Grieving the loss of someone you love breaks you. You lose your loved one entirely, and you lose a bit of yourself. There are so, so many warring emotions that you’re almost paralyzed. But this is nothing new. What people don’t talk about is that you have to learn how to live again. You have to learn how to go through life with this absence looming large. It’s a cliché to say that grief puts things in perspective. For me, grieving my parents didn’t give me a new found understanding of myself. It drained me of all energy, and I changed. Some things from my old life still mattered; some things didn’t. That’s not perspective; it’s just change. I spent years afterwards learning how to separate what really changed from what was just lack of motivation due to depression. I had to learn how to be a new me, and, as with any learning, I made mistakes along the way. I felt like a new person in many ways. In Daniel Abraham’s Age of Ash, Alys, the main character, grieves the loss of her brother. Part of her process is attempting to become her brother. Or, at least, what she thought he was. Abraham, better known for being half of the author James S.A. Corey, delivers a meditation on grieving. If you expect this to be The Expanse dressed up in fantasy scenery, you’ll be disappointed. This is a brand new world written very much in the style of Abraham’s other solo work.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
Daniel Abraham’s luxurious Age of Ash starts an ambitious new project focusing on a year in the life of Kithamar. Each book will have a different perspective. Age of Ash is Alys’s book. Do yourself a favor and come meet this wily gal. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
From New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author Daniel Abraham, co-author of The Expanse, comes a monumental epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city, over the course of one tumultuous year, where every story matters, and the fate of the city is woven from them all.
“An atmospheric and fascinating tapestry, woven with skill and patience.” –Joe Abercrombie, New York Times bestselling author of A Little Hatred
Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold.
This is Alys’s.
When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives.
Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything.
Review: Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham
Kithamar is a city in transition. The ruler of the city, Prince Ausai a Sal, has died, and without an heir, his nephew assumes control. But this is of little matter to the people in the poorer neighborhood of Longhill. Kithamar, like any big city, segregates its haves and have-nots. The people there live day-to-day, job-to-job. Alys works as part of a pick pocket gang. Her job is to be the distraction so that someone else can cut the purse. During a particularly daring (some would say, stupid) job, the gang steals from the Kithamar equivalent of a cop. Unfortunately for Alys, her curiosity caused to her look back upon the gang’s handiwork. Instead of being turned into a pillar of salt, Alys’s punishment for looking was that the cop spotted her, gave chase, and would harm, if not kill, her. Alys’s brother, Darro, and the other residents of Longhill come to her rescue. But she needs to lay low for a while; so, Darro pays for Alys to hide out under the protection of the neighborhood crime boss. While in hiding, Darro is murdered. As Alys finds outs, grief, understandably, overwhelms her. She vows to find the killer, and to do so, she seeks help from her pick pocket gang. The leader has disappeared; the walk away, Sammish, agrees to help Alys find the killer. The pair seek out the murderer. Their path embroils them in city and supernatural politics in ways that they’re not prepared to handle. Both are forced to grow up and confront the people they’re becoming. Kithamar is embroiled in a struggle that neither are equipped to understand. Can they survive it?
Age of Ash is a third person novel that mainly follows two point of view characters: Alys and Sammish. Other character get one or two point of view chapters, but the main focus is on these two girls navigating their way through the struggles of daily life in Kithamar while embroiled in supernatural politics. The prose is luxurious and invites you to take your time, to indulge in the narrative. Magic is sparse but present in the story. This book is the first of three that take place in the same year but are told by different characters. Some of the events will have to be shared among all three novels, and I look forward to seeing how each tale shifts perspective on the events.
Style
Age of Ash reminded me of A Shadow in Summer, the first book in Abraham’s Long Price Quartet. If you liked that book like I did, you’ll enjoy Age of Ash. Abraham improved upon the elements that I liked and disliked from A Shadow in Summer. Both books are set in rich scenery with a sedate pacing. Age of Ash moves a bit faster than Shadow, though.
Age of Ash begins in the poorer section of Kithamar where daily survival is a struggle. People are doing what they can to make enough to afford rent and food. But their lives are fuller than just the hustle to make ends meet. They have friends and good times. They come together to help those mourning. Abraham knows how to write these people, and I loved walking through Longhill with Alys and Sammish. We see how a community on the constant brink of destitution works and lives. Abraham paints this community with an exacting yet sympathetic brush.
Personally, I like Abraham’s indulgent style. But I can see for some how this book might be too slow. The plot, finding the murderer of Alys’s brother, takes a back seat for most of the book. When Alys solves it, it had no impact. Because the real story is Alys’s journey through grief. I enjoyed this change of pace, but if strong plotting is important to you, this might not be your type of book.
Alys and Sammish
The whole book rests on Alys and Sammish. Do we like them? Can we stand to be around them for four hundred or so pages? Are they sympathetic? The answer to all of these question is yes. Even as Alys makes another decision that takes her further away from her old life, you feel for her. As Sammish’s heart hardens, you ache for her lost innocence. Alys gets swept up in adventure because that’s what she thinks her brother did. Sammish sees clearly that the rich and the powerful just use the poor to accomplish their dirty work, and that the people of Longhill might as well not exist as far as the rich and the powerful are concerned.
While the blurb says Age of Ash is Alys’s story, I think it’s Sammish’s, really. Alys is compelling, and the story of her losing herself in her grief is wonderful. But. But I think that Sammish’s tale of trying and failing to protect her friend is a bit more moving. Both of their hearts are broken, Alys’s by the loss of a sibling and Sammish’s by seeing her love more clearly. I loved both their endings, but Sammish’s stayed with me more. I found myself coming back to it after I closed the book. She made the right decision; didn’t she? I still don’t know. I would love to have a book of what she does with her life, post-Age of Ash.
In Praise of Taking Our Time
Conclusion
Daniel Abraham’s Age of Ash explores grief while introducing readers to a fascinating new fantasy locale. Abraham has written wonderful characters that will stick with you long after the story ends. Do yourself a favor and pick up Age of Ash for a change of pace.
Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham is available from Orbit Books on February 15th, 2022.
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