This is the second or third time I read this, and I remember this being my favorite of the series. It is interesting reading it as an older wiser person. The ending is quite a bummer, but I love how these books don't pit good versus evil, just flawed humans versus flawed humans. Now I have to go read the last one in the series, because I forget exactly how the brilliance is executed. ( )

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite the page-turner that the first book was. It started slow and had more political machinations for the first half of the book. The second half picked up. The beginning was necessary since there was a lot of new worldbuilding. This time we learned a lot more about the Baels, their culture, the geography of their lands--the Fire Lands due to the volcano Cwicnol which figures prominently in the story.

Once again the magic system is very interesting. I didn't see the twist close to the end coming at all. After reading the first book, there are pieces of this one that fill in and enhance happenings in the first one. I can see already that this will be the case with the third book as well.

I stayed up late to finish the book because I really couldn't put it down by then. ( )

Narration: Passable

This story was billed as a stand-alone part of a larger series and it seems like it lives up to that promise (which is good, because I have not read any of the other books). The Norse World Building was actually pretty decent; how it was done much less so ... To start with, there was a crap ton of talking and very little action in the beginning (Elevating the art of Info Dumping to a ridiculous level). Unfortunately, the narration actually made this worse. Then after introducing the main characters in part 1, the story then dives down a rat hole with some dude named Gerard (its was not clear to me that the next 11 freaking chapters were a flashback from a POV that was not really a character in the story ... Who does that?)... regardless, Gerard seems to be there just to give some overly detailed background that served no purpose that I could detect. Sometimes more is not better.

It was not until half way through the book that the flashbacks end and we finally get to the actual story. Fortunately, although I was tempted, I had not abandoned the book. This is where the story finally gets interesting (feel free to skip Parts 2 thru 5 ... you won't miss much). The story then picks up with Raider and Wasp on the run trying to piece together exactly who the bad guys are and why (this was the story that I was expecting). It's a fair story that includes individual conflict and some simplistic political intrigue, but using 'magic' to solve most of the mystery with a ghostly soliloquy seems a bit lazy to me. Add to that a ridiculous ability to get the bad guys to admit their wrong doing at sword when they pretty much know that they won't survive the encounter (like a bloody TV show where we get a confession as soon as the bad guy is arrested). Still, it would have secured 3 stars if not for having to suffer through the first half of the book.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#feeaudiobookcodes #audiobookboom ( )

The plot was not quite as compelling as Gilded Chain, but I loved his look at an ancient Norse culture, complete with a plot lifted from Hamlet. Duncan's fascination with the culture sometimes got in the way of the story, but I didn't mind - I also found it fascinating. Sequel to A Gilded Chain, this also can be read on its own. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer   Synopsis 2 young men graduate from a school where they are trained to be the King's bodyguards, magically bound and in the binding given great powers. Only these 2 youngsters don't take the oath of fealty and a whole story of the past rolls forth from that. It also propels them both towards a future they can only guess at.   My Thoughts This story starts out with the above as the beginning: 2 youngsters graduating. Which leads to a confrontation with the king and a history is revealed. That history starts with a sacking of a town and the kidnapping of a young lord. Said young lord helps out the raiders leader with another sacking, which gets the raider the kingship of his land. He marries a royal he kidnapped in the second raid and has a son. We follow the son growing up until he is forced from the land in a coup.   Then we switch to after the confrontation with the king and the young man, Raider and his Blade, Wasp, go back to Baelland to see if Raider can take back the kingship. Ends up becoming the next king and making war on the land that he graduated from.   If you think my synopsis and first couple of paragraphs are confusing, I agree. This book was not strictly linear and great parts were not about the main character, but setup and explanation.   It made for a great read, but not easily explained. The political intrigue, the action, the characterization, it all was top notch. Very little swordplay but I barely missed it.   There are 3 books in the King's Blades series, but from the little forward that Duncan included, it sounds like they are overlapping somewhat and telling things from different viewpoints, once again not linear story telling.   I am looking forward to the next 2 books.   Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars Author: Dave Duncan " ( )