This review refers to the whole Long Price Quartet series, by Daniel Abraham (A Shadow in Summer; A Betrayal in Winter; An Autumn War; The Price of Spring).

I had not read any epic fantasy by this author before, and I am very favorably impressed. They are really well-written. The world building and character development is impressive and the whole series is crafted very carefully, so that each book tells a complete story but each of them builds on the previous ones to tell an epic story that encompasses the whole lifetime of the main characters and the fall and renewal of great nations.

I found the magic system quite original. Magicians, although they are actually called poets, perform complex rituals to summon and bind andats, which are the personification of concepts and ideas. For example, a poet who successfully bound the andat Water-Moving-Down could gain control over the flow of rivers, and over rain. The problem is that being bound goes against the andats' nature. They hate being bound and apply all their effort and talent to fight the poet and get free. Also, each time an andat is bound it becomes much more difficult to bind it again, so by the time the story starts, the poets of the Khaiem find it extremely difficult to replace a lost andat.

On the negative side, sometimes the writer seems to force events and the motivation and power of the andat to get the story to where he wants it to be. It's a minor flaw in a wonderful work, though.

The story is complex and bittersweet, without dark lords and without the characters being divided into good and bad sides. Not all readers will enjoy it, since some will find them slow and lacking in action, but those who appreciate the thoughtful style and the character and plot development are in for a wonderful journey. To give you an idea, if you like Robin Hobb's or Guy Gavriel Kay's style you will probably like this.

For more information, you should read what Jo Walton says about them:

http://www.tor.com/2011/04/19/fantasy-for-grown-ups-daniel-abrahams-long-price-q... ( )

odio l'editoria, quella italiana la odio da morire, non capisco come possa esserci ancora qualcuno in grado di lavorare alla Mondadori o alla Fanucci (due a caso tra le altre) con tutta la dissenteria che auguro loro ogni volta che vedo ristampe fighe di vecchi libri e per contro il vuoto cosmico nella continuazione delle saghe!

Un intrigo politico/economico che tocca, e cambia, ogni personaggio, un ambientazione semplice e sofisticata e un sistema magico innovativo e.. poetico

dall'autore di Expanse un libro scritto benissimo di cui non leggerò il seguito perchè alla Fanucci sono tutti in bagno ( )

Loved the Asian fantasy setting, the interesting magic system involving the binding of concepts into physical form, and how the overarching plot was driven by economic factors, and yet pivotal moments were driven by the characters and their personal flaws. Loved the etiquette, the manner of speaking with "poses", and the intrigue. The opening scenes were especially good and immediately grabbed me. The ending felt weaker and a little anticlimactic to me, but overall I really enjoyed it.
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When writing, one of the best ways to get ideas is to look at what's not being done in your genre. I suspect that's how Daniel Abraham created a setting that isn't copied from Medieval Europe, female characters who aren't all twenty-year-old supermodels, and a magic system that isn't just wizards throwing fireballs at everything.

Speaking of unique ideas, the fantastic elements are especially inspired in this novel. Poet-sorcerers gain power by finding new ways to describe concepts, but past generations squandered the potential of language without realizing how valuable originality would eventually become. (Kind of like domain names. That probably wasn't the best simile. Did I mention that sorcerer-poets die if they use inept metaphors?) While there's very little onscreen magic or fighting, mostly just intrigue and character drama, the plot is still quite suspenseful.

If andats actually existed, the author of this novel would control one called Original-But-Deep-And-Metaphorical-Magic-System-And-Also-The-Setting, or something like that. ( )

Interesting world, nice characters. Quite good, but I thought the ending was a bit bland. ( )