This book felt like a prologue for the entire series. I think the upcoming books will be a little more fast and intersting. Not that i dont like this book but i felt like this is very slow and sometimes boring.

The story focus mostly on the character building and establishing the plot. Eventhough i like character growth and story depth, i would have gave this 5 stars if it was a little more fast.

Given that i should certainly mention the characters here. Such a wonderful characters Abraham has introduced here. I was really disturbed on Geder's decisions and Cithrin's calculations.

I hope Marcus and Dawson storyline will get more traction on the next books as the plot is getting started. ( )

Three and a half stars.

I cut my reading teeth on fantasy and science fiction. A regular at the local library, I had gone through their “SF/F” offerings by early teens (which is how I came to read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) and relied on my babysitting money and the local Waldenbooks for more current fare. The scarcity of material meant I re-read books I owned many, many times. As a result, when I encounter something that feels new in fantasy, that has a fresh take or inspired writing, I tend to gush (in case you are wondering, both N.K. Jemisin’s The Killing Moon and Frances Hardinger’s Fly By Night were dazzling takes on the genre). I was intrigued with the positive buzz about Abraham’s epic fantasy The Dragon’s Path and had it on my radar for some time. Unfortunately, it felt surprisingly familiar.

This feels like a self-conscious book. You know; the kind of book that clearly started with a Big Idea instead of a great story. Abraham has both writing experience and Notable Writing Connections around him, and The Dragon’s Path feels like a genre idea in search of storytelling finesse. In fact, in an afterward interview, Abraham mentions that this book was his foray into a full-length Epic Fantasy. Had it been less self-conscious, or integrated better, or maybe had I just been generally new to the fantasy reading experience, I might have enjoyed it more.

There are four viewpoints in the story along with a fifth character who appears in the prologue and final act. Two viewpoints in the story intertwine early on: Marcus, a former elite soldier turned mercenary, and Cithrin, a half-blood orphan ward of a banking house. Then there are the separate stories of Geder, minor noble and sometime scholar, and Dawson, childhood friend of the king and a highly ranked Baron. They mostly start in the city of Vanai, Marcus trying to get free of likely conscription and Cithrin sent out with a wagon from the banker’s house in the last caravan to leave the city. Geder is experiencing his first campaign and discovering it isn’t nearly as awe-inspiring as the written stories. Dawson is scheming against another Baron in an attempt to spur the king to action. Marcus and Dawson are both experienced while Cithrin and Geder are naive and undergoing journeys of self-discovery. Overall, I enjoyed the characterization. While certainly genre typical, they feel rounded enough to be enjoyable. I was interested in Cithrin’s maturation, and the way the traveling troupe took her under their wing. Marcus was admirable but predictable as the heroic archetype (complete with dead wife and child), and Geder the bumbling youth that gets his chance at power.

A few reviewers make a point of remarking on the uniqueness of Cithrin’s role as female financier and the role of economics in the story, but I confess, I was strongly reminded of Silk in David Eddings’ The Belgariad series and his frequent lectures and demonstrations of the economics of trade and the psychology behind business strategies. Quite honestly, it felt familiar–although still enjoyable. While I respect the idea that Abraham wanted the perspective of the individual as he explores the path to war, changing from four different story lines presents a world-building challenge that doesn’t ever quite resolve. There are the Free Cities, each with their own political history; the Severed Throne, it’s rival and their political intrigue; and thirteen different races. I got the sense that certain events were supposed to be significant, but I rather lacked the context to understand why. Dawson’s plot line with complicated scheming meant to oppose other factions was particularly challenging to follow.

One aspect that sets Abraham apart are are moments of lovely writing:

“It was an evil that the city would weather, as it had before, and no one expected the disaster would come to them in particular. The soul of the city could be summarized with a shrug.”

“‘Good,’ Lerer Palliako said. He was hardly more than a shadow against a shadow, except that the starlight caught his eyes. ‘That’s my good boy.’”

A reviewer I admire mentions that it is one of the few books she re-read, and felt like a re-read was worth it for the extra understanding, once the reader has the general world-sense. I don’t doubt that. The trouble is, I’m no longer a 12 year old limited to the small fantasy section of the local library and my local bookstore. I can barely find time to re-read the few books I feel were excellent the first time around. I have no doubt that a re-read will give me more insight into the dynamics between the races, and the politics behind the Severed Throne–I’m just not sure I care. But I think Abraham will have a great epic for a new generation of fantasy readers to cut their teeth on.

also at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/the-dragons-path-by-daniel-abraham/ ( )

8/10
It took me a while to get into this—maybe half the book! But I ended up liking it, although most of the main characters are pretty unlikable. I looked forward to the POV chapters of Marcus and Cithrin, and enjoyed reading about the characters around them, too. The others (Geder, Dawson, Basrahip) are not what they seemed at first (bumbling scholar who is the butt of jokes, upstanding loyalist to the king, priest in some hidden temple devoted to truth) but rather something uglier (mass murderer bent of vengeance, reactionary schemer who considers anyone not an aristocrat to be nothing more than animal labor, and the leading edge of something dark and sinister). Still, the plotting is complex and there is plenty of intrigue to keep my interest.

Anxious to see how the various threads eventually come together through the rest of the series. ( )

Apparently there are 13 races of human in this story and a spider goddess and a guy can massacre an entire city and shrug it off. Most of the story is told from a few viewpoints, Marcus - who wants out of a city that's about to fall; Citrin - smuggling a fortune out of said city by pretending to be a boy and Geder who would much rather be a scholar, Dawson is an aristocratic politician with anger issues who regards a lot of people as nuisances to be eliminated and Clara is his politically astute wife. And by the end I didn't really care and I was wondering why I was continuing to read when honestly I had no intention of continuing the series.
It's probably a "if you liked GRRM you'll like this one" read and while it's not bad I just didn't care enough to continue the series. ( )

EDIT 7/10/14 - Just as good the 2nd time around.

I am currently on Book 3 in this series and want it to end simply so I know the ending to the story. There are a few things that bother me about various characters (Cithrin and the drinking), but overall, this is a great installment in my Epic Fantasy library.

I had thought that there was no magic (or very little) to the story as a whole, but as of Book 2, I anticipate some very nasty things in Book 3/4.

I do anticipate that I'll be rereading the series again sometime after it's conclusion--whether in the next book or beyond. That in itself is my stamp of approval and recommendation to other readers.

I purchased the entire series as a Kindle book with the $4 Whispersync audiobook addons, but the narrator is so good that I've almost exclusively stuck to the audiobooks.

Well done [a:Daniel Abraham|134|Daniel Abraham|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207149629p2/134.jpg]! I like these so much that I'm going to give your Long Price Quartet [bc:The Price of Spring|6065889|The Price of Spring (Long Price Quartet, #4)|Daniel Abraham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388902656s/6065889.jpg|6242207][bc:A Shadow in Summer|208|A Shadow in Summer (Long Price Quartet, #1)|Daniel Abraham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403188205s/208.jpg|1711253][bc:An Autumn War|2443516|An Autumn War (Long Price Quartet, #3)|Daniel Abraham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401332768s/2443516.jpg|2450710][bc:A Betrayal in Winter|811161|A Betrayal in Winter (Long Price Quartet, #2)|Daniel Abraham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393279525s/811161.jpg|797100] another read while I'm waiting for book 4. ( )