“Wars are easier to start than to end, and where they take you is rarely where you intended to go.”In the second entry to The Danger and the Coin series Mr Abraham is down to business and he knows perfectly well where he wants his story to go. Sadly, he stumbles at times as if unsure how to get there; this concerns both the plotting and the pacing.I really, really wanted to give this book 4 stars, the mean reader that I am, in spite of spiders, and dragons, and the most idiotic YA female lead yo...

Much stronger than the first book! I now find myself eager to see where it goes next. RTC! :)

4.5/5 starsThe King’s Blood was a magnificent sequel that expanded upon everything the previous book built. “Wars are easier to start than end, and where they take you is rarely where you intended to go… It will be better for all of us to avoid it.” The King’s Blood is the second novel in The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham. The story continues from where the previous book left off, and after using the first volume in the series to introduce the premise, characters, and w...

Just as brilliant as the first. I love this series. It has everything I'm looking for; not just great characters, but in depth character development. The world building and culture imagined by the author is exceptionally well done. The plot is also complex and we'll crafted. Next!

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.Keiyaku Taika: "The King's Blood" by Daniel AbrahamA thing similar to the "Fantasy-With-Magic" that I've always liked, is the "Obeisance" / "Renumeration" system in "Darker than Black". (契約対価 [Keiyaku Taika] in Japanese, literally meaning "contract compensation"). The way it works in the anime series, is that characters known as "Contractors" have abilities of varying strengths, and, after using their abilities, they must pay some kind...

Awesome!!

A great second book to the series. There were parts in this book which had that electric feeling the first book as good as it was didn't. Abraham has such a smooth writing style. He's up there with Lynch in being entertaining while character and world building. Clara's character in particular really stepped forward in this book and the end of her final chapter was brilliant. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

'The Kings blood' is the follow-up to 'The Dragons Path', one of the best openings to a series that I've read recently. This book does an admirable job of continuing the story started in that book as it further expands the world and continues the development of the characters introduced already. In this book we see more of the world established in book 1. This world isn't particularly deep or inventive but it is solid and serves as a good backdrop to events. The most unique feature of this world...

4.5 starsI believe I found another series to add to my favourite shelf! This one is superb!

The last third of the book really saved this one for me and made me want to continue on with the series. All the action took place in Camnipol and Geder continues his transition to a tyrant bit by bit. Increasingly paranoid and thirsty for power/revenge and control. Looks like his priest friends are going to help him on this path. Even if you get the sense that the priests are using Geder for their own ends.Marcus Wester snoozefest. Didn't really do anything. At least that's how it felt to me. W...

This was a hard book to rate for me, and it may change depending on the rest of the series. I liked it more than the first book in the series, The Dragon's Path, but it took me a little while to really get into it. I feel like things are being purposefully set up in a way that will pay off later, much like Abraham did in his Long Price Quartet series, but at the moment it's not always apparent where things are going. The character work is still fantastic, and Abraham's writing continues to be so...

Awesome development from the first book.I didn't really like Dawson in The Dragon's Path, but he really developed as a character throughout this book. (view spoiler)[At least before he was so brutally beheaded. (hide spoiler)]Geder is fascinating and so frustrating at the same time, but you can really see the consequences his power has brought to the world. His meeting with (view spoiler)[Cithrin for the second time was hilarious. Very well done convergence of storylines. (hide spoiler)]I'm happ...

Traditional fantasy done magnificently. This book, and series, doesn't subvert any tropes. It doesn't break new ground. What it does is give us an intriguing plot, enjoyable characters, and excellent writing. This is a 120,000 word book, but the pages simply flew by. If only all fantasy authors could write this clearly and efficiently (this coming from someone currently bogged down in the middle-mire books of the Wheel of Time.) Abraham doesn't sacrifice setting, character, plot, anything to ach...

I liked this better than the first one, especially at the end. This was bound to happen since I’m spending so much time with these characters, and Abraham is a consistent, talented writer. The first half continued a lot of the issues I had with the first book, though, so I can’t really give this four stars. Maybe the third book will earn it?It’s been a little over a year since the start of the series. Geder Palliako has gone from social pariah to Lord Regent of Antea. Cithrin is still at her Ban...

3.5 stars.

**Here be spoilers. Read accordingly.**Let me say at the start that I really wanted to like The King's Blood, and the series of which it is the second part, The Dagger and the Coin. I like Abraham's focus on characters, something you don't see very much in fantasy, and his willingness to alter the story in interesting ways. In The Dragon's Path, for example, I loved when Cithrin stops trying to be an adventurer and starts acting like a banker. That's the work of an author who's thinking about hi...

http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...At the opening of The King’s Blood, we find ourselves back in the remains of the Dragon Empire and the world of the Thirteen Races of Humanity. Geder Palliako is suddenly an important figure in the Antean Court, with the mysterious Spider Priests at his side. Kalliam Dawson, a noble of the old order, works to maintain the tradition of the court while Cithrin bel Sacour struggles to hold on to her branch of the Medean Bank, and Captain Marcus Wester, haunte...

The comparison of Daniel Abraham with George RR Martin naturally leads to a comparison between their characters. The honourable lord who gets himself killed for the sake of honour, sound familiar? Eddard Stark? Yes. Dawson Kalliam? Also, yes. Both childhood friends of the recently demised kings. But that's where the similarities end. Where Ned Stark's honour was about learning the truth about the lineage of his king and friend, and dissecting out the conspiracy against the regime, Dawson's honou...

This series keeps getting better and better! I gave the first book four stars as well but only because it was very well written. I didn't feel like it would be one of my all time fav rereads however with book two this series is starting to really grow on me. I'm still a little confused about a few things. For instance, I wish the thirteen races would be explained a little more. Right when I think I really know a character I realize that they have tusks or dragon scales! Superficial, I know but w...

As I may not be able to do a full FBC rv close to the US publication date, I will try to have a longer "raw thoughts" review here.The book is secondary world fantasy at its best and in addition it has a writing style quite above the usual "utility English" of the genre; maybe not quite at (the top of) literary fiction levels (see Hari Kunzru's Gods without Men for recent such), but close, while pretty much all the things that I would mark as negatives come from the nature of the genre rather tha...