Rating: 
Summary: Good action. End could be better.
Review: Coming down off reading the other seven Lost Swords books, I was terribly disappointed with the end. We learn many answers to the questions Saberhagen has raised in the previous hundreds of pages of text, but we see just as many questions go unanswered. Really a rather shoddy ending to such a grand detailed story. The Armory of Swords (short stories) show more promise, in that they aren't all going to be finished by Saberhagen
Rating: 
Summary: The Lame Book of Swords: HeartBreaker's Story
Review: I bought all paperbacks from the first trio through last book and sat down and read them from beginning to end. I have to conclude that this story was the most disappointing of all of them. Unfortunately for me Sheildbreaker's book was the reason why I force fed some of the other bad ones. This book in paticular is bizzare and inconsistent as far a as plot and environment with respect to the series. In summary, I didn't like the way the other swords played out and I thought the characters were neglected and unengaging. As far as I am concerned this series found a creative niche to add personality and intrigue to all the swords, quite uncommon for this genre surprisingly, however, the plots, stories, chararcters, ideas and action scenes fell well short of a great series let alone good stories. I am sorry, but I cannot recommend this book (or series) to anyone. For what it is worth, Book 2 of swords was the best of them all. In some way, I wish the author could have a do-over with the swords concept. Great ideas, not so good implementation.
Rating: 
Summary: A different but surprising ending to an epic!
Review: I have read all of the series and I thought this was definately one of the best ones. I hated to see it end. My favorites though are the first 3 in the series. But this one was good and it had a surprise ending with some sci-fi thrown in. Fred Saberhagen is one of the all-time best in this genre, do yourself a favor and read his books.
Rating:
Summary: Great series, poor ending
Review: I loved all of the swords series leading up to this book. The plots and characters were intrigueing and well woven. The first three are the best with the Lost Swords continueing admirably. The last book Shieldbreakers story is a fizzle of epic proportions. With the tremendous build-up from the rest of the series the ending was trite and hurried. The setting and explaination for the emperor was horrible. From the other books we see a great figure in the emperor, noble and mysterious. The explaination we end up getting is shockingly boring and increadibly disappointing. This book leaves the reader thinking, "What? That's it? Where is the rest of it?"
Rating:
Summary: Great series, poor ending
Review: I loved all of the swords series leading up to this book. The plots and characters were intrigueing and well woven. The first three are the best with the Lost Swords continueing admirably. The last book Shieldbreakers story is a fizzle of epic proportions. With the tremendous build-up from the rest of the series the ending was trite and hurried. The setting and explaination for the emperor was horrible. From the other books we see a great figure in the emperor, noble and mysterious. The explaination we end up getting is shockingly boring and increadibly disappointing. This book leaves the reader thinking, "What? That's it? Where is the rest of it?"
Rating:
Summary: Egads!
Review: I was all set to write a stinging review of the terrible book that killed this great series- but it would just echo what has already been written. And that ending- good grief Fred, what were you smoking??? So, I am here just to slam this piece of garbage with 1 star.
Rating:
Summary: a disappointing end to a great series
Review: I've been following this series all the way from its beginning with the Empire of the East series and I was extremely disappointed with the seemingly rushed way this one was written. Egad, what a goofy way to explain the Emperor figure. I was hoping for an intelligent tie in back to the Empire of the East premise, but ah well. The rest of the series is great.
Rating:
Summary: a disappointing end to a great series
Review: I've been following this series all the way from its beginning with the Empire of the East series and I was extremely disappointed with the seemingly rushed way this one was written. Egad, what a goofy way to explain the Emperor figure. I was hoping for an intelligent tie in back to the Empire of the East premise, but ah well. The rest of the series is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not read this book!!!
Review: If you enjoyed the rest of the series, stop and don't read this book. Yes, you will be left wondering what happens to the rest of the swords, who is the Emperor, what happens to Mark and the rest, but live with the curiosity. This book goes beyond anticlimactic, it is just awful. The ending and the explanation of the Emperor is so...I can't even find words for how disappointing it is.
I'm left wondering if Saberhagen didn't outgrow the series and quickly wrote Shieldbreaker's story to bring the series to a close so he could move on to other endeavors. I can not believe that he actually thought that this ending would satisfy his readers.I can not stress enough how thoroughly disappointing and frustrating the ending of this book is. Saberhagen should personally apologize to everyone who read this book
Rating:
Summary: Unsatisfying ending makes a good book mediocre
Review: Most of the book was fine, but the end section was a poor conclusion to the book, and the series. (WARNING! Specific plot details follow!) Just so readers are forewarned, the Emperor is never explained, and he gives a strange quasi-religious statement about himself. Here it is, verbatim: "Some long ago have called me the Sabbath, or the Covenant--Some have called me Wisdom. Some lately have said that I am the Program of Creation." Has Saberhagen found Christianity, and he's trying to inject it into his fiction? What the heck is he trying to get at, here? Beats me, and the book left me scratching my head and wondering what happened to this gifted writer.
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