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h4wke's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Abraham proves he's a master of the craft; The Price of Spring is the conclusion authors should strive for.
The Long Price Quartet is one of the most unique works of fiction I've experienced. It avoids most tropes, taking its time to show the story of a man's life, his consequences laid bare against the tapestry of time.
Abraham uses only two main POVs for the bulk of this final entry, which was initially surprising — the last two books had quite a bit more. Fortunately they're the two focal points of the entire series, zooming in on these characters was ultimately a fantastic decision. The scale of the world was effectively built (mostly with An Autumn War), getting so close and introspective within that foundation was a wise choice. The core of the story has always really been the dynamic between these two characters.
The book is slow, to be sure, but it's incredibly purposeful with its pace. There are revelations that recontextualise character actions in the past; it's not so much the plot clicking together but motivations. This is the most character-focused series I've ever read, anyone that prioritises character over plot (a smaller pool than it should be, I expect) needs to give this a shot. The story is clearly planned out; the prologue of the very first book is just as relevant in chapter one in that entry as it is the ending of this one. The final chapters here are beautifully done, and I'm not afraid to admit I got especially emotional. In fact, I went for a drive an hour after putting the book down, thinking about it and it happened all over again.
Abraham has secured my interest in whatever he has done and plans to do in the future. I know that Dagger and the Coin is more traditional, but I'm excited to see the character work on display in more familiar grounds. I suppose this isn't my first experience with his writing, I've seen The Expanse and it is the best sci-fi show of recent years.
I'm very surprised this story isn't talked about more, is the first book really that off-putting for people? Judge the product as the whole, it's not that long. I couldn't recommend it more.
The Long Price Quartet is one of the most unique works of fiction I've experienced. It avoids most tropes, taking its time to show the story of a man's life, his consequences laid bare against the tapestry of time.
Abraham uses only two main POVs for the bulk of this final entry, which was initially surprising — the last two books had quite a bit more. Fortunately they're the two focal points of the entire series, zooming in on these characters was ultimately a fantastic decision. The scale of the world was effectively built (mostly with An Autumn War), getting so close and introspective within that foundation was a wise choice. The core of the story has always really been the dynamic between these two characters.
The book is slow, to be sure, but it's incredibly purposeful with its pace. There are revelations that recontextualise character actions in the past; it's not so much the plot clicking together but motivations. This is the most character-focused series I've ever read, anyone that prioritises character over plot (a smaller pool than it should be, I expect) needs to give this a shot. The story is clearly planned out; the prologue of the very first book is just as relevant in chapter one in that entry as it is the ending of this one. The final chapters here are beautifully done, and I'm not afraid to admit I got especially emotional. In fact, I went for a drive an hour after putting the book down, thinking about it and it happened all over again.
Abraham has secured my interest in whatever he has done and plans to do in the future. I know that Dagger and the Coin is more traditional, but I'm excited to see the character work on display in more familiar grounds. I suppose this isn't my first experience with his writing, I've seen The Expanse and it is the best sci-fi show of recent years.
I'm very surprised this story isn't talked about more, is the first book really that off-putting for people? Judge the product as the whole, it's not that long. I couldn't recommend it more.
venti's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
rounded up to a four from what i would usually give it bc of idaan and eiah. also maati bc he’s my problematic cuck king. i enjoyed the ending for what it was
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Xenophobia, and Death
Minor: Rape, Slavery, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexism, and Genocide
kalinnn1's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
laurentined's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
gmvader's review against another edition
5.0
I can imagine nothing more perfect as a work of fiction than this book. Daniel Abraham has created something that will forever alter my view of what can be achieved with the written word.
As always his prose is like a siren song. He can’t seem to place a wrong word on a page. If you pick up his books you will not set them down until you are forced to or you are finished.
Tolkien mentioned once that The Lord of Rings was the story of the ending of the world of Middle Earth. In that story Tolkien created a beautiful history, mythology and landscape and then he broke it. With the passing of the One Ring and the elves from Middle Earth a new era was being born.
Many authors are unwilling to do this, whether because they are too in love with their creations or because they plan to write sequels or for other reasons is open for debate. Daniel Abraham, however, breaks his world so profoundly that the pieces seem scattered so far they will never be put back together. And they never will. This is a story in the tradition of Tolkien – the ending of a world and the beginning of a new.
It is of interest that these books bear no other resemblance to Tolkien’s work. They are a wholly new kind of fantasy. In fact they don’t feel like fantasy because Abraham has extrapolated the effects of the magic and fantastical elements to their full extremes until the world feel real and non-fantastical.
The most amazing thing about this book is that it is a non-tragic tragedy. The ending is satisfying and real and painful and relieving and sad and happy all at once.
The characters are as real as they have been throughout the series. Fifteen years have passed since the previous book and the characters have aged. With age they have changed. Every character is good, but also flawed in their pride, or arrogance, or ignorance. There are no real antagonists and protagonists. Each character has good reasons for doing what they do.
I might not have noticed this if I hadn’t just read Robert Jordan’s A Crown of Swords but men and women interact without trying to control each other or belittle each other. This is surprisingly rare in fantasy fiction. Women all seem to think that men are stupid and incapable of taking care of themselves and men all think that women are socialist control freaks. (Having heard some people at work talk I am beginning to think that maybe I am alone in the opinion that this isn’t really the way men and women interact.) Daniel Abraham writes people who work together and communicate.
These people make decisions based on their several abilities and – this is where many authors fail – they are forced to suffer the full extent of the consequences of those decisions and it is frightening. Very few books keep me engaged to the extent that I think about them when I am not reading them. This one had my mind tied up for days until I finished it.
This series deals with some heavy subjects by way of discussion of the Andat. The Andat are thoughts made real, like Stone-Made-Soft, or Water-Falling-Down, or Seedless. They have tremendous power and are held by the poets who spend their lives training and learning to control an Andat. With such power the entire world could be destroyed or made beautiful with the simple thought of a single person. As one character remarks in the book (paraphrased), “With tools like these, how could we think to do good?” Absolute power in the hands of vindictive, imperfect, foolish human beings is a recipe for disaster.
In the end the theme of the books can be summed up with the words of Danat, the son of the Emperor Otah:
“We say that the flowers return every spring,… but that is a lie. It’s true that the world is renewed. It’s also true that the renewal comes at a price, for even if the flower grows from an ancient vine, the flowers of spring are themselves new to the world, untried and untested. The flower that wilted last year is gone. Petals once fallen are fallen forever. Flowers do not return in the spring, rather they are replaced. It is in this difference between returned and replaced that the price of renewal is paid. And as it is for the spring flowers, so it is for us.”
Daniel Abraham has forever altered my opinion of what fantasy can achieve. Stories that were once exciting are now dull in comparison, their prose maladroit and malformed. This has been the best ending for the best series that I have ever encountered. I find it impossible to imagine something ever being better.
As always his prose is like a siren song. He can’t seem to place a wrong word on a page. If you pick up his books you will not set them down until you are forced to or you are finished.
Tolkien mentioned once that The Lord of Rings was the story of the ending of the world of Middle Earth. In that story Tolkien created a beautiful history, mythology and landscape and then he broke it. With the passing of the One Ring and the elves from Middle Earth a new era was being born.
Many authors are unwilling to do this, whether because they are too in love with their creations or because they plan to write sequels or for other reasons is open for debate. Daniel Abraham, however, breaks his world so profoundly that the pieces seem scattered so far they will never be put back together. And they never will. This is a story in the tradition of Tolkien – the ending of a world and the beginning of a new.
It is of interest that these books bear no other resemblance to Tolkien’s work. They are a wholly new kind of fantasy. In fact they don’t feel like fantasy because Abraham has extrapolated the effects of the magic and fantastical elements to their full extremes until the world feel real and non-fantastical.
The most amazing thing about this book is that it is a non-tragic tragedy. The ending is satisfying and real and painful and relieving and sad and happy all at once.
The characters are as real as they have been throughout the series. Fifteen years have passed since the previous book and the characters have aged. With age they have changed. Every character is good, but also flawed in their pride, or arrogance, or ignorance. There are no real antagonists and protagonists. Each character has good reasons for doing what they do.
I might not have noticed this if I hadn’t just read Robert Jordan’s A Crown of Swords but men and women interact without trying to control each other or belittle each other. This is surprisingly rare in fantasy fiction. Women all seem to think that men are stupid and incapable of taking care of themselves and men all think that women are socialist control freaks. (Having heard some people at work talk I am beginning to think that maybe I am alone in the opinion that this isn’t really the way men and women interact.) Daniel Abraham writes people who work together and communicate.
These people make decisions based on their several abilities and – this is where many authors fail – they are forced to suffer the full extent of the consequences of those decisions and it is frightening. Very few books keep me engaged to the extent that I think about them when I am not reading them. This one had my mind tied up for days until I finished it.
This series deals with some heavy subjects by way of discussion of the Andat. The Andat are thoughts made real, like Stone-Made-Soft, or Water-Falling-Down, or Seedless. They have tremendous power and are held by the poets who spend their lives training and learning to control an Andat. With such power the entire world could be destroyed or made beautiful with the simple thought of a single person. As one character remarks in the book (paraphrased), “With tools like these, how could we think to do good?” Absolute power in the hands of vindictive, imperfect, foolish human beings is a recipe for disaster.
In the end the theme of the books can be summed up with the words of Danat, the son of the Emperor Otah:
“We say that the flowers return every spring,… but that is a lie. It’s true that the world is renewed. It’s also true that the renewal comes at a price, for even if the flower grows from an ancient vine, the flowers of spring are themselves new to the world, untried and untested. The flower that wilted last year is gone. Petals once fallen are fallen forever. Flowers do not return in the spring, rather they are replaced. It is in this difference between returned and replaced that the price of renewal is paid. And as it is for the spring flowers, so it is for us.”
Daniel Abraham has forever altered my opinion of what fantasy can achieve. Stories that were once exciting are now dull in comparison, their prose maladroit and malformed. This has been the best ending for the best series that I have ever encountered. I find it impossible to imagine something ever being better.
andrew_f's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Maybe and unpopular opinion, but the first book in The Long Price Quarter remains my favorite, but the entire series is well worth the read.
The conclusion is about the aftermath due to the failed binding of the andat, leaving the women of the Khaiem and the men of Galt unable to bear children. Otah and Maati, once close friends, are now trying to resolve the crisis in their own way. Both sides distrust each other and deep resentments remain. Despite this, Otah wants to bring the two nations together by having women from Galt marry the men of Khaeim. Otah's daughter, Eiah, who was also sterlized at the end of the third book, believes her father's aims are misguided and feels that he is abandoning the women of Khaeim. She seeks out Maati who is trying to form a new grammar for women poets in order to bind a new Andat that will reverse the damage caused by the previous failed binding.
This book is again very character focused, with the main two characters, Otah and Maati, struggling with their decisions and regrets all throughout their life. Each can pinpoint how their actions from childhood led to the current disaster. Yet each also realizes they did the best they could at the time. I found Maati's character a bit frustrating in this book. By the end of the series, I no longer enjoyed reading about this character and I think that detracted a bit from my enjoyment of this book.
The plot, while good, wasn't nearly as engaging as books 1 and 3, but I liked it a bit more than book 2. The writing and character work remain excellent and are the main selling points of this series. I think book one is my favorite because it was unlike any other fantasy book I had read, and I found the character work to be incredibly subtle and realistic. While that doesn't change throughout the series, for some reason I felt most attached to them in the first book.
Overall, a satisfying if unsurprising conclusion to the series. It's not the best ending I've read, but it worked for the series and it was an overall very enjoyable experience.
The conclusion is about the aftermath due to the failed binding of the andat, leaving the women of the Khaiem and the men of Galt unable to bear children. Otah and Maati, once close friends, are now trying to resolve the crisis in their own way. Both sides distrust each other and deep resentments remain. Despite this, Otah wants to bring the two nations together by having women from Galt marry the men of Khaeim. Otah's daughter, Eiah, who was also sterlized at the end of the third book, believes her father's aims are misguided and feels that he is abandoning the women of Khaeim. She seeks out Maati who is trying to form a new grammar for women poets in order to bind a new Andat that will reverse the damage caused by the previous failed binding.
This book is again very character focused, with the main two characters, Otah and Maati, struggling with their decisions and regrets all throughout their life. Each can pinpoint how their actions from childhood led to the current disaster. Yet each also realizes they did the best they could at the time. I found Maati's character a bit frustrating in this book. By the end of the series, I no longer enjoyed reading about this character and I think that detracted a bit from my enjoyment of this book.
The plot, while good, wasn't nearly as engaging as books 1 and 3, but I liked it a bit more than book 2. The writing and character work remain excellent and are the main selling points of this series. I think book one is my favorite because it was unlike any other fantasy book I had read, and I found the character work to be incredibly subtle and realistic. While that doesn't change throughout the series, for some reason I felt most attached to them in the first book.
Overall, a satisfying if unsurprising conclusion to the series. It's not the best ending I've read, but it worked for the series and it was an overall very enjoyable experience.
rashthedoctor's review against another edition
5.0
Here ends the Long Price quartet and despite somewhat lukewarm reviews on goodreads , I found the series thoroughly enjoying and this highly anticipated final book didn’t let me down one bit
What I liked :
I shall start with a quick line or two detailing the consistently delivered goods in this series, that were once again present in this book , i.e , the writing is crisp and every detail is made important which makes the reading experience vivid , the world is fantastically expanded upon but not so much as to bore or overwhelm the reader , the plot setting & magic system remains unique for any fantasy book series I have ever read and the pacing of the story remains apt till the end .
In this book , the characters are what truly impress me . As is now traditional in this series the book starts with another time-jump and ergo our lead characters Otah , former Khai and now Emperor , and Maati , former poet in training , former friend , now enemy and New Dai-kho are old and their characters have developed big time , with Otah becoming wiser but unnecessarily guilt ridden , and Maati becoming toxic and hateful .
Along with these two we see Danat and Eiah grown up and taking two different course in their lives and then there are plenty of new characters and for the first time ever a Proper villain. What I mean is , the previous books did provide antagonists but they were all very well explained and you could understand their motivations and in some cases even relate to them . This book’s villain is also worth sympathy, but the actions committed this time cross a clear boundary that makes the character become a proper Black character with no room left from any grey .
The book uses characters and tropes like most fantasy book right from the first book of the series but breaks these tropes and goes away from the usual course that's followed in most fantasies . Many details are foreshadowed big time to become extremely relevant later on in this book , like the system of hand gestures being used as accessories for communications which becomes extremely important when people start going blind in this series .
This book was strangely very emotional as well, especially the epilogue that really touched me and may have bought some tears in my eyes. For all the merits that this series has had , emotional element was always lacking so far and it was nice to see the author address that this time .
What I didn’t Like :
Unfortunately unlike the previous books this book didn’t work hard in world exploration or had any big battles that are worthy of a series finale and when you compare this book to it’s immediate predecessor that becomes a big deal. In fact , arguably the finale was way too simplistic and somewhat underwhelming . However the sense of underwhelm is not lasting as the epilogue delivers enough punch to leave the readers satisfied.
I can also understand that many readers have taken issues with how one character in particular has changed in status quo , if you had said character as your favorite from the first book in the series than this could very well be a turn off .
Conclusions
A well written and well thought out fantasy series , that truly felt unique in it’s premise and delivery . It’s strange to see the series not being received with enough adoration on Goodreads but if you can trust my taste , I will definitely urge you to give this series a try and if by the end of the 2nd book , you feel differently to my views , than I’d be truly sorry but as of now , I’m fully confidence in my endorsement of this series .
he_who_readeth's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
the_pale_woman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
5.0
Super satisfying. So much of this story comes off as intentional. I love to find that feat in fantasy. It's something I hunt for, and in this series, I found treasure. It's not perfect. It also has one of the worst covers I've ever seen. Specifically the audio version. No one should ever have to look at that cheap weekend cosplayer thumbnail when they open this book. It doesn't even have anything to do with the contents of the book. But I digress.
The series is not perfect. However, more importantly, it was ultimately satisfying. The writing, especially the dialog, improves with each book. The pacing while slow finds its rhythm by the second half. It's an enjoyable, unexpected, slow burn.
I would recommend this series to any fantasy reader. It gets my seal of approval.
The series is not perfect. However, more importantly, it was ultimately satisfying. The writing, especially the dialog, improves with each book. The pacing while slow finds its rhythm by the second half. It's an enjoyable, unexpected, slow burn.
I would recommend this series to any fantasy reader. It gets my seal of approval.
overlyaverageben's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0