An autumn war (edition 2008)

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As with the previous two books in the series, this was a very enjoyable and fresh take on fantasy. As the series develops the depth of it becomes even greater and the twist at the end of the tale in this third of four parts made the entirety elevated beyond much of what else exists in the world of fantasy.

Daniel Abraham is a skilled craftsman. His use of the action of 'Posing' to add to verbal communication gives us another worldly feel, as well as sometimes the language that cuts out an essential verb, forcing the reader to use our minds to fill in the missing word.

We find additional details that make us think that some human emotions are lacking in the people that populate the tale, but they are all living within their motivations. There is evil but you see it more as a world that has generations of mistrust and animosity such as plagues the Middle East where it is something so ingrained that rising above will take extraordinary people. People that may never exist.

It is my understanding that it is hard now to find the fourth book alone, or expensive, but after such good storytelling for the first three books, I must pursue this fourth book. ( )

...that feeler explodes. Um, not a spoiler to say it's a big ol' war (see book title).

This book begins maybe another 10 years later. A rival nation, maybe based on England with its pale skinned people and steam engines, and a general determined to remove andats by wiping out the poets and their libraries. With a ploy that's a little too convenient for my taste, the general blitzkriegs the Summer Cities. War is hell, the locals attempt guerilla warfare, and a finally a love triangle I dig - more because it's barely there, viewed through screens, not in-your-face. The general ends up at the northernmost city from the previous book where the last remaining poets attempt to harness an andat. Oh man, another wow! scene where the result devastates both nations and that part about half-breeds, excellent.

I remember the word bacon appeared on page 138. Sinja and his line near the end, yay!

Amazing set-up for the last book. ( )

There is something about these books that causes me to get stuck about halfway through, leave it be for a few days, and then pick it up and drive straight on to the end. I’m not sure if it’s a lull in the action or what, but this is the third time it’s happened. I am so glad I did pick it back up, though, because this book is easily the best in the series so far.

And a warning: we have reached the point where it is inevitable, there will be SPOILERS for the earlier books in the rest of this review.

Some fifteen years have passed since the events of A Betrayal in Winter. Otah is now Khai Machi, responsible for an entire city. He has, scandalously, only one wife, and his only son Danat is sickly. His daughter Eiah, being a teenager, is starting to act out, despite the careful guidance of her beloved Uncle Maati. Into this relatively blissful domestic scene comes Liat, the former lover of both Maati and Otah, with her grown son, who had been raised by Maati when he was small but who is now so visibly Otah’s son that his presence is likely to cause even more scandal. Not as much, though, as the news Liat brings with her: the Galts are going to attempt an invasion.

For centuries the andat, the incredibly powerful beings held by the poets of the great cities, have protected them from the technologically advanced, militaristic Galts, but Galtic General Balatar Gice has dedicated his whole life to destroying the andat. No one, he thinks, should be allowed to have that much power – control over a being who could pull down whole cities with a thought, or destroy the crops of an entire country, or cause ravaging floods and devastation. He has gone into the desert that used to be the old Empire, he has found a poet of his own, and he is going to first destroy the andat and then any possibility that they will ever return, even if that means destroying every one of the great cities on his way.

All of the cover blurbs on this book talk about the amazing ending, which usually puts me off because most of the time, knowing the twist is going to come, I can predict it well in advance. Not so much in this case. The climax of this story hits that perfect combination of exquisite foreshadowing and total surprise – Once you get there you realize there is no way it could have gone any differently, but it was so completely not what you were expecting that it feels like a punch in the gut. In a good way, of course.

Abraham’s characters are exquisite, and as the world becomes more familiar the deeper you get into the series, the characters take their places as the highlight of the book. Otah, Maati, and Liat have all changed so much since A Shadow in Summer, grown both in wisdom and in their flaws, but they’re still deeply recognizable as themselves. It’s the characters who make that ending what it is, because it’s the characters, their drives and disappointments, the whole history of their lives, that make it so inevitable. It’s a wonderful study in how good people can do horrible things in pursuit of good causes, and there is no one, from the Galtic general to the treacherous mercenary, who you can really blame. Everyone is doing the best they can with the options they have, they’re just terrible options. It is, in fact, very like a Greek tragedy; if they were different people it would have gone differently, but they aren’t, so how could it?

In any other series, this would be the end. This book ends with an earthshattering change, but there are possibilities for growth and rebirth still visible. Most writers would have left it there, but there is another book in this series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-of-autumn-war-by-daniel-abraham.... ( )