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.

Comments

[winterfox.livejournal.com]

Desideria by Nicole Kornher-Stace (my review here (http://community.livejournal.com/fantasywithbite/192427.html)). It's an amazing thing.

My main problem with Swordpoint is that the characters are convinced every line they spout is witty and sophisticated, and other characters are convinced that Lady Whatsherface is the height of elegant witticisms. Like so:

"You're kind," Lord Christopher murmured, assuming the stoic look of those forced to witness their own praise publicly.

"He isn't, really," the duchess told him. "My lord Ferris is horribly ambitious, and the first rule of the ambitious is never to ignore anyone who's been of use."

General laughter at the duchess's wit broke the tension.

That's not "wit." I get the impression that Kushner wants her characters to talk like Oscar Wilde's, but she hasn't half Wilde's wit or intelligence or skill to pull it off. The dialogue--all of it basically--just struck me as dumb, and the plot hinging on a senex amans being spurned is simply inane.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! I'll go look that up.

I guess I kind of got the impression that they were all dissolute decadent sorts who had gotten sufficiently decadent that one didn't really expect them to be particularly witty. (At least, I didn't.) Although I agree that, had I been paying more attention, everyone assuming that they were, in fact, witty would have been rather annoying. One might argue that the duchess is displaying other qualities in the passage you quote, mind you, but not wit.

Now you've made me want to go back and reread Wilde, which is a very good thing, so thanks :)

Ah, the plot. If you think this plot is bad, by all means don't check out Privilege of the Sword (what made me think this book wasn't going to have any plot at all). Not that you were going to anyway!