A very good sequel. I was able to get through the first two volumes and really enjoyed the plot. I was less won over by the characters.
This is my 6th novel by the author and I can still see his style and it's a pleasure to follow. Did you like this tittle?

Thank you publisher for the advance copy! Looking forward to the next sequel!

Abraham's world-building was vibrant and astounding. The characters are interesting and the whole premise was engaging.

An massive improvement to me over Age of Ash, which I think was very well written but I really didn't like the character we were following. This book takes place across the same time period, but due to my disinterest in AoA and the time it's been since I've tried it, I didn't catch a single reference to the first book. So it works perfectly well on its own.

Abraham is excellent at making realistic characters and having all their decisions make sense. He is great with dialogue. My failure to connect here is mostly with the plot, which I didn't think gripped me at all until the last third. I will definitely read the third one and will probably do a full series reread before tackling it when it comes out.

I'm one of those people who heard about Daniel Abraham's Kithamar series because of his Expanse fame, which is probably why I went into this series with high expectations. Sadly, I struggled a lot with the first book in the series, but I did hear from early reviews that the second one was actually much improved.
I don't really agree with this, as I struggled only mildly less with this second entry, "Blade of Dream". Now, I can see Abraham is a skilled writer, it's just that his particular, generally more detached writing style isn't my personal cup of tea. I did like the main characters in this one much, much more than the ones in the first book who I never managed to warm up to, but in the end, I didn't really connect with them either. I'm more of a character-focused reader so I have a hard time staying interested in the plot of a book if I just don't feel for the characters involved. The pacing is also rather slow, which in this case didn't help, because I wasn't really interested in the goingson already. The world-building is interesting though, and while this series clearly isn't for me, I still recommend people check it out.

4.25/5 stars! This is the second book in the Kithamar series by Daniel Abraham. At times this story felt unbelievable and I STILL couldn't help but be pulled in. I read it in 2 sittings and need the final book to come out like ASAP.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blade of Dream is the second part of the Kithamar trilogy and, like Age of Ash, it follows events in the city for one year, beginning with a funeral and coronation, and ending with a funeral, and coronation.

If you hadn't guessed, the two books cover the same year so, up to a point, we know how things will turn out. There are two qualifications to that of course. First, a year is a long time in reading so I had forgotten a lot of the detail. Usually, in this sort of detailed fantasy milieu, this is a Bad Thing because forgetting the details makes it hard to pick up the next part of the story - but Abraham rather brilliantly makes it an advantage here as the haziness prevents one from anticipating (too much) what is going on.

Secondly, Blade of Dream is focussed on different characters and to a large degree, a different stratum of society from the first book, so the events here are seen from a fresh perspective. Blade of Dream follows Garreth, a younger son of a struggling merchant house, and Elaine, daughter of the new Prince, both people of some wealth and influence. Ash, in contrast, was written much more from the gutter featuring characters who were much more insecure economically. So there's less concern in this book about actually starving or freezing, and more about survival in a visceral sense - as part of the ruling family, Elaine faces multiple dangers, and Garreth's joined the City Watch so is exposed to both daily assault and political turmoil. For both, duty and personal inclinations are difficult to square with honour, love and happiness and it's those tensions that pretty much drive this narrative - until (because it has to get to the same place as Ash in the end) the strange cult highlighted there makes its move.

One can spot ripples here from events in Age of Ash, and I suspect that rereading that book (I must do that!) you'd also see events in Blade from, as it were, some distance - but each is its own story, albeit part of a whole. All this must have taken Abraham some fiendish plotting to bring off, but Blade of Dream never comes over as contrived or scheduled, rather we see Garreth and Elaine develop as individuals and mature, facing up to new responsibilities for their families, their friends and the City.

The City.

As in Ash, in Blade of Dream the streets of Kithamar are bustling, vibrant and alive. The effect is simply hypnotic, teeming unregarded lives playing out against a background of sorcery and political intrigue. It may be a bit of a cliché to say so, but Kithamar really is the central character in this book both in its vividness and also in a slightly different sense that you may recall from the first book.

Yet despite this, Blade of Dreams is still truly human fantasy. There is enough chicanery going on to satisfy any reader, and hints of darknesses and ancient evils, but the focus is mainly personal, intimate - we see a newlywed couple, a boy and his family, a girl afraid for her father and we see how they negotiate their various problems and face hopes and fears.

Strongly recommended, and I just can't wait for the third part...

There's not a lot I can say as this is an epic, fast paced and action packed book that brought me in a fabulous and complex universe. An atmospheric story well told and intriguing.
Can't wait to read the last in this trilogy
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The second book in what I think we can assume will be a trilogy. The focus is the mighty city of Kithamar and it’s inhabitants. As with the previous book, the City is as much a character as those who live there. A book of deep and complex characterisations that allow people to grow on you as does the complexity of the City itself.
This is not light fantasy, it requires you to give it the attention it needs and it is definitely a slow build that will reward your patience.
After the City itself, the main character is Garreth. From a wealthy merchant family, he has a chance encounter that will change him and the City forever.
There is real writing talent on show here.

Blade of Dream is the second book in The Kithamar Trilogy, and oh man what a book it was. It catches the imagination in ways the first book did not for me pretty much right away, and it held my attention all the way through. I found the pacing to be superb, it was fast enough to keep the story fresh, but at no point did it feel rushed. You got all the character development you need to see, to make the actions of the characters seem justified, without them seeming dumb or just to fill a plot hole. It is fantasy with a touch of grimdark, and I would say something for everything.

I can not wait to read the final instalment and see where this story is going!

This is the second in Daniel Abraham’s new Fantasy series, based around the city of Kithamar. The first book, Age of Ash, I reviewed back in March 2022.

Right at the beginning of the first novel we began with a funeral, the funeral procession of Byrn a Sal. And so it is again, deliberately so, the same funeral. The book begins where it ends , although unlike Age of Ash where we focussed upon Alys, a young thief, this time around we look at characters a little higher on the Kithamar social scale.

Stepping back a few months, we then meet Garreth Left, the son of a young merchant in the city. Garreth leaves his comfortable lifestyle and family to become a bluecloak – one of the city’s guards. This does not go down well with his family who have him all set to work in the family business, marry an unknown woman to secure business ties and inherit everything at a later date. However, Garreth seems to enjoy the tougher life with his childhood friends Kannish and Maur, despite the demands.

One night whilst on patrol Garreth helps a young lady leave a scene. They spend the night together, and then she leaves, with both wondering whether they will ever meet again. Garreth begins to search the streets and alleyways looking for this mysterious woman.

As readers we know a little more. The young woman is actually Elaine a Sal, the daughter of Byrn, who we know will later become the new prince of Kithamar. She had been on an illicit night out with her friend Theddan Abbasann, dancing at an illegal party, her identity unknown.

The rest of the book deals with the two’s tangled relationship, but also shows us that the city is more than we might imagine it to be. Beneath the decrepit and yet baroque surface of the city, there is a long-standing war going on between ancient gods. The dagger that Alys coveted last time is important here too, as it comes into the possession of others, and Garreth and Elaine become involved as this battle between the gods comes to a head, affecting both them and the future of Kithamar.

Thinking back to the first book, I feel that Age of Ash was a little uneven. The setting and the characterisation was good, but there were places where the pace was too slow and it dragged a little, especially in the middle. Blade of Dream had none of these issues for me. After Age of Ash, Blade of Dream feels almost like a reset, with the story going back to basics. You do not have to have read the first book to get this one, although as ever a greater understanding of what is happening is helped by having read that book first.

Whilst some might argue that Blade of Dream is yet another High Fantasy tale of Kings, Queens and politics, Abraham does well to make the story feel unique. Part of this is because, like before, the star of the book is really Kithamar, with all the characters merely actors upon its stage (to misquote Shakespeare.). With its details of place names and descriptions of areas of the city, to me Kithamar feels less like a West European mediaevalesque city and more like an ancient Istanbul or Constantinople, and can be seen as a character with its identity changing through the year, with the focus this time on the seasons of mid-Summer and Autumn.

As important as the city is, it is the characterisations of Garreth and Elaine and those around them that carry this book. Oddly, their story seemed more real than that of Alys and her brother Darro in the previous book, and I felt more for them than I did the characters seen before. Above all, Blade of Dream is really a love story between two who should not be together and yet somehow are, a trope that is well used before but here done well.

As much as I liked Age of Ash, I felt that I liked Blade of Dream more. With its impressive setting, interesting characters and better pacing, this one felt really good to read. The ending was enough to make me want to read the next book, following the events of this one.

Practical aside: I struggled to read the Kindle copy of this one. Thank you to those at Orbit who sorted me out an alternative so that I could finish my reading and write a review.

Good book, if you liked the first one, Age of Ash, you will like this one too. Pacing and style are similar, we learn more of the world and meet new characters.

Even though the cast of characters are more engaging in this book compared to the prequel, again the excruciating pace, over description, and lack of plot made me want to skim and skip. This could be a novelette. Last but not least, the romance plot is not convincing and I prefer a more slow burn one.

Fantastic.

I figured this out with Age of Ash, but Daniel Abraham is a perfect author for me. His focus is primarily on characters that inhabit his fictional world; on their mutual bonds, feelings and that unexplainable thing when they are impulsive, when they do something they know it's not very wise.
And I am entranced. It's not like I don't appreciate the clever magical setting or the exciting plot, but I am truly and deeply hooked when I fall for characters.

Abraham told that his goal for this series was to depict a tumultuous period of Kithamar during the year long reign of Prince Byrn a Sal through perspective of different inhabitants who are, in their own way, involved in the events that would shape its fate.
Everyone has a story. And from slums of Stone the story is shifted to merchant houses of Riverport and Palace Hill.
We saw a glimpse of new character in previous book: he is a young man with bloodied hand who fears for his life. That man is Garreth Leaf, a son of a prominent merchant house who is trapped between duty to his house and his wants, trapped between carefree life of a boy and rationality of mature that's expected of him.
The other main character is Elaine a Sal, the daughter of Prince and his heir who is trapped between her duty and position and her wants and trapped between walls of a palace where the Man who rules it doesn't resemble her father.
Abraham makes a point of the claim that everyone has a story with the fact we are following different characters than Alys and Sammish and they have their own destiny, high stakes and hurt. But, and I liked this even more, it's characters who are in previous book shown to be tepid and superficial to the story. This especially goes for Elaine who was through Andomaka's pov just an easily manipulated girl whose fate she can dictate and ultimately decide. But, Elaine as we know her in Blade of Dream is a very perceptive girl, who allowed herself to be stirred in certain direction, not a mare pawn at all. And yes, we already know the terrible secret of Kithamar rulers, but in this book you actually got to ask how are the people closest to Prince affected. Really, book made a point to show that there is depth to everyone if you care to look.
So, yes, Abraham is all about the characters and it requires patience and attention to details from reader before it accelerates the plot which is around the middle. It seems a lot, bit I appreciated the bricks it laid down beforehand. And yes, there is this persistent trepidation throughout the novel because we have some idea that romance between Garreth and Elaine may not have a happy ending and we only need to see how it plays out. And trust Abraham to have some surprises in the store when it comes to story, even if that's not really his main goal. Since we were left in the dark about what happened at Palace when the fire was started, the story ties into a mystery that was hinted in the first chapter of Age of Ash:
How did it happen? Was it illness or accident, murder or the vengeance of God? How did Byrn a Sal die?

Now that is a loaded question, especially when you got to see more from gods and divine creatures of Kithamar. And, have no doubt, Kithamar is the true main character made alive through these characters who walks its streets and worship different things in their life. They represent various facets of this complex city and they all are, at the same time Kithamar.
I can't wait to see how Abraham ties it all with a glass bead in the final book.
Recommended.

Daniel Abraham can go ahead and start singing that ‘Oops, I did it again’ song because yes, you did it again. Blade of Dream was fantastic. I had high expectations after reading the first book of the series, Age of Ash, even though I had struggled to connect with the main character. This time it was very different in the best possible way.

Something that I found interesting is that I don’t think reading the first book is necessary at all to pick up the second one. Age of Ash, if I were to summarize it very simply, followed a girl from Longhill as she got involved with a political plot against the Prince of Kithamar. At some point, Allys (the girl), bumps into this couple - Garreth and Elaine (the daughter of the Prince himself) - at some point. Blade of Dream is set in the same period of time and the same location (Kithamar), only that this time we follow Garreth and Elaine’s story. And, wow. I struggled with Allys, but I could not get enough of Elaine and Garreth. The story starts slow, you get to know the characters, and then the intrigue and the action start picking up.

Abraham explores different themes in this book: mysteries, cravings, needs, identity, loyalty, love, secrets, divinity, etc. And it’s interesting how he introduces them quietly at first and they start getting louder and louder until they unravel. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it just felt like every step you took with these characters - be it in the wrong or right direction - paid off. It was either a kindness or a lesson.

My biggest highlights from this book are:
1) Seeing this story and comparing it with the first. Wow. The myriad of things that are going on. Allys doesn’t see one side; Garreth/Elaine don’t see the other one; but some people do. Some are involved in the game, and now we as readers are getting to know what this ‘game’ is (I mean, not really, but sort of) and I just need to know (and I swear, the Khahon better be involved in this because I have my own conspiracy theory about what is going on).
2) Theddan. Do I need to say anything else? I love her. Seeing her name on a page made me smile. She’s one of these characters that, if I met in real life, I’d go lesbian for in an instant. (Andomaka is also up there still. Bless her).
3) The writing. THE DIALOGUE. I got SO absorbed in the conversations when I read them. They feel so natural, and organic, and perfect. Like, I keep hearing Ty Franck point out at how Abraham is the one to write speeches in The Expanse and, shit, yes. The number of times I said ‘writing this good should be illegal’ while I read this, seriously. Chef’s kiss.
4) Honestly, I know Abraham wanted this to be a series about a city that felt alive. I’ve read an interview where he says this is not about the characters per se but about Kithamar (hence the name of the series) and he is succeeding 100%. I felt it in this one more than in the first book - Kithamar feels alive and it does come off as if it had a will. Same with the Khahon. It’s really cool to read.

I’ll just wrap this up by saying I’m obsessed with the series. I need more. And everybody knows the Khahon is hungry.

"Blade of Dream" is a very clever book and I'm not going to tell you why. You'll have to read "Age of Ash" and then this one to see what I'm talking about. I enjoyed the writing and the plot (which didn't feel as slow as book 1), and the characters were interesting. I'm very, very curious to see where book 3 takes us.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Picking up Age of Ash again in order to prepare for reading Blade of Dream I found myself revisiting my conclusion from the first time I had read it. Overall I felt like it was a solid fantasy book but I wasn't so sure it was anything special and decided to reserve my full judgement to see what would happen when another book came out. Since the main USP of this series is the concurrent nature of the stories explored in the books it was of course, important to see whether adding in another few threads of the story would make the overall weave feel complete.
Over all I would say that bringing in the second book did make both Age of Ash and Blade of Dream feel like more than the sum of their parts. I found it very enjoyable to trace moments from the first book in the second and I now feel the need to go back and read book one again to see even more still that I might have missed. I think those who praise Daniel Abraham's plotting and who emplored those of us who were less convinced to wait until book two came out had the right end of the stick.
In terms of the plot of book two on it's own I thought it was an enjoyable story that, similar to book one, felt a lot like a familiar city-based fantasy plotline. I know sometimes we crave things that are totally new and groundbreaking but I think for this series that tropeyness is actually quite important.
My one thing I need to confirm is if Daniel Abraham was intentionally writing something of a 'that woman I met one night has transformed my life I am but a gormless lad' story to expose the flaws in that trope or if it was in earnest - time will tell on that one.
I found this second book to be very enjoyable to read, I'll be interested to see if anyone decides to start the story of Kithamar here and whether it would be as impactful without the levels of dramatic irony you experience if you read Age of Ash first. I will definitely be reading book three when it eventually comes out and I hope that the overall star rating for this series continues to rise with each book added to the mix.
I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Daniel Abraham’s Kithamar series is based on a fascinating premise. His plan is to deliver three books set over the same period of time in the same place. That place is the medieval fantasy city of Kithamar. The first book, Age of Ash centred around a thief who gets tangled up in a conspiracy. The follow up Blade of Dream, covers the same period but from different perspectives – in this case it is predominantly the disaffected son of a merchant family and the heir to the throne of Kithamar.
The book opens at the end – the funeral procession of the prince and the knowledge that his daughter Elaine will be installed as the new prince of Kithamar. Abraham then returns to the year before and the character of Garreth Left, heir to a family merchant business that has fallen on hard times. In order to reverse their fortunes, his parents have organised a strategic marriage but after a night in which he unkowingly meets and falls for Elaine a Sal, Gareth bucks his destiny and decides to forge his own path. Meanwhile, Elaine finds that her father being prince is not all it’s cracked up to be and moreover that he is keeping secrets from her.
Blade of Dream packs some surprises in but this is not its main aim. Readers of the first book will know some of what is going on in the background and the positioning of some of the minor characters of this book who were more central to the last one. And the fates of its central characters is known from page one. What it does well is fill out more strata of the complex inhabitants of Kithamar. In this case the merchants and the city Guard as well as some more insight into the city’s religions and aristocracy. And once again, the city of Kithamar is a central character, a fully realised and complex city-organism brought to life through its characters and Abraham’s vivid descriptions of the various locales through changing seasons. And as the action of the first book weaves in and out, plenty of easter eggs for those who remember the detail of that volume.
Abraham, one of the co-writers of the incredibly addictive space opera series The Expanse knowns how to spin an engaging tale centred on slightly grey but entirely likeable characters. And he does this again in Blade of Dream. So that those who either do not remember the ins and outs of Age of Ash, or those who pick this up as a standalone (or as the first book in a series which feels designed to be read in any order) will still find a complete tale and plenty to enjoy.
While after two books it feels like Abraham has covered every possible angle of what is an eventful year in the history of Kithamar it will be fascinating to see where he comes from (and how he potentially pulls all of the threads together) in the final volume.

Daniel Abraham is organising his Kithamar trilogy in unconventional fashion, the books running not in series but in parallel. Meaning that Blade Of Dream starts exactly where Age Of Ash did - indeed, it starts with the same page of prose, before looking another way at a crucial moment. Because where its predecessor covered events in the city's moment of crisis from the perspective of those without a pot to piss in, this time we're seeing the same period as experienced by those with power: the heir to the throne, the son of a merchant dynasty, the young man who wears the blue cloak of the Watch. The joke, of course, is that they may have comfier beds, but each of them is constrained by their position as surely as the first book's paupers and criminals. Certain apparently minor events here gain extra weight even as we first hear of them, because we've already seen the other side of the story; others, of course, gain resonance in a way Abraham can't have intended - it feels different for a British reader now to see a state losing the only ruler most of its inhabitants have ever known, the heir awkwardly feeling his way into the role. Granted, I don't think the issue in Britain is that a sorcerous rite was derailed at a crucial point, though these days it wouldn't surprise me.

At times I suspected that having read the two books closer together could have made the precision of the clockwork even more impressive, especially if I hadn't confused myself with the not dissimilar mood and themes of Adrian Tchaikovsky's City Of Last Chances in the meantime. Then too, there's that old fantasy issue, the names: merchant scion Garreth Left felt like his was way too obvious, while 'egregore' was surely a sufficiently niche term that it doesn't need to be fantasyfied with a different spelling. But these are minor quibbles; Abraham knows how to write great cities, and their people, with all their messy ties and wants. He also has a restrained but effective way with the supernatural, mostly seen from the corner of the eye and feeling all the more genuinely magical for that. I really wasn't expecting the degree to which the novel would be a story of love against the odds, but it works, tying into the wider interest in all the things time takes from us, the desperate measures humans - and others - will countenance to stand against that tide.

(Netgalley ARC)

Not sure if it was the change of pace, characters or everything else but this didn't hit me as much as the first. Age of Ash built up to be something incredible but this was a disarming cog in the novel.

Interesting and compelling follow up to Age of Ash retelling the events of the death of Prince Byrn a Sal and the attempted takeover of Kithamar by its inhabitant demon. It's a whole new angle to the story with new characters set at the same time and place as the first book. Really interesting read and can't wait for part 3 !