Blade of Dream (Kithamar Trilogy, 2)
Orbit, 20 July 2023
Available as: HB, 464pp, audio, e
Source: Advance copy
ISBN(HB): 9780356515465
I'm grateful to Orbit for providing me an advance e-copy of Blade of Dream via Netgalley to consider for review.
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 Royal funeral and coronation, and ending with a funeral, and coronation. (Weird to read in the UK where, just a year ago, we had a Royal funeral...)
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 detail 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 Left, 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 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 more competitive sense. As part of the ruling family, Elaine faces multiple dangers, both physical and political, while Garreth's joined the City Watch so is exposed to both daily assault and the backwash of political turmoil. (There's also the impact on him of moves his house makes in Kithamar's spirited trading games). 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 a central character in this book both in its vividness... and also in a slightly different sense that you may recall from Age of Ash
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...
For more information about Blade of Dream, see the publisher's website here.
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