Customer Reviews

Third Book of Swords

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

 

 

The final novel in the Swords trilogy takes place about four years after The Second Book of Swords. Ben and Barbara have disguised themselves as the wealthy Lord and Lady Courtenay living in Tashigang under the auspices of the Silver Queen. Mark has continued his quest for ways to help the embattled Kind Sir Andrew, who has been staying in the Great Swamp and using guerrilla tactics to continue fighting the Dark King. The gods have become cranky at the uppity humans and are trying to gather all the swords back in and stop the game.

There is so much going on in this book that I hate to even try to break it down - I'd inevitably end up spoiling some of it for you, dear reader, and that always irritates someone! :-) So, I'll just say that although the end does smack a bit of deus ex machina, it is nonetheless satisfactory and ties everything up nicely. I definitely plan to seek out the Lost Swords books and the Empire of the East books as well, as I am given to understand that they build on this world very nicely. Definitely anyone who enjoys a good fantasy novel with epic qualities will enjoy this trilogy greatly. Give it a chance, take the time to seek it out - you won't regret it!

"The Third Book of Swords" is the third and final novel in "The Book of Swords" trilogy approximately four years following the prior book. It has an interesting storyline involving an assortment of deities supplemented with a variety of creative magical weaponry.

The book splits time mostly between Denis and Mark. I find Mark a charming personality who could have been managed with greater attention while Denis is a new character, left as a complete enigma. The remaining group of characters who got the series thus far is downgraded to secondary characters. A subtle revelation regarding the Emperor adds an interesting twist.

[minor spoiler]

Earlier in the series, Shieldbreaker successfully defended a wielder against an attacking warbeast, slicing off its paws. In this novel, Vulcan is attacking with Shieldbreaker a group of humans who grapple him unarmed to the ground. The interesting fact is the Sword passes through the unarmed people in an immaterial state but harms the god. In the spirit of the fight, I would consider the human hands a choking weapon. The swarming of unarmed humans to subdue the Sword wielding god compared to the warbeast is a large flaw in the story.

[end minor spoiler]

Assorted spelling errors, in greater number than the earlier novels, slows down the reading. While the book starts quite descriptive, by the end the storytelling is hurried. I do not care for the mixture of Greek and Roman names for the gods and goddesses, I would prefer to stick with one mythological theme. A detailed map of the significant terrains would have been useful.

Given the power of the Swords in an appealing world, I would recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Thank you.

If you like the Lord of the Ring books you will love these books. This one happens to be one of my favorites. As our main hero Mark works his way around the country he finds all sorts of answers to questions readers had since the first book. The battle for the swords rage between humanity and the gods; both trying to concour it all. Its a must read for fantasy adventure fans.

Fred Saberhagen is simply one of the best fictional authors in the business. I got this book to complete a collection I started years ago. If you've never read the "Swords" books, you are really missing out. This series is one of the greatest works of fiction of all time and a great majority of the material in these books can be referenced to some work of fact or fictional literature from the past. His style of writing is simply amazing and will captivate you and entertain you for years to come as you read and re-read his books over and over again.

This is part of series of books, telling the story of how the gods created a number of very special swords, each one in its way possessing the ultimate power but always having a vulnerability to a specific type of attack or another sword.

The premise of the book and the series is quite interesting, as the gods start to understand that the swords possess the power to hurt them and they start to understand that some ancient power, greater than them, is behind it all.

The problem I have with this book is that it is too bland in places. The characters are too one dimensional. It's as if the author put all his energy into the plot and the ideas behind the book and forgot to really breathe life into the characters, thus creating a host of cardboard deep characters. There are a few characters with depth, but they are the exception.

Pretty good stuff. I had read the first two books in this series and couldn't find the third anywhere in bookstores, so I ordered it, and I'm glad I did. Intriguing story line, interesting characters. The only complaint is that I feel it was fairly anti-climactic. Could've used another hundred pages.

Saberhagen turns in a moderately entertaining and fast-paced effort. It's a strictly by-the-numbers little guys find magic dingus to fight overwhelmingly superior bad guys tale. Saberhagen just can't make me care about any of the characters. Major plot events come across as contrived. For example, old Draffut, our favorite God in the Machine, just happens to be waiting in a ravine to give Mark just the right sword for the needs of the moment. Nothing in the books prepare the reader to really believe that Vulcan can suddenly be trounced by a pack of unarmed mortals; the whole scene is ludicrous. Like too many fantasy efforts, what started out as a promising set of characters and situations is concluded by bombast. We even get the obligatory dark lord at the city gates scene. Yeah, there's a twist, but not a believable or even particurly well-described one. Typical of Saberhagen's inability (in this series, mind you; I'm not critiquing his body of work here) to follow through on promising beginnings is the character of the Emperor. Saberhagen teases us throughout the series with dark and not-so-dark hints and glimpses of the Emperor; but when he is finally trotted out into the light of day, he is a disappointment. One is left wondering what all the buildup was about. Which is exactly how one is left feeling about the book as a whole.

This book is another in the complete set of stories, about 12 swords each with a different special ability, I loved all his books so far, and hope it will stay the same for the rest of the series. I loved these books soo much I created a D&D Game from it!!