Mihai’s Comments (group member since Jul 08, 2013)

Mihai’s comments from the The Dragon's Path Group Read group.

Sue wrote: "but I am about 6 months behind at the moment because I am finding it really difficult to write. For some reason I can't seem to get going most of the time, although I enjoy the process when I can make a start. Here's hoping that I will eventually catch up! "

I though it was only me having that problem. :) Really, lately I struggled to put my thoughts on paper. I have quite a few books finished and left without a review. It is not the case here, but there are a couple of books I enjoyed a lot and never got around to write the review. It is not a burn-out exactly, but it is not exactly like when I started to review books.

I've just finished my review too. I'll look over it again and post it tomorrow.
I think this is the longest review I wrote so far. :)

What do you expect from the next novels in "The Dagger and the Coin" series? How soon would you like to start reading them?

I have quite a few fantasy series left unread after the first novel. I cannot say that I was disappointed with them, but they also didn't pick my interest enough so I can dive eagerly in the next installments of their series. It is not the case here. I cannot wait to see what happens next. I know that I cannot do it right away, as much as I wish I have a few review copies that need attending and I am a little behind with my schedule there. But I will definitely read at least "The King's Blood" (already promising aplenty from the title) by the end of the year.
I can't wait to see where Geder is going. With so much changes in his attitude I can't expect nothing but a couple of new surprises from him. I hope that Cithrin will reveal more of the economical mechanism of the world. I am not looking forward too much to Dawson's arc, but Clara promises to offer some very interesting things in both personal and political aspects connected with her husband. I expect Marcus' story to start moving and his character to be a little more developed because of it. I sense a warfare or at least an armed conflict that will put his experience to value. And I believe that Master Kit will have his own arc. The prologue and epilogue of "The Dragon's Path" lead me think of that much.
In a few words, there are plenty of things to look forward and to discover in this series.

How did you find "The Dragon's Path"? What did you like the most and what the least at the novel?

I enjoyed the novel immensely. As a matter of fact, it is one of the best fantasy novels I read lately.
The depth of the worldbuilding is excellent. I could feel a vivid world, with economical, political, historical and social aspects treated properly and in perfect measures.
I liked that it is a character driven novel. In most of the fantasy novels, and not only, the characters seem flat and standard, put there because fiction needs characters. But here the characters feel real and true, manifest emotion. Even the smaller characters have dimension. I cannot ask for more in the case of "The Dragon's Path" characters.
The story is gripping and although I felt that the story arcs will collide I am not disappointed that they didn't. I know they will in the next novels of the series, but until then I feel completely satisfied with the way things moved here. Interesting plots, plenty of surprises that took me unaware and some wonderfully maneuvered twists and turns.
There is nothing that didn't work for me in the novel or nothing major comes to mind. As I said, it is a novel almost perfectly wrapped, a first in a series that brings its stories to some kind of conclusion but leaves more to be continued and concluded in the rest of the series. Already I can say that it is one of my favorites fantasy series. Or at least one of my favorites first novels in a fantasy series.

How do you find the world of "The Dragon's Path"? Are there any particularities you enjoyed the most?

One thing that attracted me towards fantasy fiction from the start was the worldbuilding. And here I am fully satisfied with it. A complex world, but revealed carefully and without beating the reader over the head with long info dumps. History, economics and politics are all elements of the canvas and important ones nonetheless. The dark touch of this world is an attractive one, at least for me. It is true that it feels a bit like another projection of the Medieval Europe but Daniel Abraham manages to pull it out of that cliche with his 13 races and their characteristics and with the sense of space given to this world. I am certain that we will see further development in the next novels.
I liked the economics a lot. Although we see only a small part of it through Cithrin's arc I liked that it gives depth and complexity to the world. For example, I loved when Cithrin goes to the market to buy a new dress and negotiates with the seller. There are plenty of elements there to give us an image of the world, the particularities of a trade and the characteristics of some other parts of the world. The ship tradings offers something of the same and there are important things to be considered there for the good working of more than one city.
The way the cities or little kingdoms are run is also interesting. Vanai, Antea and Porte Oliva have all their own governance rules. And these are those we experience first hand, but there are hints of other places and their own way of running things. It is a very nice touch in world building.

How do you find the characters in the end of the novel? How do you feel they developed from the beginning until the end?

My favorite remains Marcus. Although he is a character archetype in the fantasy fiction I felt closer to him from the beginning. And although I feel that he is the one character of the four with a voice within the story with a lesser development I liked that little bit of tragic history behind him. Especially, because of whom his family actually died. I am fully sympathetic with Marcus and the connection he makes between Cithrin and his daughter and the understanding and friendship he has with Yardem are a delight.

Dawson doesn't suffer many changes either, but the story around him changes constantly. Scheming and politics are a part of his life and that is what makes his arc seem in constant changing. He is not a negative character per say, but I don't see him as a benefactor of his king and kingdom. Conservative he doesn't see that the actual changes could lead to good things. It is also interesting that his connection with the fellow conspirators seems weak, each of them have different visions of the way the kingdom should look like and how the king should rule. That is a very interesting aspect of his story.

Cithrin is in a way a coming of age. She starts as a fearful and insecure young lady but ends up leading the business of a bank branch. Another small cliche here is the use of sex for spying and personal interests, but it only feels this way because I encountered it a bit too often not because it does not help Cithrin's story move forward. Cliched, but part of her changing. It is her first full failure, it is a way in revealing the entire nature of the world around her and that of business. It also leads her to one major flaw in her character, the dependency to alcohol. But I liked that because it consolidates the human nature of her character and makes it even more believable.

Geder is by far the one who travels the most in terms of character development. So many emotions from the start until finish, from falling in latrine until he becomes the protector of the prince. And with such an eventful path. He also offers most of the surprises of the novel. I didn't expect any of his actions, be them Vanai, Camnipol or the seed of revenge that finds a fertile soil in his mind when he sees the potential of Basrahip.

Clara's presence I believe is made with the purposes of resolving one particular twist in the story, but she also has plenty of promise for the novels to come.
Master Kit (I will not say I told you so ;) ) could have been another character with his own arc, but that is also something for the other novels of the series. It is just that Daniel Abraham could have played Clara in the same way, resolve the story around her through the other characters but give her voice only in the novels to come.

How do you feel about the introduction of Clara as one of the perspectives of the story? How did you find her small arc?

I have a bit of mixed feelings here. First, it is a very nice addition to the part of the story involving Dawson and Geder and politics of Antea. It pleased me quite a lot to see that politics at the court of King Simeon are the privilege of the males, women are an important part to it as well. Not directly and not felt first handed, but with subtlety and key roles. However, I did feel that the presence of Clara is a bit rushed. She doesn't express a involvement in the politics until this part and seems to jump all of the sudden in the political schemes. I understand the need for this in the context of the story but I still think that preparing it a bit earlier would have been nicer for me. Also, I like that Clara's story offers a very interesting perspective for the next novels of the series. Overall, I welcomed her presence and feel that her arc promises plenty of excellent things in the next novels.

That is something I enjoy quite a lot, a mystery behind the title. But I think that it goes in two ways and that is another thing that makes it so appealing to me. Since I love the economic approach Daniel Abraham gives to his novel I believe that we are looking at the two sides of a coin, one is the importance, the nesicity and the connection made to all the roads across this world built from dragon's jade (dragon's path?) and on the other side the path taken by the dragons in history and that led them to complete destruction. At least, this is why I believe the novel has this title.

I love Marcus, I loved him from the beginning of the novel, but he is the one with the least development and changes among the four main characters. I believe that it has something to do with the archetype he represents in the fantasy fiction. However, he has some intriguing background story, cruel and undeserving. Still, I am a little disappointed in how his arc went, because he was the first one to gain my sympathy from the start.
Geder follows the best path in my opinion. The changes he suffers are all backed by strong characterization and nothing in his attitude is left to chance. Of course, Daniel Abraham plays most of the unexpected surprises through him and that helps his arc develop more. I cannot consider him a negative character, none are, but although I am not sympathetic with him I do find his story the one bringing complete satisfaction to me.
Cithrin has a surprise in storage too and I liked how she become more assured once she entered on her familiar territory, banking and finances. Also the weaknesses she presents make her even more solid.
Dawson is another who doesn't suffer many changes, but his arc, contrary to Marcus', is more dramatic. After all, playing within a conspiracy and on a political conflict can be dramatic. Again, not a negative character per say, but not very likable. Conservative, narrow minded and with an annoying air of superiority.

This is one of the reasons I love Daniel Abraham's works. Not only that he made another twist for the story, but he also reveals internal mechanisms of this world. As Brittain said there are a lot of little details easily overlooked in other fantasy novels that make a story work in the fullest. As is the case here. And, I hope I am not venturing in the fourth part of the reading, the chain of productions are important in most of these cases. Such as the brewery Cithrin chooses as one of the first investments.
There are a few elements that are confusing in the beginning, but I did manage to untangle them in the end and get a grip on the wide picture of this side of the story. I love it!

Awesome! Absolutely awesome!
I got so used with predicting the way the stories go that I cannot say that it is a brilliant turn-out. Cruel, but soooooo unexpected. This I believe seals it with me, Daniel Abraham is on among the high-ranked authors of my pantheon of writers. ;)

I love both the politics and economics aspects of the novel. As a matter of fact, my previous experience with Daniel Abraham's works were completely satisfactory on these matters and he together with K.J. Parker are my favourites fantasy writers just because of this. I have followed the courses of an Economic College and although I do not like a bit working in the field I still find the fantasy novels touching this aspect of their created world extremely attractive. They show a mechanism and the story can then reveal how that mechanism is affected by different elements, inside or outside the economical system, but as in life influential to it. That is something that fantasy works are missing, but again if everyone does it it would not equally satisfactory.As is the case with "The Dragon's Path".
As for politics, I cannot hate something more in real life. At least here in Romania. Such a low esteem the political class has it's a wonder we do not have another Revolution because of it. Maybe because of this, or because of a certain beliefs the characters have I enjoy this aspect a lot in the fictional worlds of fantasy. Because although I cannot support (at the moment) Dawson's actions he still believes in something. Of course, like any politician he has his own interest in sight, but he also has principles, wrong or not depends on the reader, but he definitely has them.

I don't find him a bad character or on the negative side. He is only a representation of the society we experience in Antea and an image of the world created by Daniel Abraham. True, I am not a fan of his, Dawson is the least likeable character of the four, but he moves the story forward. We are shown a change to be made on a long-running system of government, a way of living and the principles of the old opposed to the new, younger generation and the way they see the things moving. It is a very nice touch to the story. A conflict, a different approach for the general story and setting of the novel and a development of the said novel through political scheming and conspiracy.

Fence wrote: "I hope I'm not jumping in too soon, but I just finished this section and I have to say I am so upset with Geder!
I can sort of understand why he reacted that way, he has been bullied for so long he..."

That's quite an awesome turn out. Not pleasant, but excellently played. And so far, the character of Geder is the one changing the most, with a very interesting path he's walking. I have to admit that I was looking more and more in reading his chapters and then, bang! The last one (of this week I mean)!

The only thing with this structure, however, is that it takes away something from the possible surprises. For example, at the battle of Vanai I knew that Geder will escape alive because there are further chapters named after him. And that is a bit predictable.

Sue wrote: Maps are the one aspect that I hate about my Kindle because they are usually so difficult to use and read on it :("

Oh, how I hate Kindle for that. Or for not being able to go easily back and forth to some passages I enjoy or need to recheck when the story develops. In this case however, I am fortunate to have both the paperback edition and the Kindle one (I could not resist a bargain for it). That usually happens for the authors I really like and Daniel Abraham for his "Long Price Quartet" is one of them. :)

Kelly wrote: "I am also enjoying the undefined goodness or badness at this point. There's nothing guiding me to like or not like anyone at this point, (aside from general personality preference) and it somehow i..."

I experienced that too. I was at work in a small coffee break when I caught myself wondering what will happen next in the novel. :)

I love both George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. Maybe this is the reason for enjoying this style of unfolding the story. It is also nice to see a certain plot regarded from different POVs.

I do have a feeling that the apostate is a certain Master Kit. I am only guessing here, but I do see some small similarities here. Especially in the forest scene with the bandits. :)

Carl wrote: "And I really enjoy the banter between he and Yardem. "

I can't get enough of it. :)
I like at Marcus that although he is very well-known figure and a very respected fighter he doesn't show an air of smugness and superiority. He just a man with a job and a desire to that job perfectly. Of course, while trying to save himself from the troubles coming his way.