Age of Ash: The Sunday Times bestseller - The Kithamar Trilogy Book 1

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Kithamar is a centre of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold. This is Alys's. Never even friends, more colleagues, Alys and Sammish’s relationship is strained for most of this book. Again, I find myself praising Abraham’s decisions here. What could have been a very simple unrequited love story turns into something more nuanced. As Alys grows distant and more cutthroat, Sammish at first tries to convince herself that she doesn’t care. In reality, she cares quite a bit. And so their relationship goes through ups and downs as each learns more about the secret of Kithamar in their own time and own ways. I like that these two are at odds more than they are aligned, and that the book gradually pivots from being wholly Alys’s story to including Sammish too—I think a good argument might be made that Sammish is more the protagonist than Alys even. In the UK, trees don’t grow all year round but follow the cycle of the seasons. Tree growth occurs in the spring and summer, slows during the autumn and trees become dormant in winter. Recommendations: if you love subtle, immersive world-building and highly character-driven novels, then Age of Ash will be right up your alley. I loved my experience with Long Price Quartet and so far Kithamar is starting out just as strong. There are no chapter ANYTHINGS. None. It’s just one long, never-ending stream. You want chunkable, bite-sized portions with those mini-cliff-hangers for the taste? Go read Mark Lawrence or something similarly hollywoody. You won’t find those here.

If an element decays by losing an alpha particle, it will lose 2 protons and 2 neutrons. If an atom decays by losing a beta particle, it loses just one electron. Our tale is set in the illustrious city of Kithamar, a city full of beauty, but with a rich history of blood and war, a city where every person has a story to unfold, a city where a sinister secret has long been kept hidden. It is also a city where two thieves from the slums of Longhill become embroiled in a plot of dark magic and deadly political intrigue. We follow Alys and Sammish, both members of a thieving crew, both skilled in their roles of distraction and going unnoticed. Yet what begins as petty thievery soon turns into so much more. When Alys’s brother Darro is murdered, Alys sets on a journey of discovery and revenge, which leads her down some very treacherous paths. Sammish seeing her beloved Alys suffer and struggle under her grief, tries to help her friend in any way she can, but the more she learns the truth about the murder and the multitude of connections surrounding it, she soon realises she has to try to save more than just her friend.I loved Alys’s character, her journey is raw and painful, and although many times she sorely needed to realise the downfall she was heading towards, I understood why she couldn’t. Her relationship with her mother is strained, her friendships with others become distant, and instead of building bridges she shatters them and forges new ones, but with the wrong people. Kithamar is a city on the river. It was a meeting place, though now the two major ethnicities live mostly peaceably side by side. Ruled by a prince (the term is gender neutral in Kithamar), the city has its share of the poor and disadvantaged. Alys and Sammish both fall into this category. They grew up in Longhill, the poorest district. After Alys’s brother Darro dies mysteriously, Alys vows to discover who killed him and why. This leads her down a dangerous path, putting her in the employ of a man and a woman from Green Hill—the richest district—and stretching her morals to their limits. Meanwhile, Sammish’s unrequited love for Alys forces her to confront the dark currents that threaten to sweep up Alys in their wake. And the city of Kithamar does not slumber—it is completely, personally awake. What is the most captivating about the book is that while it is not so much character-driven, it definitely is character-dependent. And one of those characters is the city. It is always in the spotlight. We can see and smell its crooks and nooks, its best and worst; the city itself becomes a protagonist that can help you or kill you if you’re careless. It is also incredibly atmospheric. Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything.

It's clear with this first in the Kithamar Trilogy that Abraham is on his way to giving us yet another must-read series Now that I have finished Age of Ash not only I am excited to continue with the sequel ( Blade of Dreams, coming out in Summer 2023), I cannot wait to return for an Age of Ash reread. One thing to note about Abraham’s works is that the early volumes in his series (see also The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin) always read better in conversation with the later books. Of course, this means that sometimes beginning a new Daniel Abraham series can be a struggle because the importance of characters, events, and themes may not become apparent for another two, three, or even four books. Abraham absolutely loves to plant little plot seeds and nurture their growth over the course of a series. You can see that happening in Age of Ash where things that seem quite prominent (including the mysterious Daris Brotherhood) feel a bit underexplored and underdeveloped, while also feeling like a satisfying reading experience. I absolutely cannot wait to see how Abraham continues to expand the culture, politics, and peoples of Kithamar. How awful, you want to exclaim. The reader literally knows the ending of the plot before s/he knows that the plot exists! What is worse, after reading the book, one still doesn’t know what would happen had a party other than the one won won. Well, yes and no. We see the glimpses, but the mystery is still there. What we got was as much an introduction as it was a teaser. I will probably regret reading it now instead of waiting for the whole series to binge at will, but there are a few writers who are irresistible, and Daniel Abraham is one of them. As a big fan of The Expanse series, which is co-authored by Daniel Abraham, I was excited for this new release fantasy solo project of his. The premise sounded very intriguing so when the chance to get an arc came up I jumped on it. It sounded like a murder mystery intertwined with fantasy and that is something I love. In fact the way that was executed in The Justice of Kings was almost perfect. However, what I got with Age of Ash left quite a bit to be desired. Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold.An atmospheric and fascinating tapestry, woven with skill and patience.”– Joe Abercrombie, New York Timesbestselling author of A Little Hatred

Gates of Fire (PvP): Two teams clash over possession of the flag. Gain points by flying through gates while holding the flag! When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives. Who gives a shit? Who promised you fair? I didn’t. Fair is good people get treated good, and bad people get the bad. That sound like anyplace you know? I’ve never been there.” Kithamar is a centre of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold. This is Alys’s. The main plot might be the least interesting part, and it is still very good. I won’t go into much detail so as to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say, there is a dark secret at the heart of the city and its leadership. But the people who maintain this secret have enemies who want to see them fall. Abraham implies that these people aren’t very good, but it’s also unclear if their fall would really be all that better than the system that currently exists.

Ancient characteristics

Earth’s atmosphere contains three isotopes of carbon. Carbon-12 is stable and accounts for 98.9% of atmospheric carbon. Carbon-13 is also stable and accounts for 1.1% of atmospheric carbon. Carbon-14 is radioactive and is found in tiny amounts. Carbon-14 is produced naturally in the atmosphere when cosmic rays interact with nitrogen atoms. The amount of carbon-14 produced in the atmosphere at any particular time has been relatively stable through time.

The magic, let's just call it that so we don't spoil anything, was also fascinating, as well as the Brotherhood, which I just wanted to know more of.From New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author Daniel Abraham, co-author of the Expanse, comes a monumental epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city, over the course of one tumultuous year, where every story matters, and the fate of the city is woven from them all. This outstanding series debut [. . .] instantly hooks readers with dual mysteries [. . .] Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel’ Publishers Weekly I think that unless you delve into the themes, or the specific character motivations, that is sometimes the conundrum with reviewing a Daniel Abraham book though. A one million year old bed of volcanic ash that contains the footprints of hominids (human ancestors). Age of Ashisa tale of grief and love and how struggle can force us into places we’d never expect, told with the precision we’d expect from Daniel Abraham. When you factor in the unique structure of the series and the absolutely jaw-dropping way that the novel’s twists reframe everything, it becomes the kind of story that will follow you around and force you to remember it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will be eagerly snapping up the next entry in The Kithamar Trilogyas soon as it drops.