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3.0 out of 5 stars
Cream of Wheat, Mar 24 2002
As an author, Lawrence Watt-Evans would have made a great computer programmer. This whole book is structured like a course in logic, i.e. ï¿IF A = B, THEN C.ï¿ If youï¿d really like to follow the youth-to-(almost)death biography of someone who acquires a misenchanted sword, and how the spells on the sword logically affected his (almost) entire life, this is the fantasy for you.Rules are rules, whether dealing with spells or computer logic gates, and the author leaves the misenchanted sword stuck to his hero, Valderï¿s hand for thirteen days because of the rule that Valder has to kill another male warrior before he can sheath it. What is the logical profession for Valder after he acquires his new sword? He is already a soldier, but he canï¿t very well employ the misenchanted sword on the battlefield because of rule #2: he has to sheath it between killings. So his superiors force him to become an assassin, which is logical, but Valder doesnï¿t really care for killing men---especially after dispatching eighty or so of them. Which leads to rule #3: after Valder has killed a hundred men, the sword will turn on him. Heï¿ll die, and his assassin will then have to kill ninety-nine men with the sword before the same thing happens to him. The total of men killed by the sword = 100 + 99 +98 +97ï¿.+1 before the misenchantment finally wears off. Luckily the war ends (with all of the real action such as the last battle between the gods and demons taking place off stage) before Valder kills his magic hundred men. Now he is stuck with rule #4: he will age normally, but he canï¿t die except by the sword, and then only after he kills his hundredth man. The bulk of this book (it seemed very bulky to me) is taken up by Valderï¿s adventures after he leaves the army. The bookï¿s beginning and end were quite interesting, i.e. the story of how he acquired the misenchanted sword and then the sequel of how, as an old man, he tries to break its spell. In between---well, itï¿s like eating a tasty hors dï¿oeuvre, then a box of Cream of Wheat, then a bowl of triple chunk caramel ice cream. If you can make your way to bookï¿s end, youï¿ll love it. But beware of indigestion.
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