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Summary: totally unexpected
Review: One day I was bored and, having already re-read most of my books worth re-reading, decided to toddle myself down over to the library and see what I could find. I picked up "Swordspoint" because it seemed okay, but I didn't expect much. That day I read it. And loved it. I fell in love with the characters, especially Alec, with his "honey and acid" tendencies. I fell in love with the intrigue, the complexities. I fell in love with the book. In two weeks I read it three times and I'm still not tired of it. It's funny how your best decisions are sometimes those you least expect...
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Summary: Beautiful.
Review: Politics and manipulation, sex and power, it all piles up around the core of a love story and simple swordplay to create one of the most elegant, haunting stories I've ever read. The story follows Richard St Vier and his lover, Alec, and their accidental tangling in a political coup arranged by mystery Nobles on the Hill. Although at first the story seems simple enough, layer upon layer of motive and relation is peeled away, until, looking back, you are astonished at the depth of the original plot. The writing is clear and fluid, filled with the kind of images that make prose memorable. The characterization is slightly sparse, in that Kushner doesn't dive into her characters minds, nor spend much time in anyone's point of view. But everyone takes shape easily, anyway, and you do come to know the characters. Alec is easily one of my favorite characters from any novel. Not long, but beautifully full, Swordspoint is more than worth the few dollars for the paperback. And if part of it isn't left with you when you turn that last page, and the imagery of the conclusion fades out, I would be suprised.
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Summary: Cloak and Dagger in an alternate word
Review: Reading this book is like reading some of those of those historical novels full of intrigue,romance and strange twisted plots studded by coups de scene, set in a jaded milieu of effete nobles who are as ready to offend and take offense as the parasite signorotti of Manzoni's "The Betrothed", but unlike them can't even fight their duels by themselves, and have to hire swordsmen lke St. Vier, who is also a sort of champion of the oppressed. The description of this imaginary world, similar but very different from our own is masterfully detailed, the dialogues witty and brilliant,the characthers very intriguing. I recommend this book to any reader who likes fantastic (or alternate) history and romance. A warning for the homophobes: yes, in the society described in this book homosexuality is not considered a scandal, but is accepted as a fact of life( as it should be).Nonetheless, this is one of the best novels to read.
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Summary: Decadence, intrigue, and swashbuckling...do you need more?
Review: Set in an unnamed city and its criminal suburb, Riverside, "Swordspoint" is a masterpiece, period. The intrigue is dizzying, the characters finely drawn, and the world itself seductive. (A reader's desperate call: A sequel would be appreciated!) There is humor, witty and occasionally mordant, and even romance. More than one reading is required to master all the complexities of the story. When Richard St. Vier, the foremost swordsman in Riverside, takes an assignment from an anonymous noble, it looks as though the job might be fairly simple. Before long, he finds himself caught up in a power play unfolding between the nobles of the City Council: not he, not his lover, and not his past will remain untouched. And that has hardly scratched the surface. As mentioned earlier, the characters of "Swordspoint" are superbly drawn. Richard and his lover Alec are more like anti-heroes than anything else--one is in effect a hired killer, although not without his own sense of honor, ; the other is acid-tongued and emotionally troubled, at the same time needy and vicious--and yet the author manages to create a startling sympathy for them. Even Alec's morbid obsessions are, in a strange sense, preferable to the refined intrigues of the upper class, the chess players living on "the Hill" who move Richard and the other Riversiders about as though they are mere possessions. Michael Godwin, the young nobleman who takes up swordwork as a bored hobby and finds himself learning in earnest, is a fine counterpoint to Richard's world-weary attitude: for Michael, seeing his teacher before his eyes is traumatic; for Richard, it's only part of a swordsman's life. Similarly, the Duchess Diane Tremontaine, with her veiled meanings and hidden games, is a mastery of subtlety. The world of Riverside and the Hill is a dark and decadent one--in many ways, the story is as cynical as Alec on his worst days--but it is one worth visiting...and revisiting...you get the idea. It's that good.
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Summary: A Wickedly Fresh Drama
Review: Someone described Richard St. Vier's Alec as "the boyfriend from hell" and he is, but it certainly makes an entertaining read. From the intricate plots of the nobles on the hill to the thieves in Riverside, Swordspoint is a wonderful book and should be back in stores. Ellen Kushner's stories in the Borderland series have some of the same style, in humor and the breaking of stereotypes. And this time it's the heroes who have green or violet eyes.
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Summary: You must read this book!!!!!!
Review: The absolute GREATEST book I have ever read in my enire life. I was swept away to a world of political intriege, adventure and romance where I fell in love with the cynical and mysterious Alec and daring, confident Richard St. Vier. Iv'e read this book 5 times in one year and do not anticipate ever getting tried of it. This book has made a lasting impact on my life and will be my favorite forever!
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Summary: Startling Language
Review: The first thing that first brings you into this book: the pristine and fine language. Kushner's prose is not just lovely--it's sharp as the edge of a knife and graceful too. The characters in the book cut each other with words almost as much as with swords, and blood is spilled both ways. Irony is a mainstay. If I were to visualize her writing, I'd picture it as a snowflake made of glass but just as chilly as ice. The story is made up of what stories are usually made of: political intrigue, honor, human needs, love and lust. But what really distinguishes the plot is her characters: reviewers have already made mention of the two anti-heroes, the disgraced student and his swordsman lover, and they are divine. Alec, the student, is slumming and recklessly depressed, with a decided taste for shedding blood and drama. He is mostly by turns moodily sarcastic and cutting, capricious and slightly disturbed--he gets the best lines in the book. Richard is lethal and mild, if that makes sense. He loves danger, and this, of course, is why Alec is so appealing. Both are plunged into a game of the aristocratic court, a game both deadly and layered, at the whim of nobles who care much more about winning than the value of human life. Especially human life that gets in the way of what they want. I love Kushner's way with her characters; she knows human behavior and can portray it subtly. Her writing rarely goes "into" the characters at all; her POV is steadfastly third-person. Yet in the small details of dialogue and description, she lucidly lays character depth. Alec is an arrogant swot, often malicious, very much the "boyfriend from hell," but Kushner wants her readers to like him, and I do. Oh boy, do I. Kushner shows her characters, rather than telling about them. We aren't fed with descriptions of Alec's charms--but shown them. He works his charm not only on his surrounding characters but us, the readers, as well. Another character, Diane, has subtle powers of manipulation and persuasion, and that too is convincingly shown through actions and behavior. I hate it in books when the author makes a character "smart" or "genius" and yet s/he behaves like a gibbering idiot. This knack of characterization makes "Swordspoint" a joy to get through: we get to know the characters slowly and without undue intimacy, like real-life acquaintances, giving the unfolding plot some sense of immediacy and drama. Kushner keeps herself at a strict distance from her characters, and her skill lures us in closer in fascination. Her knack with character and her chilly and gorgeous prose make this a very nice book.
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Summary: COME BACK AGAIN AND AGAIN
Review: The rag and tag in the ghetto of Riverside and the idly rich on The Hill can be visited again and again and always seem fresh. Intrigue, never-explicit lust, honour, bravery, they are all here,couched amid foibles like a passion for 'little iced cakes.' Would that this was a jumping off place! There are so many stories here I want MORE, but this one satisfies very well. I may have to take up Italian history!
Rating: 
Summary: "Dangerous Liasons" feel set in another place and time.
Review: This book is an easy read and is initially intriguing due to the alternate time and place. However, it is basically a "Dangerous Liasons" type of plot that gets very tiresome about halfway through. I'll admit that I stayed with it until the end because it caught my curiosity. I wanted to see how the story would turn out. However, I don't think I could give it more than 3 stars.
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Summary: It tries so hard...
Review: This book wants to be Dumas. It wants to be Dangerous Liaisons. It wants to be a faery tale. It wants to be a tale of love. It tries so hard to be all of these in about 250pp that it becomes very little. There are certain colourful scenes, some bits of expressive prose, but the world of Riverside and the Hills is flat and rather dull. There are over a dozen potentially major characters; none of them is well-fleshed. One of the major characters is even excised without doing anything of import in the book at all. Our swordsman and his lover are both incredibly flat -- I can see no reason why they love each other beside the fact the authors needs that for the story to continue. The plot is contrived; the finale anticlimactic and almost throwaway. I enjoy a good fantasy tale, a good faery tale, a good bit of historical romance. I even like a good little pulp novel. In striving to be literate, this work falls away from its solidly pulp roots and so serves neither end of the spectrum. Ms. Kushner has a decent style, but in the end she puts this ability to no discernible end.
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