Both characters are written with depth and complexity, as you'd expect from Abraham, and the ultra-tight focus on the two protagonists for most of its length gives the novel a pacy feel.

What is worse, after reading the book, one still doesn’t know what would happen had a party other than the one won won. 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. And in truth I find it hard to describe exactly why reading it was as wonderful as it was, aside from highlighting broader themes of Abraham’s work. A series starter, this is supposed to be the beginning of a wide, intricate tapestry of stories that all take place in the same city in the same timeframe – but I think it’s a big ask to expect readers to wait a few books until it all comes together to spot the genius, when each individual book may not in itself be that ambitious or groundbreaking.In fact, I may try this book again at another time when I am more in the mood for something like this.

Each of the books in this series, we’ve been told, will cover essentially the same period of time, and only be told from the perspective of different sets of characters. 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. If you feel particularly snarky, you can even argue that both have so little to no reason to get involved in the main plot, which is why they frequently ask themselves what and why they are precisely doing. The plot does also eventually tell us that one of the two sides in the story is the unambiguous faction of black hats and which is the unambiguous faction of white hats, rather than trying to present both sides as deeper and more complex, perhaps with good reasons for doing what they're doing.Abraham describes each ward of the city in some detail, with the close but poor community of Longhill standing in contrast to the rich, privileged nobility living west of the river. She has wit, but it’s based on honed survival skills, not on intelligence (and definitely not on the emotional one! But to whatever degree Age of Ash is an imperfect book, it sets a lovingly detailed stage for any future story Abraham should choose to tell. Daniel Abraham at long last completed the groundbreaking Expanse series with writing partner Ty Franck at the end of 2021.

Abraham builds on The Dragon's Path to create and sustain a rich, satisfyingly complex epic fantasy. If you’re after something with a plucky thief uncovering secrets in a wonderfully complex and textured city, I’d recommend picking up The Gutter Prayer for something truly original! We have a very diverse set of them ranging from petty thieves, witches from another country, slavers, and members of the (cultish) royal family. It’s a story of thieves and assassins, of political treachery and secret societies, of colonialism and the impact of cyclical poverty, of trust and betrayal between family and friends.I would like to thank Orbit for sending me a copy of Age of Ash to review, it has been a brilliant introduction to Abraham’s writing.

Content warnings: violence, injury, murder and death; death of children and siblings (grieving family members is a major theme); fire/arson; mentions of plague. 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. Our main characters Alys and Sammish are both from the poor side of the city and survive by doing "pulls" or schemes to steal and commit petty thefts from wealthier marks.Disclaimer: I don’t think I read beyond Leviathan Wakes in The Expanse series, but maybe I’ll go back one day. As much as I appreciate the worldbuilding skill on show here by Abraham, he fails to match it with plot and characterisation. Instead what we get is a very very slow and lengthy exploration of grief and a tiny tiny bit of that other stuff. Yet Abraham’s characters are full of depth and complexities, loss and pain, they are people trying to survive despite life dealing them a bad hand, and I became deeply immersed in their lives as they unravel.