Book 1 of The Dagger and the Coin - The Dragon's Path

This book just didn't have anything gripping going on. Standard characters, for some reason the author included a bunch of different races that don't serve much purpose. In the end the writing was mediocre and didn't hold my interest.

This book is boring. Its about forming a bank. To much time is wasted with this story line. There is very little action. Other reviewers didn't like Geder but I thought his character was the redeeming part of the book. I loved his story line. This is not the first book I have read from Abraham and to be honest I might get the next volume. I did like another book by him Leviathan Wakes.

Thus, my first audio book experience has ended.

I'm not sure how I feel about audio books. On one hand, I can see their convenience. Without a doubt I can see it. Mindlessly playing a video game for a bit? Throw on your audio book and knock out some pages. Have a drive ahead of you? Throw on the audio book, get some chapters in. There are times and places where an audio book is just great.

However, I just don't think audio books are for me. I actually think it detracted from my enjoyment of the book a little bit. Now, I fully admit that this is probably because it was my first foray into the realm of audio, but nonetheless I think that if I had actually read this book I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I often found my mind wandering while listening, especially during the heavily political sections. The "skip back 30 seconds" button is very nice, but after hitting it a couple times I would typically just say screw it and listen on without worry about what I missed. This led to some general confusion on alliances, locations, etc.

Now, that being said, I really did like the book. Especially the Cithrin/Marcus plot line, and the Geder plot line. I also really enjoyed the reveal at the very end - it aligned with some other desires I had regarding future plot lines nicely. Beyond the plot, I think that Abraham is a skilled writer. He has a flow and cadence to his prose that the narrator captured very well. I definitely plan on continuing the series, as I'm interested to see what happens next. However, I think that for book 2 I will be reading, instead of listening.

Decent enough with a different spin of the normal fantasy genre and good character development. The chapters are split according to characters and it follows 4 characters, which you either hate or love, either way, it gets to you.

Well developed characters, a little slow but overall a good read. Secod half of the download is a sample of the second book and then another entire sci-fi novel, holding judgement on that work until i finish it but you can't complain about free material.

For me this book was a disappointment. The book progresses very slowly and the characters feel uninteresting. Once in a while when something actually happens it's quickly over with very little detail. The Prologue is not bad but from there it goes downhill. We get to follow a couple of different story-lines/people and the only one keeping me interested was the one about Chitrin. I managed to get halfway through the book before I decided to put it down and move on to something else.

I can almost always finish any book, but this one totally ruined my record. I have started it four times and four times have put it down again. I kept picking it back up thinking it would improve, eventually, but nope. Still slow slow plot with a traveling caravan where nothing happens, still shallow main characters who never seem to connect with each other, and still a confusing tangled-up storyline about banking, or is it controlling empire? I can't tell and I don't care anymore. I give up on this book and this author. Good luck to other readers.

I enjoyed reading The Dragon’s Path, a promising start to Daniel Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin series. This was my first book by Abraham, and he strikes me as a competent storyteller. TDP is not a fantasy classic, but it was good enough to make me want to continue on with book 2, even without the chorus of voices telling me that the series gets better as it goes along. My biggest “issue” with this book, and I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a problem, is simply that this series introduction involves far more stage-setting than pay-off.

Of course, TDP shows some similarities with George Martin’s ASOIAF. Both are tales of political intrigue, set against the background of a looming non-human threat and told from multiple pov’s. And like his friend and collaborator Martin, Abraham seems committed to world building. Heck, even the cover art looks like the cover of a Martin epic.

Similar is not identical. Abraham utilizes much fewer pov’s and plot threads than Martin, and his world building is not as massive. Abraham’s page count is shorter, and the font size is larger. In general, Abraham’s series is not “epic” on the scale of Martin’s. Abraham also lacks some of Martin’s gifts, such as his flair for characterization. For these reasons, some consider Abraham as a “Martin-Lite.” However, Abraham’s approach has its merits. For one, since Martin’s ambitious series seems to have collapsed under its own weight, Abraham’s relatively “scaled back” approach seems much more feasible in comparison. The Dagger and the Coin series is almost now complete, and through the first 4 of 5 books, virtually no one says the series has dropped in quality. By contrast, I seriously doubt Martin will ever finish ASOIAF, and books 4 and 5 are clearly substandard. And though Abraham’s characters did not leap off the page, I have to say some of his characters did grow on me over the course of the book. Certainly the lesser number of pov’s helped in this regard, allowing Abraham the ink he needed to bring these figures to life. In addition, Abraham’s Dagger and the Coin books all look like quick reads, which many fans apprehensive about committing to a new series will greatly appreciate. For various reasons, then, Abraham seems a good example of the adage that sometimes, “less is more.”

There are also some basic differences between Abraham and Martin worth pointing out. If TDP is a fair indication, then Abraham has a different sensibility than Martin on issues like violence and sex. Much violence occurs in TDP, but it is not gratuitous, and some of the most unpleasant incidents occur off-stage. And when Abraham writes sex scenes, he is more tasteful and less explicit than Martin. Abraham, unlike Martin, does not utilize sex and violence in an attempt to shock and titillate the reader. I appreciate Abraham’s restraint.

Much of TDP revolves around Cithrin, a young ward of the Medean bank in the free city of Vanai, who in extreme circumstances is tasked with fleeing with the bank’s funds and records, and who ends up assuming the role of a banker herself. Cithrin’s journey brings her into collaboration with other significant characters, including Marcus Wester, an accomplished soldier keeping a low profile, and Master Kit, a man with an interesting past currently leading an acting troupe.

Another big development in the book involves the improbable rise of the young Antean nobleman Geder from laughingstock to a serious position of power. Geder is “assisted” by noblemen who merely intended to use him as a pawn in the internal political struggles of Antea, and by a priest of the Spider Goddess from the far East with highly useful powers. Of course, the priest has his own reasons for assisting Geder, and the fate of the world may be at stake…

Both Geder and Cithrin’s stories are ultimately set in motion by Antean political scheming. Here Abraham focuses on Baron Dawson Kalliam and his family, and their struggles against rivals.

Cithrin tells Marcus at one point in the story that according to her banker mentor, “War or trade. Dagger and coin. Those were the two kinds of people.” In TDP, there is certainly tension and distrust between the bourgeois bankers and the martial nobleman. As the series progresses, I am interested to see where Abraham is headed with this dagger and coin theme, especially since it serves at the title of his work.

3.5 stars

The Dragon’s Path follows four different characters and has a lot of wheelings and dealings that are reminiscent of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire with some shortcomings. The premise is that the paths all lead to war, but other than the storyline in Vanai, most of this novel is about setting the table, where hopefully in future novels there will be a payoff. Cithrin is a ward of a bank who is given a task of taking out riches from the bank as the city of Vanai is at war. She encounters Marcus, a renown warrior who is lost after his wife and daughter have died, but now sees Cithrin as the daughter he couldn’t save. Geder is an out of shape son of a noble who is much more comfortable with books than with battles.

There are plenty of intriguing things that happen in this novel. It held my interest from beginning to end, and the writing was very strong. There were many Game of Thrones type maneuverings in this novel that I appreciated, which is one of the things I always enjoyed about Martin’s novels. Where it suffers is the characterization. The characters are generally unlikeable or very inconsistent. Dawson Kalliam is an example of an unlikeable character who thinks people should be judged by their place of birth and not by their accomplishments or character. Geder is an example of a horribly inconsistent character who seems absence of malice and then massacres an entire city in what was without a doubt the most barbaric and violent act of the novel. The part with the followers of the spider goddess was enjoyable, and I didn’t see the twist coming at the end with the reveal. I would recommend this novel and look forward to reading more in the series.

Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity

With the rise of the modern mega-epic, we sometimes get books like this, where the overall plot is just hinted at. If it werent for the prologue, you would have no idea at all that there was an ancient evil out there, as it pops up 4/5ths of the story in mostly innnocuous fashion. Rather, we get individual stories of seemingly random people that accidentally become important, or get on track to becoming important in future books.

Which I suppose would be fine if the POV characters were likable, or their individual stories indpendently strong and meaningful, but for the most part, they are not. No Starks here, nor interesting anti-heroes like Tyrion or Jaimee Lannister. In fact, we dont even have a clear villain in view yet, although the prologue suggests that someone that currently seems mostly innocuous is a villain. Instead, we get an arrogant noble that wants to keep the lower classes in their place and who is into politics for the wrong reasons, the meek noble carried along by fate, the orphan girl who somehow ended up a ward of a bank, and the ex-military guy with the dead family that becomes the orphan girl's protector. I did like the orphan girl + military guy, and her story is pretty good (they both have separate POVs, but its one story), but the others, not so much. The meek noble's story is particularly unconvincing, although you can gloss over the plot flaws due to the otherwise quality writing if you are willing.

While I may not think that highly of the plot in this first book in the series, the author can write, and the dialogue and pacing are actually quite good. There is not a ton of action in the sense of fights, chases or battles, but the author does do a very nice job of keeping things moving. Indeed, you can actually enjoy the arrogant noble and meek noble's stories somewhat because the writing is good enough to make up for an arguably lacking plot. If you read Leviathan Wakes by the same author (think he wrote with a co-author in that one and they used a joint pen name), I think the quality of the writing and plotting is similar. The only difference is that Leviathan Wakes feels like a self-contained novel even though there are sequels, whereas this book would just be a head scratcher as a stand alone.

While I give this first volume 3 1/2 stars for the reasons noted above, I also want to note that books 2 and 3 get stronger as more of the plot is disclosed. The villains & danger turn out to be unusually nuanced, and the books do a nice job surprising you, turning traditional fantasy plotlines on their head. This is not an action packed series, but it is well written and surprisingly thoughtful once you move into books 2 and 3. That said, book 4 is out now, and I'm having a great deal of trouble finishing it. The "turning traditional fantasy plot lines on their heads" aspect seems to be done, it seems clear from page one that the threat will be dealt with, and the only (minimal) tension left consists of the characters being worried about what kind of world will be left. Overall, I'm uncertain whether the series is worth the journey.

I had heard some good things about this series, so I decided to pick it up.

The first book was extremely underwhelming. The characters were boring and you had no reason to care about any of them. They were lifeless. The world also suffered from blandness as there was extremely little worldbuilding done that had any real relevance. The various races seemed arbitrarily done and the reader really had no way to keep them straight without extreme effort. I'm honestly surprised this got through a real publisher, and must have based on previous works of the author (none of which I have read). The author focuses much of his effort on irrelevant details such as flowers and shrubbery that have no bearing on the book and very little on the scene.

Even for the first book in a series of 4 or 5, there was VERY little actual meat. Only 2 or 3 things happen in the entire book. The economic side of the book (Cithrin/The Coin) was boring. The dagger (Marcus?) was a extremely cliche character. Dawson was a little better, but still boring. Geder was a disaster (and what is up with such a terrible name as Geder for a main character anyway?) I have read hundreds of fantasy books and series and this may be the most boring I've ever read. It is a much more boring version of the Serpentwar Saga and an absolute grind to get through.

Someday I may pick up book 2 and see if it gets any better, but this guy is as far from GRRM as you can get.

Overall, not the strongest start. The book is a bit slow. A bit mild. This book is over 500 pages but in terms of actual development I felt it was about 300 pages worth. The fantasy world is fairly vague and generic and I found it more difficult than usual to follow the political situation that was laid out. For a fantasy book, there is little magic in this book as well. I liked it enough that I might read the sequel but overall I was a bit underwhelmed.

PROs:
✔ Rather than being a straight-up sword and sorcery novel, sums and statecraft are also prominent features of this adventure due to [1] a banking institution being a major player, and [2] a level of political strife surpassing many S&S offerings
✔ Different shades of grey: characters you will identify with and hope to see succeed, but your opinion of them is subject to change as events unfold
✔ Hard to say why, but the writing doesn't feel "generic"
✔ Blow-by-blow accounts of melee are often tedious: The Dragon's Path is not overburdened with this

CONs:
✘ As in the epic A Song of Ice and Fire, the chapters here are divided by character, making it all too easy to skip ahead to favorite characters (to sooner learn about their fates)
✘ So far there is very little "sorcery"; hoping for more in the subsequent books

There are some complaints about the book being too short. I can't agree with this, and I look forward to the next in the series!

Siliconhillbilly here. I buy Kindle books on Mamie's credit card. She doesn't mind :-)

I highly recommend "The Dragons Path" by Daniel Abraham.

There are a few authors I have read that can actually WRITE, as well as handle plot, characterization and world building well enough for me to buy the second book of their works. Bujold comes to mind. It's the writing and not the subject matter that keeps me buying her work. Superb.

And now Daniel Abraham. His writing quality isn't as consistent as Bujold, but when he hits the mark he is very good. Try "Path" and see what you think. Have fun!

I am nearly finished with the unabridged audio book version of this book. I had recently finished 3 series along the same lines including Game of Thrones, The Broken Empire, and Riyria Revelations. All 3 series were so good that I couldn't wait to get back to them on a daily basis. Riyria started very poorly but then ended up being as good as Game of Thrones. Therefore, I figured the bad start to this book would be the same and kept giving it a chance.

At around the half way point I started to actually care enough about the characters to remember a few of their names. However, that was about the limit of my concern for them. The book is as complicated as Game of Thrones but without the enjoyment. I am to the point where I do want to finish it just to find out what happens. But, to be clear, unless there is an incredible improvement, I will not be reading the other books in the series.

Note to the author: Make us care about your characters. There is maybe 1 character that I care about and it took 1/2 the book to get me there. I still only mildly care. Game of Thrones makes you upset when someone dies to the point you are devastated. If you were to kill all the characters in your book, I would maybe give a slight frown...and that is being generous.

:LISTEN TO MY VOICE! Daniel Abraham delivers a five book series that is about as good a you can get. His focus on the nature of truth and a truly unique mechanism to explore the nature of truth drives the story forward with an inevitability that is brilliant and make this series unique. Tossing in heroes that go beyond sword and sorcery to delve into economics and the nature of value only adds to the brilliance. Great characters that you care about and one of the most chilling character portrayals ever to grace fiction makes this a must read.

The Dragon's Path surprised me, pleasantly.

This is a pretty straightforward secondary-world Fantasy. It's a low magic world, one where Dragons magically created a number of human sub-races and then killed each other off in near-legendary past. The sub-races are one of the few stumbles. The idea is interesting but trying to keep clear the difference between a Tralgu and a Yemmu is hard. If ever a book needed accompanying illustrations, it's this one. It's a concept that belongs more in a role playing game than in a novel or maybe the author just didn't do enough description up front. That's a tough balancing act, I know, between too much info and too little. Where it came to the races, I'm afraid he erred on the side of too little but that was the only thing to take me out of the story. Well that and one of the characters burning a city of ten thousand people in a fit of pique.

There is a lot of politics, which I love, but not a ton of action. That doesn't mean there isn't tension, though. There is; on nearly every page there is conflict. Just don't expect a lot of sword fights or magical duels.

What you do have are compelling characters, with flaws the reader can see that the characters themselves can't (nice bit of tension and irony there as you are mentally yelling at people not to do something). There are no clear villains in this book, either and the traditional hero, Marcus, isn't really the focus of the book. This is the first in a 3+ book series so what we're mostly doing here is setup and worldbuilding but most of the characters (but not Marcus) do get a story arc that resolves in the best way possible: by making space for more stories.

I'm being a bit vague on the plot, but not deliberately. There's no earth-shaking mysteries here, just a lot of characters. This is fantasy VERY much in the George R. Martin mold, albeit, without the GRRM bodycount of main characters. If you like A Game of Thrones, I can safely say you'll like this book.

Recommended

Mea culpa: Although I own every volume part of Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet, I have yet to read the first installment. Hence, this would be my first foray into the author's long form works. I absolutely loved Leviathan Wept and Other Stories last summer, and I was thus looking forward to reading the opening chapter in The Dagger and the Coin sequence.

Though certain facets of The Dragon's Path show a lot of promise and potential, I had mixed feelings about the novel as a whole when I reached the last page.

The worldbuilding is at times brilliant, but this aspect also leaves much to be desired in other instances. The entire back story regarding dragons and their fallen empire was utterly fascinating, and I wish we could have learned more about it. The many vestiges of the dragons' civilization definitely added depth to this tale, hinting at countless secrets from the past left to be discovered. Another concept which could have been interesting but turned out to be a failure to launch was the various races. For reasons that remain unexplained, humanity is now split into thriteen different races, all of them born from the Firstblood mold. Problem is, other than disparate physical traits, it appears that humanity, as a whole or sundered in its myriad forms, has no history, mythology, and religion; nothing to give each of the races its identity as a society. So much had been made concerning the thirteen races prior to the book's release that I was persuaded that this would set The Dragon's Path apart from the competition. I was expecting a panoply of diverse cultures, all with their own traditions and beliefs. Sadly, the total absence of depth in that regard -- thus far -- was a definite letdown.

The politicking isn't polished enough, I felt, and in the end everything seemed a bit too contrived for my taste. In terms of court intrigue, not every author can be as talented as George R. R. Martin or Katherine Kurtz. And yet, if a good chunk of your premise depends on this, then the politicking needs to be up to snuff.

The characterization did nothing for me, unfortunately. Which is odd, given the fact that it's not because the story isn't populated by well-defined protagonists. Most characters are nicely realized men and women, each with his or her own back story. But for some reason -- and God knows I've tried to put my finger on it in the last two weeks -- the characters all left me indifferent. Which doesn't really bode well for me. One must give Daniel Abraham credit for playing with our own preconceptions of fantasy stereotypes. The author managed to mix things up by using popular genre tropes, only to turn the table on the readers later on. Still, Marcus was never able to rise above the clichéd warrior who has seen enough of violence. The same can be said of Dawson, the typical nobleman. Though she did nothing for me as a character, Cithrin's storylines is likely the most interesting of the bunch. Abraham tackling commerce and everything it encompasses as an arc shows a lot of promise. The most intriguing character remains the Apostate, and I'm curious to see how his plotline will influence the rest of the series.

The pace is a bit uneven here and there, yet the novel's narrative flows well for the most part. The prose doesn't grab hold of you the way I anticipated, but it does create a vivid imagery.

The structure of the book follows that of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Instead of regular chapter, the book is divided in POV sections. The Dragon's Path features the points of view of Marcus, Geder, Cithrin, Dawson and his wife Clara, as well as that of the Apostate.

All in all, though it might not be the sort of opening chapter I was expecting, The Dragon's Path shows a lot of potential. Whether or not Daniel Abraham can up his game in the second installment remains to be seen. Yet, as many have pointed out, The Long Price Quartet got better and better with each new volume, so here's to hoping that it will be the case here as well.

Though The Dragon's Path is a solid effort, in several aspects the execution fell a little flat.

If you are an avid fantasy reader then setting of this book will feel pretty familiar. There are nobles and kings who plot against each other. Knights who fight each other. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. I happen to like that setting. It's part of the reason I enjoy reading fantasy.

There are several areas that I think Mr. Abraham really excelled. First is his characters. The setting is traditional, as are most of the character types, nobles, mercenaries, and orphans on the run. But these characters are fleshed out so well that each character is unique and interesting. None of the characters are pure good or pure evil. They all have their own motivations and justifications for their actions. They all see themselves doing the right thing, even if others do not see it that way. Similar to George RR Martin…but without so many characters dying. It was interesting reading each characters story unfold and their actions clashing or meshing with other characters.
Secondly Mr. Abraham simply did a great job of telling the story. It is the first book in a series. There are a lot of plot lines, and it is obvious that the author has set in motion a complex and deep story. I think the highest praise I can give the author is that I learned more about banking from this book than I had ever thought to learn and found it interesting. Not many fantasy authors could go into such detail about banking and keep my interest.
If I had to speak to a weak point it would be the same weakness that so many epic fantasy novels suffer from. With so many plot lines going at once it makes the pacing difficult. Some plot lines I am more interested in and the jump to another plot line occasionally frustrated me.
On a whole though this was a great and entertaining book. I’m already halfway through the third book and I can confidently say the series is worth the read.

Besides having a great name, The Dragon's Path also is a truly fantastic book. It has an intricate plot, is full of both humor and action, is captivating, and is just plain well written.

Of course, my favorite thing about The Dragon's Path were the characters. They were appealing, robust, and both hilarious and steadfast (at different times.) My personal favorite characters were Marcus Wester, Yardem, and Master Kit. Besides having personal histories that I'm sure could each fill their own book, they and their dialog were fantastically written. I actually laughed out loud at points when reading dialog between Yardem and Marcus.

What I didn't love about The Dragon's Path was its world building. I felt like Abraham created a fascinating world with imaginative peoples and a diverse history, and yet I feel like I barely got any taste of that at all. I wanted more about the people and their world, and I felt like it was glossed over in the beginning and that was supposed to be the entire description. Of course an example of how in depth and riveting Abraham could have made the world building can be seen in his money and banking system. Abraham creates a complex (and integral) banking system that helps establish the credibility of Cithrin's world, and it's obvious from the care and details he includes in this that he can build a spellbinding world, yet for some reason it seems to be rest of the details surrounding the different races and their characteristics were cut out.

That said, I think there's plenty of time for history of the world, and possibly more information on the world to come out in the next books in the series. The characters are well written, the dialog interesting, the plot intricate and interesting, and the book as a whole well put together and utterly engrossing. Because of this I would highly recommend The Dragon's Path to anyone looking for a good read (especially one in fantasy), and personally can't wait for both the next book in the series, as well as Abraham's next book Leviathan Wakes.

[...]

This is a difficult book to review. It follows four main characters, who are broken up into pairs, though the second pair are only loosely tied together. The first pair, a girl named Cithrin and a military man named Marcus Wester are just looking to get away from the war and the girl has to escape the town with a bunch of money from the bank she works at so that it doesn't get taken away by the army about to conquer the city (thus The Coin in the series name). The other pair that are only loosely tied together, Dawson Kalliam who is a very powerful lord and Geder Palliako who is also a lord but not powerful at all, are part of the nation that is going to conquer the city and all the political intrigue that surrounds the war (The Dagger).

So while this all sounds interesting, the two threads of the story only directly connect for a couple pages in the middle of the book. Both stories are interesting, but it switches back and forth all the time from different characters so while you might be getting interested in Cithrin, it will switch to Dawson and really hurt the flow of the book. Because the authors is basically writing two different stories in the same book, neither one really allows itself to culminate this first book in the series to any kind of grand finale that will leave you breathlessly awaiting the next. That isn't to say there isn't a climax to the book, it is just that Cithrin and Marcus, who I thought were the most interesting in the book since they had more contact with each other and actually developed a relationship, didn't really have much of a climax to their story and just left you wondering, what was the point. You very much see a climax and the point of Geder and Dawson's story arc, but because the author spent so much time with the other two, it doesn't have the same emotional punch it could have had it focused on them more. Also, I don't know if it was because the story arc was split so widely or that the author just felt the need to hit a page count, but it felt to me like the book was at least 50 pages, and maybe 100, to long, or that those pages weren't' used as well as they could have been.

Some other things that stand out to me is the language in the book. It is a bit old school most of the time in that most newer books are in the George Martin line with lots of cussing, graphic violence, and sex and this doesn't have much of that, so when it does it is kind of jarring. It is almost like the author threw a bit of coarser language in from time to time to appease his publisher that might think you needed it because that is currently in style with fantasy literature. It isn't anything so offensive that it will cause 99% of readers to put the book down, but it does stand out to you as different from the tone of the rest of the book.

I think the author also info dumps on you to much at the wrong times. He starts throwing out to you that there are 13 different races of people and this race is from this country and that race that country and he expects you to keep it all in line most of the time. He will reexplain it to you from time to time, but since most of it is worthless to the reader during this first book, I think it could have been left out until needed in the book or maybe just simplified altogether and had less races and more just normal people (unless of course this all means something in a later book).

To recap, it is almost like it is two books crammed into one and that is what makes it so difficult to review. Throw in an ending that isn't quite satisfactory and you have a book that is a good start to a promising series, but doesn't quite live up to the potential.

After reading numerous "coming-of-age" stories - most of them absolute dross that are only being foisted on an unsuspecting readership due to self-publishing, I had given up on fantasy for a while and was focusing more on sci-fi/space opera stuff.

I stumbled upon this book by accident, as it was bundled with James Corey's "Leviathan Awakes" and I decided, might as well give it a go and see what happens. Within a couple of chapters, I was hooked. This is not a typical action-hero fantasy or a coming-of-age story - the plot is relatively more complicated, the characters are well-development and the story flows with excellent pacing. The good guys are not squeaky-clean good, and the author has done a good job in reducing predictability (although not completely eliminating it (the Cithrin arc, for example).

My only complaint was that the resolution to the main plotlines of this book were somewhat quick and relatively simple - but that thought only came to me in hindsight and may be due to me, as a reader, being accustomed to last-minute twists that most authors feel compelled to add to their novel. While reading it, the resolution didnt feel "forced".

I am definitely going to be reading the next 2 novels.

Audiobook review: able to get through it due to Pete Bradbury's excellent narration; mostly I agree with the review that said the potential is there. What I love about sci-fi/fantasy series this book is that there is character development with a bit of action worked in. I disagree with the reviewer who said this is similar to GRRM: I do not think the character development is that subtle or nuanced. I felt very disappointed that at the end of the first novel my reaction was, "it's finally getting going now?!" Luckily due to Audible's excellent return policy, I was able to return it, but unfortunately, when I returned it, my more detailed review was deleted from the Audible review. Therefore, I am writing this review mainly for myself so I do not read/listen to it again. As I said before, I give it 2 stars b/c of Pete Bradbury's excellent narration, I was able to get through the entire book, but I do not think I would have finished the written edition of the book. And I am not curious enough about the other characters to get the other books in the series.

You will probably LOVE this book!!! The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham is one of the most fascinating, masterfully written, and absorbing character-driven fantasy novels I've read in a long, long time. I am new to Abraham's work and I can say confidently that I will be reading everything I can get my hands on by this author. While this book is not quite as violent as Martin or Abercrombie's work, the depth and brilliance of the characters and the exciting story being told is everything I look for and desire in a fantasy book. Every word, sentence, and paragraph held me captivated from beginning to end and I am positively salivating to crack open the next book in The Dagger and the Coin series, "The King's Blood" and order the third book in the series while I'm at it. It is brilliant writing like this that keeps me a very happy, excited reader! Thank you Mr. Abraham!

Daniel Abraham has kicked off a terrific new epic series with "The Dragon's Path". I've come to realize that I love "EPIC". The bigger, the more dramatic, the more flawed characters whose existences connect, orbit and intertwine in more surprising ways...the better.

The story revolves around a small handful of characters who live in an ancient world populated by a myriad of diverse human-like races. Abraham shifts focus between each of his key characters as he builds a world that's clearly different than our own, but very recognizable in it's sword-and-leather medieval-like inspiration.

One can't help but see the clear influences of George RR Martin in the story. Abraham has collaborated with "The Game of Thrones" author and pays enjoyable tribute to the modern epic master.

The flawed main characters are respectively an orphan, a widower, a social outsider, and an influential nobleman who's very focused on keeping the 'natural' social order of societal hierarchy. The characters are developed slowly, and drawn smartly and subtlety. While the action is limited in this first book, Abraham builds a magnificently rich world of intrigue and drama, all driven by the brilliantly realistic and complex core characters.

I also love the fact that the elements of supernatural fantasy are very limited. There's no real magic, though you get a sense of something "more" running through the threaded experiences of the story. Dragons play a key role in the history and mythology in "Dragon's Path". The dragon lorem, though, is just that: a heavy influence on the history of Abraham's world, but a thing of the past.

The story is epic in its scope and the magnitude of the plot lines. It's not quite as large and sprawling as "The Game of Thrones", but the themes and atmosphere are similar.

If you enjoy that kind of depth and heaviness, then I strongly recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to Abraham's second in the series.

There is nothing wrong with this book, it is well written, fast paced, and interesting. That said it is not a unique book, it is very similar to Joe Abercrombie (The First Law) and Scott Lynch (Locke Lamora). If you like those authors you will really enjoy this book and its sequel.
Pros:
Very interesting unique world
Magic is very mysterious, rare and exotic.
Excellent characterization.
Well crafted plot that has twists that are almost Game of Thrones like.
I love his choice of characters, some unique perspectives that most authors don't use.

Cons
Again, the only cons are that it is not a ground breaking book, it is very solidly written in the style of (Good) Modern Fantasy.

Still very enjoyable.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I plan to read his other fantasy series as soon as I can. I really only had two problems with The Dragon's Path, the first is the non-Tolkienseque world, and the second is the fact that this book really didn't have a beginning middle and end. I appreciate that Abraham is creating a unique world, and didn't want to rely on fantasy tropes, but they are there to help the reader. In this book there are multiple humanoid creatures, all with odd names, that were created by the now extinct dragons. The result of this is that there is a distinct learning period in the beginning of the book, and yet even at the end, when the author describes the character as one of the races, in my mind's eye I am slightly challenged in picturing them, which would break the flow of my reading. If you're going to create unique races instead of relying on Tolkien's Orcs/Elves/Dwarves/Goblins/Hobbits then you should really include some sort of glossary in the beginning. I would have loved to have there be a series of pictures of the races with a description of their characteristics and history. Then I could have studied and memorized these beings so it wouldn't have been as much of a challenge for me.

The second problem, is that this book was really just an introduction to the world, the beginning of a series. There was no enemy or villain in this book, there was no goal to achieve. In this way it was very similar to George RR Martin's style of epic fantasy. The book was really about the medieval politicking, but in a good way. I loved all of the characters, even when they were doing or saying incredibly horrible or stupid things I understood why they were doing them. The book was written incredibly well, even though not much came from the actions described within. I can't wait for what the next book has in store.

This was the start of another intriguing fantasy series, one about political turmoil and war.

The book is about 4 people. Marcus who used to be a great hero but as a nation marches to destroy his city he leaves with a caravan. Sick of fighting for princes. He was a good leader, he did things that had to be done, and he knew how things worked. Cithrin, a young woman was most of the time part of his story. As she left the same city with money and jewels hidden to take them to another Bank. A part of his caravan. She was young, a bit naïve, did some silly things, but then she was not yet sure of herself and as the book progressed the more sure she got.

Then we have the other site. The conquering nation. Geder, son of a minor lord, and a bit heavy and he would rather read books. But his life was the one that would change the most. He went from knowing nothing to becoming a better man. But as he did that he made mistakes, and in the end he still was not his own man. So from nothing to something, he still was nothing. In and out of his story with a story of his own was Dawson, a lord playing games at the royal court. Trying to save the king.

The book is about these 4 people. Their paths even cross. They all have good sides and bad sides. But they form a very interesting cast and the book works well showing the world through their eyes.

They story is a lot about politics. Powers are working behind the king in one country and there is a ripple effect. The countries are not so stable. There are a lot of schemes behind the scenes that binds together this fascinating story. The world is also different as there are 13 different races living there. Human looking ones, and not some human looking. But some countries have more of one sort and some not. There are also talk about dragons, that lived before them, but they seem to be no more.

The tale starts with a man running, so throughout the book you know that the schemes and the wars are not the biggest problem. There is a spidergoddess who will cause chaos. When I do not know, but she is coming and it will not end well.

An interesting start to a fantasy series, and at the end I know that I have much more before me. I will cheer for some, and not so much for others. A book for those fantasy fans that like a bit more politics in their books.

This was a brilliant book. I love my epic fantasy and I walked into this book expecting a good story with some typical epic fantasy tropes (stuff I enjoy and why I keep returning to the genre). Yet Daniel Abraham gave me more than that. First, the world of The Dagger & the Coin series is ancient. It has evolved. It was once a place ruled by dragons, where the races of humans were created to serve or entertain the rulers of the world. Now, the dragons have long since disappeared, all but fallen into myth. The races have intermingled, have their own religions, commerce, cities, and politics. Next, the characters we follow are interesting, with pasts of their own, and caught up in circumstances that they must navigate successfully, or perish. Several of the characters grow throughout the book, and there were a few twists of circumstances that turned some characters in a different direction than I expected. Political intrigue, a bank's treasury on the run, military action, manipulation, a troop of actors, and the occasional drunken bout fill these pages. It is a hell of a ride!

Of course, I developed my favorite plot lines with the chapters moving from character to character. Cithrin and Marcus Wester were a lot of fun to ride around inside their heads. Cithrin probably grew the most in this book and I found myself rooting for her at every turn. The conversations, clipped as they were, between Marcus and Yardem often had me chuckling with the dry humor. In fact, if life was a bit different, I could see my man and I having some of those same conversations. At first, I wasn't too interested in Dawson, but as time went forward, I saw how his rigid view of the right and the wrong of the world made him a very complex man. Of course, this same trait also makes him a volatile man in the sense that if you step out of your place he can't help but try to shove you back in it, or even eliminate you entirely. I had the same reaction to his wife Clara, at first practically ignoring her as a woman primarily interested in appearances. Later we learn that she is quite a bit more than that. Of course Geder turns out to be a very complex man. I don't want to say too much here as I mean to avoid spoilers, but damn! I loved watching his story line as it took turns I did not expect.

If you love epic fantasy, I recommend The Dragon's Path, book one of Daniel Abraham's series The Dagger and the Coin.

The Dragon's Path is a long book, and it took me awhile to get into it. After a mysterious prologue, the author introduces different threads for four main characters. I began to wonder whether common plot threads would ever start to weave between the four characters. However, eventually, the characters stories became entangled.

Once I got into the story, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm glad to know there are more books on the way about these characters. They have depth and secrets. They make mistakes and regret them. Their feelings for each are conflicted, and their relationships are more complicated than simple romantic ties. One of the main characters is female, and strong female characters are sometimes lacking in epic fantasy.

There are a lot of characters in the story. A glossary of both the people and the different races presented in the story would have been helpful. Overall, however, the made-up names and places did not make my head spin the way they do in some epic fantasy.

The second book in the series, The King's Blood, has not yet been published, but The Dragon's Path can be read by itself. It is clear at the end of the book that there is more to come, but the main plot lines are tied up.

The author notes in an interview at the back of my copy of the book that he "wanted an epic fantasy without much violence." This attitude is part of why the book appealed to me. There are scenes of great violence, but they are not described in great detail. The feel of the book is not primarily one of violence. The book is driven by characters and their interactions. I started the first book in George R.R. Martin's incredibly popular Song of Ice and Fire series and couldn't finish it, and part of the reason was the level of violence.

One thing that caught me off guard is the absence of dragons in a book called The Dragon's Path. The dragons are kind of like the ancient Romans are for us. They ruled long ago and established the jade roads that people travel on. They also made mistakes that ended in their downfall. (I am guessing there will be dragons in later books - otherwise, why mention dragons at all? But I could be wrong about that.)

The title of the book has two meanings - the characters travel the dragon paths from one place to another, but their society is also moving toward the path of ruin. That kind of layered meaning makes The Dragon's Path a satisfying read.

Horrid. This books made me slightly nauseous. Half way through, two of the three main characters commit such atrocities that I spend the rest I the book hoping they'll die as enemy. (here comes the spoilers) Geder decides insanely to burn an entire city to the ground people he was supposed to protect. People he had integrated with very day for months. And he burns it down in a petty for because he finally realized he was being made fun of. Simply, because he was embarrassed! For petty squabbling. He does it not even in cold blood because he is too stupid and deranged to even care! It truly made me sick. And then he is praised for it and still is a main character who goes and 'saves the day' elsewhere. How can we let a character get away with this and keep him a good, unblemished character? The other character, Dawson, is on one side of a rebellion, the side that loves repressing, dehumanizing and stomping all over the common people, unequivocally the wrong side of the revolution. Yet he is also the main character and he kills and destroys and gets ahead in the name of the sicker side of the revolution, which, of course, Geder bumbles onto with his deeds, or should I say misdeeds? No I should say atrocities. The other characters are flawed and disturbing, but pitifully I give them kudos because at least they don't commit genocide like a spoiled, petty toddler. Oh they act like spoiled, petty toddlers too, they just do so with their own life and lots of money. But his in now way can redeem the book.

I just finished book two of the series and downloaded the third right after. If you're looking for non-stop action and combat then this probably is not the book, nor the series, for you; but if you like intelligent thought provoking plot lines and characters then this should be right up your alley. At first I was a bit skeptical when I got into the financial (the coin) aspect of the book but then it grew on me and it started to become my favorite part. It's a nice change of pace from other fantasies. The thirteen races were an interesting twist on characters as opposed to the typical Tolkien races; it did get a bit confusing from time to time keeping them straight though. I liked the lore of the dragons and how they formed the races and how we were their slaves, that they were more than just savage beasts as typically depicted.

I've seen some call the characters one dimensional, which is untrue. The main characters are multifaceted and I found myself admiring a character and then disliking them the more I learned of them. The opposite is also true, I found myself disliking a character before they grew on me and fell into my good graces. For lack of a better word, the characters changes and differences are "smooth". They change over time, exposing their idiosyncrasies and depth as you get to know them. Their changes are not jarring, going from bad guy to good guy within a single page or paragraph or even chapter. They evolve, their inner demons or angels are exposed in a flowing current of prose instead of thrown up like a wall. I think it's interesting and I think it works well.

The book is very much not a stand on its own novel, you have to read the next and then the next and I'm assuming whatever comes after in order to know the story. It's meant to be a part of a series so you will not finish the book feeling satisfied or closure. However; taken for what it is, a stepping stone to even more in a larger tale, I found it more then enjoyable. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could.