 | The Widow’s House is the fourth installment in Danial Abraham’s The Dagger and The Coin Series. Inys the Dragon, introduced at the end of the previous book, The Tyrant’s Law, plays a critical role in this tale, proving to be a powerful but uncertain ally to our heroes. The tale is told from the perspective of four main characters: Clara the widowed noblewoman, who charts her own course in the world; Cithrin the rogue banker, desperate to protect her loved ones and herself from the spreading war; Marcus the world-weary soldier who wants to protect Cithrin; and Geder Pallaiko the scholarly Lord Regent and puppet of the spider priests who are determined to cleanse the world through war. |
One of the delights in this book is seeing how much Clara has grown since the series began, when she was constrained by her role as wife and mother among the nobility. In this book she throws herself whole-heartedly in the fight against Lord Regent Geder: He was a violent and unpredictable man, and she feared and opposed him as she would a wildfire or a plague.
 | Later, Clara and Vincen learn that a mysterious key player in the fight against Lord Regent Geder is being targeted for assassination. Vincen is planning to warn him until he is injured in a surprise attack. Clara is ready to give up on the warning. “We came so that we could try, but there are constraints. There are limits.” “And have we reached them?” Vincen asked. |
If she hadn’t been so terribly tired, she would not have sobbed. Truly, staying up all night waiting for a young lover to die before one’s eyes was better done at twenty. It took too much energy.
“You cannot go,” she said. “And there is no one else that I trust.”
“[You] Take the warning,” Vincen said.
“Me?” Clara said, and laughed.
“Who else?” Vincen asked.
“What makes you think I could manage that?”
“You’re a predator, my lady,” Vincen said, and closed his eyes with a sigh. “You can manage anything.”
“You cannot go,” she said. “And there is no one else that I trust.”
“[You] Take the warning,” Vincen said.
“Me?” Clara said, and laughed.
“Who else?” Vincen asked.
“What makes you think I could manage that?”
“You’re a predator, my lady,” Vincen said, and closed his eyes with a sigh. “You can manage anything.”
Cithrin fled the war in the previous book just ahead of Lord Regent Geder, who hoped to make her his lover. When she arrives in Port Oliva, her bank supervisor Pyk dresses her down for the way she used the bank’s money to smuggle out Timzinae refugees:
“Well,” [Pyk] said. “You’ve got balls. Not the sense God gave a housefly, but balls.”
Cithrin tries to defend herself, but Pyk isn’t buying it:
Her expression was worse than angry. It was patient. . . . “You made the classic error. You saw something you wanted, and you bought it. For you it was Timzinae lives. For someone else it could have been fancy jewelry. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same mistake.”
“It isn’t,” Cithrin said.
“It is,” Pyk said, and her tone allowed no room for discussion. “Our job is to get power. Gather it up. Protect it. Not piss it away so that we can claim the moral high ground. . . . You rubbed the Lord Regent’s nose in shit and signed it with the company chop [and] You brought it here. You brought it to me. The latest of [your] messes to mop after.”
[Cithrin asks] “What will your recommendation be?”
“That we wrap you in chains and festive paper and ship you to [Lord Regent Geder] with a letter of apology,” Pyk said.
“Well,” [Pyk] said. “You’ve got balls. Not the sense God gave a housefly, but balls.”
Cithrin tries to defend herself, but Pyk isn’t buying it:
Her expression was worse than angry. It was patient. . . . “You made the classic error. You saw something you wanted, and you bought it. For you it was Timzinae lives. For someone else it could have been fancy jewelry. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same mistake.”
“It isn’t,” Cithrin said.
“It is,” Pyk said, and her tone allowed no room for discussion. “Our job is to get power. Gather it up. Protect it. Not piss it away so that we can claim the moral high ground. . . . You rubbed the Lord Regent’s nose in shit and signed it with the company chop [and] You brought it here. You brought it to me. The latest of [your] messes to mop after.”
[Cithrin asks] “What will your recommendation be?”
“That we wrap you in chains and festive paper and ship you to [Lord Regent Geder] with a letter of apology,” Pyk said.
 | Cithrin’s position becomes even more precarious when Geder’s army marches on Port Olivia. Throughout the novel she’s trying to figure out a way to use what she knows—manipulating the coin of the realm—to defeat Geder’s military might and save Port Olivia (and herself). |
Marcus goes through the most intense emotional arc in this book. The novel opens with him commiserating with the dragon’s loneliness based on his own loss of his wife and daughter:
“Can you imagine what it would be like? Waking up to find everything you loved turned to bone and ash, everything that made the world beautiful gone?”
“I take it that you can?” [said Kit]
“Every day the sun rises,” Marcus said. “It takes some getting used to.”
“Can you imagine what it would be like? Waking up to find everything you loved turned to bone and ash, everything that made the world beautiful gone?”
“I take it that you can?” [said Kit]
“Every day the sun rises,” Marcus said. “It takes some getting used to.”
 | It’s when Marcus arrives in the port city Carse that he’s forced to come to terms with the ghosts of his past, in a way that is painful, potentially deadly, and ultimately healing. A moment of self-reflection: The sun had set now, and the mountains seemed crafted from distance and mist and the deepening gray-blue of night. The snowfield glowed. The [others'] voices rose and fell behind him, giddy and pleased and happy because they were a people who traded in that. He traded in violence, and had his whole life. He didn’t see that changing now. |
The witty banter between Marcus and the dragon Inys (who considers all humans slaves) is delightful:
“A fair part of the world I live in is in the process of grinding itself into blood and bone, and these [spider] priests look to be at the heart of it. No offense meant, but if this really is your fault, the least you can do is explain yourself.”
“I do not answer to slaves.”
“Make an exception. Just this once.”
“A fair part of the world I live in is in the process of grinding itself into blood and bone, and these [spider] priests look to be at the heart of it. No offense meant, but if this really is your fault, the least you can do is explain yourself.”
“I do not answer to slaves.”
“Make an exception. Just this once.”
 | And later he berates the dragon for wallowing in self-pity: “What I can’t have is everyone making the plan to move forward counting on you if you’re too weak. So, all respect, are you going to sit there feeling sad for yourself, or are you going to stand up and do the job?” “No one speaks to a dragon so,” Inys said, his voice deep and resonant as a gong. “Almost no one. What’s it going to be? Do what needs doing? Or mope like a child who didn’t get his candy he wanted? . . . May have gone a bit far there. |
The dragon closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, the house-wide ribs expanding , pausing, and falling again. The air filled with a smell like brimstone and hot iron.
“You shame me. Tell me what it is you need, [Marcus]. I am in despair, but not yet in defeat.”
“Yes, well. You and me both,” Marcus said.
“You shame me. Tell me what it is you need, [Marcus]. I am in despair, but not yet in defeat.”
“Yes, well. You and me both,” Marcus said.
Lord Regent Geder Pallaiko is devastated by Cithrin’s abandonment and betrayal. The Timzinae she rescued are the very race he believes [inaccurately] are plotting to kill him. He wavers between complete despair, rage, and hope for a fantasy reunion with a contrite Cithrin.
 | Here he pulls himself together: He could already picture himself being strong and stoic. If he practiced it enough, it might even start to be true. The reader watches in horror and admiration as Geder uses his scholarly skills to uncover and reconstruct ancient anti-dragon weapons to bring against Inys, unknown to the other characters. |
One of the things that makes Geder sympathetic despite the atrocities of his endless war against the Timzinae, and now Cithrin, is his internal struggle with his role:
For now, and for years to come, Geder was the Severed Throne. The power should have been freeing. Instead, it weighed him down.
Later he whispers a secret:
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
For now, and for years to come, Geder was the Severed Throne. The power should have been freeing. Instead, it weighed him down.
Later he whispers a secret:
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
 | One of the themes throughout the series is manipulating perception. The spider priests can change people’s beliefs and Cithrin learns how to manipulate the meaning of “money.” Here Clara’s sweet lover Vincen gives his take on competing narratives: “Things change so quickly," [Clara] said, “and so completely.” “They don’t, m’lady,” Vincen said, taking her hand. He kissed the knuckle of her thumb. “Only the stories we tell about them do.” |
The Widow’s House ends on a potentially hopeful note with a minor character (Karol) and Timzinae rebels harassing Geder’s army. The closing lines of the book set up the next, concluding story:
“We’ll have back for every last thing you broke. Every child you took. Every slaveman’s lash. All of it,” Karol said between clenched teeth. “And we’ll show your [Lord Regent] Geder Palliako what war looks like when he isn’t winning.”
“We’ll have back for every last thing you broke. Every child you took. Every slaveman’s lash. All of it,” Karol said between clenched teeth. “And we’ll show your [Lord Regent] Geder Palliako what war looks like when he isn’t winning.”
Read other books in The Dagger and the Coin series:
The Dragon’s Path, The King’s Blood, The Tyrant’s Law, The Spider’s War
Read other books by Daniel Abraham: Age of Ash, Blade of Dream (both set in Kithamar)
Read other gritty lived-in fantasies: Memories of Ice, Fire Logic, City of Stairs, City of Blades, City of Miracles
The Dragon’s Path, The King’s Blood, The Tyrant’s Law, The Spider’s War
Read other books by Daniel Abraham: Age of Ash, Blade of Dream (both set in Kithamar)
Read other gritty lived-in fantasies: Memories of Ice, Fire Logic, City of Stairs, City of Blades, City of Miracles
