Oath of Swords [Paperback]

David Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2006

Whom the gods would recruit, they first tick off . . .

Our Hero: The unlikely Paladin, Bahzell Bahnakson of the Horse Stealer Hradani. He¿s no knight in shining armor. He¿s a hradani, a race known for their uncontrollable rages, bloodthirsty tendencies, and inability to maintain civilized conduct. None of the other Five Races of man like the hradani. Besides his ethnic burden, Bahzell has problems of his own to deal with: a violated hostage bond, a vengeful prince, a price on his head. He doesn¿t want to mess with anybody else¿s problems, let alone a god¿s. Let alone the War God¿s! So how does he end up a thousand leagues from home, neck-deep in political intrigue, assassins, demons, psionicists, evil sorcery, white sorcery, dark gods, good gods, bad poets, greedy landlords, and most of Bortalik Bay? Well, it¿s all the War God¿s fault. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The creator of sf series heroine Honor Harrington turns successfully to fantasy. Bahzell is a prince of the Hradni, an outsize humanoid race prone to berserk rages. Due to a variety of circumstances, he becomes obliged to flee into regular humans' lands where Hradni are understandably unpopular. He and his companion survive a series of briskly paced adventures in a world Weber builds with a nice eye for detail, above-average knowledge of history, and a pleasing amount of wit. Moreover, the book's ending neither requires nor precludes a sequel. At the moment, Weber is not on a course to high honors or academic reputation but rather is emerging as a consistent producer of highly entertaining and intelligent action tales. Roland Green --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

David Weber is the fantasy and science fiction phenomenon of the decade. His popular Honor Harrington novels (The New York Times bestsellers Ashes of Victory and War of Honor being the ninth and tenth in the series) can¿t come out fast enough for his devoted readers. His popular novels of the adventures of Bahzell of the hradani¿Oath of Swords, The War God¿s Ow , and the New York Times best seller Wind Rider¿s Oath¿have proven that he is equally a master of epic fantasy adventure. In addition to the Honor Harrington series, he has written many more top-selling science fiction novels, all for Baen, including The Apocalypse Troll, Empire from the Ashes, and In Fury Born. He has also begun an epic SF adventure series in collaboration with fellow New York Times best seller John Ringo, with four novels so far: March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars and We Few.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Baen (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416520864
• ISBN-13: 978-1416520863
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and "a passel of dogs".

Previously the owner of a small advertising and public relations agency, Weber now writes science fiction full time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hard-SF Writer Turns Successfully to Fantasy, June 2, 2000

By 

Chrijeff (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Oath of Swords (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been talking this book and its sequel (The War God's Own) up to everyone I can find including the owner of the Genreflecting website. I was so impressed that I actually wrote Weber a letter--and that's something I've done only once before. Bahzell Bahnakson is a delightful new hero (though some readers may be just a tad put off by his Irish speech pattern)--loyal, bullheaded, true to his own sense of ethics, and not without a *mind* withal. There's plenty of action and humor, a vividly imaged world, well-drawn characters, and lucid, logical explanations of how and why gods and magic work. Even Tomanak Scale-Balancer, Bahzell's divine patron, is sympathetic--nowhere near as remote as some fantasy god-figures. My only complaint was that there was hardly any magic at all in the first third of the book! A good read, fast-paced, solidly plotted, and well written. Highly recommended.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Archetypical, but grabbing!, August 19, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (NH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oath of Swords (Mass Market Paperback)

While I have not read any of David Webers sci-fi, and don't plan to, I have read both Oath Of Swords and War Gods Own, a few times each. In fact, I just finished rereading War Gods Own a few minutes ago, and was searching for the next. It's that good. While the characters, like Bahzell, Wencit, Kilthan and Vaijon tend to follow some well established patterns in the fantasy world, he turns the archetypes to good effect. He avoids the constant hero band feeling while achieving all the objectives of plot that have made the fearless band a standard since the era of Tolkien. A good read, both novels, and I highly recommend all you sci-fi people check them out, since Weber is definitely as much of a cross over succes as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Piers Anthony or any other consistent best-seller list authors.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good fantasy from Weber, May 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Oath of Swords (Mass Market Paperback)

I was reluctant to start these books [Oath of Swords and the Wwar God's Own]. I've read almost all of his other books, but was suspicious about turning to fantasy. I shouldn't have been. The books are very different from his others (although the experience in military things still shows) but they are a good read and definitely on my "to be re-read soon" list. I found one major negative point: I do wish he'd avoided the stereotyped elves, dwarves, halflings etc. (although to be fair the individual representatives of the races we meet /aren't/ much like the stereotypes, and he has a couple of original races as well). However, the humour more than makes up for that, especially when the protagonist is argueing with his god (and sometimes winning the arguments!). I'll be very interested to see how this series continues...