Seasons of War

4.5 stars

This third novel in Daniel Abraham???s LONG PRICE QUARTET is even more exciting than the first two novels. In the first book, A Shadow in Summer, we saw the Galts (the enemies of the city-states of the Khaiem) destroy the industry of the Khaiem???s most glorious city, Saraykeht. In the second book, A Betrayal in Winter, the Galts attempted to get control of the city of Machi by killing off the Khai???s sons and installing their own man as Khai. However, the failed poet Otah, the youngest son of the Khai, managed (with the help of his old friend Maati) to uncover the plot and become Khai in Machi.

Fourteen years later, the Galts have not given up. That???s because they still suffer from the way they were treated by the Khaiem generations ago when the Khaiem???s andats destroyed Galt and turned part of their land into a vast wasteland... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/an-autumn-war/

I really love Abraham's ability to write character evolutions. Meeting our characters again fifteen years later, each of them extremely different people, makes for such a powerful story. This installment is certainly the bloodiest (as the title implies) but it follows the same outline of very moral people placed in extremely morally gray zones and figuring out what to do. If you've enjoyed the series thus far, I'd say keep at it.

Executive Summary: Best one yet. More action than the previous two, but again the emphasis is character driven political conflicts.

Audio book: Neil Shah continues to be a good, but not great narrator. It makes audio a viable option, but far from a must listen.

Full Review
I continue to be impressed with Mr. Abraham. Each book continues to improve on the previous one.

This one has more action than the previous ones, but again the main focus is on the politics of the Khaiem, and raises the stakes with it's conflict with Galt.

The best part of this series continues to be it's characters. In this book, my particular favorites are the new antagonist Balasar and the mercenary captain Sinjah (or however you spell it).

I bounce from despising Balasar to starting to like him, or to remember how misguided and hateful he is being. And the actions of Sinjah kept me guessing the whole time. Both are very complex characters that relish in the shades of grey Mr. Abraham seems to be so good at.

I must also add I had no idea where this book was going to end up. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out at least the broad strokes of most stories. This one, not so much. I will say, I'm glad I have the time to jump right into book 4, because I just had to know what would happen next.

As this is the third book in a series, there isn't much else I can say without getting into spoiler territory for either this book or the two previous ones.

This has easily been the best of the series thus far, and if the trend continues, I'm in for an excellent ending.