Customer Reviews

Sky of Swords: A Tale of the King's Blades

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the third book in a trilogy, following The Gilded Chain, and Lord of the Fire Lands. Each was intended to stand alone, but the three combine to tell a slghtly larger story.

The Gilded Chain was my favorite Dave Duncan book (and I have read and enjoyed the vast majority of his works - it's a shame that many are currently out of print). I was intrigued to discover the discrepancy between its ending and that of Lord of the Fire Lands, the second book. The first two books do stand alone marvelously. This third book resolves the contradictions between the first two, but is the weakest of the three, and should not be read without first reading the other two books.

I did not like the manner in which the contradiction between the first two books was resolved, but despite that, the book tells a good tale, and gives the reader more depth of information about the Blades as an order, and as individuals. One cares about the characters. If you liked the first two, you'll like the third as well.

I was very impatiently waiting this third King's Blades book to see how Dave planned to resolve the very puzzling contradictions between the first and second books. I was not disappointed - I literally had to keep reading until I got to the end.

If King Ambrose is Henry VIII (and he clearly is, with all his multiple wives and his problems with the 'conjurers'), then Malinda is Elizabeth I. And we get plenty of backstory to help us understand the woman she grows up to be.

Some things left me sad (poor little Amby's curtailed life, all the Blades who died, sniff) and some things made me happy (the rehabilitation of Radgar, whom I loved in Lord of the Fire Lands), and there were a lot of things I would have liked to have seen amplified, but then the book would have been too heavy to lift.

The Noble and Ancient Order of King's Blades is one of Dave's most enchanting inventions, and I sincerely hope that he can find more stories to tell in this universe. I've never met a King's Blade I didn't love. -- Jane

Like other fans of "The King's Blades," I was eagerly awaiting this book to find out if it resolved the confusing contradictions between the endings of the previous novels. Be warned-yes it does. You will either love it or hate it, but it is resolved. Duncan once again spins a taut, gripping tale-this time concerning political intrigue surrounding the Princess Malinda (a minor character in the previous novels), and the bloody civil war brewing over her potential succession. Unlike "Lord of the Fire Lands," more attention is paid to the Blades in this volume. Malinda's personal guards are well-drawn characters (especially Dog), and Malinda herself is fleshed out into a far more complex and sympathetic personality than before. I didn't think much of her in previous books, but she's great in this one-both tragic and heroic. Plus you get the usual swordplay, treachery, conjuration and war Duncan is so good at. As with "Fire Lands" the last page ends rather abruptly (bringing the reader full circle back to "The Gilded Chain") but the story didn't disappoint me at all.

Like a number of other reviewers, I was interested to see how Duncan would resolve the discrepancy between "The Gilded Chain" and "The Lord of the Fire Lands."

Unfortunately, without giving too much away, he uses an overt "deus ex machina," or in this case, "deus ex octagram" device.

The good news is all is set right in the end. The bad news is that you have to live through a real Gotterdaemmerung to get there--and when all is resolved, I, at least, was left feeling rather manipulated.

However, the book is well-written, and Malinda is an interesting character--Duncan has worked hard in this trilogy to give us three very different protagonists. It is just too bad that he essentially has to pull a rabbit out of the hat to bring the trilogy to closure.

This book is literary genius. The historically conflicting endings of the first two books are resolved in a clean and brilliant stroke. The main character is likeable, and her perspective sheds an intersting light on the two main characters from the first two novels.

About half-way through Sky of Swords, when truly shocking things had been happening that are in total conflict with the first novel, the light suddenly went on in my head as suddenly I *knew* what Duncan was doing. And I was truly impressed.

Altho it has been recommeded that they should be read in the cyclical order of Gilded Chain, Sky of Swords, then Lord of the Firelands, despite Firelands having been published before Sky, don't ruin that one moment of realization that is so rare in any work of fiction by doing this. Read them in the order that they were published.

Pure literary genius.

I found the book a little slow to unfold. I considered not finishing it at one point, but I am glad I did continue to read. The last half of the book is a much better and more engaging read. I would say overall it is a slightly better than average Fantasy.

Sky of Swords fulfills the ultimate goal of any volume in a series: it is not only an excellent story in its own right, but it retroactively improves the volumes that have gone before it by bringing to light hidden depths. This book focuses on Princess Malinda, who had minor but important parts in the first two books, and fleshes out her story in a way that adds shades of newly-discovered meaning to the earlier books. For those who mistakenly thought (as I did) that this series was to consist of stand-alone volumes, well, we were wrong. I suppose it'd be vaguely possible to read each of these volumes individually, but the full effect of the story is only found in reading them together. I'm beginning to believe that Duncan couldn't write a straightforward generic fantasy if he tried to; so much the better.

I read The Gilded Chain a couple of years ago and thought it perhaps one of the top five books I have ever read (in 22 years or so). Well, I reread it a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed it as much (possibly more) than I did the first time. I also enjoyed Lord of the Fire Lands (second in the series). Not as much as GC, though I was intrigued by the alternate ending. I think I missed Durendal (What a character!)....maybe I will like it better the second time around. I also was apprehensive about Sky of Swords due to some moderately bad press posted. However, Sky of Swords was excellent. Malinda evolved into a quite likable and courageous heroine and her Blades were almost on par with Wolfbiter and Quarrel (from The Gilded Chain). I enjoyed the time twists you used to make the story different than the usual fare. All the twists and turns were why I decided to read GC again. I'm currently reading The Reluctant Swordsman by Mr. Duncan and it is proving to be as good as I hoped.

Sky of Swords is the third book in the three book series titled A Tale of the King's Blades. Duncan says that they are all stand-alone novels telling a larger tale, and can be read in any order. However, after having finished all three books I think they should be read in the order they were published, as it added more to the story for me. So, with that said, the order I recommend is: The Gilded Chain, Lord of the Fire Lands, and then Sky of Swords. Since each book builds on the others, this order seems to make the most sense.

Duncan, has a knack for writing strong characters within a tight plot that flows with grace across the pages of his books. His action scenes are paced at breathtaking speed, and his political intrigue scenes are wrought with tension. This is one of the few books I have read that has pulled off a solid action plot with a solid political plot. It makes for a great read and one that I can easily see myself reading again down the road.

The plot of this book is mostly political. It starts with the `trial' of the Queen for various events that are recounted through flashback type sequences. The first time this happens it comes off as a little odd, but once the reader realizes what is going on it makes sense and flows well. The trial and flashbacks do not conclude until about 400 pages through the book. The flashbacks serve a huge purpose not only in this book, but also the overall series. It helps to paint the over all story. I would love to explain more of the plot, but I don't want to spoil anything for future readers. Suffice it to say, it's a great plot and one definitely worth reading.

The characters in this book are some of the most memorable I have ever read. Especially the character of Dog. I have rarely read a character that I cared about more than Dog. Wow. The other characters are equally as memorable. One thing I like about Duncan's works is that he is not afraid to kill off a character if it will serve a purpose in the book. While reading this, the characters were so well fleshed out with how they talk, how they act, that the reader will begin to care about them and be genuinely interested in them. Duncan does a fantastic job of balancing plot with character development and does so in a grand fashion.

Now, after all that praise for this book (and series), there was one thing I didn't like. I would love to fully explain it, but that would ruin a huge portion of the book. I will just say the ending didn't seem to fit with the over 1,400 pages of the three books combined. It seemed `wrong' and `not right'. I can't really say it any other way. I know the ending ties up everything from the other two books and odes a good job at it. But, I expected something different.

Over all, I would recommend these books to any fantasy fans looking to start a new series/author. Duncan does not disappoint and I can't believe I had never heard of him before. I will surely read his other three book series involving the Blades as well. Truly a fun series to read!

Something needs to be kept in mind whenever reading a series by Dave Duncan, and that is that he's BRILLIANT. That doesn't just mean that he creates entire worlds that are unique, richly detailed, and believable. It doesn't just mean that his characters are fully fleshed out individuals. It means that when you read the ending you say "Wow! How did he come up with that." Well, it's because he's brilliant. It also must be because he started with an idea of the ending and crafted the entire story to lead up to it. Unfortunately it's difficult to review his stories without giving the ending away. If you've read some of Duncan's other series, like "The Seventh Sword", "A Man of his Word", or "The Great Game", you'll know what to expect.

"The Sky of Swords" is the conclusion of a trilogy. The first book is "The Gilded Chain" about a character named Durendal. The second book is "Lord of the Fire Lands" about a character named Radgar, although many of the characters from the first book also appear in the second. The problem is that something happens in the second book, which specifically doesn't happen in the first. Resolving this contradiction is really the whole purpose of the third book. Although it's possible to read this as a stand-alone novel, it's really a bad idea.

The thing about resolving the contradiction is that the characters haven't read the books, and don't know that there's a contradiction. Events have to occur which force them to want to change things. For this reason "Sky of Swords" is not as happy a book as the first two were. It's rather dark and depressing, as the characters are being driven to desperation. It wouldn't be much fun to read this story by itself. The ending not only resolves the contradiction though; I found it very satisfying.