Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Duncan, D. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | SF DUNCAN | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Acclaimed fantasy author Dave Duncan returns to Chivial and the dashing King's Blades -- the greatest swordsmen in the world -- with a new epic adventure of sword fights, magic, romance, and a Blade unlike any other.
Sir Wolf is not your typical King's Blade. Sure, he's smart, athletic, a good dresser, and a phenomenal swordsman. But he hasn't been named the King's Killer for nothing, and after years of dark secrets and painful loyalties to a king he cannot respect, all he wants is to be left alone.
But when unknown assailants storm a royal fortress and carry off a former royal mistress, Wolf is dispatched posthaste to investigate. Who were these strangers, what were their motives, and who -- or what -- was their sinister cat-faced leader? Burdened by the need to comfort his impetuous younger brother, Sir Lynx -- the only Blade ever to lose his ward and live -- and shadowed by a secretive Inquisitor with her own agenda, Wolf struggles to solve a mystery that threatens the kingdom of Chivial itself. His quest will lead him into lands of danger and discovery unlike any the Blades have ever seen, and to an answer beyond his wildest nightmares.
Author Notes
Dave Duncan was born in Scotland in 1933. He graduated from the University of St. Andrews in 1955 and moved to Canada. He worked for 31 years as a geologist in the petroleum industry. He started writing novels in 1984 and became a full-time author in 1986. He has written over 40 novels including the series The Seventh Sword, A Man of His Word, A Handful of Men, The King's Blades, The Great Game, Years of Longdirk, King's Daggers, and Seventh Sword. He has also written under the names Sarah B. Franklin and Ken Hood.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In his latest energetic fantasy set in the medieval land of Chivial (after 2003's Impossible Odds), Canadian author Duncan provides a feast of sword and sorcery, mystery and romance, featuring knights whose wits and words are as sharp as their edged weapons. Sir Wolf, known as the "King's Killer," wishes to find solitude after years of obeying the orders of a king he both doubts and mistrusts. When a royal mistress is abducted, Wolf's hope for peace is shattered. Searching for the kidnapped lady, he is joined by an inquisitor and his troubled younger brother, Sir Lyne, both of whom challenge Wolf's outlook on life and duty. After increasingly bitter and exciting battles with one another and the magically empowered kidnappers, the uneasy brotherhood finally stumbles onto revelations that threaten to reveal unwelcome truths about Chivial itself. Duncan's voice is accessible, his pacing breakneck and his unadorned style makes the impossible seem probable. Agent, Richard Curtis. (On sale Sept. 28) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Another of Duncan's fantasies about the King's Blades (Impossible Odds, 2003, etc.), superhumanly skillful swordsmen/bodyguards magically bound to defend their ward to the death. Sir Wolf, he of the fearsomely scarred and twisted visage, is known as the King's Killer, but Wolf and King Athelgar of Chivial are united only in their mutual loathing. Once Athelgar grew tired of his mistress Celeste, he banished her to a remote and supposedly impregnable fortress--yet, somehow, warriors breach the fortress and abduct Celeste. Sir Lynx, Wolf's brother, barely survives the assault. The king orders Wolf, along with young, beautiful Dolores Hogwood, a Dark Council Inquisitor (this sounds exciting, but few details emerge) with advanced magical expertise, to investigate. Dolores has her own agenda: to recruit Wolf. The warriors who abducted Celeste were huge, armed with glass swords, bedizened with gold, feathers, and jewels--and their catlike claws, fangs, and fur appear to be real! Moreover, they were transported magically across the ocean in an instant--a feat far beyond the capabilities of the Dark Council. The assailants, Wolf determines, originated in remote Tlixilia, a tropical empire that King Diego of Distlain is currently attempting to subdue. A determined expedition might form an alliance with Tlixilia against Distlain, rescue Celeste--and, Dolores speculates, make her fortune if she can learn the secrets of Tlixilian magic. Wolf knows it won't be that easy. Lynx has already vanished, heading for Tlixilia: he's Celeste's bound Blade, impelled by his binding to return to her side no matter what. Lackluster: Duncan simply grafts on some magic to an obvious real-world historical backdrop. A series that's run out of steam. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The latest of the justly popular King's Blades novels is a stand-alone--though readers already acquainted with Sir Wolf may appreciate it more. Sir Wolf has to track down his brother, Sir Lynx, who is turning into a jaguar after picking up a magical talisman left behind by the half-animal, half-human raiders who kidnapped the king's ex-mistress, Celeste. So Lynx searches for Celeste, and Wolf for Lynx. Wolf is accompanied by female mage Hogwood, who eventually becomes his wife and ever-present help in time of trouble, of which there is plenty. In the Hence Lands, Lynx's trail takes Wolf into furious confrontation with an Aztec-like civilization, whose magic enhances both its virtues and its vices. More furiously active than ever before, this volume boasts a body count not for the weak of stomach and shows Duncan as deft as ever with the Blades' small-group politics and the convolutions of the world in which they wield their weapons. Essential for King's Blades enthusiasts. --Roland Green Copyright 2004 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When the King's former mistress, Celeste, is abducted from her Tower and taken to a land beyond the sea, the King's Blade (sworn soldier), known as Sir Wolf, is assigned to bring her back. When he discovers that the inquisitor accompanying him is not who he thinks he is, Wolf's life suddenly becomes both simpler and more complicated. Duncan's latest addition to his popular "King's Blade" series introduces a new part of the world of Chivial, with its jungles, pyramids, and strange beasts. Libraries owning the previous volumes (The Gilded Chain, Lord of the Fire Lands) should add this to their fantasy collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| 1 The master first lets slip his best hounds | p. 1 |
| 2 Skilled huntsmen knowing all forms of spoor ... | p. 76 |
| 3 The chase is reserved to the lord ... lesser orders [hunt with] snares and nets | p. 121 |
| 4 On the eve of the hunt, the lord summons his huntsmen, his trainers, his grooms ... | p. 154 |
| 5 Hearing the horns' call and the baying of hounds, the stag taketh flight | p. 191 |
| 6 Send not valued dogs against the wild boar in his wallow ... | p. 230 |
| 7 Birds of prey must be handled with respect | p. 286 |
| 8 The mort is sounded by one long call and several short | p. 328 |
| Epilogue | p. 380 |