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A Shadow in Summer - Daniel Abraham

June 1, 2019.

In!

I've made plans to read this so many times and I have the ebook now, so I guess this is my chance!

Oh nice. I just bought the omnibus of this series. That means I'm in :)

Narilka wrote: "Oh nice. I just bought the omnibus of this series. That means I'm in :)"

Awesome! :)

Interested

I’ll be late. Probably won’t start until week 2, sometime after June 10. Sorry.

I'll be starting whenever I wrap up my current read. Either tomorrow or Monday is my guess.

I started yesterday. I'm 8 chapters in and so far I'm liking it. It's still a bit slow-moving, though.

(view spoiler)[I think the idea of the poets and the andat is pretty cool. So far I'd say Seedless is actually the most intriguing character!
I also like that an elder main character is included. Sometimes it seems like every character is a teenager, even in adult fantasy.

I'm dreading a love-triangle, though... (hide spoiler)]

I really want to read this, but I need to finish my current ebook first so not sure if I'll have to put this off yet again.

Ahhh come on Jenna!! Barry is starting late, maybe you can finish your current book by then? xD

I made a start, read the prologue and chapter 1. So far I'm not really sure what's going on or who anyone is... But I will keep going until I figure it out!
In my limited experience (about 13% through), I agree it's slow moving, Bea.

Starting tonight :D I didn't read the book blurb so going into this blind based on my enjoyment of The Dagger and the Coin.

Narilka wrote: "Starting tonight :D I didn't read the book blurb so going into this blind based on my enjoyment of The Dagger and the Coin."

That's cool! I love going in blind to a book. :) I haven't read the blurb either, reading purely off recommendations. I haven't read the Dagger and Coin yet but hope to later this year.

Finished. I have to say I enjoyed the middle part the most and found the ending a bit underwhelming.
Overall it was ok. I have been looking at some reviews of the rest of the series and apparently it gets better, so I'm going to continue.


(view spoiler)[Wasn't a fan of how quickly Liat turned to Maati...
It's a bit of a bummer that Seedless is gone, he was my favorite part of the book.
Also, Heshai didn't deserve to die like that.
Somehow I feel like there were not enough repercussions of Heshai's death (or maybe that will be explored in the next book?) I mean, the most important person in the city is dead and then Amat is just like 'yeah, apparently Maj killed him, but whatever' (hide spoiler)]

@Bea do the various suffixes get explained? I tried flipping through for a glossy and didn’t see one in my book.

Yeah I’ve heard that this is a damn slow and confusing book. But, the suffering is worth it by the end. I too have no idea what this is all about, just that a lot of people think highly of the series.

Finally through CH 1! My reading time this week hasn't been as much as I'd like.

General question, doesn't matter how far you are in the book and not really spoiler. How are you all imagining all the "poses"? Originally my imagination kept going to martial arts forms but figured that would be ridiculous considering how often they use/change poses. Maybe it's more like a type of sign language and hands/arms only? What do you all think?

Siobhan wrote: "Ahhh come on Jenna!! Barry is starting late, maybe you can finish your current book by then? xD"

Hopefully :) I've just hit the 60% mark in my current book. On the other hand, I've been reading it since January. :S

Finished my other book and started this one! I'm only a few days late so I'm pretty excited I'll be able to follow along with the BR.

One of my top 5 series. A lot of people might not like it because it is slow but it's so nuanced with the body language, poets, andats.......

What Scott said! I feel the same way about it. :)

Siobhan wrote: "I made a start, read the prologue and chapter 1. So far I'm not really sure what's going on or who anyone is... But I will keep going until I figure it out!
In my limited experience (about 13% thro..."

Finished the prologue and I agree - I have no idea what is going on yet.

I'm in ch 4 and things are starting to become clearer. (view spoiler)[Interesting idea behind the andats. They seem to be spirits or something similar that are bound into human form to perform a specific task. Their binding and what they can do is given shape by the poet who captures them - which I hope means there is actual poetry somewhere. Hopefully this is described more as we go.

I still wish the various suffixes meanings were listed somewhere. It seems to be their titles but I haven't worked out what they mean yet. (hide spoiler)]

Jenna wrote: "Finished my other book and started this one! I'm only a few days late so I'm pretty excited I'll be able to follow along with the BR."

Wow! I didn't even see your previous message and now you're finished! XD

Narilka wrote: "@Bea do the various suffixes get explained? I tried flipping through for a glossy and didn’t see one in my book."

I think it explained at the start of the prologue that -kvo means teacher. Not sure on any others.

Narilka wrote: "Finally through CH 1! My reading time this week hasn't been as much as I'd like.

General question, doesn't matter how far you are in the book and not really spoiler. How are you all imagining all ..."

My mind pictured martial arts style poses straight away too, but I'm guessing they must be very finely nuanced. And just hands/arms makes sense. Maybe even the way you tilt your head?

Siobhan wrote: "Narilka wrote: "@Bea do the various suffixes get explained? I tried flipping through for a glossy and didn’t see one in my book."

I think it explained at the start of the prologue that -kvo means ..."

Ahh, thanks. I missed that.

Siobhan wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Finally through CH 1! My reading time this week hasn't been as much as I'd like.

General question, doesn't matter how far you are in the book and not really spoiler. How are you al..."

Yeah, the more I read the more I think just hands/arms makes more sense. A full body pose would be hard for someone like Amat with her hip and yet she's able to easily convey poses. It's an interestingly nuanced non-verbal language. I have not read anything like it which is refreshing.

Ch 9 (view spoiler)[Woah. Somehow I had convinced myself that they wouldn't go through with the "sad trade" but, wow. And so begins the fall of a city/nation. (hide spoiler)]

Finally back from vacation. Will be starting this tomorrow.

Barry wrote: "Finally back from vacation. Will be starting this tomorrow."

Hope you had a great vacation! :)

Through Ch 15 (view spoiler)[Ugh, a love triangle is set up. I guess we'll see how Otah handles it when he gets back.

The impact of the whole sad trade business is... interesting. Only time will tell if Amat's plan will work. I do like how she got revenge on her abuser. I have mixed feelings about her perpetuating the misery in others to fund her endeavors.

I'm still intrigued by the poet/andat relationship. I guess the poets are more like sorcerers. (hide spoiler)]

Narilka wrote: "Ch 9 [spoilers removed]"

It's very dark isn't it! (view spoiler)[I didn't think it would actually happen either. I mean who writes a book about forcing an unwitting woman to have an abortion?! Grimdark as it gets surely...!
I have no idea what's going to happen next or where its going, but I'm sure it'll be interesting. (hide spoiler)]

Siobhan wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Ch 9 [spoilers removed]"

It's very dark isn't it! ..."

It is a dark concept for sure but at least the book isn't grimdark overall. At least not through Ch 15 :)

You al throw around Grimdark like it's a bad thing. :P

That part was very dark. Had my heart racing not knowing if he would go through with it.

Scott wrote: "You al throw around Grimdark like it's a bad thing. :P

That part was very dark. Had my heart racing not knowing if he would go through with it."

I love Grimdark!! :)

I know what you mean Scott. I was very on edge too.

Scott wrote: "You al throw around Grimdark like it's a bad thing. :P

That part was very dark. Had my heart racing not knowing if he would go through with it."

hehe :)

I finished. Very interesting! A lot of great concepts. I'm intrigued enough I want to find out what happens next.


Initial thoughts, though I'm still digesting the story. (view spoiler)[I had a feeling they were going to murder the poet. It's too bad, Seedless was fascinating. I hope there's another andat character in the future.

No idea where the story will go next. Will we follow all the characters? Or is it Otah's story? Hard to say who the main character was. It seems we still have open threads for Otah, Lait/Maati and Amat at a minimum. (hide spoiler)]

Siobhan wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Ch 9 [spoilers removed]"

."

Overall I wouldn't say it's that dark, but that one thing surely is! Imo there are a few things a sane person should naturally find abominable and that is one of them.

Bea wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Ch 9 [spoilers removed]"

."

Overall I wouldn't say it's that dark, but that one thing surely is! Imo there are a few things a sane person should naturally find abo..."

Totally agree, Bea.

End of Ch 3

Re : pose
Based on some of the places on the map, I feel like the author might be influenced with Thailand? So, I figure the poses to have some Buddhist elements. The similar poses/gestures I could think of is the Balinese gestures / dances. Different hand gestures/poses have different meaning.

In terms of the plot, still setting up the various plots and characters. I just wanna say I’m surprised that (view spoiler)[the Andat is in human form. And that Othah eventually decided to leave the school. (hide spoiler)]

End of Ch 6

Itani (view spoiler)[didn’t expect that he’s Otah-kvo. (hide spoiler)]

I guess the brewing conflict is (view spoiler)[somehow by removing the andat, the Galt could conquer the Khaiem militarily? But is there only 1 andat for the entire region? (hide spoiler)]

Finished! I really enjoyed it. :)

(view spoiler)[I'm pretty sad Seedless died - he was the most intriuging character to me. I can't say I didn't see it coming, but the way it happened was not how I thought it would go down.

I'm really interested to see where the story goes next, particularly where Otah goes and what he does. (hide spoiler)]

Barry wrote: "End of Ch 6

Itani [spoilers removed]"

I didn't expect that about Itani either.

Jenna wrote: "Finished! I really enjoyed it. :)..."

I want more Amat :D

Barry wrote: "End of Ch 6

Itani [spoilers removed]

I guess the brewing conflict is [spoilers removed]"

I didn't see that coming either! Nice touch.

End of Ch 14

Wilsin
(view spoiler)[I don’t think Wilsin and the Galts really thought their plan through. I mean, ok, they could induce such a strong feeling of guilt and shame that Heshai-Kvo could kill himself. But, he’s a poet, whom, I believe, should have some inner strength, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to become a poet. Of course, now that Heshai seemed to have regain his strength, I expect more tricks from Seedless.

Furthermore, I don’t think they’ve thought of what happened if they failed. Wilsin was just scrambling to try to prevent Amat. Though, I agree with Wilsin that Amat exposing the secret agreement would probably cause untold amount of grief to lots of innocent people.
(hide spoiler)]

Liat
(view spoiler)[Frankly, I disliked her since she got the assignment to be the leading negotiator for the Sad Trade. Her inadvertent remark that Itani was just a laborer stunk. And now, she’s basically cheating on him with Maati, of all people. Why Maati?

I expect this will cause unforgivable friction when Itani gets back... (hide spoiler)]

Ok finished.

The ending was somewhat ... unexpected and slightly disappointing, after building up an intriguing court politics and very original magic system and cultures.

Itani
(view spoiler)[
1. I don't quite fully understand Itani's/Otah's motivation to present Heshai-kvo as the only guilty party that must be killed to Maj. I believe both Itani and Maj were fully aware of the scheme concocted by House Wilsin? I get that Heshai was the one who performed the abortion. However, he performed the Sad Trade under a false pretense, seemingly. So, it didn't really make sense to point to Heshai as the only culprit that was deserving of any punishment. Killing Marchat Wilsin would've been a more understandable alternative for Maj.

Unless, the whole thing was concocted by Heshai-kvo. But, if that's the case, what's his motivation? That he hated his life and how he basically enslaved his andat? Was that a strong enough reason to seek an assisted suicide?

Maj's acceptance of killing Heshai was also baffling. Perhaps, she thought he's the only revenge that she could ever got, considering the circumstances, but I'd thought she would have demanded at least Wilsin.

So, yeah, basically the ending didn't 100% make sense to me. I hope more explanation will be forthcoming in the next book(s). (hide spoiler)]

Maati
(view spoiler)[I also dislike what Maati ended up doing (or giving up doing). It was too easy for him to just give up trying to re-bind Seedless after very little pleading from Liat.

And what a turn of events for Liat. From a sweet girl to this selfish and self-centered woman. Ugh! (hide spoiler)]

Barry wrote: "End of Ch 14

Wilsin "

I feel like you have a really good grasp on this world of Poets and Andats and I'm just really not there yet haha.

RE Liat: (view spoiler)[I totally agree. Disliked her from the start when she was belittle Itani as "just a labourer" and insisting that he will do something better with his life. I didn't understand why he sat and listened to her! Really dislike her cheating as soon as he left... What a bitch. Changed my opinion of Maati too, thought he'd be a better friend. (hide spoiler)]

Barry wrote: "Ok finished.

The ending was somewhat ... unexpected and slightly disappointing, after building up an intriguing court politics and very original magic system and cultures.

Itani

1. I don't quit..."

Completely agree with everything you said, Barry.

(view spoiler)[Hadn't Heshai already suffered enough? I really felt sorry for him, not just because he died but also because he seemed to have had a pretty shitty life. In the end he didn't seem like such a bad person.
Also, Wilsin was the one who orchestrated everything, so he should have been the one who gets killed in the end. (hide spoiler)]

Siobhan wrote: "Barry wrote: "End of Ch 14

Wilsin "

I feel like you have a really good grasp on this world of Poets and Andats and I'm just really not there yet haha.

RE Liat: [spoilers removed]"
Well, there are still some things that I don't quite understand about the Poets and Andats, for example(view spoiler)[

1. Is there only 1 andat for the entire Kingdom? Or Is there 1 andat for each Khaiem?
2. How many Khaiem are there?
3. Why can't they just create more andats? They have people with the ability. They have the school to teach people with the skills.
4. How did each poet pick an andat to create? They say the andat is thoughts personified, so which thoughts should you choose when you're supposed to create an andat?
5. Why did Heshai create Seedless?
6. Can you control an andat using less coercive ways? For example using only compassion so that the andat doesn't consider itself as a slave?
(hide spoiler)]

Lots of interesting paths that the author could choose for the future books. I really hope we get more explanations on the origins of the andat and the poets.