Book Review: The Long Price Quartet series by Daniel Abraham

Unlike my usual reviews, this one focuses on the entire series of The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham, all 4 books, rather than a single one. Basically, I was travelling while I was reading the first one and didn't get a chance to write up something before the second, so decided to just take the whole series as a whole. These include, A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, An Autumn War, and The Price of Spring. Here is a blurb covering the full series:

The unforgettable fantasy epic series that marks Daniel Abraham, one half of the writing team behind The Expanse, as one of the most enthralling fantasy writers to emerge in recent years

In a world of ancient empires and immortal magics, one man stands at the crossroads of history.

The aggressively expansionist Galt empire has already conquered lands across a huge continent. But the cities of the Khaiem resist Galt's power with the andat creatures of magic with godlike powers. But magic and treacherous politics have brought a bitter harvest of violence and sorrow.

Otah Machi, caught between ancient wonders and a modern empire, has survived more than most men endure in two lifetimes. He is the culmination of a complex inheritance, and his own existence is the fulcrum around which the wheels of epic history rotate through achingly poignant cycles of life and death, love and betrayal.

Now, when the world seems utterly lost, all depends on Otah, and the lost loves and found family he has desperately hoped to protect from the tragedy that beckons. If they can summon the courage and power to forgive and resist darkness, all their hopes could be salvaged—along with their world.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Overall Impression

This was an interesting and relatively short series, only 4 books. We get to see the growth and change of a few characters over decades and see how the world at large evolves with them. Some recurring themes, like family, relationships, tradition, nationalism, slavery, gender equality, are present in various forms throughout the series. The plot moves at a fairly fast pace throughout the entire series and has a few surprising moments. The big focus, though, is on the characters.

Plot

Throughout the books, we generally focus on 2-3 view point characters. These always include Otah and Maati, plus one or two others that are relevant for the particular book. Each book has a bit of a time jump between each, the gaps ranging from about 7 years all the way to 25 years. As such, we get to see Otah and Maati evolve from young kids all the ways to old seniors. Each book is fairly self contained, with a well-defined plot and struggle that takes place entirely within it. Some are more political as they focus on the grand-scale nation struggles, but all of them have the character's relationships front and center. The pacing is pretty good throughout them, too, with a satisfying conclusion in each book.

Characters

We generally follow two main characters, Otah Machi and Maati Vaupathi. Both are children to powerful lords that sent them to the school of the poets to learn about potentially controlling the andat, powerful spirits. Their paths, however, couldn't be more different, as Otah leaves to forge his own path, while Maati remains and adheres to the school's principles. The story brings them into contact over and over in various stages of their lives, exploring how they behave towards each other and their mutual friends. 

In addition to them, we have plenty of other interesting characters like Liat, Kiyan, Balasar, Seedless, and many more that take the spotlight in several books. I found an interesting similarity between some of the characters in this series and the few books I read in his second one, The Dagger and the Coin, with somewhat better characters in the latter. I think it shows growth in the author's writing skills, but regardless, the ones in this series are plenty complex and enjoyable.

Setting / World Building

The story primary takes place in the cities of the Khaiem, remnants of a once mighty Empire. They are still strong and very rich and a prize that other nations, particularly the Galt, desire. While the story generally focuses on the character interactions, the large-scale conflict is that of Galt vs Khaiem and this is a source of tension throughout the entire series. We spend a lot of time on a few of the cities, like Saraykeht and Machi, but get to see some of the other ones in passing. They have an interesting culture, somewhat reminiscent of real-world oriental cultures. For example, they add honorifics to others names, like -cha, -kya, -kvo; they place great emphasis on poses or gestures that express feelings, agreements, respect; and share communal hot springs.

The andat are an especially interesting concept and one that is a recurring theme. These powerful spirits can change reality and have great names. For example, Removing-The-Part-That-Continues does just that and is used to remove seeds from the cotton harvest, but can also be made to end pregnancies. And the scope of its power can cover the world- every harvest, every woman. Another andat, Stone-Made-Soft makes it easier to dig mines by softening the ground, but again it could be used to sink every continent if it wanted to. The andat are essentially slaves to the poets that bound them and while concepts of slavery were touched in the first book, they weren't followed up much except as light notes in subsequent ones. The andat are unwilling to be in this world and fight against their poets with every waking moment- any slip and they'll break free or cause devastation. The process of binding an andat is equally strenuous, demanding a price that can kill the poet if done improperly. As such, they are a valuable commodity, primarily used for commerce but also as a military deterrent.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this series. It had an epic feel to it because of the time it covered, but kept the narrative focused on the characters in a more personal story. The setting was intriguing, though the main highlight was the growth of the characters throughout the stories. Each book brought its own surprises and twists and keep the story interesting. Overall, it was a nice short fantasy series and I look forward to reading from this author.