Age of Ash: The Sunday Times bestseller - The Kithamar Trilogy Book 1

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Despite being a relatively short book (for the epic fantasy genre) the pacing in Age of Ash is measured. I wouldn’t call it slow by any means, but fans of Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet will feel right at home here. In his solo works Abraham doesn’t tend to be a flashy or action-forward author; rather, he likes to gently let the characters simply dwell in the world he crafts, contemplating their choices and managing the consequences of their own actions. What results is a book where big and dramatic things happen, but Abraham isn’t necessarily concerned about the events themselves, but how the characters respond to those events. At times this can make Abraham seem like a distant narrator who is telling the story from afar, but it also means that we are diving into how these characters work, but motivates them, and what personal and structural circumstances enhance and/or diminish their agency. Don’t enter into Age of Ash because you want the next big fantasy story, go into it because you want a quieter examination of so many things that make us human. Well, it is true. Age of Ash is a slowly unveiling mystery. There are no fireworks in terms of plot, the magic is only very subtle, and the pace, as you can surmise, is very sedate. In fact, it unfurls as naturally as the seasons of the year. You know how winter follows autumn or how imperceptibly spring matures into summer? Sometimes it is impossible to pin down when one ends, and another begins because the grand change is merely an effect of small things that add up. And this story is about small things adding This outstanding series debut [. . .] instantly hooks readers with dual mysteries [. . .] Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel' Publishers Weekly Daniel Abraham builds this world up with all the confident craftsmanship you'd expect from an author of his pedigree . . . So hang on to your cloak and dagger, Kithamar is in the hands of a pro. Conifers commonly show a regular pattern of growth, producing a whorl of branches each year. So if you follow the main trunk up, you can see a whorl of branches all radiating out from the trunk at the same level, followed by a clear section, then another whorl and so on.

How awful, you want to exclaim. The reader literally knows the ending of the plot before s/he knows that the plot exists! What is worse, after reading the book, one still doesn’t know what would happen had a party other than the one won won. Well, yes and no. We see the glimpses, but the mystery is still there. What we got was as much an introduction as it was a teaser. I will probably regret reading it now instead of waiting for the whole series to binge at will, but there are a few writers who are irresistible, and Daniel Abraham is one of them. We also get the POVs of some of the "bad guys" which I honestly really enjoyed and thought added an extra layer of dimension to the story.Age of Ash is a stunningly written, character driven story, centred on thieves, grief and dark magic. Abraham certainly knows how to enchant his readers and transport them to the city of Kithamar, a place of beauty and of forbidding secrets’ Fantasy Hive

Another thing I love is the deep character immersion that only happens when an author isn’t self-conscious about taking his time to really immerse you with his characters. I thrive on that kind of connection and found myself despairing, angry, and a whole myriad of other emotions right alongside them. I talked to the book a couple times, which for me is a sign of true investment. And the cool thing is he probably hasn’t even scratched the surface on what’s planned for this series (with upcoming perspectives for characters we saw only on the periphery here), and that’s incredibly exciting. It took me a while to get into Age of Ash (and a while longer to finish it, but for once that was entirely scheduling and nothing to do with the book!). The plot is a rather slow burn, and Abraham’s writing style is heavy on description. As a result, I was well over a fifth of the way into the book before I started seeing the bigger picture—but what a picture it is. Alys is not the smartest cookie in the jar. She has wit, but it’s based on honed survival skills, not on intelligence (and definitely not on the emotional one!). My favourite was Sammish. What a wonderful character in how she was introduced and how she developed throughout the story. A respite from Alys on her way to being devoured by her obsession. (It was very difficult for me to read, and I have had my share of grief in my life). While Alys’ fixation on her loss is suffocating and consuming her, closes her to everything outside, Sammish works through the thing(s) she does not have and never will, and somehow it makes how more, not less. It was fascinating to follow her. It was also humbling. Broadleaved trees such as oak, ash, beech and sycamore put on about 1.5–2cm in circumference or girth per year. In open conditions, such as parkland, the growth rate will be nearer 2.5cm annually. So by measuring the trunk circumference and dividing by 1.5, 2, or 2.5 you can get a good idea of age. This method is known as ‘Mitchell’s Rule’, named after the late world-famous UK tree expert, Alan Mitchell.

Daniel Abraham’s books have been on my tbr! I have heard great things about The Expanse, The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin series, but for some reason, I have never gotten around to reading any of Abraham’s books. I was very excited when OrbitBooks sent a review copy of Age of Ash! This finally gave me an excuse to read some of Abraham’s work. So what did I think? Survival (PvP): It's every dragoneer for themselves! Pit against other players in a ferocious and unforgiving free-for-all clash. Abraham’s latest book, Age of Ash, marks his return to writing epic fantasy novels on his own after his long and successful stint coauthoring The Expanse. It’s the first book in a new series called The Kithamar Trilogy, which explores fantasy in a way we’ve never quite seen before. We’re going to tell you a bit about that, as well as why we loved this book so much below. Radioactive carbon-14 decays to stable nitrogen-14 by releasing a beta particle. The nitrogen atoms are lost to the atmosphere, but the amount of carbon-14 decay can be estimated by measuring the proportion of radioactive carbon-14 to stable carbon-12. As a substance ages, the relative amount of carbon-14 decreases.

Who gives a shit? Who promised you fair? I didn't. Fair is good people get treated good, and bad people get the bad. That sound like anyplace you know? I've never been there." If an element decays by losing an alpha particle, it will lose 2 protons and 2 neutrons. If an atom decays by losing a beta particle, it loses just one electron.In the UK, trees don’t grow all year round but follow the cycle of the seasons. Tree growth occurs in the spring and summer, slows during the autumn and trees become dormant in winter. What I enjoyed the most were the characters. We have a very diverse set of them ranging from petty thieves, witches from another country, slavers, and members of the (cultish) royal family. They all scheme, and it is all personal: we see grief over losing a loved one shapes one's path; we see someone's idealizing her (unrequited) love interest and grieving with the letting go when that person changes; we see someone losing themselves in a scheme for who is close to their hearts; and we see someone's actions being shaped by their past and her slow realization that she was a pawn, but can no longer be with the right group of friends. Above everything and everyone, I loved Darro and Sammish. Sammish was just very dear to me, I loved witnessing her development from a literal shadow to what she becomes. It's been a long time since I rooted for a character as bad as I have for her. Alys is just another nobody from Longhill, a gutter rat relying on ‘pulls’ to survive. Each theft wins her little more than enough to keep a roof over her head and food in her belly, the spoils shared between disparate players, together only for the sake of the job. Her big brother Darro, on the other hand, is running far bigger plays. The high-stakes kind that might help him escape this low-born world. That kind that brings in gold. That gets him killed. Losing the only family she cares about puts Alys on a path of revenge. Desperate to find out who killed him and why, she finds herself playing a very dangerous game with people who know far more about the city than she does. As she starts to lose herself to the chase, Alys must decide how far she’s willing to go to avenge her dead brother, especially when she’s not the only one who’ll be paying the price for her success… Abraham's prose is beautiful and the early chapters where he is building the city for the reader were a joy to read Let's start with the good. Kithamar gave me exactly what I wanted. I love fantasy books that are more confined, instead of a gigantic fantasy world, so this one was right of my alley.. And I enjoyed exploring every part of it, but I also felt like we didn't really explore all of it.