Six of Swords [Mass Market Paperback]

Carole Nelson Douglas (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (June 12, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345298365
• ISBN-13: 978-0345298362
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,786,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first , and the best!, April 2, 1998

By A Customer

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

Six of Swords is actually the first book in a series of 5 fantasy novels about Irissa, a magical seeress, and Kendric, a typical "I wouldn't touch magic with a ten foot pole," sword-swinging type of guy. Unfortunately, the author appears to have switched publishers in the middle of the series. The third book, "Keepers of Edanvant" is labelled as book one of the "Sword and Circlet" series. If anyone has made the unfortunate mistake of picking up "Keepers of Edanvant" as I did, it quickly becomes obvious that certain necessary elements are missing. "Six of Swords" as well as "Exiles of the Rynth" supply those necessary elements. "Six of Swords" explains how Irissa and Kendric met one another as well as the evil wizard, who became their nemesis throughout the rest of the series. This is the story about how all of their adventures began. I found it in a book store after it was out of print; chances are you can find it too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Favourite series, June 18, 2005

By 

Pam McDonald (South Australia) - See all my reviews

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

I was amazed to read the previous reviews for this book. I am an avid reader of fantasy novels, this book and the series is easily my favourite. It is not an easy read, and you do have to concentrate, but that is part of the attraction. I love the way she writes. It is very formal and I think is fitting with the imagined time-frame. My favourite line is "Now the only riddle I wish to unravel is the intricacies of your silken belt -". It is a beautifully written book, and I highly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unbearable, May 8, 2010

By 

Julius Caesar "caesargj" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

Ambitious beyond its reach, this book fails mainly in two areas. First, the plot is so threadbare as to be nonexistent; I'm used to writers not spelling things out, instead leaving it for the reader to pick up piecemeal, but by 200 pages in one still doesn't quite know what the problem is, or worse, what the two main characters are doing about it other than stumbling around. Secondly, Douglas' prose leaves a lot to be desired. Consider the following sentence: "He glanced at Irissa's withdrawn profile, her closed lashes lying like a massed army of dark barbs across the peaceful valley of her eye sockets."

And there's more besides, at least half of which sounds like it could win a Bulwer-Lytton contest. In fact, the entire last three or four chapters of the book are so laden with bad prose and utterably dull situations (which are meant to be 'riveting') that the best descriptor of the book I can imagine is "tedious."

Avoid this book at all costs.