Swordspoint (Kushner)

[cahn]

Okay, everyone was right. I should have read this before Privilege of the Sword. This is a gorgeous book... when I was thinking about how to describe it, I kept coming up with metaphors involving very rich luxurious jewel-toned silk and velvet (not coincidentally, the sorts of clothing that a character in Swordspoint might wear). Decadent eighteenth-century fantasy-without-magic-but-with-romantic-swordfighting; what's not to like? The writing and atmosphere is lush and a lot of fun to read. I would have enjoyed it even had it not had a plot. Which it does. And such a delicious one: plotmaster felled by the intricacies of his own plots. I also loved Richard (especially the part where he objects to irrationality in plays) and enjoyed Michael (I don't think I would want to be friends with him, but he was fun enough to read about), and thought Alec was a fairly lame spoiled brat (and am glad this was written before Harry Potter fandom, because if it had been after, I would totally have pegged Alec as a Fandom!Draco sort of boy).

I'm still not sure that my criticisms of Privilege of the Sword don't apply, and now I have more. The Ferris in Swordspoint is a delicious character, and not overly evil, or at least not more so than anyone else in the city; more a little arrogant and perhaps power-hungry, and prone to over-plotting, but rather likeable as a character all the same. The Ferris in Privilege appears, if I remember it correctly, to have hardened into a vulgar evil villain type; not nearly as interesting. However, I am much more inclined to read it again and find out if I remember correctly than I was before reading Swordspoint.