Swordspoint (Mass Market Paperback)

There is one little catch however, there is an additional little story to the book called "The Death of the Duke" which talks of the last days of Richard and Alec and it was sad. I riped the little story out of my book. Then I talked to the writer herself about it and she said that for the sake of many hating that last story's ending, she's going to write a new novel this year that takes place 20 years after Swordspoint about Alec & Richard. She said the Death of the Duke was just a "fantasia" of hers, nothing more, and that we fans could just ignore it.

Overall, buy the book, it will intrigue you!!! I gave it 5 stars because it worth 10. The writing itself is smooth and beautiful. Ellen trully writes like an angel! If you like smart, twisted characters, a story that feels so real and actually makes sense, buy the book!!!

So one day when Amazon realized I had a penchant for reading fantasy books with queer characters (gee, how would it guess?!), out popped a message on a page saying "Hey, you might like to read Swordspoint!" (Or something similar, think it was worded differently.) So I checked out the description, read the reviews and thought, "Huh, that does sound interesting!" and you know, ordered it. (Boy, Amazon makes it too easy!)

Swordspoint turned out not to be exactly what I had expected. Having just come off of reading Lynn Flewelling's delightful, outstanding Nightrunner series, I was I guess expecting something a little racier or filled with heart-pounding action or some magic or something really scary. Instead I found the book to be just what it says on the back cover, a "melodrama of manners."

There's a well-drawn relationship between a professional swordsman and a mysterious noble scholar who's abandoned his privilege for a death wish, and that was fun, but then there was another half to the story with nobles plotting and scheming, politics and politenesses and callings cards -- which to me was not so fun. I loved the bits with dashing Richard St Vier and drunken bitter Alec, but every time I'd really start to get into them, the chapter would end and I'd have to slog through a scene of some noblelady or nobleman's blathering or covering up some secret or plotting to knock off a rival. To me, patient and literate as I am, those bits just were boring and dry.

It reminded me of some lost 18th or 19th century novel, only twist being that the two main heroes are gay lovers and everybody's okay with that. It's true that in the Nightrunner series, there's a similar situation (a regular spies, swords and sorcery book, only with gay lovers), but for me Swordspoint didn't have the overall story I enjoy so I wasn't nearly as satisfied. I will say, however, that if you like a book with a lot of intrigue and intricate plot and old-fashioned literary language, Swordspoint is probably a book you'd enjoy.

If there was one thing that made my disappointment a little less with this book, it came at the end, where in the edition I have, Kushner has included three additional stories set in the Swordspoint world. I actually enjoyed these stories more than the actual novel! I think it was the fact that in the stories, all the frilly "melodrama of manners" stuff was cut out and only the good bits were there. The stories also had a higher proportion of sexual spice to them. And in "The Death of the Duke," Kushner creates a magical tale depicting the final weeks of Alec, as an old man returned to the nameless city, setting of Swordspoint, and dying amid his memories of Richard St Vier -- what a wonderful tribute!