Swordspoint

Rating:
Summary: wicked fascinating characters, lovely prose
Review: In a word -- stunning. I read this book in one night, without stopping. I could not put it down. I was shocked by Ms. Kushner's ability to make me like her rather nasty and wicked characters. I tend to want my "good guys" to be very good; not sort of, possibly, a little bit good. The fact that she had me caught up in the lives of these characters and actually "rooting for" them is amazing. A tour-de-force.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting for gay-fantasy fans
Review: Is it so much to ask that a book have deep, lush writing, strong characters, an interesting plot and real life scenes? While Swordspoint delivers on some of those points, it falls quite flat on others.

Of course, the plot is excellently crafted and fascinating, as other reviewers have mentioned. Kushner's semi-fantasy, semi-historical novel seems so very like our own, if history had taken different turns, and different values were held in higher esteem. Her world-building and plot-twisting cannot be faulted, however, her relationship-expounding certainly can.

Each of the characters that we read the most about (Richard, Alec and Michael) are strong fellows with a true depth of character, even when that character is mysterious and shrouded (as in the case of Alec). Each feels ultimately real, with passions, hatreds, needs, desires, strengths and flaws. It's only when the characters interact with one another that my interest started to wane. Initially, I found Richard and Alec's relationship hauntingly fascinating, but something was lacking. I never truly felt their closeness, even when Richard takes great pains and goes to great lengths for Alec's honor and safety. Some measure of connection was glossed over, and truly.

Now, I gave this book four stars as it is, The problem was that each time I felt I was about to see some depth to the characters' relationships -- whether between Michael and the Duchess, or Richard and Alec, or anyone involved (and many of them are!) -- the author took a step back and veiled her readers' eyes from the emotional as well as the physical details. Tender, delicate wording did not serve to spare my sensibilities. It only served to turn my reader's eyes away from the most intimate moments of the characters' relationship: emotional as well as physical.

However, the book itself is a wonderful read, and interesting enough for me to want The Fall of the Kings to see if Kushner can top Swordspoint, and possibly show me a little more intimacy. In all senses of the word.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting for gay-fantasy fans
Review: Is it so much to ask that a book have deep, lush writing, strong characters, an interesting plot and real life scenes? While Swordspoint delivers on some of those points, it falls quite flat on others.

Of course, the plot is excellently crafted and fascinating, as other reviewers have mentioned. Kushner's semi-fantasy, semi-historical novel seems so very like our own, if history had taken different turns, and different values were held in higher esteem. Her world-building and plot-twisting cannot be faulted, however, her relationship-expounding certainly can.

Each of the characters that we read the most about (Richard, Alec and Michael) are strong fellows with a true depth of character, even when that character is mysterious and shrouded (as in the case of Alec). Each feels ultimately real, with passions, hatreds, needs, desires, strengths and flaws. It's only when the characters interact with one another that my interest started to wane. Initially, I found Richard and Alec's relationship hauntingly fascinating, but something was lacking. I never truly felt their closeness, even when Richard takes great pains and goes to great lengths for Alec's honor and safety. Some measure of connection was glossed over, and truly.

Now, I gave this book four stars as it is, The problem was that each time I felt I was about to see some depth to the characters' relationships -- whether between Michael and the Duchess, or Richard and Alec, or anyone involved (and many of them are!) -- the author took a step back and veiled her readers' eyes from the emotional as well as the physical details. Tender, delicate wording did not serve to spare my sensibilities. It only served to turn my reader's eyes away from the most intimate moments of the characters' relationship: emotional as well as physical.

However, the book itself is a wonderful read, and interesting enough for me to want The Fall of the Kings to see if Kushner can top Swordspoint, and possibly show me a little more intimacy. In all senses of the word.

Rating:
Summary: "Scaramouche" meets Oscar Wilde, with more thrown in besides
Review: Is _Swordspoint_ fantasy? Is it (quasi-)historical fiction? Does it matter? Whatever label you give Ellen Kushner's first full-length novel, it makes for fantastic reading.

_Swordspoint_ transports us back in time (with a little bit of a shift) to a City that is recognizable as London (somewhat in disguise), in an era roughly equivalent to the 18th century (or perhaps the late 17th). The action centers on the personal and professional adventures of the duellist Richard St. Vier, whose career and romantic attachments draw him into a proverbial web of political intrigue and socio-economic conflict. By the time the story reaches its climax, the entire City -- hoi polloi and beau monde alike -- will be embroiled in the events that circle around St. Vier and his emotionally troubled lover.

Kushner assembles a cast of wonderful characters (she particularly succeeds in creating gay heroes who aren't tokens or caricatures). She also brings to her story a complex, textured plot and, equally important, a delightfully wicked prose style just bursting with mordant humor and piquant observations. In fact, I remember when I first heard Kushner on the radio (she currently hosts the "Sound and Spirit" segment on NPR), I barely made the connection. On the air, she sounds like such a kind and nurturing person that it's hard to believe that the same individual could write in a way that's so gleefully decadent and dark in tone.

On the whole, _Swordspoint_ takes the fencing excitement and the political tensions of a book like Sabatini's _Scaramouche_, mixes it with the sexual entanglements of Choderlos de Laclos's _Dangerous Liaisons_, spices it up with the social commentary of an Oscar Wilde... then, as if that weren't enough, adds a quality all its own. _Swordspoint_ is entertainment with depth; I wish more fantasy -- even more contemporary literature in general -- were written like this. It would make me (and I bet a whole lot of other readers) very happy if Kushner wrote some sequels set in the same City, populated by the same heroes. I suppose we can only hope....

Rating:
Summary: Honor, Swashbuckling, and a University (oh my!)
Review: It had been about 10 years since I read Swordspoint and I usually don't forget many of the events of the books I read, but when I recently re-read this great fantasy, I'm ashamed to say I had forgotten the story almost completely. Thankfully I had. I know this novel compares to (or is based on) many of the finest books and authors of world literature, but ignore all that and understand that this is a great fantasy. Richard St Vier is The Swordsman ever fantasist wants to read about. The story is rich and elegant and so are the characters and the politics of the setting. Plus the bonus three short stories make this even a better sampling of fantasy world-building. Enjoy this story like a good mug of hot chocolate on a chill winter's day.

Rating:
Summary: Intrigue, hot chocolate and sword fights, oh my!
Review: It's been quite a long time since I've read something as engaging, original, and memorable as Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint. I read it on the recommendation of a friend, and am very glad that I did; the story combines historical intrigue, swashbuckling action, and romance that make for an amazing read. As a fan of fantasy and historical fiction, Swordspoint was just my cup of tea. However, for those looking for a more fantastical novel (with magic and mythical beasts), this is probably not the book you want. It is set in a world all its own, which lends Swordspoint to the genre of 'fantasy', but really it's more of a twisted, dark and beautiful historical fiction.

What struck me most about the book, while reading it, were the characters and the way they all managed to escape any sort of category. While Richard St Vier, the swordsman, is clearly the protagonist, he often threatens to stray into the gray area of antihero. He is a ruthless killer, hiding his emotions behind a constant mask of pleasant disinterest. Richard's lover Alec is so completely (or seemingly) mad that it is impossible not to love him, even though his death wish and quick changes of temper sometimes made me wonder what on earth Richard was doing with him. The fact is, the characters are just like real people: neither good nor bad, doing what they think is right (or advantageous), and extremely complex. They are unpredictable, and that is what makes them so brilliant. Kushner's characterizations alone are reason enough to read this book.

For those looking for a sweeping adventure full of action and storybook romance, this is not the book for you. It has sword fights indeed, but these are few and far between. The majority of the sparring takes place in the drawing room or parlor, or the occasional garden party, and these are duels of wit and conversation. There is also romance, but not the fairy tale kind; it is dark and twisted as the characters, but even so, quite satisfying.

There are so many good things I could say about Swordspoint, but I fear I'd bore you, so I'll leave it at this. Swordspoint is the best book I've read in a very long time, and not since Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray have I encountered such beautiful writing and enchanting (yet not perfect) characters. I highly recommend this book; it is truly stunning.

Rating:
Summary: What a curious and entertaining book.
Review: It's like Georgette Heyer meets Armistead Maupin meets "The Lion In Winter". I loved it.

Kushner takes every predictable Regency/Gothic/Modern Romance cliche and turns it on it's head. The stalwart hero is a master swordsman, a devoted lover...and a complete sociopath. The highborn love of his life is a green-eyed, sultry-voiced beauty...with severe emotional problems and a lot more testosterone than one generally expects in highborn beauties.

The beauty gets kidnapped and manhandled. The hero gets even and then gets lucky. The beauty takes a powder. The hero gets arrested. The beauty has a brief, but memorable, career in politics. The hero gets off and then bows out graciously. The beauty lures him back with fish and chips and...whatever.

I highly recommend this one, and I can't tell you how pleased I am that there's a sequel in the works.

Rating:
Summary: A fantasy novel where no one's named Thor or Bearhugger
Review: Kushner creates a distinctive fantasy society that is embroiled in politcal intrigue. The characters gradually unfold with the plot, maintaining a nice sense of suspense. The dialogue is witty and everyone has hidden agendas. Actually, the book is a lot better than I've made it sound. I read the book a number of years ago and just meant to skim it quickly to refresh my memory, but I ended up reading it cover to cover again.

Rating:
Summary: Good Writing . . . Bad Love Life
Review: Lable me naive, but when I picked up this book I did not know that it featured a gay couple. Lable me politically incorrect as well, but I have to admit that this was uncomfortable for me as I was half way through the book before I relized the two main charactors (Richard and Alec) were a couple and I had already come to care about what happened to their charactors. Kushner has a great warm style, and I'd love to read any book of her's. About a HETEROSEXUAL person, thank you very much (you know guy+girl instead of, well, guy+guy). The plot was good and the story was interesting, but I just couldn't get past their sexual orientation:( Maybe this won't be a problem for some people, but I personaly couldn't enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not as Orgasmic as most seem to think!
Review: Okay, first I must admit to being a history graduate student which means that I have very little time for reading fiction. I have even less patience with books that aren't well-written and well-characterized. This book IS well-written and pretty well-characterized and even well-plotted. I bought it largely because of all the gushing reviews about it here on Amazon.[com.] It was a pretty good day's read, but that's about it. My main points of interest (good/bad):

*Don't expect any magic in this 'fantasy'. Don't expect a whole lot of worldbuilding or an exposition on the society, which seems to resemble England of a couple hundred years back, but that doesn't explain where the church is and why everyone is so accepting of homosexuality.

*There's lots of sitting room blather in this book that I didn't have much patience with. Readers of regency romances will find it familiar, others may be put off by the seeming inconsequential nature of the conversations.

*Richard and Alec are intriguing characters, strange and deadly and erotic in a restrained sort of way. Still, there's something distinctly flat about them. Nevertheless, I wanted to know what would happen to them and that was where the book's appeal lay as far as I'm concerned.

*A lot seems to have gone on before the events of the book that I would have liked to know about, like the meeting between Richard and Alec ... and at least one of the main characters, who I liked enough to read about ended up having next to no purpose as far as the plot was concerned.

My impressions in a nutshell: see the title of this review