The Yoke of Magic (Swords of Raemllyn) [Paperback]

Robert Vardeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1986 | Series: Swords of Raemllyn

Swirling through the realm are winds of rebellion fed by greed, lust for power and the need to possess the magical sword of Raemllyn's first king, Kwerin Bloodhawk. In the wrong hands magic will rule-and ruin.

Freebooters Davin Anane and Goran One-Eye face demons unleashed as they struggle to save the lovely Lijena from her horrendous destiny-and to deliver a kingdom to its rightful ruler.

A Yoke of Magic is a gripping tale of bravery and betrayal, friendship and demonic hatred set in an unforgettable fantasy world.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace; Reissue edition (March 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441948413
• ISBN-13: 978-0441948413
• Product Dimensions: 15.9 x 10 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,175,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert E. Vardeman is the author of more than 100 fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as numerous westerns under various pen names (Jackson Lowry, Karl Lassiter). F&SF titles include the fantasy Dark Legacy (Magic: The Gathering tie-in) and sf novel Ruins of Power (Battletech: Mechwarrior tie-in). The reprint of his Star Frontier trilogy from Zumaya Publications was launched with Alien Death Fleet and Genetic Menace. Black Nebula will be published soon. The Infinity Plague, the first book of the Biowarriors series, recently has been published for the Kindle.

Fantasy work included the novelization of Sony Playstation videogame God of War 1 (co-authored with Matt Stover) and the forthcoming God of War 2. All nine titles in the Swords of Raemllyn series will be published in Kindle format. Look for the fantasy pirate short story, "The Coins of Darkun," in the collection Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms.

In addition to short stories for the Kindle, his collection Stories from Desert Bob's Reptile Ranch covers almost thirty years of writing.

Editorial work includes Career Guide to Your Job in Hell and the spectacular anthology, co-edited with Joan Spici Saberhagen, Golden Reflections.

Vardeman is a longtime resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduating from the University of New Mexico with a B.S. in physics and a M.S. in materials engineering. He worked for Sandia National Laboratories in the Solid State Physics Research Department before becoming a full time writer.

For more information go to http://www.cenotaphroad.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Yolk of Magic, July 23, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Yoke of Magic (Swords of Raemllyn) (Paperback)

A great book with a great storyline, something you can get stuck into and have a good laugh about, but it still retains the basic storyline and doesn't deviate from it. It managed to continue the first story(To Demons Bound) really well and I only have two complaints. 1. The writers, in the second chapter of this story, repeated the second last chapter of the last story which got a touch boring. 2.Sometimes, in this book, the speech style of Davin changes, and I'm wondering if that's on purpose(high style because he's of the nobility) or if that's just a place where the writers' styles haven't mingled well.

Other than those two points I thought the book was great and would recommend it to anyone who wants to try a light hearted sci-fi fantasy novel.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Impressed, May 16, 2011

By 

Scott P Murphy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A YOKE OF MAGIC (Swords of Raemllyn) (Kindle Edition)

If you are buying this book for anything other then the Kindle don't bother downloading it. It has what they call DRM (Digital Rights Management). In a nutshell, They take your money and hold your book for ransom, I have used Calibre and still am out of luck.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mid-story continuation, November 11, 2002

By 

Mike Sobocinski (Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Yoke of Magic (Swords of Raemllyn, Bk. 2) (Paperback)

In fairness, this book is simply the midsection of an extended story. Starting with the superior "To Demons Bound" this is the second of the Swords of Raemllyn series. I was tempted to rate this 3 stars because of its episodic nature, but it wouldn't really be fair to rate it, in isolation, lower than the surrounding two books. The amusing adventures continue from the first book; and the nature of the heroes' quest(s) becomes clearer. There is a noteworthy surprise midway through as a character named Glylina appears! Some shortcomings of this volume are that some of the episodes feel superfluous to advancing the plot, one or two gags have gotten a bit repetitive, and the fact that in the U.S. this book was published as a separate volume rather than combined with surrounding ones in the series (a fault corrected in the U.K.). But I have finished re-reading this book AND book 3 at the time of writing this review, and feel that the first 3 books of the series should be judged as a unit (as they were published in the U.K., possibly found through amazon.uk) and they earn the 4-star, superior, rating. Despite some flaws, they are page-turners! (In my youth when first reading this book 17 years ago, I had no such misgivings as listed above, and thus my former self gives a full 4 stars.) 6.3hrs.