Oath of Swords (Mass Market Paperback)

by David Weber (Author) "He shouldn't have taken the shortcut..." (more)
Key Phrases: two hradani, hradani nodded, foxlike ears, Horse Stealer, Bloody Sword, Bahzell Bahnakson (more...)

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

Product Description
Bahzell Bahnakson, one of the hradani, who are despised for their rages, thirst for blood, and generally uncivilized behavior, runs afoul of the War God and ends up in trouble involving sorcery, demons, and a great deal more.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Baen (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671876422
• ISBN-13: 978-0671876425
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #568,803 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The War God Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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...

9 of 11 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

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.