Blade of Dream
The Kithamar trilogy, Book 2
Daniel Abraham
Orbit
Fiction, Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Since its founding, the city of Kithamar has been a city of struggles and contrasts, from the first violent clashes of invading Hansch against indigenous Inlisc to the friction of rival brotherhoods and religions and families and classes in its many sprawling districts. It is the duty of the prince to keep Kithamar together and help the city thrive despite its many differences and disagreements... but Byrn a Sal only reigned for a single year. Did he die by accident, by traitors in the palace, by some foreign plot, or by the very living thread of city itself?
Elaine a Sal has lived a life of privilege... and boredom. Her father may be next in line for the Kithamar crown, and herself his most likely successor, but she can't help feeling separated from the city she is expected to rule someday. As the current prince's death grows more imminent, she only feels the walls growing thicker. Then her cousin Theddan, notorious for flouting convention and pesky social rules, talks Elaine into sneaking out to a riverside party... and her whole world is turned upside down. When the bluecloak city guards raid the boathouse, Elaine dives into the river to escape capture (and embarrassment for her father) - and finds a stranger who helps her slip away, a handsome and noble-hearted young man far out of her social class but who unexpectedly captures her attention, and her heart. She knew she should forget all about one indiscretion, that the duties to family and city will always supersede personal happiness, but she can't help thinking of him. And when her father's rise to Palace Hill brings troubling hints that all is not well with the crown or the city, she realizes she can trust nobody - nobody except perhaps one handsome and noble-hearted young man from across the river...
Garreth Left's life has been proscribed by family "policy" since before he can remember. The way his mother is always away traveling while his father manages the family trading business at home: policy. The fact that he's no longer a child and yet is still in the dark about so much of the family business despite being the eldest son: policy. Now policy will dictate his marriage to a stranger, an Inlisc woman from a trading clan beyond Kithamar, a move that may restore House Left to its former fortune and glory (and provide a loophole through which to run an off-season caravan and undercut their rivals). Worse, his childhood best friends are all drifting away into their own lives. Three of them chose the blue cloaks of the city guard over lesser (or no) status roles in their own trader families, and though Garreth still spends time with them, he can feel the bonds fraying. He is with them one night, watching as they raid an unlawful party in a boathouse, when he sees a young woman climb out of the river and hide from the guards... and, rather than turn her in to his friends, he feels moved to help her - "help" that ends in his bedroom, though mutual consent. He never even asks her name, but from that moment on, his entire life tips askew. Suddenly, "policy" is no longer enough to compel him to accept a loveless marriage and a future dictated by others. He takes his first steps toward a life of his own, beyond the reach of his father and family policy. Little does he suspect just how far those steps will take him - and how the very fate of Kithamar might hang in the balance.
REVIEW: The first volume in the Kithamar trilogy was an unexpected delight, an epic fantasy compressed into the scope of one turbulent year and one fractured city, focused on a relatively small cast of players and yet with all the richness and worldbuilding and character growth of a larger, sprawling tale. The second volume follows the same year, but switches the focus to other characters, the star-crossed pair of Garreth and Elaine who were part of events in Age of Ash but not the main focus. It could easily have been a simple retread, but Abraham turns it into a fresh and interesting take that nevertheless slots seamlessly into the larger arc, which is also a different tale when viewed from another angle.
The original story's characters viewed the future prince Elaine a Sal ("prince" being a gender-neutral title in this world) as a sheltered, naive girl with a puppy-love crush on a stranger beneath her station. While Elaine is undoubtedly sheltered, she's not so naive that she doesn't realize it. Unlike her cousin Theddan, though, she has trouble pushing back too hard against rules and conventions, in no small part because of her deep love for her father; the thought of embarrassing him as Theddan embarrasses her family on an almost nightly basis is enough to keep her safely at home after dark. At last, when the princess feels the future closing in like a noose around her neck, she decides on one (likely first and last) walk on the wild side, reassured when her cousin insists she can get them in and out of the party without a problem, as she's done similar herself many times. Of course, that sort of confidence is catnip for fate; while Elaine manages to escape the bluecloaks, Theddan is finally caught in one transgression too many... but that is not the end of Theddan's involvement (or character growth), as she remains an ally to Elaine even in the darkest times. Elaine also finds herself drawn to the strange young man by the river who, instead of turning her over or being cruel, offers her help and respect. Their indiscretion in the bedroom is entirely consensual on both sides, both knowing that their families and stations and other obligations mean that their relationship has no future - or, at least, that's what they expect. But it changes everything for both of them. Elaine cannot forget him, or the taste of freedom he offered, the sense of someone seeing her as her and not as the daughter of her father, the princess, a potential playing piece in the eternal game of politics and personal ambition. When her father and his chief advisor start acting very strangely after his ascent to the throne, she realizes that he can be more than a one-off memory, but someone beyond the games of Palace Hill whom she can trust to be a neutral party to hear her out. Far from being the childish socialite glimpsed in the first book, she comes across as a reasonably competent young woman stuck a situation far beyond her control, doing her best to protect her loved ones.
Garreth, for his part, is as trapped as any noble by his merchant family's expectations. He's always a son of House Left first, and his own self second (or not at all). Even when his father brings a total stranger to their home and announces his plans for the marriage that will yoke Garreth for the rest of his days, he doesn't once think that he'll upset the rigid bindings of "policy" to refuse... until that night by the river. Suddenly, the thought of marriage to a woman who clearly doesn't care a speck about him seems intolerable. He walks away, thinking to join his friends with the bluecloaks. While he does okay in his new job, he never quite recaptures the camaraderie and old bond he once had with his friends, never truly settles in. And when he finally sees Elaine again and realizes who she is, things only get more complicated. Despite their best intentions, Garreth and Elaine's one-night stand has created something stronger, something they'll both end up relying on more and more as the true rot at the heart of Kithamar becomes more apparent. While Alys and Sammish (from Age of Ash) play a pivotal role in the struggle against that rot, Elaine and Garreth also have a very important role to play, one that's in no way less than that of the Inlisc thief and her friend.
As before, there are subtle magics at work in the city streets, but this time the role of the gods is more apparent from earlier on, or so it seemed to me (though perhaps it was because I knew to look for it). This book also delves more into just what the gods are and how they came to be, with some interesting takes on familiar ideas. Coming from a more educated background, Elaine learns more about the history and philosophy of the city's deities, and makes the discovery of their existence in a different way, while Garreth has his own journey to the secrets of Kithamar.
Many authors might have chosen to weave the tales of Alys and Sammish from the first volume along with Garreth and Elaine, as their stories cover the same timespan and ultimately tie into the same greater arc. By separating out characters into their own books, Abraham gives them breathing room, freeing them from overwhelming each other. As in any city, there are many individual lives threading through the streets, lives which may braid together with others or with the greater tale of the population but which are also separate entities, no less rich for being their own. This storytelling approach also lends greater weight and scale to Kithamar itself, a city too large and too complex to belong to any small handful of people. Even places and people familiar from the first volume look entirely different here. I'm already looking forward to the third and final installment.
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Age of Ash (Daniel Abraham) - My Review
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