Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham (Book #2 of The Long Price Quartet)
Introduction
Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham is the second book in the Long Price Quartet. The cities of Khaiem were part of a great Empire having great magic. Their Empire and their magic have receded, so the Empire of Galt plots to overthrow them. The Khai Machi, the leader of the city of Machi, is dying. When he dies his sons must fight each other to the death until one rules as the next Khai Machi. The Khai’s youngest son, Otah was exiled and presumed dead. Otah wants to still be hidden, but history intervenes, and he must try to survive A Betrayal in Winter or die like his father.
Summary – Background
The cities of the Khaiem are connected by the use of sentient magical creatures called the andat. Each city has one andat controlled by a person called a poet who binds them with words. They name andat by the special task they can perform. Seedless, the andat of the city Saraykeht can magically pick seeds from cotton serving as a magical cotton gin. The andat of the city of Machi called Stone-Made-Soft can help with the mining of ores. The andat also protect the cities by having the power to destroy enemies of the Khaiem. So no one has defeated the cities since they obtained their andats.
Summary – Characters
The Empire of Galt wants to defeat the Khaiem so they plot to kill the Khai Machi, the ruller of the city of Machi.
When a Khai dies, the Khai’s sons must fight each other to the death so only one rules after his passing.
Biitrah Machi is the eldest son of the Machi, but he would rather work in the mines than be the ruler.
Idaan Machi is the daughter of the Khai and has her own plans including her fiance Hiami, a son of one of the most powerful of the clans in Machi.
Maati is a scholar, an appentice poet who missed his chance to control an andat. The Dai-kvo rules the poets and tells Maati to go see what is going on at the city of Machi and report back to him.
Otah Machi is the sixth son of the Khai Machi. He was appenticed to the poets and later exiled as a laborer. He is the wild card. When the Khai dies, he will be part of the succession whether he likes it or not. Maati is his old friend but they had a complicated relationship.
Cehmai holds the binding on the andat name Stone-Made-Soft. He wasn’t the originator of the binding, but he holds it now.
Recommendation
Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham is a great second book in a series of a different kind of fantasy. The plot is slow, there’s not much action, and characters maneuver through political and business maneuvering. There is an Asian/formal feel through the characters use of poses and their choice of honorifics. Some of the characters from the first novel appear in this novel, but the clear protagonist is Otah. The ending worked well.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/811161.A_Betrayal_in_Winter
In A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham, the poet-magician Heshai must keep control of the magical creature Seedless, or the Summer Cities will fall to the Empire of Galt.
This is the link to my review of Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck write together as James S. A. Corey in this Science Fiction series called The Expanse.)