But it prompts a lot of questions, especially when the one andat who figures as a major character in the plot seems to have been given not only human shape but a fully developed adult personality complete with sarcasm, arrogance and guile.
Are they beings summoned from somewhere, or are they aspects of the poet's own psyche made manifest? Or a bit of both? The story describes the andat as "ideas tamed and given human shape," which is a great concept. But Abraham doesn't make it fully clear how the poets do what they do, let alone exactly what the andat are. We see how the poets are trained it's a situation similar to how you might imagine some ancient Asian martial arts school to have been run, with strict training reinforced by harsh discipline. This aspect of Abraham's story is a little hazy. Magic is performed by sorcerer "poets" who summon and bind mystical beings called andat. In Abraham's world, cotton is to Saraykeht as oil is to America.
It's a hub of commerce whose economic tentpole is the cotton trade. Saraykeht is a sprawling city-state that is the most powerful remnant of what used to be a vast empire. On the whole, though, it's quite impressive and bodes well for Abraham's future.Ībraham's story is that of a powerful city brought to the brink of ruin not by armies but by a single, vengeful act of spite. As in most debuts, there are issues a lack of clarity here, some murkiness there. None of the genre's stock heroes or villians (or creatures) puts in an appearance, nor is the use of magic remotely conventional. There's nothing particularly medieval-looking about the setting.
The story is not a traditional quest or military epic. A Shadow in Summer is an ambitious debut that shows author Daniel Abraham genuinely trying to do something new in fantasy.
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