The Long Price: Shadow & Betrayal (A Shadow in Summer & A Betrayal in Winter) (The Long Price Quartet (Vol. 1 & 2))

About this book

The Science Fiction Book Club is proud to present the first two novels of Daniel Abrahams brilliantly original series The Long Price Quartet. Gesture and posture convey as much information as spoken words in Abrahams impressive first novel a fantasy set in a world where poets create and bind powerful shape-shifting creatures called "andat." The Empire hangs on literally by a thread; the cloth industry depends on the ability of andat Seedless to magically remove seeds from cotton plants to keep commerce flowing and the barbarians in check. Seedless who can also remove unborn children from their mothers womb aims to drive his poet-creator Heshai-kvo mad with grief. A love triangle develops among a threesomeHeshais apprentice Maati; Itani a laborer with a past; and the beautiful scribe Liatas they unknowingly assist the andat in his plot to abort a wanted child. Set 15 years after the events of 2006s A Shadow in Summer Abrahams clever second novel follows the tribulations of Otah Machi the sixth son of the Khai Machi. On the demise of the Khai one son must dispose of all other contenders in order to become the new ruler. Now the old Khais death approaches and Otahs oldest brother Biitrah has been smothered in his sleep. Whispered rumorwhich may have been started by the Galts an empire desperate to destroy the house of Machiputs the blame for the murder on Otah. He returns to Machi grimly acknowledging that he must kill his brothers to save himself. Mystery love triangles and struggles with magical creatures called andat make for a slow-starting but well-rounded story.