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A review by wouterk
The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham
5.0
This series is a unique masterpiece and The Price of Spring is a worthy ending. There are only brilliant books in this series. Abraham somehow continuously switches perspectives between societal and political issues on the one hand and personal issues surrounding friendship, family and life in general on the other hand. He then masterfully blends them in the stories of Otah, Maati, their lovers, children and rivals, showing the tension. How the best choices of a ruler or poet can be the worst choice personally, or how a personal choice in such a position can highly influence the world. This creates the opportunity for us as readers to both experience incredible geo-political tension and existential dread, while at the same time we go through innumerable very intimate, very relatable personal situations and experiences.
Another thing that makes this series quite a different experience is that each book has a time jump and therefore touches upon different stages of life. We experience young love and hubris, settling in a role or relationship, having children, looking back on life and choices and of course, illness, death and loss. And every experience is so well crafted and the books are so internally consistent, that you really feel like living along these people.
The Andat as a magic system are also very uncommon. An Andat is simply a concept being controlled by the the thoughts of a poet. This means there is no battle. It is one moment and it is done. Stone-made-soft is ordered to make a whole city sink in the ground and it happens. Sterile thinks all Khaiate women cannot bear children, boom, it happened.
And this is where the current book starts after the failed binding of sterile. For 15 years no Khaiate women can bear children and no Galtic men can father them. And there is a moral choice that plays under this. On the one hand Otah accepts the situation and tries to unite the people to be able to bear a new generation, having the conviction that it is a good thing the Andat do not exist anymore. On the other hand there is Maati, Eiah, Otah's daughter, and several other women who are desperately trying to recover the knowledge to bind andat to reject the current situation and help Khaiem women to have chidren again. And although they do not necessarily celebrate andat on principle, they feel that Otah has turned his back on all the women that cannot bear children. Again, this is the tension between what is good for the world (no andat) and a group of suffering individuals (the men and women afflicted by sterile).
This provides a very interesting plot and background to the relationship dynamics between Otah and Maati and the other characters in this book. It is a wonderful and touching book, with blood-chilling tension. It evoked a lot of emotion in me and has a rewarding ending to the series.
I could gush for pages on pages about this series, but I'd rather have you read it. ;)
Another thing that makes this series quite a different experience is that each book has a time jump and therefore touches upon different stages of life. We experience young love and hubris, settling in a role or relationship, having children, looking back on life and choices and of course, illness, death and loss. And every experience is so well crafted and the books are so internally consistent, that you really feel like living along these people.
The Andat as a magic system are also very uncommon. An Andat is simply a concept being controlled by the the thoughts of a poet. This means there is no battle. It is one moment and it is done. Stone-made-soft is ordered to make a whole city sink in the ground and it happens. Sterile thinks all Khaiate women cannot bear children, boom, it happened.
And this is where the current book starts after the failed binding of sterile. For 15 years no Khaiate women can bear children and no Galtic men can father them. And there is a moral choice that plays under this. On the one hand Otah accepts the situation and tries to unite the people to be able to bear a new generation, having the conviction that it is a good thing the Andat do not exist anymore. On the other hand there is Maati, Eiah, Otah's daughter, and several other women who are desperately trying to recover the knowledge to bind andat to reject the current situation and help Khaiem women to have chidren again. And although they do not necessarily celebrate andat on principle, they feel that Otah has turned his back on all the women that cannot bear children. Again, this is the tension between what is good for the world (no andat) and a group of suffering individuals (the men and women afflicted by sterile).
This provides a very interesting plot and background to the relationship dynamics between Otah and Maati and the other characters in this book. It is a wonderful and touching book, with blood-chilling tension. It evoked a lot of emotion in me and has a rewarding ending to the series.
I could gush for pages on pages about this series, but I'd rather have you read it. ;)