più interessante era stato Seedless, che però dopo il terzo libro è sparito del tutto.
A seguire, il generale Gice che però adesso, dopo il ruolo da leone nel terzo libro, passa in secondo piano, oscurato da una massa informe di nobili dei due regni.
La cosa che balza con più evidenza agli occhi con questo quarto libro, è che il titolo della saga avrebbe benissimo potuto essere Otah Machi.
Alla fine infatti la serie altro non è che la storia della vita di questo ragazzo, sesto figlio del Khai Machi, allontanato dal palazzo da piccolo, mai desideroso di ricchezze o potere e destinato invece a diventare Imperatore e a fare imboccare al suo popolo una strada che porterà forse prima o poi alla ricostruzione dell’antico Impero distrutto grazie agli Andat.
Avevo previsto che si parlasse dei problemi con gli altri Stati dovuti anche all’assenza di un esercito, dei problemi dovuti all’intervento di Seedless, dei problemi interni al neonato Impero.
Non avevo però previsto che qualcuno impazzisse come successo con Maati, che in questo ultimo volume si trasforma in nemesi di Otah.
Non propriamente a torto, certo, visto il trattamento ricevuto, ma resta il fatto che passa il tempo a tentare di creare dal nulla un nuovo ordine per ricatturare gli Andat e impedire la pace con Galt.
Ecco, è comprensibile il suo desiderio, così come il fatto che in tante condividano la sua visione.
Ed è comprensibile che non sia propriamente un genio, dato che è diventato un Poeta per errore, grazie ai suggerimenti di Otah, non per meriti propri.
Ma se è talmente idiota da non capire a cosa servissero i test della Scuola, e a cosa servisse la figura autoritaria del Dae’kvo, come poteva riuscire a ricreare in breve tempo un ordine di aspiranti Poeti partendo da zero? Anche con l’aiuto della figlia di Otah e con i pochi libri trovati, il compito era pressoché impossibile.
Ma lui riesce.
E tralasciamo come affidi l’Andat a una pazza, o come ci sia chi impara la formula a memoria per poterla recitare a occhi chiusi.
A parte queste piccolezze la storia scorre benissimo (anche se continuo ad avere la fastidiosissima sensazione di un Otah baciato dalle stelle e scelto dal Fato per ottenere più di quanto voglia, il Prescelto del Destino che deve salvare tutti quanti, Insomma, mi stava molto antipatico) ma non riesce mai a prendermi realmente.
Inoltre anche i salti temporali tra i vari libri, pur se comprensibili, non mi sono piaciuti.
E poi, dai, l’intero libro gira intorno al fatto che Otah abbia deciso di ignorare un pericolo grandissimo fino a quando questo non gli è scoppiato in mano.
Sterminando praticamente una nazione intera, chiudendo idealmente il cerchio con gli eventi iniziati nel primo libro e con la decisione presa da Otah per evitare questa precisa cosa.
Uno penserebbe che un ventennio di governo possa insegnare qualcosa su come gestire certe situazioni, e invece è dovuta tornare in scena sua sorella per fargli aprire gli occhi.
Bah, Otah Machi mi ha dato in definitiva l’impressione di qualcuno enormemente sopravalutato, che ha solamente avuto la fortuna di trovarsi nel posto giusto al momento giusto per la trama e per il proprio riluttante avanzamento sociale.
No, temo che Abrahams non faccia per me, purtroppo.
Terzo libro del Long price Quartet, primo del secondo tomo Seasons of war.
Finalmente i Galtici fanno la loro mossa, guidati dal generale Balasar Gice, e niente sarà più lo stesso.
Lo stesso Otah, ora Khai Machi, aveva più volte provato ad avvisare gli altri Khai e i Poeti sulla fragilità dell’equilibrio raggiunto. La sua esperienza con Seedless era stata illuminante, e aveva intravisto cosa sarebbe potuto succedere senza il controllo sugli Andat. Senza il controllo su queste entità semidivine, che ogni volta diventavano più difficili da catturare e controllare.
Aveva anche provato a organizzare un piccolo esercito, ma la cosa era stata talmente mal vista che aveva dovuto inviare gli uomini lontano, nelle terre dei Galtici, per fare esperienza guidati da Sinja.
Sono passati parecchi anni, ora Otah ha una figlia di quattordici anni e un figlio malaticcio che è ancora bambino.
Più, si scoprirà, un figlio da Liat… il figlio che si pensava di Maati. Un figlio che ha preso molto caratterialmente dalla madre, e che l’accompagnia a Machi quando la donna (che ha dedicato la sua vita a tenere sotto controllo i Galtici) chiede udienza al Khai Machi e a Maati per chiedere aiuto.
Ha scoperto che i Galtici hanno un poeta con loro, quindi possono avere un andat. Gli equilibri sono infranti, e i Poeti devono intervenire quanto prima per evitare il disastro.
Maati e Otah la appoggiano inviando missive al Dae-kvo, ma nessuno può anche solo lontanamente immaginare la portata del piano di Gice.
La distruzione degli andat. O meglio, la loro liberazione, e la certezza che più nessuno possa nuovamente catturarne.
Sono troppo instabili e pericolosi, hanno distrutto il vecchio Impero e un capriccio di un Poeta basterebbe a distruggere intere nazioni, con un andat ai suoi ordini.
Paradossalmente Gice è un buon uomo, onesto e franco. Sarebbe stato un ottimo protagonista.
Assomiglia abbastanza a Otah, i due si troveranno infatti bene una volta finita la guerra, e lo stesso Otah non può dire che Gice sbagli.
Fin dove si può spingere un uomo per cambiare uno status quo che vede profondamente sbagliato, che mette in pericolo costantemente tutto ciò a cui tiene?
Quante morti possono essere troppe, se servono a evitare lo sterminio di una popolazione?
E se si paragona la sopravvivenza di un impero alla vita dei propri figli, quanto peso hanno tutte quelle vite lontane, distanti, anonime in confronto ai due bambini cui hai dato la vita e che hai cresciuto?
Ma del resto, l’assenza degli andat non darebbe un nuovo equilibrio, darebbe un nuovo squilibrio.
I Galtici hanno l’esercito, e sono addestrati alla guerra. I Khai non hanno esercito, fino a ora non hanno mai visto una guerra o una battaglia.
E quando gli andat spariscono, quando i Galtici arrivano alle porte, le prime città e i primi Khai cadono come mosche.
Solo un Khai combatterà realmente, solo uno sfrutterà ogni sua risorsa per sconfiggere il nemico, unendosi a un altro Khai: Otah. Khai Machi.
Il nuovo Imperatore.
La storia è bella, lo stesso lettore non riesce a decidere se stare con Otah o con Gice, sotto sotto, dato che i due essenzialmente la pensano allo stesso modo. Ma ognuno deve proteggere la sua gente.
Gice deve evitare che un capriccio di un poeta o di un Khai porti l’Apocalisse sul suo impero. Otah deve salvare le sue città, i suoi bambini, il suo popolo dalla guerra portata dai Galtici.
Il finale è stupendo, il lieto fine che adoro. Maati, Seedless, Sterile, il prezzo. Un andat stupendo, che alla fine si rivela davvero amico del poeta facendo in modo, pur nella sua sconfitta, di farlo vincere.
L’unico difetto del libro è che sembra tutto troppo favorevole a Otah. Poeta, lavoratore, corriere, Khai, Imperatore. Il prossimo step quale sarà, diventerà lui stesso un andat?
E tutto questo essendo riluttante, non volendo queste cose, queste responsabilità, questi onori e oneri.
Un po’ troppo.
A parte questo, un bellissimo libro, che ci lascia in attesa del gran finale: l’Imperatore contro le mire espansionistiche di Galt e delle altre nazioni, contro i pirati, e contro gli stessi Khai uniti sotto di lui. Un esercito da creare, una mentalità da cambiare… sarà interessante vedere come cambieranno i Khaiem, e sopratutto se Abraham porterà un nuovo equilibrio alla fine del quarto volume o se invece resteranno in uno stato di guerra.
Perché senza gli andat non vedo possibile uscire dallo stato di guerra, e l’operato di Sterile avrà ripercussioni potentissime nel volgere di pochi anni…
The price of spring
Quarto e ultimo libro della saga di Daniel Abraham, The long price quartet.
Senza dubbio il ritmo è andato aumentando, e la visione che noi lettori abbiamo si è espansa sempre di più, ma alla fine la saga mi ha lasciato con qualche perplessità e senza che sia mai scoccata la scintilla.
Ho anche cercato di leggere i quattro libri -anzi, i due tomi- in un momento favorevole come le ferie, per evitare che una lettura troppo frammentata inficiasse il mio giudizio. La cosa non è bastata, alla fine non ho provato né partecipazione alle vicende né apprensione per i personaggi né un particolare interesse per la storia. Non c’è stata attrazione con il libro.
Il personaggio che mi era risultato più interessante era stato Seedless, che però dopo il terzo libro è sparito del tutto.
A seguire, il generale Gice che però adesso, dopo il ruolo da leone nel terzo libro, passa in secondo piano, oscurato da una massa informe di nobili dei due regni.
La cosa che balza con più evidenza agli occhi con questo quarto libro, è che il titolo della saga avrebbe benissimo potuto essere Otah Machi.
Alla fine infatti la serie altro non è che la storia della vita di questo ragazzo, sesto figlio del Khai Machi, allontanato dal palazzo da piccolo, mai desideroso di ricchezze o potere e destinato invece a diventare Imperatore e a fare imboccare al suo popolo una strada che porterà forse prima o poi alla ricostruzione dell’antico Impero distrutto grazie agli Andat.
Avevo previsto che si parlasse dei problemi con gli altri Stati dovuti anche all’assenza di un esercito, dei problemi dovuti all’intervento di Seedless, dei problemi interni al neonato Impero.
Non avevo però previsto che qualcuno impazzisse come successo con Maati, che in questo ultimo volume si trasforma in nemesi di Otah.
Non propriamente a torto, certo, visto il trattamento ricevuto, ma resta il fatto che passa il tempo a tentare di creare dal nulla un nuovo ordine per ricatturare gli Andat e impedire la pace con Galt.
Ecco, è comprensibile il suo desiderio, così come il fatto che in tante condividano la sua visione.
Ed è comprensibile che non sia propriamente un genio, dato che è diventato un Poeta per errore, grazie ai suggerimenti di Otah, non per meriti propri.
Ma se è talmente idiota da non capire a cosa servissero i test della Scuola, e a cosa servisse la figura autoritaria del Dae’kvo, come poteva riuscire a ricreare in breve tempo un ordine di aspiranti Poeti partendo da zero? Anche con l’aiuto della figlia di Otah e con i pochi libri trovati, il compito era pressoché impossibile.
Ma lui riesce.
E tralasciamo come affidi l’Andat a una pazza, o come ci sia chi impara la formula a memoria per poterla recitare a occhi chiusi.
A parte queste piccolezze la storia scorre benissimo (anche se continuo ad avere la fastidiosissima sensazione di un Otah baciato dalle stelle e scelto dal Fato per ottenere più di quanto voglia, il Prescelto del Destino che deve salvare tutti quanti, Insomma, mi stava molto antipatico) ma non riesce mai a prendermi realmente.
Inoltre anche i salti temporali tra i vari libri, pur se comprensibili, non mi sono piaciuti.
E poi, dai, l’intero libro gira intorno al fatto che Otah abbia deciso di ignorare un pericolo grandissimo fino a quando questo non gli è scoppiato in mano.
Sterminando praticamente una nazione intera, chiudendo idealmente il cerchio con gli eventi iniziati nel primo libro e con la decisione presa da Otah per evitare questa precisa cosa.
Uno penserebbe che un ventennio di governo possa insegnare qualcosa su come gestire certe situazioni, e invece è dovuta tornare in scena sua sorella per fargli aprire gli occhi.
Bah, Otah Machi mi ha dato in definitiva l’impressione di qualcuno enormemente sopravalutato, che ha solamente avuto la fortuna di trovarsi nel posto giusto al momento giusto per la trama e per il proprio riluttante avanzamento sociale.
No, temo che Abrahams non faccia per me, purtroppo.
July 11, 2022
The Long Price quartet has vaulted into the short list of my absolute favorite fantasy epics. It's hard to describe why I love it so much, but Abraham foregrounds character-work and while balancing plot and world-building in a masterful way. I also love the use of time throughout the four volumes, as you truly experience the devastating consequences of choices that the central characters make throughout their lifetimes. It all adds up to vividly-written characters and a mesmerizing plot all contained within a smartly-written and unique setting. **chef's kiss**
It's so good, but the reader should know it's also slow and melancholic. This is absolutely not action-packed fantasy (even the third volume, largely the most "action-driven" is not fast-paced), but it is oh-so-rewarding by the end, and I really with more fantasy writers were putting out work like this.
It's so good, but the reader should know it's also slow and melancholic. This is absolutely not action-packed fantasy (even the third volume, largely the most "action-driven" is not fast-paced), but it is oh-so-rewarding by the end, and I really with more fantasy writers were putting out work like this.
September 5, 2019
I think these two are better than the first two by a fair amount, with the anguish of the final book as the crown jewel of the series.
Some things that this series did that many other fantasy series don't do
1) the time difference between stories, a decade and a half is enough to move the world to a different place while making it not feel like "the next generation" with a bunch of new characters you aren't invested in
2) the fantastical cold war, there are two powers trapped in a fragile equilibrium
3) as an outgrowth of number 2, most of the action is political. There are very few battles or even fights.
4) there was no "big bad", it's just people trying to solve the problems caused by other people
5) the unique magic system :p
Some things that this series did that many other fantasy series don't do
1) the time difference between stories, a decade and a half is enough to move the world to a different place while making it not feel like "the next generation" with a bunch of new characters you aren't invested in
2) the fantastical cold war, there are two powers trapped in a fragile equilibrium
3) as an outgrowth of number 2, most of the action is political. There are very few battles or even fights.
4) there was no "big bad", it's just people trying to solve the problems caused by other people
5) the unique magic system :p
August 18, 2024
A more than satisfying conclusion to a really good slow burn fantasy series. It never quite got to ‘excellent’ territory but wasn’t far off.
The closest comparison I can think of, is if Robin Hobb told the story of Fitz across 4 smaller books than the 9 in the ROTE series.
Even though each book is approx 350 pages it doesn’t read quickly, it draws you in and you have to sit and spend time with the characters and their lives. There is a lot that is crammed in.
That being said, as it’s a slow burn series, I did wish that the pace would pick up a bit towards the conclusion of each book, rather than it following the same story structure that works so we all for the rest of the book.
The closest comparison I can think of, is if Robin Hobb told the story of Fitz across 4 smaller books than the 9 in the ROTE series.
Even though each book is approx 350 pages it doesn’t read quickly, it draws you in and you have to sit and spend time with the characters and their lives. There is a lot that is crammed in.
That being said, as it’s a slow burn series, I did wish that the pace would pick up a bit towards the conclusion of each book, rather than it following the same story structure that works so we all for the rest of the book.
July 28, 2018
Excellent books
This is a fantasy that spends as much time filling out the characters as it does moving the story forward, and is much the better book for doing so. Well worth the read.
This is a fantasy that spends as much time filling out the characters as it does moving the story forward, and is much the better book for doing so. Well worth the read.
January 22, 2022
Can't say I'm as blown away as I'd hoped, but Abraham clearly knows how to weave a story.
4/5 The world is economically explored and the characters are believable, even if I don't find them *likeable*.
4/5 The world is economically explored and the characters are believable, even if I don't find them *likeable*.
June 27, 2024
Glad I finally got round to reading the final two books in the Long Price series. Love the world and characters that Daniel Abraham created, and the idea of personifying concepts and having them do your bidding is a way of doing sorcery with a difference. Unique reading.
May 21, 2024
I think this has become on of my all time favorites. Daniel Abraham is an amazing author.
March 18, 2025
Book 3 - 9 out of 10
Book 4 - 8 out of 10
Book 4 - 8 out of 10
January 5, 2024
I finally finished the "Long Price Quartet". I read the series in two omnibus editions and it took me a lot longer than I thought it would. It's not that I didn't like the books, they have a lot of qualities, but I wasn't really drawn to them. Especially the story lacked in parts to fully interest me. Luckily this improved with the second omnibus. See below a full review for each of the two books included in it.
An Autumn War:
This is definitely the best of the four, mainly because it is the most exciting of the bunch. The writting is great in all four books, it has amazing characters that are nicely developed (one of the main strenghts of the books), but overall the books lack in excitement and tension. The third book is the one least suffering from it.
It also has the biggest scope of the four books. It introduces the Galt as an actual threat while the Galt were mostly mentioned in scheming against the Khaiem in the previous two books. With General Gice we also have a Galt as a POV for the first time in the series. He is set on destroying the poets and their andats and has the perfect plan to accomplish this. What we get is war and destruction against the Khaiem. The story unfolds in Machi with an amazing and unexpected twist!
Rating: 7.8/10
The Price Of Spring
Overall a good book and a nice conclusion for the series.
The problem is that it centers mainly around one plot in the story. There are several other story lines (pending war in Chaburi-Tan with pirates, conspiracy against Otah in Tan-Sadar, ...), but these aren't really investigated. The story would have profited massively from it if a couple more POV's had been added. This way these POV's could have followed up on these story lines. There were possibilities for this but these were not taken. This means we are left with 2 POV's, Otah en Maati, and a story that is focusing on their challanges and their internal conflicts and thoughts. In this final book these challenges are especially linked to the consequences of the previous book. The people in Galt and the Khaiem are facing an aging population which makes them easy targets for foreign threats. Both Otah and Maati try to rectify the mistakes from the past with their own resources and tackle these issues how they think would be best. This leads however to another more important threat that could mean the end of the whole world ...
I can say once again that the book is amazing at what it does (character development), but overall I still feel it lacks in content/story. The fact that it focuses mainly on one story line makes it a bit one-sided. I'd say this book is about on par with the second book, slightly less probably.
Rating :7.1/10
Conclusion
This omnibus was better than the first one with the third book being the best in the series and the last one providing a satisfying ending.
The series as a whole is good; it has great writing, very good character development, good worldbuilding with innovative magic. It unfortunately lacks a bit in story to keep me interested. I never had issues reading the story but I wasn't much drawn to it either.
As an overall rating I would give the series 7.2/10
An Autumn War:
This is definitely the best of the four, mainly because it is the most exciting of the bunch. The writting is great in all four books, it has amazing characters that are nicely developed (one of the main strenghts of the books), but overall the books lack in excitement and tension. The third book is the one least suffering from it.
It also has the biggest scope of the four books. It introduces the Galt as an actual threat while the Galt were mostly mentioned in scheming against the Khaiem in the previous two books. With General Gice we also have a Galt as a POV for the first time in the series. He is set on destroying the poets and their andats and has the perfect plan to accomplish this. What we get is war and destruction against the Khaiem. The story unfolds in Machi with an amazing and unexpected twist!
Rating: 7.8/10
The Price Of Spring
Overall a good book and a nice conclusion for the series.
The problem is that it centers mainly around one plot in the story. There are several other story lines (pending war in Chaburi-Tan with pirates, conspiracy against Otah in Tan-Sadar, ...), but these aren't really investigated. The story would have profited massively from it if a couple more POV's had been added. This way these POV's could have followed up on these story lines. There were possibilities for this but these were not taken. This means we are left with 2 POV's, Otah en Maati, and a story that is focusing on their challanges and their internal conflicts and thoughts. In this final book these challenges are especially linked to the consequences of the previous book. The people in Galt and the Khaiem are facing an aging population which makes them easy targets for foreign threats. Both Otah and Maati try to rectify the mistakes from the past with their own resources and tackle these issues how they think would be best. This leads however to another more important threat that could mean the end of the whole world ...
I can say once again that the book is amazing at what it does (character development), but overall I still feel it lacks in content/story. The fact that it focuses mainly on one story line makes it a bit one-sided. I'd say this book is about on par with the second book, slightly less probably.
Rating :7.1/10
Conclusion
This omnibus was better than the first one with the third book being the best in the series and the last one providing a satisfying ending.
The series as a whole is good; it has great writing, very good character development, good worldbuilding with innovative magic. It unfortunately lacks a bit in story to keep me interested. I never had issues reading the story but I wasn't much drawn to it either.
As an overall rating I would give the series 7.2/10
March 28, 2017
In the second part of Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet, the characters we have come to know and love are thrust further into turmoil, as a new general from Galt threatens the very existence of the andat. For without their gods, how can they face the mighty army of the Galts? An Autumn War is told from the perspectives of Balasar Gice, the Galtic general, and the characters we already know from Shadow and Betrayal (I'm going to be quite vague here due to the revelations from the previous book and not wanting to spoil that) and I actually really appreciated what Abraham was trying to do; after setting us up to like the Khaiem cities, the poets and the andat, he twists things around and asks us to imagine being on the receiving end of the threat of these demi-gods. Wouldn't we feel scared ourselves if we knew we couldn't protect ourselves from the fury of the poets and the Khaiem?
It's very obvious here that Abraham's writing has improved in leaps and bounds from the first book. He is much more confident, the writing is much tighter and his characters are far more interesting and diverse. He is still lacking in female characters (and indeed in The Price of Spring one of them is fridged and the other is dropped unceremoniously for no real reason) and for that reason alone I just can't give this a five star rating. I remain impressed, however, with all the world building that Abraham has done. In the second part of the quartet, he goes into further detail in terms of the various protocols and ceremonies of the Khaiem and I genuinely found all of that interesting, especially when contrasted with those of Galt, through Gice.
Change, however, is inevitable and although I did have issues with the fridging, I found the topics that Abraham explores in The Price of Spring were very interesting indeed; the differences between men and women (the cis-gendered approach aside), the idea of PTSD and what its deep-lasting effects are, but also the idea of finding common ground with your enemies. Again, Abraham is very skilled in portraying the challenges faced by our heroes and the many ways in which the conflict could be resolved.
Overall, I would recommend The Long Price Quartet. It features a cast of unforgettable characters, a genuinely interesting and diverse world and some interesting moral quandaries and choices. I am excited to look into his other works, particularly The Dragon's Path, so expect more from me and Abraham in the near future.
It's very obvious here that Abraham's writing has improved in leaps and bounds from the first book. He is much more confident, the writing is much tighter and his characters are far more interesting and diverse. He is still lacking in female characters (and indeed in The Price of Spring one of them is fridged and the other is dropped unceremoniously for no real reason) and for that reason alone I just can't give this a five star rating. I remain impressed, however, with all the world building that Abraham has done. In the second part of the quartet, he goes into further detail in terms of the various protocols and ceremonies of the Khaiem and I genuinely found all of that interesting, especially when contrasted with those of Galt, through Gice.
Change, however, is inevitable and although I did have issues with the fridging, I found the topics that Abraham explores in The Price of Spring were very interesting indeed; the differences between men and women (the cis-gendered approach aside), the idea of PTSD and what its deep-lasting effects are, but also the idea of finding common ground with your enemies. Again, Abraham is very skilled in portraying the challenges faced by our heroes and the many ways in which the conflict could be resolved.
Overall, I would recommend The Long Price Quartet. It features a cast of unforgettable characters, a genuinely interesting and diverse world and some interesting moral quandaries and choices. I am excited to look into his other works, particularly The Dragon's Path, so expect more from me and Abraham in the near future.
March 12, 2013
I really enjoyed the first two parts of this series (comprised in Shadow and Betrayal), which introduced an interesting culture and setting for the story to play out in, and the whole concept of the andat. So, I was very pleased that Seasons of War lived up to expectations.
The writing was excellent, and I was quite often moved by the thoughtful prose which complimented the steadily unfolding story and the moral dilemmas which are presented, logical extensions of the previous stories. Like Shadow and Betrayal, Seasons is about the nature of power and whole theme of the andat is central to everything, though the andat themselves are curiously non-present for the most part.
Abraham tells a tale which all about the characters and their interactions and the decisions they make to try to do right, and what they have to live with afterwards. It is a thoughtful treatment of the subject and does not get in the way of the plot or the interaction between the characters. While there were a few points which I was not so in love with, on the whole I was very impressed with this series and was very pleased to read the serious work of thoughtful fantasy.
The writing was excellent, and I was quite often moved by the thoughtful prose which complimented the steadily unfolding story and the moral dilemmas which are presented, logical extensions of the previous stories. Like Shadow and Betrayal, Seasons is about the nature of power and whole theme of the andat is central to everything, though the andat themselves are curiously non-present for the most part.
Abraham tells a tale which all about the characters and their interactions and the decisions they make to try to do right, and what they have to live with afterwards. It is a thoughtful treatment of the subject and does not get in the way of the plot or the interaction between the characters. While there were a few points which I was not so in love with, on the whole I was very impressed with this series and was very pleased to read the serious work of thoughtful fantasy.
May 7, 2013
The whole quarter is about having taking responsibilities, but also of "paying" the price these responsibilities have.
It is about having aspirations, but also of having to live with the actual consequences these aspirations have, and of how they differ from what we had imagined the consequences would be.
I have to say it does start slow in the first two books, especially in the first hundred pages of the one, where there is a sence that the whole story concerns a handful of persons, and concerns something that on a fantasy scale seems "minor". Important with large personal and ethical implications from the side of characters, but still minor.
Also, I have to admit, that in some parts, the story proceeds, through some very events such as meetings that happen too conveniently.
However,regarding the whole story line, I believe that the above are considerably minor.
It is not an easy story to read, mainly because it forces many characters to take some very difficult decisions, to justify their ends, regardless of whether their ends materialize.
However, if you are interesting in mostly a character driven story, where the characters try to make what they perceive as the "best/right/ethical/correct", and through this, they effect the world around them, and still having to pay the "price", then is an excellent series
It is about having aspirations, but also of having to live with the actual consequences these aspirations have, and of how they differ from what we had imagined the consequences would be.
I have to say it does start slow in the first two books, especially in the first hundred pages of the one, where there is a sence that the whole story concerns a handful of persons, and concerns something that on a fantasy scale seems "minor". Important with large personal and ethical implications from the side of characters, but still minor.
Also, I have to admit, that in some parts, the story proceeds, through some very events such as meetings that happen too conveniently.
However,regarding the whole story line, I believe that the above are considerably minor.
It is not an easy story to read, mainly because it forces many characters to take some very difficult decisions, to justify their ends, regardless of whether their ends materialize.
However, if you are interesting in mostly a character driven story, where the characters try to make what they perceive as the "best/right/ethical/correct", and through this, they effect the world around them, and still having to pay the "price", then is an excellent series
March 7, 2015
Has some problems that harken back to the first collection in terms of the plot being a little sluggish at times & it's still less action focused than I usually like but I do think the writing of this series has improved markedly as it has progressed. The third part/book "The Autumn War" in particular is very strong. These stories have a greater sense of urgency to them in that the fate of the whole World is put in peril. The characters have grown on me as the series has developed, so it's more easy to care about what happens to them. The series develops a bitter sweet tone that I find quite moving. I feel like the fantasy elements (though still not prevalent) are incorporated more fluidly this time around. As a whole, I wouldn't describe the Long Price as my favourite fantasy series by any stretch but it's still quite enjoyable (particularly the later parts).
November 21, 2015
In which the author considers Plato's Theory of Forms and combines it with the notion of the Muse, a spirit to be captured and enslaved for our benefit.
"Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas asserts that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_...
Plato reckoned there was a perfect form of everything. Table, chair, beauty, justice.
This book sees the perfect forms of ideas like sterility being made flesh and enslaved by the poets, a class of philosopher magicians.
Slavery is not a good thing and slaves like to be free. Power also is corrupting and breeds degeneracy and the envy of frightened enemies.
Quite a combination.
"Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas asserts that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_...
Plato reckoned there was a perfect form of everything. Table, chair, beauty, justice.
This book sees the perfect forms of ideas like sterility being made flesh and enslaved by the poets, a class of philosopher magicians.
Slavery is not a good thing and slaves like to be free. Power also is corrupting and breeds degeneracy and the envy of frightened enemies.
Quite a combination.
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