A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham

Daniel Abraham delighted fantasy readers with his brilliant, original, and engaging first novel, A Shadow in Summer. Now he has produced an even more powerful sequel, a tragedy as darkly personal and violent as Shakespeare's Macbeth.

As a boy, Otah Machi was exiled from his family, Machi's ruling house. Decades later, he has witnessed and been part of world-changing events. Yet he has never returned to Machi. Now his father--the Khai, or ruler, of Machi--is dying and his eldest brother Biitrah has been assassinated, Otah realizes that he must return to Machi, for reasons not even he understands.

Tradition dictates that the sons of a dying Khai fall upon each other until only one remains to succeed his father. But something even worse is occurring in Machi. The Galts, an expansive empire, has allied with someone in Machi to bring down the ruling house. Otah is accused, the long-missing brother with an all-too-obvious motive for murder.

With the subtlety and wonderful storytelling skill of his first novel, Abraham has created a masterful drama filled with a unique magic, a suspenseful thriller of sexual betrayal, and Machiavellian politics.

Pros: complex characters, world-building with depth, intrigue

Cons: some of the antagonist's plots worked out surprisingly well

The eldest son of the dying Khai Machi is poisoned and all eyes turn to the succession about to take place in Machi. When Otah Machi, the Khai's sixth son, hiding under the false name Itani Noygu, is told by his courier overseer to gather information there he knows returning to the city of his birth is potentially suicidal. He expects his low status and new identity will hide him.

But he is unaware that the Dai-kvo has sent his old friend and student, Maati to the city, to see if it's Otah who has been trying for the position of Khai.

Abraham's forte is in creating characters of true depth. They're real people, with complex emotions faced with difficult choices. After the way the first book ended, I was hesitant reading this book. It starts 14 years after the events of A Shadow in Summer, and there seemed to be too much distance between what just happened and where the characters are at the start of A Betrayal in Winter. But a few chapters in I was so enthralled with the characters, particularly Otah's sister Idaan, who's quite a feminist for the world in which she lives. But realistically so.

And then there are the intrigues. A few times I felt the plots the antagonist implemented to replace the Khai came off a little too easily, if not perfectly. On the whole, the story is quite complex, and I did like how difficult it was for Maati to discover who was behind the assassination of the eldest son.

The world-building continued to be immersive, with everything feeling real, from the netting around the beds to keep the bugs away, to the night candles and the hand gestures and name suffixes.

This is a book that epitomises the phrase, be careful what you wish for. It's also about how the decisions you make change you - for better or worse.

A solid follow-up to the first book. If you like Shadow in Summer, it's worth continuing. The book follows Maati and Otah 15 years or so into the future as they remain chased by the ghosts and events of the past. This novel is even more political/court intrigue focused than the first, so if that's your thing, stick with the series.

Executive Summary: Another solid entry in this series, though maybe not quite as enjoyable as the first book.Audio book: Much as the first book, the narration is fine, but not spectacular. Fewer annoying voices than the first book at least.Full ReviewThis books starts with a time jump, which I always find tricky. The passage of time can have an important impact on a story. Characters mature, events are put in perspective, plans put into motion. In short: things change. I'm not always a fan of big time jumps, but Mr. Abraham seems to do a good job of it. We're initially not privy to what the characters have been up to for the last 8 years or so. We discover these things over the course of the book without ever having flashback scenes. That makes me think the time jump was justified.I found things maybe a little bit slower in this novel than the first one. It took a bit of time for Mr. Abraham to get the pieces in place to finally get the ball rolling, but I never found myself uninterested.Very few authors can write a sort of everyday life kind of story without boring me. [a:Robin Hobb 25307 Robin Hobb https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1397885202p2/25307.jpg] is incredibly good at this. I think Mr. Abraham is as well. That said, it's the kind of story that can easily turn people away. Once again there is very little magic or action. Almost no fighting at all.Everything is politically based. There are hints of a possible war on the horizon, but no armies are being mustered yet. I'm hopeful that based on where things stand at the end of this novel, should make for some pretty interesting developments in the next one.The characters are once again examples of shades of grey. Most are dealing with internal conflicts raging over what course of action they should take. The world he built in the first novel wasn't really expanded much here, but it was refined a little. We get to see the politics and violence of a succession in more detail.Overall I think anyone who enjoyed the first book, will enjoy this as well. While anyone who found the first book lacking, won't likely find this book any better.I had the third book all downloaded and ready to go, but unexpectedly got distracted by another book. I will be coming back to this series very soon though.