Customer Reviews

Gilded Chain: : A Tale of the King's Blades

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Keep in mind that this book is the first part of a series. One of the most intriquingly crafted series I've ever heard of. Each individual book (the Tales of the King's Blades series) tell of the lives of the certain characters, and tells of certain common events from those particular character's points of view. Each book tells the story of a different character (Gilded Chain - Durendal; Lord of the Fire Lands - Radgar Aelayding; Sky of Swords - Princess Malinda), and each book can be read and understood individually. But in order to truly appreciate the thought put into these novels, and the masterful authoring involved, it is very important to read the entire series.

This book is a good place to start. Duncan is one of those rarest of authors who forces you to read not only the words he has put on the page, but the words he hasn't. As most of his books, this is a superb example of how to write high fantasy. Duncan creates a world that COULD have been 12th century England, the mysticism and spirituality are well thought out and logical, the action is harsh and intense, and the plotlines and stories are believable. He holds no punches, and his realism and honesty are oftentimes brutal. Read this book. But don't wait too long to read the next.

This book is certainly one of the most amazing that I have ever read. Don't be fooled by the "blurb" on the back, this is not a fluffy cheap romance, though it somewhat looks like one, I'll admit. Durrendal has got to be one of the greatest swordsmen ever written into a book, (Sorry Inigo Montoya) and this book deals with the era in which he was in his prime. There are three books in this series by Dave Duncan, and many have called it a trilogy (and indeed, it is.) BUT. There is no specific order in which you must read them. Each is a stand alone novel. Take the advice of someone who's read them over and over read them in this order:

1) The Gilded Chain
2) Lord of the Firelands
3) Sky of Swords.

The Gilded Chain and Lord of the Firelands have two VERY different endings, both dealing with the death of a character (in two different ways) There are many discrepancies between the two. However, all of this confusion is resolved in Sky of Swords. This is a wonderful book that you'll want to come back to again and again. Try it out. You won't be dissapointed.

Duncan's style of writing is something that's new to me. His characters have style, expression, and seem to come alive in a different way than the characters in the book I have read before. The descriptive swordsplay is breathtaking, and the action is enough to keep the reader on their edges of their seats.

The Gilded Chain is more of an action packed biography rather than just a novel, which is probably what makes it different from other novels. The storyline follows the main character very closely, from the time when he was a boy to old age. Duncan's style of "accelerated" writing, where the space between paragraphs can be anything from three minutes to two years means that he is always searching for something new to keep the audience interested, a mean feat which is fulfilled quite fully by perhaps a broad imagination which he possesses.

Unlike some of the other authors I have read, Duncan perhaps shares some similarities to Melanie Rawn, in that the most precious characters in the story, ones that the reader thinks will develop, usually meet a tragic end. In this way, the story is more life-like in that tragic circumstances like this will happen in real life.

The work of a truly great author, I look forward to reading sky of Swords and other books by Duncan.

This was the first book I have read from Duncan and I thought it was a great tale. This story and the stories following are involve a group of swordsman called Blades as they are the Blades of the King. There is magic in this land in the form of conjurations and these swordsman are boned to either their King or someone he decrees by this form of sorcery. It ensures undying loyalty to their bonded. The main Hero of the Blades and the man this story is centered around is a man named Durendal and his adventures.

I found this approach to sword and sorcery very refreshing. It didn't seem as though he was rehashing your typical fantasy themes in different words. Instead this book feels very original and the writing doesn't wander aimlessly. This book is aptly called "A Tale" because thats what it is, a tale, a story; not a long, drawn out, piece of fluff but an action filled tale of loyalty, courage, honor, and friendship and I enjoyed it very much.

Also, there are three more books in this series so far (I am about to start the second) but this book has a beginning and an end. It doesn't have a cliffhanger like some other series, so you can be comfortable just buying the first book and if you agree with me and like it, you can get the others at your liesure.

Other authors you might like in this same genre; Paul Kearney, George R. R. Martin, Deborah Chester, David Gemmell, J.V. Jones, and Matthew Stover.

Rather than a story of one event, The Gilded Chain follows Sir Durendal's life through many adventures in the service of his king, right up to the point where his loyalty is put to the test. Although I was somewhat mislead by the description on the back of the book, I wasn't disappointed. Although I read and enjoy many books, this was one of the first times I actually couldn't put the book down. I know that's a cliche, but this time it was true. I read it in no time flat, and loved it. My only complaint is that the secondary characters were killed off too quickly. All in all, a great addition to the fantasy world.

Fantasy books can be like beverages: you have your exquisitely aged wines (The Lord of the Rings, Mists of Avalon); your rich ports and liquors (the works of Guy Kay and Patricia McKillip); your searingly clear vodka (A Song of Ice and Fire); your boxed wines (The Wheel of Time, The Sword of Truth); and your panoply of Bud, Coors, Schlitz and so on. This novel, the first in Duncan's King's Blades series, is the Jolt Cola of the fantasy canon: for those who love page-turning, caffeine-burning, sword-and-sorcery sugar, this is one for you.

The King's Blades are master swordsmen trained from youth in Ironhall. The senior trainee, when called upon by the king, endures a magical ritual in which a sword is driven through his heart by his ward. If the trainee survives, he becomes a bound blade, a bodyguard with magically enhanced strength, speed and stamina, one of the greatest swordsmen in the land: a musketeer on speed, whose first priority is always his ward's safety.

The Gilded Chain chronicles the life of Durendal, perhaps the greatest of all Blades, from his beginning as the Ironhall Brat, through his fabled career as Blade, adventurer, captain of the guard, and so on. Duncan tells the story at breakneck speed with a minimum of commentary or description, spinning off a huge yarn of adventure and intrigue in a land reminiscent of 16-17th century England. (There is the minister of this and that, Parliament, the Exchequer, and so on; and with armor largely obsolete due to new conjurations, rapiers are the weapon of choice.) The overall feel certainly recalls Dumas's musketeers and the episodic French tales of Gargantua and Pantagruel and Candide.

This is not to say that the writing itself is especially elegant or refined. Certainly there are better-written works rotting in the slush pile of every publishing house. It doesn't help that the first chapter after the prologue can only be understood hundreds of pages later or that women have almost no presence whatsoever (with the possible exception of Durendal's wife), except when they're mentioned in the running gag about how the Blades' superhuman stamina doesn't require them to sleep at night ...

Fun, fast, furious, potentially addictive--The Gilded Chain is best obtained as a library loan. Unless you really love this kind of thing, there's no need to 'jolt' your wallet or reserve a special place in your cellar.

This is a fun book. It's not heavy in the same way that Tolkien or George R.R. Martin's latest series is, but neither is it silly like so much of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy novels floating around (many of them published by the same company who publishes Dungeons & Dragons...).

Rather like Martin fictionalizes the Wars of the Roses for his Song of Ice and Fire series, Duncan in this book takes early 16th-century England and its two most famous citizens (now)--Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More--and *shifts* everything just a little. Henry VIII becomes Ambrose IV, initially the great humanist hope but eventually the despot of despots; More becomes Durendal, dedicated to his king and willing to defy him to save him; and Henry's break from Catholicism... well, you'll see.

This isn't just history with the names changed, however. Duncan has taken a historical world and characters, dropped his own fictional personalities and story on them, and created a fantasy world that feels realistically familiar.

Buy this book, free a Saturday, put on some tea, and enjoy. And you'll need that whole free day, too, because once you get into this book you'll not be putting it down unless your house is on fire.

Dave Duncan is fine author and I very much enjoyed his tetrology, "A Man of his Word." "The Gilded Chain" is part of the "King's Blades" series, but can be read as a stand-alone fantasy.

It is based on the interesting premise: a sorcerous ritual of a sword through the heart binds each warrior to his master with absolute loyalty. Duncan is a `show' not `tell' author. If the spell that binds an apprentice swordsman to his blade is strong enough to kill, then by golly Duncan includes a scene where an apprentice dies.

The king to whom the hero, Durandel is eventually apprenticed is the written image of Henry VIII---from popular, overbearing youth to fat, ulcerous old age. He even has an unloved daughter who will succeed him when he dies.

If he dies. Within the plot, there is a carefully-worked-out core of sorcery. The author's magicks aren't just an overlay on the plot---they drive the action from beginning to end.

Once Durandel becomes a King's Blade, he is caught up in court politics, and earns a reputation as the only man who will say `no' to the King. For his pains, Durandel is sent on a mission to a faraway country where a King's Blade went missing several years past.

Durandel reaches Samarinda (think Samarkand) with a minimum of travelogue, even though the journey takes two years through seas, mountains, deserts, wild beasts, hostile tribes, shipwrecks, scorpions, dysentery, and forest fires (none of which is relevant to the plot). He completes part of his mission, makes a deadly enemy, and loses a good friend. Then it's another briskly-handled two years back to King Ambrose. We can imagine the sights along the way from other fantasies (way too common) with long, pointless sections of travelogue.

What Durandel and his companions discovered in a monastery in Samarinda is the centerpiece to this book's climactic ending.

Subtract one star for overall goriness (only to be expected from a series called "The King's Blades"), and the lack of strong female characters (there is one, but she's the one plot element that seems to be tacked on as an afterthought).

First and foremost, Dave Duncan is an incredibly imaginative and detailed masterful storyteller within the genre of fantasy fiction for adult readers! A few weeks ago I was searching for something different to take with me on a business trip outside the country where I knew I would have lots of time on my hands and happened to see his latest paperback out of the corner of my eye and read the back cover for it which brought me to his first book in the "Tales of the King's Blades" series. Needless to say, but I will, discovering this outstanding author's work was a serious boon for me as I discovered his work to be absolutely superior!

Upon starting "The Gilded Chain," one quickly discovers that Dave Duncan is truly a masterful storyteller in that his pacing is breakneck in speed; incredible in plot setup and execution; incredibly well detailed as he not only tells a story but sets the reader up within his newly created world of Chivial where "conjurations" are common and there is an overall exceptionally rich history to his story! My only regret in beginning to read his novels is that I hadn't discovered his work earlier.

The cover art for "The Gilded Chain" is perfectly well suited to the story and does what it is intended to do, draw a reader to the novel.

The Premise:

Welcome to Dave Duncan's world of Chivial where conjurations are commonplace and the King, Ambrose the IV has at his disposal Ironhall where his personal guards are known as Blades. From an early age, young men who have nowhere else to go, if they show some promise, are admitted to the school and given the best training in the world in the practice and art of being swordsmen!

As they progress in age and years at the school they either handle the training or leave at their own will. Upon becoming the most senior of the students, Prime and Second as it is known, they come close to what they've been working towards for so long. When the time comes for the King to issue a warrant for a new Blade for either his own service or for a courtier he wishes or believes has need of a personal body guard the ward is sent to Ironhall with the warrant!

As the ritual goes, the ward takes the prospective Blade's newly crafted sword and through conjuration, runs it through the Blade's heart, providing the conjuration is a good one and both the Blade and the Ward's intention are good, the Blade will live and his binding to his ward is complete! As long as that Blade lives, his pure purpose in life is to guard his ward's life with his own...

In comes the story of "The Gilded Chain" and Sir Durendal, one of the most promising Blade's to come out of Ironhall in years and one who has taken the name of Durendal as the first Durendal was an absolute hero in the Litany of Heroes at Ironhall.

What follows from his "first" binding is one of the most incredible and wonderful well told fantasy stories this reader has ever had the privilege to read as the author takes us through the life of Sir Durendal or Lord Roland as he later is able to take his given name. From a poor child with talent taken into the bosom of Ironhall to his first and second bindings to his being released and becoming the Chancellor of Chivial to King Ambrose the IV, this tale will absolutely captivate and enthrall the reader at a breakneck speed...

I highly recommend this first tale in the "Tales of the King's Blades" and any other novel written by this superior author to any and all who enjoy good fantasy fiction that is written for adults. Dave Duncan most certainly deserves any and all praise and accolades I'm sure he's received and continues to receive for this superior piece of fiction! {ssintrepid}

Read the above descriptions and you will be mislead as to what this book is all about. This is not an adventure tale, but a story of the life of a hero, Durendal, one of the kings bodyguards. As such it starts out interesting enough but kind of sags in the middle as whole decades are skipped over. Many of the most interesting characters are not adequately developed. Worst of all the 5 year Marco Poloesque journey to Samarinda is dismissed in a few paragraphs that briefly mention great adventures but no details are given.

Too bad. There is much to admire here. The background is well crafted, similar enough to Medieval England to be familiar and the King is obvioulsy based on Henry VIII. The magic is tastefully understated and just different enough to make it interesting. The book is just too short! This is a life worth 2 or 3 books and the potential is never realized in this single volume. OK, but you can do better.