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samd's review against another edition
4.0
I figured that the best way to Experience this would be to read only the stories that weren't by white dudes, and this served me well. Standouts:
- CJ Cherryh's "Hrunting," about the second generation after Beowulf shows up in Heorot, is an absolute banger
- "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobbs is as depressing as you might expect from Robin Hobbs
- Elizabeth Bear writes out what feels like the first arc of a D&D campaign in "The King's Evil," but like, in a good way
- "'I Am a Handsome Man', Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliot has some interesting worldbuilding and is a lil gay by the end
- "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner is a Richard St. Vier story and it's pretty good
- CJ Cherryh's "Hrunting," about the second generation after Beowulf shows up in Heorot, is an absolute banger
- "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobbs is as depressing as you might expect from Robin Hobbs
- Elizabeth Bear writes out what feels like the first arc of a D&D campaign in "The King's Evil," but like, in a good way
- "'I Am a Handsome Man', Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliot has some interesting worldbuilding and is a lil gay by the end
- "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner is a Richard St. Vier story and it's pretty good
lsneal's review against another edition
3.0
An enjoyable short story collection. I particularly enjoyed the stories from Scott Lynch, Kate Elliot, Rich Larson, and C.J. Cherryh.
reader44ever's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really good anthology. All of the stories were enjoyable to me, some more than others, but still. . . All were good. :-)
My favorites though? My favorite stories are arguably the following two:
Story #1: "The Best Man Wins" by K.J. Parker
Even though I saw the ending coming from almost the first moment, I really loved how we reached that ending. I don't think we were ever told the narrator's name, but he was a pretty wonderful character. I really enjoyed the story as he told it. :-)
And. . .
Story #9: "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix
I really enjoyed this adventure of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. I loved it so much that I bought that book of their stories ([b:Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures|12479311|Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Three Adventures|Garth Nix|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328658168s/12479311.jpg|17463822]; it's only $0.99 for Kindle!) so that I can read more about these two characters. Sir Hereward is the male son of witch - who shouldn't exist, as witches give birth usually always to females - and Mister Fitz is a puppet - a sorcerous puppet, made up of wood and papier-mâché! So. . .these were enormously fun characters to read about. :-)
I also really enjoyed Apollo Crow, in "'I Am a Handsome Man,' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott. He was a beingmade up of 134 crows, and could appear in human form as either a male or a female! :-)
And I'll give special honorary status to "The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu, "The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes, "The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham, "Hrunting" by C.J. Cherryh, and "The Sword Tyraste" by Cecilia Holland.
The only stories not yet mentioned are "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb, "The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams, "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner, "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch, "The Colgrid Conumdrum" by Rich Larson, "The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear, "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar, and "The Sons of the Dragon" by George R.R. Martin. Most of these stories just kind of lost me in the end, and "Her Father's Sword" ended - or "ended" - in what felt like the middle of an ongoing narrative!
Also, "The Smoke of the Gold Is Glory" was so full of descriptive passages that it made for rather dull reading at times. "The Sons of the Dragon" was also full of descriptive passages (many about who was where, when the "who" didn't even matter to the story!), but somehow, I managed to keep straight who the major players were, even if it did take me too long to read that story. ;-)
So. . . Most favorite? "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix.
Least favorite? "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb.
But this was a fun collection, and even most of those stories that I included in "not yet mentioned" had something to recommend about them. Even "Her Father's Sword." After all, the premise was interesting, it just ended way too soon for me.
My favorites though? My favorite stories are arguably the following two:
Story #1: "The Best Man Wins" by K.J. Parker
Even though I saw the ending coming from almost the first moment, I really loved how we reached that ending. I don't think we were ever told the narrator's name, but he was a pretty wonderful character. I really enjoyed the story as he told it. :-)
And. . .
Story #9: "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix
I really enjoyed this adventure of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. I loved it so much that I bought that book of their stories ([b:Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures|12479311|Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Three Adventures|Garth Nix|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328658168s/12479311.jpg|17463822]; it's only $0.99 for Kindle!) so that I can read more about these two characters. Sir Hereward is the male son of witch - who shouldn't exist, as witches give birth usually always to females - and Mister Fitz is a puppet - a sorcerous puppet, made up of wood and papier-mâché! So. . .these were enormously fun characters to read about. :-)
I also really enjoyed Apollo Crow, in "'I Am a Handsome Man,' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott. He was a being
And I'll give special honorary status to "The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu, "The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes, "The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham, "Hrunting" by C.J. Cherryh, and "The Sword Tyraste" by Cecilia Holland.
The only stories not yet mentioned are "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb, "The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams, "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner, "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch, "The Colgrid Conumdrum" by Rich Larson, "The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear, "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar, and "The Sons of the Dragon" by George R.R. Martin. Most of these stories just kind of lost me in the end, and "Her Father's Sword" ended - or "ended" - in what felt like the middle of an ongoing narrative!
Also, "The Smoke of the Gold Is Glory" was so full of descriptive passages that it made for rather dull reading at times. "The Sons of the Dragon" was also full of descriptive passages (many about who was where, when the "who" didn't even matter to the story!), but somehow, I managed to keep straight who the major players were, even if it did take me too long to read that story. ;-)
So. . . Most favorite? "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix.
Least favorite? "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb.
But this was a fun collection, and even most of those stories that I included in "not yet mentioned" had something to recommend about them. Even "Her Father's Sword." After all, the premise was interesting, it just ended way too soon for me.
ctgt's review against another edition
3.0
Solid but unspectacular collections of "sword" stories. Most of the stories were okay with a few notables from Cherryh (my favorite), Nix, Larson, Bear and Tidhar. The only stinker in the bunch was from Martin, seems nowadays even his short stories are bloated.
Save your money and borrow it from the library.
6/10
Save your money and borrow it from the library.
6/10
hazel_reads's review
4.0
While I enjoyed most of these stories, these were my favorites:
“The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker
“‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott
“The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland,
and, my pick for the best story because I love, love, love this series:
“The Sons of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin. I love to read anything that has to do with this series, and this was no exception.
“The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker
“‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott
“The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland,
and, my pick for the best story because I love, love, love this series:
“The Sons of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin. I love to read anything that has to do with this series, and this was no exception.
ltg584's review
3.0
Sorry to the other authors in The Book of Swords... I'm sure your stories are lovely, but I was really only interested in reading a new Game of Thrones story to tide me over between books and seasons. I was hoping it would be a short story, similar in nature to the Dunk and Egg stories, but in that aspect, I was disappointed. It read like a chapter out of a Westerosi history textbook; statements of fact, names and dates I will instantly forget. It spans over 4 generations of the Targaryen family, and I had to pull up a Targaryen family tree just to follow along. I did enjoy learning a little bit about that time period, the first Targaryens to have landed in the seven kingdoms, and seeing how some familiar families came into their "current" positions.
It was very... informative...
It was very... informative...
obviousthings's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
paladinjane's review
5.0
I loved most of the stories in this anthology. There were a couple of stories in here I didn't much care for, but even they weren't bad so much as they just weren't quite my type of story. Dozois got a truly excellent group of authors to contribute.
Some highlights for me:
Lynch's "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" felt like a D&D campaign. It was epic, but also delightfully silly in parts where it felt like the characters rolled a crit fail. I want to make all my D&D gamer friends read this story.
GRRM's "The Sons of the Dragon" was another nice addition to the ASOIAF world. It's about Aegon the Conqueror's two sons and their conflict with each other and the dominant religion over the Targaryen family's incestuous and polygamous marriage practices.
Nix's "A Long, Cold Trail" delighted me. I hadn't read any of his Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz stories before, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. In case you haven't read any of those stories, they have a knight and a sorcerous puppet on a quest to destroy godlets.
Liu's "The Hidden Girl" was a wuxia story, which was fun.
Hobb's "Her Father's Sword" is the saddest work by Hobb that I've ever read. I love Robin Hobb, but I understand now when one of my friends said her books were too depressing for him. This is still a good story, though.
Some highlights for me:
Lynch's "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" felt like a D&D campaign. It was epic, but also delightfully silly in parts where it felt like the characters rolled a crit fail. I want to make all my D&D gamer friends read this story.
GRRM's "The Sons of the Dragon" was another nice addition to the ASOIAF world. It's about Aegon the Conqueror's two sons and their conflict with each other and the dominant religion over the Targaryen family's incestuous and polygamous marriage practices.
Nix's "A Long, Cold Trail" delighted me. I hadn't read any of his Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz stories before, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. In case you haven't read any of those stories, they have a knight and a sorcerous puppet on a quest to destroy godlets.
Liu's "The Hidden Girl" was a wuxia story, which was fun.
Hobb's "Her Father's Sword" is the saddest work by Hobb that I've ever read. I love Robin Hobb, but I understand now when one of my friends said her books were too depressing for him. This is still a good story, though.
aseaoftomes's review
That rating is based on only one story; Her Father's Sword by Robin Hobb. I may go back and read the others someday, but for now this is what I'm giving it.