I received an advertisement for this novel through an Ebay purchase and was a little hesitant about purchasing it but I am glad I did. The book is well written and the characters are really intriguing. I enjoyed following them through the story and watching as they got into various adventures. I don't want to comment too much because I hate spoilers for people who haven't read it yet. However, I will say that I recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Read it, and then read every other book in the series. This book not only allows you to escape reality, it presents you with a conundrum that makes you think about what you would do in that situation. I am very particular about what I consider as worth reading and this is one very close to the top.

All of Lawrence Watt-Evans books are wonderful. Please print these in hardcover though!!! I hope somebody is listening out there.

Recently on rec.arts.sf.written I noticed a discussion about Lawrence Watt-Evans efforts to publish online "The Spriggan Mirror." This was to be the ninth book in his Legends of Ethshar series. I read a couple chapters and found them well written and fun.

Amazon's guidelines ask that URLs not be included in a review, but if you'd like to read about Lawrence's efforts to publish online, go into goggle, search for "The Spriggan Mirror" and you find the web page.

I decided to start at the beginning of the series with "The Misenchanted Sword." The main character is Valder, a scout for the Esthshar army. They have been fighting the Northern Empire for decades. Valder ends up behind enemy lines and runs for his life. He accidentally stumbles into a hermit wizard who has been hiding out from civilization for years and doesn't take kindly to Valder who, even accidentally, brings the war to where the wizard has been living. The wizard decides to turn Valder's sword into a magic sword which will protect Valder and help him to return to the Esthshar army. With all the spells the wizard puts on the sword, it does help Valder to get back to the Esthshar army.

The Esthshar wizards study the sword and find there is a slight problem with the sword, that after Valder kills 100 warriors with it, the sword will kill Valder, the sword was misenchanted. Valder and his sword are used to fight the Northern Empire. Then later in the book Valder tries to figure out what to do with this misenchanted sword.

This is a pleasant story. It read well and it is hard to point down. While writing this review I've picked up the book a couple times to reread some favorite passages. If you like fantasy, this is a fun book to read.

This little gem is the sort of book that you pick up at the used bookstore with twenty other paperbacks, not expecting much, and then end up treasuring for years.

Much modern fantasy relies on rather generic plot arcs and characterization that substitutes brutality for realism. Lawrence Watt-Evans falls into neither of those traps. The book starts with an apparently rather generic plot -- Joe Average soldier gets trapped behind enemy lines, meets friendly wizard, wizard makes him a magic sword then disappears, turns out sword isn't as beneficial as it first appears, etc.

But the interesting thing about this book is that the decency and common sense of the lead character manage to take the story in a very different direction from where such stories typically go. Rather than a generic plot-driven hero-quest fantasy, this book turns, in a very pleasant surprise, into a very enjoyable character-driven tale, and what's even better, one where all the main characters are likeable and act sensibly.

Far too much modern fantasy seems to be written by authors who think that "realism" means nothing more than an extra helping of cynicism, and 'characterization" means making sure all your characters are either brutal, stupid, or naieve. It's wonderfully refreshing to read fantasy where the lead character is just a sensible, reasonably intelligent man trying to lead his own life as pleasantly as possible with a minimum of fuss -- an ambition I'm sure we can all share.