/lit/ - Literature

The Price of Spring, Long Price Quartet #4 - Daniel Abraham (2009)

Yet again 25 more years have passed, bringing the previous protagonists into their 90s, as 100 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The central themes for this book are grief and renewal. While there are still fantasy tropes, I was moderately surprised to see how many science fiction tropes were added in as well. Two science fiction novels in particular come to mind, though I don't know how much of an influence they were, as it may just be coincidence. I didn't mind, but for fantasy purists their inclusion may be distracting.

This book also included many more parallels to modern and contemporary events as well as what could be seen as speculation on the future. The primary social issues are the rights of women, the homogenous society, war trauma, self guilt, ethnic nationalism, immigration, and ethnic replacement. Almost everything that happens is in reaction to these.

There are new viewpoint characters, though the older generation remained active. Relationships continued to be very important, on both a personal and international level. I think this was the strongest books for characters. A few of the characters sometimes seemed to have inconsistent characterization and their motivations were questionable at times, but strongly held delusions can do that. There were some cases of this in the previous books.

The narrative is split into two opposing sides. I thought one side was clearly the correct path to follow, but by looking at the opinions of others there's substantial support for both sides. I read the correct path as a cautionary tale of a oppressed group with delusions of grandeur and a savior complex who put aside their destructive history and ignored the harm they were causing. I assume it wasn't intentional, but two of the overarching themes of this series to me has been "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and that unwarranted kindness and mercy is destructive.

I'm not sure how I wanted the series to end, but I'm unsatisfied by how it did. It is a bleak ending, though it is definitive, which is probably for the best. Despite that I've finished the series I remain uncertain as to what series name "Long Price" refers to. I assume it means the cost that our actions from our earliest years may have on the rest of our lives. Overall, this is one of my least favorite fantasy series now.

Rating: 1.0/5

The Price of Spring, Long Price Quartet #4 - Daniel Abraham (2009)

Yet again 20 more years have passed, bringing the previous protagonists into their 70s, as 60 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The central themes for this book are grief and renewal. While there are still fantasy tropes, I was moderately surprised to see how many science fiction tropes were added in as well. Two science fiction novels in particular come to mind, though I don't know how much of an influence they were, as it may just be coincidence. I didn't mind, but for fantasy purists their inclusion may be distracting.

This book also included many more parallels to modern and contemporary events as well as what could be seen as speculation on the future. The primary social issues are the rights of women, the homogenous society, war trauma, self guilt, ethnic nationalism, immigration, and ethnic replacement. Almost everything that happens is in reaction to these.

There are new viewpoint characters, though the older generation remained active. Relationships continued to be very important, on both a personal and international level. I think this was the strongest books for characters. A few of the characters sometimes seemed to have inconsistent characterization and their motivations were questionable at times, but strongly held delusions can do that. There were some cases of this in the previous books.

The narrative is split into two opposing sides. I thought one side was clearly the correct path to follow, but by looking at the opinions of others there's substantial support for both sides. I read the correct path as a cautionary tale of a oppressed group with delusions of grandeur and a savior complex who put aside their destructive history and ignored the harm they were causing. I assume it wasn't intentional, but two of the overarching themes of this series to me has been "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and that unwarranted kindness and mercy is destructive.

I'm not sure how I wanted the series to end, but I'm unsatisfied by how it did. It is a bleak ending, though it is definitive, which is probably for the best. Despite that I've finished the series I remain uncertain as to what series name "Long Price" refers to. I assume it means the cost that our actions from our earliest years may have on the rest of our lives. Overall, this is one of my least favorite fantasy series now.

Rating: 1.5/5

The Price of Spring, Long Price Quartet #4 - Daniel Abraham (2009)

Yet again 14 more years have passed, bringing the previous protagonists into their 60s, as 50 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The central themes for this book are grief and renewal. While there are still fantasy tropes, I was moderately surprised to see how many science fiction tropes were added in as well. Two science fiction novels in particular come to mind, though I don't know how much of an influence they were, as it may just be coincidence. Naming them would be too much of a spoiler. I didn't mind, but for fantasy purists their inclusion may be distracting.

This book also included many more parallels to modern and contemporary events as well as what could be seen as speculation on the future. The primary social issues are the rights of women (or lack thereof), the greying of society, war trauma, ethnic nationalism, immigration, and assimilation. Almost everything that happens is in reaction to these.

There are new viewpoint characters, though the older generation remained active. Relationships continued to be very important, on both a personal and international level. Unfortunately, I think this was the weakest books for characters. A few of the characters sometimes seemed to have inconsistent characterization and their motivations were questionable at times, but strongly held delusions can do that. There were some cases of this in the previous books, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment until now.

The narrative is split into two opposing sides. I thought one side was clearly the correct path to follow, but by looking at the opinions of others there's substantial support for both sides. I read the incorrect path as a cautionary tale of a traumatized group with delusions of grandeur and a savior complex who put aside their destructive history and ignored the harm they were causing. I assume it wasn't intentional, but two of the overarching themes of this series to me has been "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and that unwarranted kindness and mercy is destructive.

I'm not sure how I wanted the series to end, but I'm satisfied by how it did. It isn't a bleak ending, though it is definitive, which is probably for the best. Despite that I've finished the series I remain uncertain as to what series name "Long Price" refers to. I assume it means the cost that our actions from our earliest years may have on the rest of our lives. Overall, this is one of my favorite fantasy series now.

Rating: 4/5