This was...odd. The premise is very interesting and the writing relays that very well, but the characters are just pure bland. None of them sticks. All their voices sound identical. Even their very "fantasy-sounding" names are immediately forgotten. It's always disappointing when such a grand idea is not served well by an engaging character.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.***

Great book. Loved reading it. The world and characters were alive, and very well described. The city was almost a character in itself. Can't wait to read the next one.

7 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/04/11/age-of-ash-by-daniel-abraham-review/

—

<i>I am Kithamar. I was born a city.</i>

—

Kithamar is an ancient city in the breadbasket of the world, a hub for travel and trade, a center of wealth and power. It is also more than a city, embodied and ruled by a living god, not that the commonfolk realize it. Only now, for the first time in hundreds of years, this god that calls itself Kithamar does not rule the city—something it is desperate to rectify.

Alys is just another nobody. A poor thief, born to Longhill, she runs her pulls on the borders of Green Hill and the Stonemarket, preying on the rich folk before bringing the goods back home. But when her brother, Darro, is killed, she will find herself embroiled in a conspiracy to replace the current Prince, and to save the city—and the world—from itself.

Not that she cares about any of that. No, Alys is out for revenge. And to make a name for herself; a thief and thug, a killer for hire, a mercenary, someone that can escape Longhill, make it in the outside world.

All Sammish wants is Alys. To make enough coin to see her through the winter, to sleep in the room above the brewery, and to hold the other woman in her arms and heart. A thief that occasionally works with Alys, Sammish’s talent is in her anonymity. A face that no one would glance twice at, if they weren’t already looking for it.

But when Alys becomes caught up in the plot to save Kithamar, Sammish is willing to do anything to save her. Even if it means stepping out of the shadows and into the light of day. As the plot draws closer to fruition, both women will be tested, tempted, and tried. But which will make it through in one piece, and which will fall victim to the river, and be washed away once and for all?

—

<i>So, I told him ‘Here’s a counter-offer. I throw it in the river, everyone starts killing everyone else, and nobody gets paid for any of it.’</i>

—

Second time was the charm for this one.

Yeah, it took me two goes to get through this book, and for one very good reason. A political fantasy, Age of Ash is rather dry. There’s a lot going on—just not a lot of action. For a sub-500 page novel, this is especially surprising. Normally if I call something political fantasy, I’d expect it to be 800+ pages, giving time for a lot of tension and intrigue and atmosphere. Not so here. The instances of action that do occur are few and far between. Worse still, the inconsistency in pacing is rather taxing, as any action will let off and routinely promise more coming, only to take its sweet time ever actually getting there.

The exact point where I burned out the first time is just past the hundred-page mark, where Alys is just coming into her own, but Sammish really hasn’t entered the tale. Alys’ story is an interesting one—and hers’ is the featured tale here—but where Alys is the mainstay, Sammish is the breath of fresh air I needed to make it through. Hers’ is an interesting tale as well: a girl following her heart but eventually deciding that she wants more than to just play second fiddle to Alys, just to be a trophy to the other woman, to be won and held.

And where Sammish is a breath of fresh air, the added stories of Tregarro, Andomaka, and Saffa tie it all together quite nicely. I mean, there’s still little enough action, but the intrigue and the conspiracies are enough to see it through to the end—all while promising something further on, something at the culmination of all the threads.

TL;DR

Age of Ash is a little dry, and takes some getting used to. But while there’s little enough action, there is actually quite a lot going on. Thing is, there’s a legitimately good story here, it just takes some time to find. Which is problematic in a new series, especially one written like Kithamar is. Three books all taking place at the same time, each one telling a different part of the same tale, with all three needed to fill out the picture. Despite the slow start, this is the kind of series I’d expect to get better the farther along it goes. Where I found Alys’ tale a bit dull, Book #2 finds us following the POV of Garreth, a palace guardsman and lover to the Heir Apparent of Kithamar, the only daughter of the new Prince.

My first ever Daniel Abraham and a very addicting book it was.
Worldbuilding is excellent, characters are interesting and deep.

The plot was a bit slow but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down

This is the story of a city, while at the same time it intimately follows several of its urchings. Alys is barely scraping by on the streets, relying on coordinated thefts to get the coin to survive. One day, the job gets complicated and gets her brother killed (orso she thinks). Grieving him, she tries to get him back while trying to get revenge, and winds up taking her brother's place in the same deadly political plot he'd fallen into. The story also follows a few other characters as the wider plot is revealed, but it mostly follows Alys. I'm really interested to see how her story intersects with the other characters of the following novels, but since Alys is so angry and reckless through much of this book, I didn't necessarily love being in her head. But I'm eager to see what happens next!

I was given an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solid first book in this series. Abraham focuses more on the characters themselves than the actual plot so it took me a minute to get hooked but the writing is solid as was the worldbuilding. Anxiously looking forward to Book 2.

This is a little tough to rank. I think it’s objectively quite a good book, but I also feel it’s Abraham’s worst. This says more about my generally high opinion of his other stuff (Dagger & Coin, Long Price, coauthor of the Expanse) than anything, but it nevertheless colored my read here.

The premise here is intriguing. The events take place entirely within one city, and cover the events of one year. Books 2 and 3, according to Abraham, will be the same city and the same year, but from the perspective of different characters. Only when all three are read will we understand the entire story. It’s an interesting way to set things up, and one that has me very interested.

Where this fell a little short for me was that I just wasn’t invested in the main character enough. She was fine, but her friend (whom I’d call the secondary protagonist) was much more interesting in my opinion.

The ending was satisfying, but also … not. The protagonist’s journey came to a satisfying enough conclusion, but I have many outstanding questions. I’m going to read the others in the trilogy, because I have faith in Daniel Abraham and am quite curious to see how this all works. But I find myself wondering (and I hate saying this, but I’m willing to because Abraham is hardly a struggling newcomer) if it wouldn’t be better to wait until all three are out and binge read.

These are the type of books my dad and I always buddy read (we buddy read the Expanse series), and even reading without him, it still makes me feel comforted.

Immediately the prose hooked me, I thought it was very well written and it has a clear style. I think that’s what I loved most about The Expanse series (if you didn’t know, Daniel Abraham co wrote the Expanse series!), despite how technical it could be, it was super accessible for new fantasy/Sifi readers. I thought this had a similar writing style (sometimes co authors have different voices on their own, which is true for the plot/development of this novel but the prose stayed similar).

For the plot, I didn’t find it as memorable as I would have hoped. I will continue with the series, but I don’t think it’s gonna be on my “most anticipated reads” list.

Overall I do recommend this novel to high fantasy lovers or those who are wanting to delve into the genre (there are some more accessible reads that have more engaging plots, but I would still recommend this one too).

I can't wait to read the next book in this series. The world that Abraham created is immersive and vast and I can't wait to go back to it.

A great start to a new series, I'll definitely continue reading this series as they're published. Daniel Abraham is a great writer.

Thanks to Orbit and Netgalley for providing an e-copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I am very conflicted giving this review, because, despite me loving the genre and Abraham, both in his work on the Expanse and in Dagger and Coin, this book really was not for me, and I can't figure out why. It has a plot that normally sucks me in, a tale of a street urchin, a motive for vengeance that feels Scott Lynchian or like Robert Jackson Bennett-so fans of those authors should definitely check this one out. But I kept personally losing the thread of things - and while the atmosphere was engaging, I did not get sucked in like the best books will often do to me. This probably means I missed the point-and so I am not going to rate this book poorly as there will be plenty of people out there who will like it.

In the city of Kithmir, Alyse has lost her brother gotten herself entagled in a political and magical morass. Think Game of Thrones if it were extremely invested in the morality of characters and completely uninterested in keeping the reader engaged. The political subplot is rendered pointless by the introduction, which takes place after the book concludes and spoils the fate of the prince of the city, the driver of that subplot. Repeated philosophical motifs are meant to sound deep but can be annoyingly pointless, as is the entire book.Likely to be part of a series, Age of Ash doesn't stand on its own and left me completely uninterested in anything in Kithmir.

Last month I finished The Expanse, a series I’d read over the past couple of years, growing enamored of the universe and the wild adventure that James S. A. Corey had continually evolved with each subsequent installment. In my post-read hangover, I was looking to see what novels Corey had in the works, and I was rather chagrined to discover Corey was a pen name for the authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Furthermore, unbeknownst at the time, Abraham’s upcoming solo title, Age of Ash, had ended up on my most anticipated reads of 2022. Intrigued with my newfound insights as to the author’s previous works, I had even high anticipations for this new series, far removed from the space opera I’ve been used to.

Age of Ash takes place in the city of Kithamar and follows several characters from royalty to the street urchins. The main focus falls on the thieves, Alys and Sammish, who quickly find themselves over their heads when a heist goes awry. This blunder sets off a sequence of events that leads to a personal tragedy for Alys and leaves all of Longhill reeling. In the wealthy district of Green Hill, another death opens a void for the ambitious to jockey for position. With turmoil roiling throughout Kithamar, Sammish and Alys paths diverge, though they both discover magic, intrigues, and schemes, with the line between good and evil becoming blurred through the haze of revenge and perspective.

Transitioning into Age of Ash was not a seamless process with the prologue occurring after the events of this novel, before chapter one rewound the clock. Additionally, characters were introduced and then not seen again for half of the novel, if at all, making their significance to early events strained. This confusing order of events caused me to reread the first couple of chapters again immediately after finishing the book, something I can’t recall ever doing before, with valuable insights standing out that had previously been easy to overlook. I felt like this formatting made Age of Ash harder than it should have been to acclimate into this fascinating world.

Initially, Alys is our main focus, as she struggles to determine who she wants to be, while shouldering crippling grief. She slowly loses sight of herself, one decision at a time, until the Alys we first met is unrecognizable. The reader isn’t the only one to notice Alys’ transition as her friend, Sammish, grows increasingly concerned with the widening gulf. Sammish, who exhibits the unique power to disappear in plain sight, experiences her own character growth from the painfully timid to quietly bold and confident. We are granted perspectives from quite a few other characters in varying degrees, however the most fascinating point of view was from Kithamar itself. I’m going to purposely keep my descriptions of this character vague to avoid any spoilers but it involves a twist that I was not anticipating. Kithamar has so many inherent implications and built in depth that has yet to be fully mined. Other perspectives pop up once, before never showing up again or getting tied back into the story, leaving a disconcerting feeling of loose ends that are yet to be resolved. Perhaps later installments of this series will bring these wayward characters back into the fold but their absence was unresolved.

The characters themselves were distinct, though their insecurities were often rehashed on a repeating loop. Their plights kept the reader on the edge of their seats, but I found I wasn’t necessarily invested in any of their fates, even Alys or Sammish.

The pacing of Age of Ash is deliberate and methodical throughout, sputtering to life with every planned heist, before falling back into the established pattern. As a whole, I enjoyed the world and story, but this wasn’t a book that kept me glued or squeezing in one extra chapter before bedtime. It felt like I was more just passing the time with an entertaining journey. Again, not a bad description by any means, I just wasn’t hooked or emotionally invested in the outcome.

The ending itself seemed simultaneously open and closed where Age of Ash could feel like a stand alone, but with so many open questions left unanswered after the last dramatic and chaotic heist.

Overall, Abraham has built a solid foundation in Age of Ash that will act as a springboard for the rest of the series with seemingly limitless potential as to where he could take this fascinating literary world.

I enjoyed the story, but it was a bit confusing at times as some of the names were similar. Decent world-building and characters were developed to a good level.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

Plot: 3.5 stars
Characters: 3.5 stars
Writing: 3.5 stars

I may read the next in this series, depending on my mood!

4ish stars.

Much different from Abraham's collaborative Expanse series, but not in a bad way. He slides comfortably into the fantasy genre, with good character work and impressive worldbuilding.

I'm very aware that in checking "yes, author, please visit my store" that Daniel Abraham won't be visiting my small island bookstore. I'm going to continue to live in hope, however, because I have MANY questions to ask him about this. The scale of this book, and the idea of the trilogy as a whole, is so interesting to me. Kithamar is such an alive place - or not, depending on your point of view - and the people that live there are fascinating. The thread of political machinations is my particular favourite, and I'm so excited to see how it will play out from different perspectives in the next installments.

Daniel Abraham's Age of Ash is a fantasy epic that fails to feel fantastic or epic.
I had high hopes for this book based on the sales copy, but as soon as I started it, I realized it probably wasn't the right book for me. There's a tremendous amount of worldbuilding and 'narrator' point of view, with a lot of it focused on the city and the king.
I was hoping that once I got past the prologue, things would pick up, but they didn't - I got yet another 'thief/pickpocket with an unreliable gang' character (which seems to be a staple of epic fantasy now) who, unfortunately, is also incompetent. And then more information about the city. And then more back story. On and on like that.
The writing is solid, and there's some interesting stuff to the characters (Alys's fascination with people after they get robbed), but it never rose above middling storytelling.

Age of Ash is a fantastic first book in what will surely turn out to be a wonderful series. The world building and characters are written well, The story feels very dark and a bit of a downer and the pacing is slow in parts, but by the end of the book I found that I enjoyed it a lot. I look forward to the next book in the series.