Hey Jared,
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. Bigger and better than Game of Thrones in a lot of ways. I just love the world and the tone and…..everything really. Sure there are things I don’t like but they don’t detract from the experience.
Title: The King’s Blood
Series: The Dagger and the Coin; Book 2
Author: Daniel Abraham
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: UU, Medieval, Dragons (Extinct), Magic
Synopsis: The board has been set, the pieces arranged, and change is on the horizon. Cithrin chaffs beneath stifled progress. Marcus obscures his true desires, even from himself. Dawson sees the approaching storm and moves to end it before it can begin. Geder finds himself with untold power and little idea how to use it. Clara tries vainly to keep her family together and safe.
Recommendation: Adult, but mid to late teen could probably read it too. Highly recommended!
There are so many spoilers I want to word vomit right now! I won’t because it’s just too good to ruin. Some minor spoilers from the first book, but that will be about it.
I am in love with this world. It’s dark and brutal and gritty. There’s dark humor and silent moments of intense emotion. The history is rich and deep and broad and amazing. I want to know so many things and it’s given out bit by bit with hidden little gems of amazing-ness.
Thankfully the different races were explained and highlighted a bit more. With only a tiny little guide at the back.
The characters really built off the first book. Really the first book was just setting everything up. Characters needed to move and events staged just right so that when this book started everything was just right. Little to no rehashing previous events except when they were important to the story and even that was unobtrusive. Dawson and his wife, Clara, are my favorites. I have high hopes for them. They really feel like tow halves of a single entity. And really highlight the type of relationship I want to see more of in the real world.
Cithrin annoyed me and was so boring in the first book. She was at the beginning of this book two but she began to evolve quite quickly so the burden became one of the better parts.
Marcus is probably the weakest character at the end of this book……which is weird because he’s always portrayed as having the most history, the most baggage, the biggest demons, and a fallen hero complex. He doesn’t really do anything but whine, say exactly the perfect thing, win physical altercations with little to no effort and whine some more. His attempt at dark, brooding, and scarred comes across as a whiny bully who happened to lose his favorite toy. Add to that his disturbing level interest in Cithrin and he’s painful to read. He isn’t even annoying!
Geder is too perfectly naive and psychotic at the same time. He either needs more naivety or more psycho. The middle ground keeps giving me whiplash.
The plot is good. I saw a lot of things well before they happened but that’s because I knew there still wasn’t going to be much revelations or surprises. The first book set the stage. The second was building. It built up the characters, the plot and the potential for world-ending destruction. I knew halfway through how the ending would feel. Like climbing a ridge knowing that when you got to the top there would be a valley on the other side. And when you do get to the top you don’t know what’s on the other side of the valley because you can’t see through the fog.
The series has many elements that remind me of A Song of Ice and Fire, which isn’t surprising given the history of the two authors. I would have to say that this series is a little less graphic and has a touch more fantasy elements. Really, you just need to start reading the series. I think you’d really enjoy it. It’s fast becoming one of my favorites.
Robert
Reading Over The Shoulder 