SO GOOD!

The port city-state of Saraykeht survives on the magic of a captive spirit, Seedless. Seedless helps harvest the crops so that trade relations can flourish. But Seedless and his sorcerer participate in the “Sad Trade” (a shady magical technique to end a pregnancy), and as tensions escalate around them, the whole world quickly realizes that relying on an enslaved spirit might not be a stable basis for the economy.

What a start to a series! It’s bleak, emotional, and economically technical. Everyone has secrets, worries, and regrets. I love the complexity of the people and the setting. The plot is closely tied with the magic and economic systems of this world, which makes it very unique. I’m looking forward to book 2, although this wasn’t exactly “fun” to read. It’s very dramatic (not melodramatic, although certain youthful characters certainly can be melodramatic lol); I can get into that!

I also love the diverse age range of the cast. Older characters and younger characters realistically experience different crises and have difference responses, which enriches the story a million fold.

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I enjoyed this. Not bad at all for a debut novel.

It's a low magic fantasy. Political/industrial intrigue rather than knights and dragons.

I like the city of Saraykeht and the almost oriental feel to the main culture. The main language is comprised of poses and gestures that accompany words similar to the Adem hand gestures in The Wise Man's Fear.

The central concept of poet's capturing ideas and then imbuing them with volition creating an enslaved god (andats) was interesting. You would think this would make poet's extremely powerful but Abraham avoids the deus ex-machina by placing us in an Empire that has fallen because of the mutual destruction of poets wielding these andats against each other. And andats are not that easy to create anymore and few are actually useful enough to tip the balance of power.

But we do have at least one andat that has made the city state of Saraykeht virtually immune from war and with a major trade advantage. The andat "Seedless" has the unique ability of removing seeds from cotton en masse. What the cotton picking good is that for? I know you're asking. Well it's pretty darn good when nobody has to pick out the seeds themselves if they bring them to you - and oh, while they are there they may as well just deal with you for all their cotton trading and processing - or something like that. It's a major trade advantage according to cotton seed experts of the fantasy realm - I'm sure there's a thesis in it for somebody. Whatever, Daniel Abraham sells it well. Oh, the other thing one might use "Seedless" for is magically evacuating the wombs of all women in a nation - or destroying all their crops by vanishing their seeds overnight. So you don't want to mess with the andat.

You've probably already spotted the downside from this review. What's so interesting about cotton? Where is the badass in this book? Well, there's different kinds of badassery. Take one of the main characters, Amat. She is badass - in a ruthless political sort of way. She left me saying "Amat - you are badass - and you don't need kung fu."

Still I wouldn't have minded a little kung fu.

I'll definitely be continuing on with book 2 in the series. I'm giving this one...


3.75 stars.