Opinions on "The Dragons Path"

[Trakand]

"The Dragon's Path", written by Daniel Abraham, was recommended by George RR Martin. I wanted to gauge the people who have read it.

Thanks for humoring me.

[Suttree]

None of the poll options really matched my opinion. After reading the "Long Prince" quartet Abraham went on my list of authors to watch. His prose is solid and he is definitely getting off to a good start with his career.

 

When I first heard about The Dragons Path I was really excited. It is a great premise and certain elements of the story were very intriguing. Having said that the 1st book was a slight disappointment. For some reason I expected a bit more. He did get more assured with the second book however and fleshes out the back story more. I believe the series is headed in the right direction and Abraham will continue to grow. Not the bestest perhaps but a fine series nevertheless.

[Trakand]

Thanks for providing your opinion. I need to check out his second book. I just finished reading "The way of kings" and "Warbreaker" by Brian Sanderson. It's amazing how many authors you can overlook.

[Werthead]

My review of Book 1, The Dragon's Path.

 

My review of Book 2, The King's Blood.

 

You should also check out his space opera series, The Expanse (written under the pen-name James S.A. Corey), consisting of Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War (with three more books to come), which is also excellent. His first fantasy series, The Long Price Quartet, is also brilliant. He's also written an urban fantasy series (under the name M.L.N. Hanover) and a stand-alone SF novel, Hunter's Run, based on an old George R.R. Martin/Gardner Dozois story.

 

In short, he's one of the best new authors in SF and Fantasy. At this time I would rank him as superior to Rothfuss and Sanderson.

[cwbys21]

At this time I would rank him as superior to Rothfuss and Sanderson.

That's pretty bold.

 

I read the first book on recommendation of elitist book reviews and it was fairly entertaining. I don't remember to much unfortunately as it's been a while but I remember wishing it was 100-200 pages shorter and that it was really inconsistant with the language the characters were using, almost like he was pushed by his editor or publisher to put in more colorful language because George RR Martin is going to give this book a good recomendation and he uses this kind of language and his books are popular.

[Suttree]

At this time I would rank him as superior to Rothfuss and Sanderson.

That's pretty bold.

 

Don't agree with Rothfuss but I think it is fair to say he is ahead of Sanderson. His skill set is definitely more advanced as an author.

[Werthead]

Don't agree with Rothfuss but I think it is fair to say he is ahead of Sanderson. His skill set is definitely more advanced as an author.

 

I think it's safe to say that Abraham's skill set is also more advanced than Rothfuss. He delivers quality work at speed (the latter is something Rothfuss has not managed yet), he has a far more versatile range (taking in SF, urban fantasty, superhero work and fantasy, in both novels and comics) and he's rather more concise (Rothfuss's tendency to waffle and ramble dilutes some of the better aspects of his writing). This also shows in the sheer number of awards that Abraham has been nominated for, as opposed to Rothfuss. Rothfuss's full standing in the fantasy pantheon is also extremely dependent on the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicle and how it resolves elements built up in the first two. If he fails to pull that off, the entire trilogy could be written off as a failure.

[Suttree]

Don't agree with Rothfuss but I think it is fair to say he is ahead of Sanderson. His skill set is definitely more advanced as an author.

 

I think it's safe to say that Abraham's skill set is also more advanced than Rothfuss. He delivers quality work at speed (the latter is something Rothfuss has not managed yet), he has a far more versatile range (taking in SF, urban fantasty, superhero work and fantasy, in both novels and comics) and he's rather more concise (Rothfuss's tendency to waffle and ramble dilutes some of the better aspects of his writing). This also shows in the sheer number of awards that Abraham has been nominated for, as opposed to Rothfuss. Rothfuss's full standing in the fantasy pantheon is also extremely dependent on the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicle and how it resolves elements built up in the first two. If he fails to pull that off, the entire trilogy could be written off as a failure.

 

Solid points Wert, I was making the mistake of looking at Abrahamn from a fairly narrow perspective and not his career as a whole. Not sure why but his prose to me seemed more polished in "Long Prince" than it does in "Dragons Path".

 

As for Rothfuss I would be shocked if he doesn't pull it off. He obviously loves what he does and is willing to work very hard at it. I guess I prefer him because his strengths as an author really aline well with what I look for in literature. His prose is very solid and he manages the neat trick of writing fantasy that you don't have to "read down to". Although moving in the right direction, unfortunately it is still all too rare in this genre.

 

As an aside I'm reading "Prince of Thorns" for the first time right now. Solid debut and definitely puts Lawrence on my list of ones to watch.