The Reluctant Swordsman (The Seventh Sword Trilogy Book 1) Review

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The Reluctant Swordsman (The Seventh Sword Trilogy Book 1) Review"The Reluctant Swordsman" (Seventh Sword, Book 1)introduces the characters and world/universe the author continues with in "The Coming of Wisdom" (Seventh Sword, Book 2)and "The Destiny of the Sword" (Seventh Sword, Book 3). This is a brilliant trilogy which remains at the top of Dave Duncan's impressive body of work. This third book doesn't just follow the first two. It reveals things which the author put there all along, giving the reader a new appreciation of the characters and events. That sounds confusing, but read it and see.
The characters remind me of Dungeons and Dragons Roll Playing Games (D&D RPG's). The hero is a 7th level swordsman who picks up a 7th level priest as a travelling companion. There is the same satisfaction of watching a companion swordsman advance through the ranks as there is developing your own character's skill levels in an RPG. There are also some other character types familiar to RPG's (archer's are held in contempt). This is not one of those cheap knockoffs on a D&D game though. This is just one element of the world the author has created which is kind of fun.
The author created a universe with a multitude of gods, like the Greek and Roman gods. While this is very common in the sword and sorcery genre, Dave Duncan has made the gods active participants in his story. One god makes repeated appearances, talks with the hero, and performs the occasional miracle. The author is able to keep the gods from completely overshadowing the human characters by stressing how they value "free will" for their own purposes. The author's brilliant use of deity characters (a recurring element throughout his best series) adds facets to this story which lift it above a simple Conan type "guy with sword" story.
This trilogy has a detailed, multi-leveled plot which twists enough to keep you in suspense right up until the ending. And the ending reaches the appropriate dramatic climax, then has a satisfying denouement where the characters reap their rewards and the author ties up any loose ends. When this book ended, I was left saying, "Wow, imagine that!"
The only thing I can even think of that I didn't like about this trilogy is that it ended. The author really wrapped things up for the characters. It would be almost impossible to continue the story. I do hope that Dave Duncan comes back to this world with some new characters though. Maybe the old characters can have a cameo in the new story . . .The Reluctant Swordsman (The Seventh Sword Trilogy Book 1) Overview

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A Shadow in Summer (The Long Price Quartet) Review

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A Shadow in Summer (The Long Price Quartet) ReviewThe Cities of the Khaiem shine like jewels in the East, and the brightest is the port of Saraykeht. The realm's profitable cotton trade flows through the city, quickened by the artistry of the poet Heshai. For in the East, a poet's art can become incarnate as a powerful spirit-slave (andat), and it is on the shoulders of Heshai, master of the andat Seedless, that the weight of Saraykeht's continuing prosperity balances ... a weight outsiders would gladly topple.
In these delicate times, first-time novelist Daniel Abraham chronicles the poignant choices of a handful of characters seldom seen in the "fantasy" genre: a middle-aged, female overseer of a foreign merchant house; her aging employer, the house's lord; her young assistant; the assistant's lover (a common dock-laborer); and Heshai's newly-arrived apprentice. Together and individually, without sword or spell, these elegantly-realized few will determine Saraykeht's fate.
Mr. Abraham, quite often a poet himself in fashioning the novel's lacquer-smooth prose, has written a marvelous novel--a "fantasy" by virtue of its setting and the andat's power, but a fantasy that can be gleefully dropped in the lap of anyone complaining of generic, Arthurian or Tolkien-esque settings; paper-deep protagonists; or unrestrained gore. "Shadow" (Book One of the planned "Long Price Quartet") is both fresh and literary, and as Mr. Abraham has spent years writing short fiction and honing his craft, he deserves every compliment that comes his way.
Although "Shadow" is not a perfect book--some will no doubt label the communicative custom of "poses" (e.g. "[he] took a pose half query and half command") as a device to cheat and tell emotions instead of showing them; and there is a plot issue as mentioned after the spoiler alert--it is a book worth owning and, likely, re-reading. Fans of Barry Hughart ("Bridge of Birds") and Guy Gavriel Kay ("Tigana") should take special note of this tale. Four summer-bright stars.** Spoiler Alert **
The plot is driven by a Western conspiracy to remove the poet and andat and thus cripple the city. The execution of the story is solid enough that one may not pause to consider the larger picture; but in retrospect, it seems implausible that the conspirators would adopt their complex, innocent-life-taking scheme when assassinating the poet would work just as well. Of course, it could not be a blatant, traceable act, but a well-planned "accident"--perhaps a roof tile falling on the strolling poet (as it does on others in an actual scene), a mugging, or the consumption of "bad" liquor or drugs--would work equally well and with fewer contortions.A Shadow in Summer (The Long Price Quartet) Overview

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The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) Review

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The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) ReviewI wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I read the blurb from the back and nearly turned away after reading only half of the summary. But something made me open it up and try the first few pages--and I was hooked. It starts with an action scene--like most fantasy novels--and it is described so well. It is realistic without splattering gore in your face. I can't think of any other author who treads that line so well as Joe Abercrombie does in The Blade Itself.
I didn't find this a funny book, overall. It's not a comedy at all. But there are several moments where I did laugh out loud as I read some clever description or a reaction of one of the characters. In fact I think I found more to smile at in this book than most other novels that are specifically tagged as being funny or humourous. The humour here isn't forced. I didn't feel like the author was trying to be funny. It was more like the humour you might find in casual conversation with a friend.
This book moves along at a good pace. It is one of those books where you want to keep reading to find out what happens, but, unlike many other page-turners, things actually happen in this one! I hate books that promise action or resolution just over the next page, just another page, one more page, and before you know it you've read half the book and still nothing's happened. This is definitely not a one-trick pony of a book. Each character is well developed and the plots intertwine naturally.
What this book doesn't contain are tired old writing techniques. Well, it's not perfect, but it's as close as I've come across in 15 years. Anyway, there are no stereotypical cliched fantasy characters. The author doesn't end each chapter on a contrived cliff-hanger and then talk about another character's life for ten chapters before returning to the cliff-hanger. He doesn't especially dwell on the gruesome details of battle, but he writes it as realistically as you'd want. Perhaps not super-realistic--this is a fantasy, after all--but it's not nearly as predictable as many.
Something else I noticed about the writing style is that Joe will change his writing a little to suit each character. So each time he changes the perspective to a new character, the way he describes the scenes changes, too. It's like he's letting us look through each of their eyes, rather than just giving us a homogenous narration throughout. They're not jarring transitions by any means, though. For me they really added to the story and made it all the more absorbing.
This is by far the most absorbing novel I have read for many years. And this is the most glowing review I have given any book on Amazon!The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) Overview

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