Though civilization is an abidingly positive force that moderates human behavior, ignites social cohesion and encourages the very innovation that continually brightens our world, it is not without its dark side. Humans are profoundly hierarchical beings who take all manner of behavioral cues from both the friends that surround them and the society that shelters them. Before civilization, they worked out these hierarchies with violence and discord, using the fortunes of combat to find their place. Civilization has not removed these urges; it has shifted them from brawn to brain, from the battlefield to the boardroom. The thirst for power, the yearning for supremacy, the need to be king of the world is still in us; civilization merely provides nourishment from a different source, another means by which power can be distributed according to strength and guile.
This pursuit of power profoundly impacts our world. For as much as we hail and admire the victors, those shooting stars who inspire us to be better, there are many more losers, men and women for whom the vagaries of genetics and circumstance have not been so kind. Individually, these embittered spirits envy the high and mighty, wondering why they are not enjoying the lap of luxury. When such thoughts inevitably turn to resentment, it is not long before the kindling for rebellion has been lit and the hopes for a fairer system branded into the hearts and minds of the willing. This lesson, of the consequences of unjust hierarchies and uneven distributions of power, is as old as the written word, but it has rarely had a more skillful hand to wield it than that of Mr. Abraham.
In a world of sweat and silks, poets and merchants, kings and metaphysics, the cities of the Khaiem have emerged from the ashes of fallen empires to endure, even to flourish, in a world of politics and trade. This loose confederation of city states are places of opulence and grandeur, beautiful manifestations of human will that haven't felt war's destructive caress for centuries. This is not thanks to any particular wisdom on the part of the Khaiem and their subjects. Nor is it thanks to a dearth of enemies wishing to grind the Khaiem into dust and ruin. No, this profound peace flows from the terrifying power of the Andat.
Manifestations of perfect thought, the Andat are creations drawn from the energies that underpin the world of the Khaiem. Bound to the physical world by songs of exquisite language, they inhabit the minds of the Poets, men trained from boyhood to bear the twin burdens of the Andat and their phenomenal power. For as much as the Andat can cause rivers to flood and stone to melt, as much as they can convey wisdom and fertility, they are imprisoned beings, elemental essences of the universe who chafe at an unnatural confinement that wounds their pride and hardens their hearts. Summoning and binding them is a devil's bargain that has kept the cities of the Khaiem free, but at a terrible cost, both to the Poets who harbor the Andat and the enemies of the Khaiem who are tired of cowering before awesome power of these spirits made flesh.
In A Shadow In Summer, the quartet's opening volume, we are introduced to the bustle of Saraykeht, a city of merchants and prostitutes that is kept afloat by its dominance of the cotton trade. This advantage is conveyed by Saraykeht's Andat, Seedless, who plots to be free of his bondage to Heshai, his jailer and once great Poet, who has turned to drink to escape Seedless' exquisite attacks. The Andat's efforts hinge upon the innocence of an island girl who carries within her the beginnings of a crime that might well shatter the Poet's mind, an act that would both ruin Saraykeht and free the Andat to return to the elemental world from which he was so cruelly wrenched.
Into this twisted scheme is drawn Otah. The sixth son of a king who disgraced himself by rejecting the Poets and their cruel teachings, he has hidden himself away in Saraykeht, taken up the respectable life of a laborer and found comfort in the arms of a young, ambitious servant who wishes to some-day run the merchant's house for which she now toils. Together, they are drawn down into Seedless' web when their merchant house becomes a pawn in the andat's game. Will Seedless win his victory at Saraykeht's expense, or can another way be found to maintain this delicate balance?
In A Betrayal In Winter, the second entry in The Long Price, 14 difficult years have elapsed in the cities of the Khaiem. The ripple effects of Saraykeht's turbulence has been felt far and wide, even as far as cold Machi in the north where Otah has relocated, taking up yet another guise to hide himself from those who, even after all this time, still vengefully pursue him for his choices during the Saraykeht crisis. Machi, however, has bigger problems than Otah and his hunters. Someone is murdering the legitimate heirs to the Machi throne. Though contests for kingship in the cities of the Khaiem are never bloodless, this episode is particularly cruel, eventually claiming even the life of the Khai himself, an act which elevates his daughter, Idaan, and her ruthless husband to preeminence. Will Otah's bloodline as a son of the Machi be discovered? And if so, can he stand to have two powerful enemies, each wanting to spill his blood?
In An Autumn War, the passing of 14 more years finds the cities of the Khaiem enjoying peace and prosperity. The Andat are properly leashed, a fact which continues to frighten the enemies of the Khaiem into reluctant passivity. These decades of relative stability are, however, put at terrible risk when a mad Poet, having fled the school, falls into the welcoming arms of the Galt, a warlike nation which has only resentfully born the yoke of the Khaiem out of fear of Andat vengeance. But what if, at a stroke, the Andat could be removed from the board? Such an eventuality would leave open the soft cities of the Khaiem, states that haven't had to fight a war in generations. Their unbelievable riches could be plucked like ripe fruit and devoured by the Galt who would finally taste the dominance they have been so unfairly denied. The Khaiem without Andat... It is a thought as unimaginable to the Cities as it is horrific. All they have ever known would disappear. And yet the Galt are coming and it seems as though nothing can stop them.
In The Price of Spring, the quartet's concluding work, a final 14 years have come and gone, leaving Otah's ever-more-infirmed generation to bear a final burden. Galt and the cities of the Khaiem have deadlocked at an impasse, each now dependent on the other for survival but too proud to admit it. Meanwhile, in hopes of mending both his own past failures and what he considers to be the criminal decisions of his old friend, Maati, once Otah's ally and now his enemy, strives to bring back into the world that which only the most disciplined mind can stand. Poets were once years in the training for the task of summoning the Andat. Maati has a handful of grief-stricken women, souls too battered for the burden. Nonetheless, he must forge ahead with his plans to make Poets of them. For to do anything less would be a final betrayal he cannot let stand.
Though The Long Price is not without its flaws, let there be no doubt that it is a work of splendid vision and lovely poetry. With clever metaphors, topical allusions and a keen sense of fatalism, Mr. Abraham harnesses the finest tropes of the fantasy genre to produce a lyrical epic that explores the troubled relationship humans have with power: the holding of it, the coveting of it, and the resurrecting of it. The result is an Asian-infused quartet that, though lengthy, spells out the fullness of the lives of legends. For beyond the fabulous world, reminiscent of pre-industrial China, and beyond the story's depthless scope, which elevates poetic justice and artistic vision to an artform, his characters captivate. Driven by intensely human desires, they emerge, fully formed from the author's imagination, each with distinct personalities and capacities, goodness and darkness. The work is too well-rounded to claim that the characters carry it, but they are what separates it from the mundane.
For all its brilliance, The Long Price is still troubled by weaknesses. Mr. Abraham's relentless desire to paint so vividly in shades of gray prevents any of his characters from taking on heroic casts. Some certainly wear the white hats better than others, but the author does not play in such polarized archetypes. While this provides the series much of its realism, it also robs the reader of the opportunity for a rooting interest. In turn, this causes much of the jeopardy, so consequential to the story's actors, to be often punchless,much like watching a drama in which one has not yet emotionally invested. Moreover, Mr. Abraham leans too heavily on artificial enmity. As often as the conflict is earned, it is equally ginned up by the need for the author to connect the dots of his twisted plot. Most of the time, this is well-disguised by the cloak of Fate, but occasionally the fabric is too threadbare for the reader to maintain his credulity.
Nonetheless, this is excellent, imaginative work. As much as Mr. Abraham occasionally struggles to keep his story flowing towards its conclusion, his ruminations on the nature of power and envy, fate and fortune, more than make up for these lapses. Some powers are simply too great for even the wise to bear. Allowing them into the world is to open the door to a chaos capable of ending all that we know. And yet, often, the decisions to actualize such powers are in the hands of the bold few, not those of the cautious many, a fact which, every day, potentially damns us all.
Lengthy but grippingly sophisticated. (4/5 Stars)
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