Age of Ash

By: Daniel Abraham

Narrated by: Soneela Nankani

From a Hugo award-winningNew York Timesbestselling author comes a "fascinating" epic fantasy trilogy that unfolds within the walls of a single great city where every story matters (Joe Abercrombie)—and the fate of the city is woven from them all.

Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold.

This is Alys's.

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.

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.

“An atmospheric and fascinating tapestry, woven with skill and patience.” –Joe Abercrombie, New York Times bestselling author of A Little Hatred

For more from Daniel Abraham, check out:

The Dagger and the Coin
The Dragon's Path
The King's Blood
The Tyrant's Law
The Widow's House
The Spider's War

Critic reviews

“An atmospheric and fascinating tapestry, woven with skill and patience.”—Joe Abercrombie, New York Times bestselling author of A Little Hatred

“[An] outstanding series debut, which instantly hooks readers with dual mysteries . . . Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Age of Ash’s Kithamar is a spectacular creation, a city brought to life by dense, intricate worldbuilding and subtle magic. Fans of Scott Lynch or Robert Jackson Bennett will enjoy this one.”—Django Wexler, author of Ashes of the Sun

"Everything I look for in a fantasy."—George R.R. Martin on The Dragon's Path

"Abraham builds on The Dragon's Path to create and sustain a rich, satisfyingly complex epic fantasy."—Publishers Weekly on The King's Blood

"Prepare to be shocked, startled, and entertained."—Locus on The Dragon's Path

"It's as if Clint Eastwood went to Narnia...A pleasure for Abraham's legion of fans."—Kirkus on The Dragon's Path

"This smart, absorbing, fascinating military fantasy, exciting and genuinely suspenseful, will keep readers on their toes."—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on The Tyrant's Law

World building is a bit thin

The characters are a bit morose. The City — ostensibly the main character — fails to be brought fully alive.

It’s not not bad. It’s just not great, and fails in comparison with other fantasy novels about cities.

The narration is…well, it’s professional-grade, but the characters are, frankly, unnecessarily morose and whiny. In part because of how they are written, but more because of how the narrator portrays them.

I liked the book, but the format was frustrating.

I like to use chapter boundaries to end my daily audio sessions, and this book made that hard.

There are just 3 long sections and you have to listen for a break in the story to stop. You have no idea if the next break will be in 5 minutes or 25.

Just ok. Not quite what I’d hoped for

Perhaps I had my sights set a bit too high after experiencing The Expanse series.
This was…ok. It wasn’t bad. But, neither was it amazing.

Others have said it was, perhaps, a bit boring and I’d have to echo that. I’m pretty patient when it comes to audiobooks, and even I found this to be pretty slow moving. I can’t point to any one thing that really stood out for me in the book. Which is not what you’d want. It simply wasn’t memorable. At all.

Chapter Readers/Listeners Beware!

First and foremost, I have no idea why the author didn't number his chapters despite writing the book in a chapter format. As a result, the audiobook is broken up into 4 parts: the prologue and 3 seasons BUT audible treats each season as a "chapter" so be careful about setting timers for "end of chapter" as each "chapter" is actually one of the "parts" of the book.

Aside from that, this is a great story about 2 young women dealing with grief in their own ways as they unknowingly get caught in of more powerful groups with grand machinations for the city they live in. Fewer point of view characters than I expected after coming off of The Expanse but the tempo and pacing is well done. Knocked* out the audiobook in about 2 days (which is great considering the printed book's sat unopened on my night stand for a few years).

*I have about 30min of the 1st book left but have already purchased the sequel.

It is a very tight story and the character building is great!

Overall a very good story. The magic is subtle but strikes a good balance of plausible and believable not too over the top or ridiculously powerful. The protagonists are well developed characters - the perspective shifted many times but was easy to follow and helped the story flow.
Finally, this story will keep you guessing as to how it’s unfolding. Often I feel like some plots are fairly predictable but this one had enough twists to keep me wondering what would happen next.