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A review by antonism
An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham
3.0
3.5 / 5
An Autumn War is the third part of the Long Price quartet by Daniel Abraham and it continues very much like the firs two books. If you loved the first two, you will like this one as well. If you didn't, well... this one won't change your opinion. To be honest, the rating/score for this one doesn't exactly reflect my opinion of it. You see, I'm of two minds about this one, not the least because this book has two different halves.
I found the first half of the book marginally bearable. I was bored out of my mind and I was forced to do something I almost never ever do... skim paragraphs! During the first half I almost quit on this book. It was all about interpersonal and personal problems. This level of magnification, detail and depth would be probably alright if we cared and loved a specific character, but do this for a bunch of them (too many) which the readers can hardly identify with and you get frustrated readers. Also, and I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way, this is not what I'm looking for when picking up a fantasy book. For me, the first half was a 2 out of 5 and that's purely for Abraham's incredible prose.
The second half is a different beast though; more magnificent, interesting and captivating. Things start happening, things that make most readers care and wonder. The pace picks up from the stagnancy it showed earlier and the plot cog-wheels move the whole story. In this part, as a reader I cared and kept wanting to turn pages and read one more chapter. It was not perfect, as Abraham's occasionally fell into his own-made traps of over-verbosity and character introspection as well as some weaker justifications for some actions, but on the whole it was a huge improvement in most respects. The ending was a bit incredulous but this is something I can excuse in fantasy novels. This part for me was a 4 out of 5.
So to conclude, readers who loved the first two books should continue with this one, especially if they care so much about the characters and the world and want to finish the 4-book series. As for those who didn't like the first book much or felt as if they got enough story closure at the end of the second book, well I suppose they won't miss a great deal by skipping this one. Recommended with reservations.
3.5 / 5
An Autumn War is the third part of the Long Price quartet by Daniel Abraham and it continues very much like the firs two books. If you loved the first two, you will like this one as well. If you didn't, well... this one won't change your opinion. To be honest, the rating/score for this one doesn't exactly reflect my opinion of it. You see, I'm of two minds about this one, not the least because this book has two different halves.
I found the first half of the book marginally bearable. I was bored out of my mind and I was forced to do something I almost never ever do... skim paragraphs! During the first half I almost quit on this book. It was all about interpersonal and personal problems. This level of magnification, detail and depth would be probably alright if we cared and loved a specific character, but do this for a bunch of them (too many) which the readers can hardly identify with and you get frustrated readers. Also, and I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way, this is not what I'm looking for when picking up a fantasy book. For me, the first half was a 2 out of 5 and that's purely for Abraham's incredible prose.
The second half is a different beast though; more magnificent, interesting and captivating. Things start happening, things that make most readers care and wonder. The pace picks up from the stagnancy it showed earlier and the plot cog-wheels move the whole story. In this part, as a reader I cared and kept wanting to turn pages and read one more chapter. It was not perfect, as Abraham's occasionally fell into his own-made traps of over-verbosity and character introspection as well as some weaker justifications for some actions, but on the whole it was a huge improvement in most respects. The ending was a bit incredulous but this is something I can excuse in fantasy novels. This part for me was a 4 out of 5.
So to conclude, readers who loved the first two books should continue with this one, especially if they care so much about the characters and the world and want to finish the 4-book series. As for those who didn't like the first book much or felt as if they got enough story closure at the end of the second book, well I suppose they won't miss a great deal by skipping this one. Recommended with reservations.
3.5 / 5