Ever since I started living in Nuttyville (and OMG apparently there are STILL people out there who haven’t figured out why we call our little town Nuttyville… it’s a pun! 
) my travel time has grown with at least half an hour to an hour per day. So when I was in town the other day I thought I’d score myself some books so I wouldn’t be bored in the tram (or waiting for the tram).
It was a bit of an experiment that I picked up a writer that I knew virtually next to nothing about, but I can say from the bottom of my heart that it worked out. Daniel Abraham sounded interesting to me because he was one of the collaborators on George Martin’s Wild Cards series, and his character/storylines on Jonathan Hive were a lot of fun. I thought the writing was clever and the character was sympathetic. So when I was in the American Book Center the other day I picked up the first book of Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, “A Shadow In Summer”.
And while I wasn’t blown away, you can definitely say I was majorly enchanted. The world was very prettily crafted (a bit old japanese-chinese in style), the characters were sympathetic, and sometimes they said really wise, thoughtful and pretty things. The writing style was dreamy/romantic, and it definitely captivated me. Let’s say that no start of a bookseries has enchanted me like this since Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. It’s not action packed, but the tempo is just right for me. Oh, and the andat totally kicked ass and stole every scene he was in – Abraham must’ve had so much fun with Seedless.
Anyway, I hope I’m in town again quickly so I can pick up the second and the third books in the series. The fourth and final volume is still forthcoming. I can’t wait. 
I finished it today and while I must say it was enjoyable and well written, it did not at any single point surprise me or made me think “hey, that’s a cool idea.” And that is a bit of a shame, I think…
I loved how I saw it all coming and I still kept reading – I just really dug the prose and style of the story, I guess. I thought it was really enchanting, more of an atmosphere piece than a cool plottwist story.
Very curious where he’s planning to go with the other books.