Scan barcode
A review by songwind
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
4.0
A note on shelving. I filed this under "fantasy," and it's generally considered such. However, there is really no fantastical element. It's more like a secondary world historical fiction, roughly Renaissance.
This is a secondary world tale of manners, and drama, and scheming, and romance, and lust. The two principal threads are the life of Richard St. Vier, a professional duelist, and the schemes of the nobility. The two are inextricably intertwined, as the profession of dueling (swordsman, as they are called in the story) is primarily concerned with proxy fighting between nobles for honor and social standing.
The plots are not terribly involved. Like most stories of this kind the meat and potatoes are the characters themselves and their interactions. I was able to follow the twists and turns, anticipated a few and guessed wrong on a few others.
The society on display is interesting. It's all the most decadent failings of nobility, but different from our historical ones in ways subtle and not-so-subtle. The separation of gender roles exists, but is different. Women, for example, wield considerable power in some instances, but are still expected not to fight and to be the caretakers of the household, etc.
Another major and obvious (but not belabored) difference is in the realms of sexuality. As one expects from these sorts of stories, there is a lot of bed-hopping. Said hopping seemed to have very little regard for gender in many instances. Homo- bi- and heterosexuality were all on display. This isn't terribly surprising as Kushner herself identifies as bisexual, but it's not written as any sort of message - it's just the way it is.
All in all, I enjoyed the story and began to care about what happened to several of the characters, despite it not being my usual sort of thing.
Audiobook note
Rather than a straight-up narration, the book was presented almost as a radio play. Kushner (an actor and radio presenter for NPR) was the narrator. There were actors for the primary characters' speaking parts, as well as Foley artists and crowd sounds where appropriate. It really helped to draw me in.
This is a secondary world tale of manners, and drama, and scheming, and romance, and lust. The two principal threads are the life of Richard St. Vier, a professional duelist, and the schemes of the nobility. The two are inextricably intertwined, as the profession of dueling (swordsman, as they are called in the story) is primarily concerned with proxy fighting between nobles for honor and social standing.
The plots are not terribly involved. Like most stories of this kind the meat and potatoes are the characters themselves and their interactions. I was able to follow the twists and turns, anticipated a few and guessed wrong on a few others.
The society on display is interesting. It's all the most decadent failings of nobility, but different from our historical ones in ways subtle and not-so-subtle. The separation of gender roles exists, but is different. Women, for example, wield considerable power in some instances, but are still expected not to fight and to be the caretakers of the household, etc.
Another major and obvious (but not belabored) difference is in the realms of sexuality. As one expects from these sorts of stories, there is a lot of bed-hopping. Said hopping seemed to have very little regard for gender in many instances. Homo- bi- and heterosexuality were all on display. This isn't terribly surprising as Kushner herself identifies as bisexual, but it's not written as any sort of message - it's just the way it is.
All in all, I enjoyed the story and began to care about what happened to several of the characters, despite it not being my usual sort of thing.
Audiobook note
Rather than a straight-up narration, the book was presented almost as a radio play. Kushner (an actor and radio presenter for NPR) was the narrator. There were actors for the primary characters' speaking parts, as well as Foley artists and crowd sounds where appropriate. It really helped to draw me in.