“s I think I've mentioned, when I was a teenager I was quiet enamoured of the fantasy genre. Books were something that I could always count on my mother purchasing for me. These two things added together equal a whole lot of unread books. I cannot bear to leave books unread and I have vowed not to purchase anymore books until I have read all that I have in my possession in New York. It is a combination of these factors that have led me to the horror that was Swordspoint.
Swordspoint stradles the line between fantasy and historical fiction. There is no magic, no creatures, no quests - none of the hallmarks of the JRR Tolkein style fantasy novels. Instead, the book creates an alternate universe that approximates that of medieval England. So, instead of magic, we get swordfights and schemeing. And actually, that's really all we get for the entire book.
The book begins with a serious of weighty quotes designed to foreshadow what happens in the rest of the book. But really, not a whole lot happens in the book. Swordspoint follows the life of Richard St. Vier, swordman for hire. Nobles who wish to exact revenge on other nobles hire him to kill. The nobles plot against each other and St. Vier gets caught in the middle, along with his lover, Alec, who has a mysterious past. That is the entire plot of the novel. The novel isn't really long enough to make us care about the characters enough to really care about the outcome of the plots. The addition of homosexuality to the book was surely edgy and in your face in 1987, but comes off as a bit out of place now with so many other fantasy writers doing it better. The book is prettily written, I suppose - but there's really not enough story to do any florid writing justice.
Overall, extremely disappointing. This was Kushner's first novel. One must hope that if she managed to get another one published, it was better than this.”
Lissa T wrote this review Sunday, December 30 2007.
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