This was my first David Abraham book. The summary caught my attention on NetGalley, so I thought I'd dip my toe into another epic fantasy series. I try not to read other people's reviews before beginning a novel, because I don't want to be influenced. This time, I should have. I didn't know what to expect of David Abraham, but it didn't take long for me to realize Age of Ash wasn't my type of epic fantasy.

That doesn't mean Age of Ash is bad. Not the case at all. It's written well, and Abraham is an unmatchable worldbuilder. It was easy to tell he'd thought of every single detail. If I met him at a book signing, I'm sure I could ask him some obscure detail about Kithamar, and he'd have an answer. I respect and deeply admire those kinds of authors, and that's also exactly the type of author I want to be. I want to know every single facet of my creation, every flaw, every curve so if someone asks me something, I'm not scrambling for an answer.

The issue with Age of Ash for me, though, was that the characters seemed secondary to the worldbuilding. I never really got to know Alys or Sammish or anyone else. There was little insight into their personalities, which is something really important to me when I read a novel. With Age of Ash I felt like I was reading more of a history book--a bird's eye view of everything, versus walking the streets of Kithamar with the characters. Just because I, as an author, may know every detail of my world, it doesn't mean I need to write it all out for my readers. That's where Abraham lost me.

David Abraham reminds me a lot of George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Robert Jordan. Lots of words, lots of background details. Not as much dialogue as I would've liked. Does that mean Abraham is a bad author--no, not at all. It just means his particular writing style isn't necessarily to my fancy. I like Martin (for the most part) and Tolkien. Jordan and Abraham are questionable.

I'll be interested to see what the second Kithamar book entails. At this point, haven't decided if I'll read it yet or not. Age of Ash didn't pull me in enough to instantly know I'm reading its sequel. I'll have to think about this one. Will I give it a chance if I have nothing else in my TBR pile? Possibly. We'll find out later.

Possible Triggers:
Death

Summary:
This is the first book in a new epic fantasy.

Characters:
There are many characters and points of view in this story. Most were merely stepping stones of consciousness that followed behind/around the two main female characters, Alys and Sammish.

Positives:
+ There was some weird as heck magic going on in the book. While I wouldn't say the story was a heavy magic one, the magic there was, was not at all overt. I had to reread constantly and even doing so it was a constant question of “was this cast? Was it sleight of hand? Coincidence?”. I enjoy the mystery of it all.
+ A++ for real talk from Alys’ mom. That’s tied for my favorite part in the book alongside the very last chapter.

Negatives:
- Didn’t particularly care for the fate of any of the characters. There were a few deaths in the story and I gotta say, I didn't really care at all. I’m sure they were meant to be impactful, but that fell flat for me. This might also be because I didn't particularly care/connect with any of the characters at all. I spent most of the book mildly annoyed at Alys.
- The ending of the story really left a LOT of questions for me still. I don't actually end with knowing what happened to the main antagonist or feeling like there was a place to leap off of for the next book. All the characters in the book that made it to the ending had pretty neatly tied up ends that didn’t leave a trailing hint of their stories potentially continuing. I didn’t dislike the ending, I’m just not sure where we go from here.

Final Thoughts:
This was an interesting read. Lots of questions as to who, what, and why puppet strings are being pulled and things throughout the city are being put into play. This story took place in the span of a year and mostly within the confines of a single city. I am eager to see if that trend continues in the next story since the series name is that city. While the characters could be more memorable, there is a certain pull to the story dragging you back to question “no but what happens next, and WHY did it happen at all?’. I am interested in continuing with the series to find out more about Kithamar and what happens after the events of book 1.

2.5: I picked this book up in hopes that I would love it as much as I loved the Expanse Books. Unfortunately, I was immediately turned off by the characters in their introduction, especially Alys, who "casually" sexually assaults/harasses one person and thinks about doing it again to a second person in her first chapter as part of a pickpocket distraction. I get it, it's a gritty fantasy, but this just felt gratuitous, and I feel like Alys's unlikeable personality could've been shown in other ways than that. Anyways, the world is interesting and the narrative flows well overall, but the characters just weren't engaging enough for me to care as much as I wanted to. I'm sure others who enjoy gritty European-inspired fantasy like Name of the Wind or The Witcher will enjoy this book more than I did. Thank you Orbit and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for a subjective and honest review!

First, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this book, we follow a cast of characters living in Kithamar, a city with an ancient, bloody history. To get by, our characters have become proficient thieves. However, after the death of her brother, Alys is set on revenge. She follows in his footsteps, trying to complete his work while looking for his murderer.

Ultimately, this book was fine. I just felt like everything was a little lackluster. None of the characters gripped me and made me feel invested. The plot wasn't interesting enough to lift up the characters. It ultimately felt like a fantasy story I've read countless times, but without characters that I loved to engage with.

I think this book would definitely work for some people, just not me.

TW: death/death of a child/death of a sibling, gore, violence, suicidal thoughts, self harm, body horror

Just another amazing epic fantasy from one of the true masters. Not enough credit is given to Daniel Abraham for his fantasy writing prowess in my opinion. This kicks off a brand new series from him and if book one is any indication, this one may be the best of them all. Truly fantastic world-building, characters teeming with life, and a magic system that is as always trademark Abraham. I guess I'm not surprised that someone who studied under the tutelage of George RR Martin would write incredible fantasy such as this. Wow! Just read it.

“Longhill’s always Longhill.”

The strength of this story lies in its world building. It takes only a second to realize the world Daniel Abraham has created is rich with history and is well-developed. The characters reference that history time and time again. They know which district they have come from and what it means. It means that “Longhill’s always Longhill.” No matter where you go – you’re always a Longhill. It’s the type of story that gives you the distinct impression that the author has not only every street mapped out, but that he also knows every stall and business on the street as well as who runs it.

But to me, its weakness is that the story holds you at arms length, never giving you a chance to truly feel anything about the characters. I wondered several times why this was. Part of it was that it often felt as if I were being narrated to by someone watching the events. Other times I wondered if it was because I didn’t feel properly introduced to Alys’s backstory for a while. The story itself has a different pace to it and takes time to fully unwind and reveal itself. Little by little we learn quite a few things about Alys, however, it is a while before we spend a full chapter on what life was like when it was just her and her mom. But as I write this – maybe that is the point. Alys’s rough life has forced her to protect herself at whatever the cost and that includes not opening up to others and letting people in. Perhaps that includes us. Her brother Darro was her rock. While she couldn’t count on much, including her mother, she had him. With his death, her grief takes over in it’s various stages as she tries to stay connected to him any way she can. Perhaps that grief pushes not only Sammish out, but us out as well. Whatever it was, I never felt connected to Alys as well as other characters.

On the other hand, Sammish was a character I felt the closest to. Not many of us have lived the type of life these girls have. But even with that, what made Sammish’s character more relatable was that her feelings, issues, and vulnerabilities are ones that many people have encountered at some point in their lives. Somewhere we’ve had to work through that feeling of being left out or left behind, that feeling of wanting more from someone than we are being given. And it is working through these and coming to terms with these issues that we become the individuals we are today through. Overall, the exploration of her loneliness and desire to help the friend she knew (and not who she was becoming) was very well done and is why she became my favorite character.

There’s no doubt in my mind that some will like the style and really enjoy the book. It’s well written and full of the type of world-building that fantasy readers really enjoy. The character explorations into grief and loneliness will draw people in as well. I also rather enjoyed the ins and outs of pickpocketing as we get descriptions of who all is needed and what is involved to pull off this type of thievery. However, the main plot takes a while to get started and it isn’t until about half-way in before you start receiving information on what is going on and where the story is taking us. This may frustrate some readers, as it did me, if you aren’t expecting it.

Rating: 3.75

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for the advanced review copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.

A fantastic first book in this new series, filled with what we've come to love about Abraham. A masterful study of grief, loyalty, friendship, family, and identity with complex relationships between the characters, which is what we've come to expect. I can't wait for the next volume.

My full review: https://youtu.be/7sX5fJug938

I loved the Expanse. The expanse is co-written By Daniel Abraham. I loved the pacing and everything about it., I got about 20% into this book. I was intrigued by the synopsis and was extremely excited to receive and read this book early as I heard about someone else talking about it on youtube. They hoped to be able to read this as well and I knew I just had to read it. Now when I read I tend to hyper focus. I can't stop reading. This one was not jiving with me unfortunately. At this point in time I am going to DNF this book. But I would like to try again at a later date to see if maybe, in the near future, I might be able to "get into it" more.

DNF. I read about 5 chapters, but the characters were almost all entirely unlikeable to me. I felt like the author spent a lot of time trying to be atmospheric, and some will love that about this book. But I need to feel sympathy for at least one character, and I didn't like any of them. I'm giving it three stars because I do think the author put a ton of work into world building, and the writing is good. It's just not a story to my taste.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

I thought the Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham was a great start to a new fantasy series (the Kithamar Trilogy). 3.75 ⭐️

This book was a fascinating and poignant examination of the stages of grief and how deeply they can affect not only the grieving individual but also people around them, wrapped in an atmospheric city with some fantasy trappings. The fantasy elements which much lighter than I was expecting, but I hope they are expanded upon in the future books in this series. I am very much excited to read the next books can’t wait til they come out.

Full video review to come out on my YouTube channel https://youtube.com/channel/UCfPdqjJll7GRkLsyiyzTwOg ~1 week before the book’s release on 2/15/2022

Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham, I wanted to like this book but it progressed very slowly and I had a hard time getting into it. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book and I do think others will enjoy it.

Daniel Abraham writes books like a historian, I mean that in the best way, he writes like he has studied the worldbuilding in extreme detail and cares about every single part of it. The way he writes worlds, cities, and the ways they run are second to none.

Age of Ash is written by one of the authors who co-wrote Leviathan Wakes under the pen name James S. A. Corey, how cool is that? He’s expanding even more into some epic fantasy. I was very excited to see what he can do and he wrote a story that I flew through. His writing still holds up even when not in space. The story here begins ominously with a funeral procession throughout the city of Kithamar for the prince. I believe it’s the prologue actually and then the story shifts to the past and the rest of the book is like a buildup to that moment. In fact I think it spans a whole year before. We are then introduced to a couple of our main characters Alys who is a young street thief and her brother who is a hired knife and he takes care of them with the money he makes from that. Tragedy unfortunately strikes for our characters, I’m keeping that as vague as possible because I was personally shocked by it and I want you to be as well but a haunting mystery stems from it.

I’ll be honest. This story is very sad. It’s deep. And it’s written in a very prophetic sort of way and though that’s the case, the book begins so fast paced and really exciting, there’s thieving happening, very mysterious light magic/ kind of witchy stuff at play. The city being described felt so alive and disgusting at the same time. The amount of times poop is mentioned is a lot so be warned. Actually I can even show you on the cover here that most of the story is taken place in this bottom section, it’s basically the slums. This giant stone city above, we don’t see a ton of. Maybe that’ll be in future books but the story is really centered on our lowborn characters. I wish we could have expanded upon more parts of the city but for 450 pages, we are here.

Next I want to talk about the amount of perspectives and how the story is told through them because it will definitely be the end all be all for readers. This will make it break it for people. I kept track of all of them and there were 8 different perspectives by page 100. The changing perspectives reminded me a lot of the red knight but where in that book it was a negative for me because it was so convoluted, in this case it works and is much easier to follow. Like it’ll change to a perspective that isn’t going to be a main character but their going to be interacting with them and still tell their story. I hope that makes sense and I think it made things more interesting. I know that can be alarming but, it’s also what kept the book moving so fast. The chapters are so short and writing style super fluid so I blew through these 450 pages very quickly.

Speaking of the writing style, it’s incredibly beautiful. Almost on the verge of flowery which I know is a term readers like to use for very descriptive detailed sentences and this is like that. It was almost too much for me. There were quite a few times I just wanted to move onto the important story bits but the author was still talking about the snow that was on the ground like okay, let’s get a move on.

Another problem I had were the 2 main female characters who are friends/rivals I guess. Their personalities are incredibly similar, there wasn’t much of a difference between them so that made it hard for me to care for them or maybe lean towards one more than the other, they are literally the same character.

Honestly I was hovering between 4 and 3 stars for this book the whole time because there’s many things about it that still makes it a great read but the ending is what solidified my 3 stars and I can’t even say why because it concerns how it ends but just know, the whole book is a buildup to a certain moment and the reader still doesn’t know the how or why of something. You'll just have to read it for yourself and form your own thoughts.

I am still very interested in continuing with this story because there is potential for it to be even better. Like the foundation is set now it needs to be built upon.

When I think about my favorite series from the past few years, the answer is easy: The Expanse. It's just so well-written that the world feels truly real. I freely admit that the reason I picked up Age of Ash was solely because it shared an author with The Expanse, and I was curious to see what Abraham's writing style in a fantasy context would be like.

I won't bury the lede any longer: I did not like this book at all. I had to force myself to finish it for the sake of this review. The characters felt flat and uninteresting for the majority of the plot, and the world felt exceedingly dreary and awful. I think that latter point was on purpose, but speaking for myself, it's the last kind of world I want to escape to after two years of a pandemic, division, injustice, and strife. It would be one thing if it was a kind of gritty realism that unflinchingly stares into the brokenness of the world and refuses to give up hope. But this book felt almost perfectly devoid of justice, hope, or life. It's almost as if he stared long and hard at the injustices and evils of the world and tried to construct an alternate universe where only those things exist. Perhaps it'll get better in books two and three of his trilogy, but by the end of Age of Ash I was left with no motivation to see if that will be the case. I hate writing such a negative review and I wish I could think of some slight silver lining, but alas.

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.

Sad to say that while I enjoyed The Expanse and Long Price Quartet I really struggled to read Age of Ash. I found the story,the world and the characters boring and only managed to rmake it as far as 18%.

Age of Ash (Kithamar #1) by Daniel Abraham

4.5 stars

Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings (may contain spoilers): Death/Death of a Child/Death of a Sibling, Violence/Gore, Suicidal Thoughts, Self Harm, Body Horror

Age of Ash follows the story of Alys, a young thief living in an impoverished neighbourhood in the city of Kithamar, over the course of an emotionally devastating and politically turbulent year. The death of the previous prince of the city and subsequent coronation of the next ruler kicks off a series of events which lead to a grieving Alys becoming intermingled with the proceedings of the cultish dark magic at the helm of the city, and Alys must decide whether she should embrace this life or not. While Alys is the main perspective, I would argue that the perspective of Sammish, another young thief from Longhill, is equally important. Sammish is a few years younger than Alys and has had a crush on her for as long as she can remember. However, as Alys gets pulled deeper into dark plots, Sammish needs to decide for herself whether to follow Alys. We also get the perspectives of a few other, very interesting characters, which definitely add some dimensions to the story, but Alys and Sammish are by far the most prevalent!

I thought the writing style of this novel was so unique and engaging, I hadn’t really read anything written in this way before. I think the best way to describe it would be like a very dark fairytale. From the very first chapter, I was immensely captivated and drawn in to the story, and I could hardly put the book down. The pacing was very even throughout the book (although not really fast-paced, which is fine by me, but maybe not everyone’s preference). I also liked how the more mystical elements of the plot were gradually revealed as the book progressed, it made it very easy to put myself in the shoes of Alys or Sammish, and I really felt for their confusion and eventual terror as they began to understand more of what was going on. It also made some given the world of the city that little bits were revealed at a time, as the mystical elements of the book are very much a secret from pretty much nearly everyone who lives there.

The novel is, in my opinion, very character focused and I really felt a lot for Alys and Sammish while I was reading. Both of the characters were crafted in a way so that they were simultaneously very relatable but very flawed, and I definitely found myself getting frustrated at them at times, which to me is an indicator of a very human and realistic character. I think the themes of growing up, loneliness, loss, and grief were all explored in a very interesting way over the course of the novel and I definitely could perceive the growth in the two main characters from the start of the novel to the end. While I certainly haven’t experienced anything very similar to Alys and Sammish’s lives over the course of the book’s year, as someone who is (probably?) around the same age as them, I definitely related to some of their uncertainties about who they wanted to be and what they wanted their lives to be. I loved that the book took its time exploring these themes and I think this was what led to such a great exploration of them.
That being said, this is definitely a quieter and more introspective fantasy novel, so there aren’t very many action sequences or things of that sort. I didn’t have a problem with this, but it's a good thing to be aware of before beginning the book in my opinion just so you don’t go in with the wrong expectations! However, I will say that the extensive discussion of thievery techniques in this book was really entertaining to read about and it was interesting to see how particular characters’ roles and techniques in regards to petty crimes related to their inner growth and personality. I also think the book leaned into small amounts of horror, particularly when describing the cultish aspects of certain groups, which I really enjoyed.

If I were to critique one aspect of the book, it would be that I wish there was a bit more worldbuilding, especially as the book takes place inside of a single city. I would have loved to learn more about the politics, cultures, and traditions within the city and I hope this is included in greater detail in a future instalment of the trilogy. This isn’t to say there wasn’t any worldbuilding at all, I think sufficient amounts were done for the story’s purpose, I am just always hungry for more when it comes to this sort of thing.

Overall, I think this was a unique, enchanting, and entertaining entry into a new trilogy! While this is definitely adult fantasy, I think it would also serve as an excellent gateway into the genre for younger readers who don’t mind a slower paced, character focused story.

I have to say, my timing of reading Daniel Abraham’s newest novel, The Age of Ash, couldn’t have been better, coming as it did right after I finished the last EXPANSE novel, the series her co-wrote with Ty Franck (as James S.A. Corey). After all, while THE EXPANSE has been my favorite sci-fi series the past number of years, Abraham was also responsible for two of my favorite fantasy series: THE LONG PRICE QUARTET and THE COIN AND THE DAGGER, so I knew I would be in good hands in terms of assuaging my sorrow at bidding farewell to the Rocinante crew. And I was. That said, fair warning to anyone coming here because of The Expanse TV show. This is not that show set in a fantasy world. Abraham as a fantasy writer is less propulsive, has less action, and doesn’t blow stuff up nearly as often. What is shared between Corey and Abraham, though, is a wonderfully rewarding focus on vivid characterization.

The setting is the ancient city of Kithamar that “for three hundred years and longer has been a free city, independent and proud and ruled by princes of its own rather than any distant king.” The book opens with the funeral of one of those princes (Byrn a Sal) who died — possibly of suspicious circumstances — less than a year after his coronation. We then move back to the day of Byrn a Sal’s coronation and a focus not on the nobility but the lower class of the city as we’re introduced to our two main characters, Alys and Sammish, as they and the rest of their small crew run a “pull” (a pickpocket scheme). Not all goes well, though, and Alys’ older brother, Darro, whom she idolizes, has to rescue her from an angry guard. When Darro is found murdered shortly thereafter, Alys worries it was her actions that led to this death. The combination of grief and guilt lead to some questionable decisions on her part, while Sammish at first watches with her own form of grief at what is happening to someone she loves, and then both end up embroiled in unexpected and differing ways in the city’s politics, as well as with the dark secret at the city’s heart.

Despite opening with a mini-heist scene (the pickpocket scam) and a murder, as noted this is not an action-filled plot. Instead this is a character-driven story that takes the necessary time to build characters that we can care about. It’s also a meditation on and exploration of grief and love in all their complex facets, in the ways we grieve, the ways we love, the different types or phases of either.

The characters are richly realized and complex. It’s agonizing to watch Alys spiral downward even as one fully understands what is driving her further and further from her better self and from her better relationships. Early on, Darro thinks to himself “He wanted her to be the laughing child he was when he was her age. He wanted the world to corrupt everything, only not her.” And one fears at the moment that this is indeed the foreshadowing it becomes, though one doesn’t know at the time that it will be Darro who in some ways initiates that corruption. You want her to pull out of the dive and fear she won’t each time she has a choice. There are multiple reference to two selves, two roads, as when she hits a dog with a club: “if Alys felt a flicker of regret it didn’t last. ‘Next time stay out of my way,” she called after it. But she kept watching long enough to reassure herself it wasn’t limping.” Which one she will become — the girl who inures a dog without remorse or the girl who has compassion for the weak and injured — remains an achingly open question for some time.

Similarly, Sammish also has her separate selves, whether they be simultaneous (kept hidden, sometimes even to herself) or serial, as like Alys she grows away from the girl she is as the start, and these changes, even if positive, are often bittersweet. Other characters are equally fleshed out with complicated motivations, with some revelations changing entirely how the reader responds to them. The character-building in the novel is also one of the best depictions I’ve seen in fantasy of the underclass, which can often be romanticized in fantasy tales. This is a movingly empathetic, compassionate, and clear-eyed look at the lives of those who don’t live in the palaces or merchant houses or who aren’t the stableboy who comes into his true kingship.

Even more moving is the aforementioned portrayal of grief, which arrives in a variety of ways. The grief of a sister for a brother, of a mother for a child, the grief one old friend for another now gone, the grief of a neighborhood for the passing of an icon. But the main storyline is Alys’ grief for Darro, which utterly overwhelms her, as grief does, literally subsuming her as she tries to become Darro, do what he would do (which also acts as a nice metaphor for another element of the novel). Nor is this grief depicted in simple abstract fashion, or as a sort of logical — someone died so someone feels sad — response. It’s a vivid true-to-life portrayal, as when Alys thinks to herself:

She was losing him. Darro’s face, his voice, the way he held his weight over his feet like he was always on the verge of running. She could remember them, but they didn’t intrude on her the way they had. The grief was in her, but it was weary, and she was weary along with it. And Darro wasn’t there to help her remember.

Here Abraham covers not just the reality of generic grief — the way it changes from sharp pangs to dull ache not because “time heals” but because we lose the details — but he also makes sure to give us the level of detail that makes the loss feel real, concrete, that makes Darro feels alive. It’s a poignant, painful portrayal throughout.

Though this is a story driven by character, the plot is engrossing and just as complicated as the characters that move through it. The big bad is an original, interesting concept and portrayed, as with the other characters, with a sense of fullness, as opposed to just being a prop to create obstacles to overcome or a character who does bad things because they’re, you know, “bad.” The same holds true with the big bad’s allies.

The Age of Ash is a slow cooker of a novel, letting its ingredients simmer and stew so all the fullness of flavor gets released, a rich, savory concoction that lingers well after the first taste. Though it stands well on its own, so much so it could be a standalone, it’s clear with this first in a trilogy that Abraham on is way to giving us yet another must-read series.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

DNF @ 15%
This was just not going anywhere. I was bored out of my mind. I gave it as long as I could stand it.

I was DNF at 10%. The story was moving too slow and wasn't developing enough for me to want to continue reading further. I'm sure I'm in the minority when I say that I didn't enjoy The Expanse series, it was the writing style, it just didn't do it for me. I felt the same way here. I primarily read for entertainment rather than to be moved after working at a story to feel good about a book. That's the way this book felt starting out, it felt like work. Like most avid readers I have a TBR pile that only grows bigger so there isn't any time for a book to take more than a day or two to hook me. Good luck Age of Ash, I wish you well.