4.5 stars!

This book was a huge win for me, I am so happy with how much I enjoyed it. After feeling generally positive but not blown away by Age of Ash, Blade of Dream was a step up for me in terms of loving the characters and storylines that we were following. I also loved that knowing the reveal from the end of the first book, the atmosphere and stakes felt elevated and very compelling for this second entry. I really cannot wait for the final book in this trilogy, because I am hooked to see who else's perspective we follow and how everything comes together in the end!

Special thanks to NetGalley and to the author, publishers as well for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. MY GOSH! DANIEL! I loved the first book, couldn't put it down and then the merciful gods smiled on me and I got an arc of the next book STAAPPP. This series is shaping up to be an all time fave. Easy 5 stars. Loved the characters and the setting can't wait for the next!

The complexity in Abraham's writing is just so enticing. The world that he is creating here in the Kithamar series is just so vibrant and well crafted. I cannot wait to experience more of this world.

“The great secret of noble blood is it gives you everything because it costs you everything.”

Blade of Dream is one of the best sequels I have ever read. Period. I honestly can’t believe how good this book was, after struggling a bit with book one Age of Ash. The people who have said that Daniel Abraham’s books get better as they go were not lying! The best part about Blade of Dream is that now I really really want to go back and reread Age of Ash… which I never thought I’d actually want to do! Age of Ash was fine, the characters were fine, I gave it a 4/5 last year because overall it worked – but now I can’t stop thinking about these two books, this city and these characters!

“Everyone knows everyone. We’re all trying to destroy each other, and we all have each other’s backs.”

Blade of Dream is told concurrently to that of Age of Ash, however you follow different characters. The main two point of views in this book are from Elaine a Sal and Garreth Left. Elaine is the daughter of Bryn a Sal – who is now the prince of Kithamar! With her father being the most important and powerful person in the city it has left Elaine to grasp at mysteries and secrets that she never knew existed before. Setting up for an amazing and thrilling story. There were moment I just could not put this book down, unlike in Age of Ash where sometimes it felt like a chore to read. Elaine is also superbly written, she feels unique and well fleshed out. I adored her, and she has such a good dynamic with other characters in the book. Especially her cousin Theddan and Garreth.

Moving on to Garreth, he is the eldest son of a well-off merchant family. He has a lot of inherit with the family business, while his two best friends join the city guard. He struggles with the confinement of his life and how it’s supposed to be. Realizing that his future is set up for him since birth, until all of a sudden he meets a certain person who sets him on a totally different path. The way Abraham grows Garreth into a strong and supportive character is incredible. He is strong, loyal and courageous. Someone you definitely want to have in your corner. His development since the beginning is amazing to see.
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“But if I did everything the way I was told to, would I be promised a good ending?”

These aren’t the only characters that I feel are well developed. There is a host of supporting characters I really like as well, such as Bryn, Captain Sennit, Theddan and Aunt Thorn. However I don’t want to take up the whole review with their secrets and personalities when you should go read and discover them for yourself. They are all super intriguing and great characters!

The plot of the book expands so much from the first book, getting you more invested with the other parts of the city such as Greenhill and the Palace. The differences in each area are so vast, crazy it’s the same city as in the first book’s slums of Longhill. The craftmanship of this worldbuilding is brilliant and makes the city feel even more fleshed out than it did already, and that was my favorite part about book one. The sense of a living, breathing city has been achieved throughout the entire series so far.

You also learn so much more about the various gods and how they are worshipped. The histories of them and how they came to be… or came to vanish. It’s all so well done. I just want to take a history class on Kithamar and soak in everything there is to know about it.

“I think history is like.. sparring. It’s a kind of fight. You have your blade, the other fellow has his, but it isn’t really about the swords, is it? It’s about patterns. The things that always happen.”

The book has incredible pacing, especially compared to Ash of Ash. I would say the first 10-15% is still a slow burn, simply because we have totally new characters to get used to. Around halfway thru the book it starts to get to a break-neck pace with the mysteries of Kithamar and it doesn’t let you go. The discoveries and pay-offs are grand, and this book does a good job at fulfilling your desire to learn by the end. It answers a good amount of questions, however I just want book three right now and can not wait for it!

5 out of 5 Shields – In my top 3 books I read this year

“We give our lives to the city, you and I. We marry for the city. We bear children for the city. And our family, and our blood. It’s the sacrifice we’re called to, and it’s our duty. But it isn’t everything we are. You have to take the pleasures you can in this life. They won’t be given to you.”

Thank you so much to Net Galley, Orbit, and of course the author for allowing me to read an early copy!

Blade of Dream is the sequel to Age of Ash, last year's first entry into Abraham's Kithamar trilogy. However, the book's relationship to Age of Ash, and the larger story Abraham is telling, is much more complex than that. Rather than a traditional sequel, picking up after the events of the previous book, Blade of Dream is more of a sidequel or companion piece. The events of Blade of Dream overlap with those from Age of Ash, occurring at the same time in the fictional city of Kithamar. What ultimately results is a unique reading experience as readers gradually uncover more of the mystery of Kithamar, particularly as it pertains to where the true power of Kithamar resides, while also getting introduced to a beautiful standalone love story.

Reading Blade of Dream I think the unique construction of the Kithamar trilogy works better in theory than in practice, as the actual execution of the larger, over-arching plot leaves a bit to be desired. However, at the end of the day Blade of Dream still tells an interesting standalone story, full of the wonderfully deep characters and complex interactions that you would expect from one of Daniel Abraham's fantasy novels.

(I should also note that while about 2/3 of the book would make complete and total sense without having read Age of Ash, you really need to have read Age of Ash first to understand the last chunk of the book.)

I think what I ultimately liked best about Blade of Dream was Abraham's fearless tact to forge its own path. Age of Ash was a lot of things; a heist novel; a book full of political intrigue and dark magic that ran all of the way up to the very top of the power hierarchy; a story about loss, grief, and tackling the worst parts of the human experience. While Abraham finds small, minute ways to bring all of these into Blade of Dream, this sequel is ultimately about love and how its ability to transcend the arbitrary and unjust structures of society. Thus, Blade of Dream is much more narrow in its scope, for better and for worse, than its predecessor as it really hones in on one whirlwind romance and the struggles that result from it.

The core couple of the book, Elaine and Garreth, are both immediately likable. Elaine and Garreth were quite unexpected coming from an author like Abraham, who often challenges his reader with morally complex characters. Instead, Elaine and Garreth are two young people trapped in both ordinary gender/class divides and the extraordinary magical power that resides in Kithamar. While not simple victims of the power systems under which they live, they are also good people at heart - two people who just want to find their way to each other. Therefore, I liked Elaine and Garreth more than Alys from Age of Ash, but I was less invested in their story. Elaine and Garreth are Abraham characters, so of course they were absolutely wonderful, but they lacked that overall depth and complexity I got with Alys (or Otah and Mati from Abraham's Long Price Quartet). This is probably down to personal preference, but I really enjoyed Alys' enduring anger, grief, and desire to destroy a system that was set out to destroy her. Elaine and Garreth's love story felt a tad too quaint and generic in comparison to Alys' struggles and character arc.

And really this is my biggest issue with Blade of Dream - everything felt a bit too generic. Blade of Dream was every other European-inspired fantasy novel that I had ever read...just rewritten by Abraham to add a bit more depth. The Kithamar Trilogy promised getting to explore this new city from multiple perspectives and angles, and I really didn't get that here. Blade of Dream doesn't really add much depth to Kithamar, and the book is really lacking in the vivid descriptions and sense of place that made Age of Ash transcend other books with similar settings. In Blade of Dream Kithamar really lacks that unique timbre and feel that great fantasy cities have; rather than being a star of the show, the setting becomes a simple window dressing. This was a bit dissapointing because the entire promise of the trilogy was a deeper and deeper feel for this city and the structures that power it.

And since Blade of Dream is tied up in a fairly straightforward romance plot, the entire book doesn't quite reach the magic of what I have come to expect from Daniel Abraham. By the last third or quarter of the book the plot kicks into overdrive and intersects more explicitly with some of the dangling questions left from Age of Ash, but I perhaps set my expectations a bit too high for this one.

Longtime Daniel Abraham fans know that his series are alway slow burns, and I am hoping that the next book in the series completely and utterly changes my perspective on Blade of Dream (not unlike how the last two books in the Long Price Quartet changed my mind about the first two, or how The Dagger and the Coin took a couple of books to really get cooking). Abraham is the master of dropping plot seeds seemingly in random corners without the reader noticing, and then whipping the fully grown plant at your face when you least expect it. I can only imagine that is what is happening here, and so this book only made me want the next book in the series even more.

Concluding Thoughts: While its contribution to the overarching narrative is a bit generic, Blade of Dream still tells a compelling love story about two likeable characters. While lacking the depth of Abraham's previous main characters, and lacking the vivid description and sense of place readers found in Age of Ash, Blade of Dream is still a Daniel Abraham novel, with all of the complexity and nuance you have come to expect. A step down from his previous books, but hopefully I'll read it in a new light once the trilogy is complete.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

: This middle book of a planned trilogy is unusual for a fantasy because there are no real fantasy elements until three-fourths of the way through. Instead, the bulk of the book is Elaine a Sal, the new prince of Kithamar’s heir, dealing with the change in her status including her tryst with a random citizen. The tryst throws both their lives off track—the citizen leaves his merchant family and joins the city guard, while Elaine starts to consider what parts of her life she actually wants, while investigating what is making her father so upset and closed-off from her. (That’s connected to the magic of the first book, as is what happens when, late in the book, the Thread of Kithamar tries to regain its control of the city’s rulers.) I’m interested to see what happens next.

The Expanse is popular with our libraries, although I didn't personally read it, so I was excited to review a bit of Daniel Abraham's work. It's so readable, and it's rather lovely. It is immersive, easy to follow, and yanks you in. Stopped at 5%, but definitely didn't feel like I was missing anything by not reading book 1 of the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC.

Thank you to Daniel Abraham, Orbit, and Netgalley for giving me an eARC of Blade of Dream in exchange for an honest review.

This book surprised me. The concept of the Kithamar series is so unique, with each book taking place over the course of the same year. However, each book follows a different set of characters over the course of the same year. In order to get the full picture of what happened during that year and to get the answers to all your questions you have to read the entire series. Yet, it does not feel like you are reading the same story. I was able to predict some events because I have read Age of Ash, however much of what happened was new to me.

Personally, I enjoyed Blade of Dreams so much more than Age of Ash. The story as a whole had a different feel to it. While Age of Ash was more plot driven, Blade of Dreams was more character driven, something I greatly prefer in stories. If you did not love Age of Ash, I would highly recommend giving Blade of Dreams a try because it was great. Just be warned that this book is a slower read during the first half, however the second half is one that you will fly through if you are willing to stick with it.

Blade of Dream is Daniel Abraham’s second book in his KITHAMAR trilogy, though to call it a “sequel” is a bit of a misnomer as rather than directly following the events of Age of Ash, this new story parallels that first book’s events in time, actually intersecting with a few scenes here and there but mostly, or at least somewhat, acting as a stand-alone novel. That said, while one can read this without having read its predecessor, having read book one will better inform certain events, particularly at the end.

Kithamar is the sprawling city setting, one dividend into several districts with some clear class (and some racial) distinctions. Both books begin with the death of the city’s ruler, Byrn a Sal, and then flash back some months beforehand to introduce our main characters, in this case Elaine a Sal, daughter and heir to Byrn; and Garreth Left, eldest son of a major merchant family that has — unbeknownst to others — fallen on hard times.

Garreth is going to be forced to marry into an alliance to help strengthen his family’s fortunes, but a chance encounter with Elaine and a single night together changes all that. Without knowing who she actually is, Garreth falls for her and so backs out of the impending marriage, joining his childhood friends as a member of the bluecoats — the city guards. His storyline, along with trying to find a way to reunite with the mysterious young woman he met, involves trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, coming to some sort of resolution if not reconciliation with his family, and performing his duties as a guardsmen, which includes a plan to try and take down Aunt Thorn, a (possible the) criminal underworld boss. Meanwhile, Elaine and her father move into the Palace after the death of the prior ruler, and Elaine has to adapt to her new role, and the sense of obligation and loneliness it brings. Worse, her father seems to be changing before her eyes, and she worries there is some dark secret at the heart (readers of book one know she is not wrong).

As with that first book, Blade of Dream is a slow burn, an interesting distinction between Abraham’s fantasy novels and his more propulsive science fiction ones like THE EXPANSE. Whichever genre he works in, though, and at whatever speed, Abraham always presents us with richly developed and complex characters who grow and change throughout the course of whatever tale they’re involved in. That holds true here as well. And again, as is typical with Abraham, it doesn’t hold true just for the two main characters but for each we meet, from Garreth’s friends Kannish and Maur to their guard captain to Elaine’s best friend Theddan and even quite minor characters such as several other guardsmen, a servant in Garreth’s house, and others.

As for the two main characters, part of this story, as with the first book, is a coming-of-age tale, albeit with older characters as well as characters from more privileged realms of the city. That privilege, though, doesn’t mean they have a sense of agency in their own lives, similar to the more impoverished characters from Age of Ash. Both Garreth and Elain are young people with all the confusion of self and place in the world that entails, a confusion that is only exacerbated by their entanglements with each other, issues that arise with their friends, and of course the “darkness” at the core of this fantasy story. And these issues arise and are resolved in the messy, sometimes incomplete, and often bittersweet way they often are in real life. Here, for instance, is Garreth re-entering his once-home:

The subtle scent of the lemon oil that Serria had the maids all use brought back floods of memories he hadn’t realized were locked away until that moment. Being no taller than a table, stretched out on the floor while his mother hummed to herself in the next room. The one maid — Kayyla? Kavva? — who’d worked for them the summer Garreth turned fourteen and the doomed longing he’d developed for her. The sound of Vasch clopping down the hallways pretending to be a general leading a great army … That the moments were lost made them sweet … [They] took on a patina of melancholy because they could never happen again … The boy who rested in the sunlight and his mother’s unconscious song was gone … Everything rose and was lost. Every decision ended the other paths that a different choice would have opened. Including all the lives in which this might be Garreth’s home.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is that focus on “decisions” that we get at the close of that passage. Several times Garreth, for instance, tries to claim he did “what he had to.” The kind of statement, justification, one often hears. But here he’s called on it — whether he did right or wrong, nothing he does is inevitable; he does not what he “has to” but what he “chooses to.” If the first book in this trilogy focused much of its time on grief and loss, here I’d say the exploration is into choice and consequence. (I’d also put community and history and two other key subjects).

Nor is it just the young who get to wrestle with such concerns, as we get several thoughtful and often moving speeches from older characters revealing their own problems, though not the same ones coming as they do in the latter stages of life rather than the early ones.

The plot, while not “action filled” in the usual sense still has more than a few chase and fight scenes as well as several scenes of heightened tension and is as richly complex as the characterization. It’s also built on a wonderfully evocative foundation that I won’t detail here but is not just fascinating in its logistical explanation but also beautifully conveyed in terms of language and style. Abraham has always written smooth, vivid prose, and his dialogue is always somewhat paradoxically wholly natural sounding and also at times wonderfully eloquent (the guard captain has an utterly fantastic speech near the end I won’t ruin by quoting). Here, he also uses the change of seasons that mark various sections of the book to dip into a gorgeously lyrical and more poetic style (one that, while I could be wrongly remembering this, seems to be something he is more prone to in his fantasy than his sci-fi). Here, for instance, is the city in winter:
The promise of thaw remained only a promise. The city pulled into itself, retreating from the cold like a snail folding itself into its shell. Only not entirely. People skated on the river, sliding across the white expanse for the simple joy of the movement. Little stands set up in the squares with iron stoves like tiny forges made to warm cider and wine at three coppers for a mug.

Honestly, reading this book, the way Abraham lets it takes it time to develop, kind of has the feel of sipping a cup of hot cider or wine in a cozy room while snow falls softly outside. I’ll grant the pace isn’t for everyone, but personally I love its gradual immersion into place and people. Actually, while this might not be a “blow one’s mind” book, there is little if anything I didn’t love about Blade of Dream. Pace — yep. Language/style — yep. The cubist sort of trilogy structure — yep. Characters — yep. Theme — yep. I can only think of two things I’m unhappy with it: that it ended, and that I’ve another year before book three arrives.

I think Daniel Abraham could write about doing laundry or mowing the lawn and make it beautiful and interesting. Which is good, since this story sort of didn't accomplish much. The big reveals about Kithamar already happened in the first book of this trilogy, and in this one we didn't learn anything new. We even knew in advance, if not from reading the first book, from reading the prologue, how this story was going to end. This book is set in the same chronological period as the first, which is clever, but constrains any major changes. There are a few overlapping characters, so this book would feel a bit hollow without reading the first. Andomaka's role, in particular. Nonetheless, given the beautiful writing, this was a pleasure to read. Garreth's plight as a spoiled rich kid breaking from his family is endearing, and his friendships with Maur and Kannish feel genuine. Elaine is also likable, and her one close friend and relative Theddan. They are nobility and heir to the throne but act very outside the expectations for those roles. The story is briefly told from the point of view of the guard captain Divol Senit, which provided a more gritty, real outlook, and added a lot of depth. The book did end with a big plot advancement, which leaves me wondering what story the third book in this trilogy is going to tell, and who the main characters will be.

This is my first time reading an Abraham novel outside of his work cowriting the expanse, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This had a very slow start, but from what I've heard that's pretty typical for Daniel Abraham. Once i got into the story. I absolutely loved my time in this book. Initially I wasn't going to read this, as it's book two of a series and I haven't read book one, but this trilogy is 3 novels that take place at the same time in the same city, so I decided to read this, then go back to age of ash. I am glad I finally have given Abraham's fantasy work a shot, because exactly like I thought, he is an author that clicked with me.

The only con I could see for people would be that it is a slow burn of a novel. I love slow burns, so it was a non issue for me, but I can acknowledge it may be a major one for some readers.

Can't wait to read dagger and coin, and the long price quartet.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and Daniel Abraham for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to the author Daniel Abraham, publisher Orbit, and Netgalley for access to this eARC!

Age of Ashes centered on Alys and her life in the gritty streets of Kithamar. The book dealt with poverty, cutpurse crews, grief, and succession intrigue.

Blade of Dream does not pick up where Age of Ashes left off but instead serves as a sort of companion novel to the first. BoD offers a parallel timeline of events that starts a season before Age of Ashes. We follow the duel perspectives of Elaine, the princess, and Garreth, a merchant’s son. We get to see how the other half live in Kithamar.

What Blade of Dream does well:
- Blade of Dream continues to be a love letter to Kithamar with frequent vivid descriptions by Abraham of this fictional city.
- Instead of a focus on intrigue (although there is that), BoD focuses on Elaine and Garreth, their quick but deep love, and their effort to survive the turmoil of their lives.
- Both main characters are sweet. Although they have flaws, they better fit the traditional hero protagonist mold than Alys from the first book.

Blade of Dream fills in many of the gaps and answers questions left by the Age of Ash. Abraham once again wove a story that illustrates his artistic vision and unique abilities as a mastercraftsman of fiction.

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book!

I have scheduled promotional posts around release day for this book and I will provide a full review on my Instagram once I am able to get to this read.

Rating 5 stars on Netgalley as a placeholder for me to update later once the review is complete.

Will also complete a review on Goodreads once read.

Thanks again!

Wow!! Fantasy at the highest level possible! So good, epic stake and memorable characters! Lot of fun!

This is a slooooooow rolling story. Honestly, it took me quite awhile to really get into this one but I found that it was good overall. The ending leaves it hanging as to be expected as this is the first in a series. I would say it's like the political aspects of Dune mixed with the cut scenes in an action movie.

Blade of Dreams was far better than Age of Ash, which I enjoyed as well. Its style comes close to what I believe to be the ideal sort of low fantasy. There wasn't anything still present that bothered me from the previous book, so I had no reason to give this any less than my highest rating. Each book I've read from Abraham has only further cemented his status as one of my favorite authors. He's near the top of the most consistently enjoyable authors I've read and possibly has written the most series that I've highly rated.

Age of Ash began with Harvest while Blade of Dream began with the preceding time of Midsummer, which provided what happened before the first book. Although this second book takes place simultaneously with the first book from Harvest onwards the events depicted are almost entirely different. That's to be expected as none of the viewpoint characters from the first book return as one here. Some of the characters who aren't viewpoints this time appear again, but mostly only in the background and they're often left unnamed. I expect that this layering effect will continue in the third book.

The primary viewpoints are Garreth Left, the eldest son of a major trading house, and Elaine a Sal, the heir to the throne, which makes the story take on a significantly more romantic bent when compared to the first. Minor viewpoints include Divol Senit, a captain in the city guard; Lemel Tarrit, the head chef for the royal family; Finar, a bargeman for the Left family, Vasch, Garreth's younger brother, and two that can't be named without spoiling. Not only viewpoint characters matter though as some of the best characters with the most impactful scenes that provide for the most thoughtful consideration are those whom seemingly have the least agency of their own.

The prevalent theme, which each character explored in their own way, was identity and expectations. How much do the expectations of forces outside of ourselves determine who we are? Is the cost of self-determination worthwhile? Are mutually beneficial compromises between the self and society the best possible outcome? There's a particularly well-written passage near the end that lays out an approach to navigating life through knowing which compromises are necessary to have a satisfying though not ideal life. How one ought to live and how that affects others may require painful consideration, though those who don't at all may be ones causing the most pain to themselves and others.

I had some doubts about whether Abraham could tell the same overall story three times, but all of those doubts have been dispelled. A change in perspective can make all the difference. I eagerly await the third book, which assumedly will come out sometime in 2024. This second book will be released on July 18th, 2023.

I received this eArc from Orbit through NetGalley.

asy 5 stars. I loved this book and it also made me like Age more. As an Abraham fan already, I know that this slow build is working towards a complex ending and in the meantime, I don't know any author that does real human moments between two people better than Abraham. Nothing can beat Otah and Maati but I found myself really really enjoying Elaine and Garreth much more than Alys.

Full video review closer to release date.

I also loved the guards. All of them. There is a speech by a guard toward the end that I read 3 times because I loved it so much.

I also can't recommend enough going back and listening or reading book 1 while reading this one. Enhanced the whole experience for me.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC!

Progression fantasy but over a year in the same city. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy reading about the after effects of events, something that a lot of fantasy books don't bother with. Book 1 was great, book 2 was excellent, and I hope to eventually read even more from this series/world.