Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful resolution
Review: I was very impatiently waiting this third King's Blades book to see how Dave planned to resolve the very puzzling contradictions between the first and second books. I was not disappointed - I literally had to keep reading until I got to the end. If King Ambrose is Henry VIII (and he clearly is, with all his multiple wives and his problems with the 'conjurers'), then Malinda is Elizabeth I. And we get plenty of backstory to help us understand the woman she grows up to be. Some things left me sad (poor little Amby's curtailed life, all the Blades who died, sniff) and some things made me happy (the rehabilitation of Radgar, whom I loved in Lord of the Fire Lands), and there were a lot of things I would have liked to have seen amplified, but then the book would have been too heavy to lift. The Noble and Ancient Order of King's Blades is one of Dave's most enchanting inventions, and I sincerely hope that he can find more stories to tell in this universe. I've never met a King's Blade I didn't love. -- Jane
Rating: 
Summary: Finishable
Review: I was very pleased with the first two books in this series and in comparison was disappointed with the final volume. What drew me into the first two books was the swordplay, action, drama, and the Blades. Most of these features seemed relatively muted in the third book in favor of Matilda's demonstrations of character, especially her romantic interests. There seemed to be more prose regarding the Blades' sexual prowess and habits than their ...ahem... swordplay. A puzzling change of focus for the series. Still, Duncan is a very fine writer, it's a good story, and I stuck with it to to end, something I can rarely say about today's sci-fi/fantasy selections.
Rating: 
Summary: This heroine is no hero
Review: I'm a big Dave Duncan fan who devours all of his works as soon as they hit the shelves. I read an advance copy of this book. I was so excited to receive it, but I was disappointed when I finished it. I believe that the problem is that the heroine of the book, Princess Malinda, is no hero. The Princess doesn't do much but relies on her blades. She doesn't distinguish herself as heroic, and all of the action surrounds her with her not appearing brave. This was my least favorite Dave Duncan book.
Rating:
Summary: A bit too much trickery
Review: Like a number of other reviewers, I was interested to see how Duncan would resolve the discrepancy between "The Gilded Chain" and "The Lord of the Fire Lands." Unfortunately, without giving too much away, he uses an overt "deus ex machina," or in this case, "deus ex octagram" device. The good news is all is set right in the end. The bad news is that you have to live through a real Gotterdaemmerung to get there--and when all is resolved, I, at least, was left feeling rather manipulated. However, the book is well-written, and Malinda is an interesting character--Duncan has worked hard in this trilogy to give us three very different protagonists. It is just too bad that he essentially has to pull a rabbit out of the hat to bring the trilogy to closure.
Rating: 
Summary: A complex, dark swashbuckling adventure
Review: Like other fans of "The King's Blades," I was eagerly awaiting this book to find out if it resolved the confusing contradictions between the endings of the previous novels. Be warned-yes it does. You will either love it or hate it, but it is resolved. Duncan once again spins a taut, gripping tale-this time concerning political intrigue surrounding the Princess Malinda (a minor character in the previous novels), and the bloody civil war brewing over her potential succession. Unlike "Lord of the Fire Lands," more attention is paid to the Blades in this volume. Malinda's personal guards are well-drawn characters (especially Dog), and Malinda herself is fleshed out into a far more complex and sympathetic personality than before. I didn't think much of her in previous books, but she's great in this one-both tragic and heroic. Plus you get the usual swordplay, treachery, conjuration and war Duncan is so good at. As with "Fire Lands" the last page ends rather abruptly (bringing the reader full circle back to "The Gilded Chain") but the story didn't disappoint me at all.
Rating:
Summary: A complex, dark swashbuckling adventure
Review: Like other fans of "The King's Blades," I was eagerly awaiting this book to find out if it resolved the confusing contradictions between the endings of the previous novels. Be warned-yes it does. You will either love it or hate it, but it is resolved. Duncan once again spins a taut, gripping tale-this time concerning political intrigue surrounding the Princess Malinda (a minor character in the previous novels), and the bloody civil war brewing over her potential succession. Unlike "Lord of the Fire Lands," more attention is paid to the Blades in this volume. Malinda's personal guards are well-drawn characters (especially Dog), and Malinda herself is fleshed out into a far more complex and sympathetic personality than before. I didn't think much of her in previous books, but she's great in this one-both tragic and heroic. Plus you get the usual swordplay, treachery, conjuration and war Duncan is so good at. As with "Fire Lands" the last page ends rather abruptly (bringing the reader full circle back to "The Gilded Chain") but the story didn't disappoint me at all.
Rating:
Summary: A superb conclusion to a good series
Review: Sky of Swords fulfills the ultimate goal of any volume in a series: it is not only an excellent story in its own right, but it retroactively improves the volumes that have gone before it by bringing to light hidden depths. This book focuses on Princess Malinda, who had minor but important parts in the first two books, and fleshes out her story in a way that adds shades of newly-discovered meaning to the earlier books. For those who mistakenly thought (as I did) that this series was to consist of stand-alone volumes, well, we were wrong. I suppose it'd be vaguely possible to read each of these volumes individually, but the full effect of the story is only found in reading them together. I'm beginning to believe that Duncan couldn't write a straightforward generic fantasy if he tried to; so much the better.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing at best...
Review: Sky of swords is an uttter dissapointment. After following Radgar and Durenndal for 2 books, only to see even less action through the days of a weaker character makes for some, no doubt attempt at, PC ... What would a 'woman' do? Duncan asks you. Can she be strong? FYI, Malinda is the spoiled little brat who fell out of favor with Leader, aka. Durendal in The Gilded Chain. I never wanted to see her character again. So here she is, on trial for the death of her father. What happens next is predictable and totally canned. The blades in the series seem to get more and more decrepit and less romantically deified. I hate to draw this tragic paralell, but the new brand of blades are Wolverine without his adamantium, for those of you who remember that time... I had trouble facing the last 150pages because they were no doubt going to be as dusty as the first 150. I'm jaded. I have wanted to hear tales of triumph, exploits and adventure within the margins of A Tale of Kings Blades--series (because that is what they are)but I've been let down, and with Sky of Swords most of all. The series is altogether dissillusioning. I purchased the 3rd only to pickup on the discrepencies between Lord of the Fire Lands and The Gilded Chain. I am unsated.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars for the Series as a Whole
Review: Something needs to be kept in mind whenever reading a series by Dave Duncan, and that is that he's BRILLIANT. That doesn't just mean that he creates entire worlds that are unique, richly detailed, and believable. It doesn't just mean that his characters are fully fleshed out individuals. It means that when you read the ending you say "Wow! How did he come up with that." Well, it's because he's brilliant. It also must be because he started with an idea of the ending and crafted the entire story to lead up to it. Unfortunately it's difficult to review his stories without giving the ending away. If you've read some of Duncan's other series, like "The Seventh Sword", "A Man of his Word", or "The Great Game", you'll know what to expect. "The Sky of Swords" is the conclusion of a trilogy. The first book is "The Gilded Chain" about a character named Durendal. The second book is "Lord of the Fire Lands" about a character named Radgar, although many of the characters from the first book also appear in the second. The problem is that something happens in the second book, which specifically doesn't happen in the first. Resolving this contradiction is really the whole purpose of the third book. Although it's possible to read this as a stand-alone novel, it's really a bad idea. The thing about resolving the contradiction is that the characters haven't read the books, and don't know that there's a contradiction. Events have to occur which force them to want to change things. For this reason "Sky of Swords" is not as happy a book as the first two were. It's rather dark and depressing, as the characters are being driven to desperation. It wouldn't be much fun to read this story by itself. The ending not only resolves the contradiction though; I found it very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars for the Series as a Whole
Review: Something needs to be kept in mind whenever reading a series by Dave Duncan, and that is that he's BRILLIANT. That doesn't just mean that he creates entire worlds that are unique, richly detailed, and believable. It doesn't just mean that his characters are fully fleshed out individuals. It means that when you read the ending you say "Wow! How did he come up with that." Well, it's because he's brilliant. It also must be because he started with an idea of the ending and crafted the entire story to lead up to it. Unfortunately it's difficult to review his stories without giving the ending away. If you've read some of Duncan's other series, like "The Seventh Sword", "A Man of his Word", or "The Great Game", you'll know what to expect. "The Sky of Swords" is the conclusion of a trilogy. The first book is "The Gilded Chain" about a character named Durendal. The second book is "Lord of the Fire Lands" about a character named Radgar, although many of the characters from the first book also appear in the second. The problem is that something happens in the second book, which specifically doesn't happen in the first. Resolving this contradiction is really the whole purpose of the third book. Although it's possible to read this as a stand-alone novel, it's really a bad idea. The thing about resolving the contradiction is that the characters haven't read the books, and don't know that there's a contradiction. Events have to occur which force them to want to change things. For this reason "Sky of Swords" is not as happy a book as the first two were. It's rather dark and depressing, as the characters are being driven to desperation. It wouldn't be much fun to read this story by itself. The ending not only resolves the contradiction though; I found it very satisfying.
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