Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Baen (2006), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 576 pages
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: Whom the gods would recruit, they first tick off . . . Our Hero: The unlikely Paladin, Bahzell Bahnakson of the Horse Stealer Hradani. He's no knight in shining armor. He's a hradani, a race known for their uncontrollable rages, bloodthirsty tendencies, and inability to maintain civilized conduct. None of the other Five Races of man like the hradani. Besides his ethnic burden, Bahzell has problems of his own to deal with: a violated hostage bond, a vengeful prince, a price on his head. He doesn't want to mess with anybody else's problems, let alone a god's. Let alone the War God's! So how does he end up a thousand leagues from home, neck-deep in political intrigue, assassins, demons, psionicists, evil sorcery, white sorcery, dark gods, good gods, bad poets, greedy landlords, and most of Bortalik Bay Well, it's all the War God's fault. . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management)..… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member NogDog
Enjoyable story with interesting characters, pretty well told. I probably would have liked it better if it didn't have quite so much "Dungeons and Dragons adventure" feel to it, and a little less direct action by the gods; but I realize that may be a fairly personal preference.
LibraryThing member SunnySD
Prince Bahzell Bahnakson may be a Horse Stealer Hradni and a political hostage, but stomaching rape is beyond him. Of course, beating the Crown Prince of your host country within an inch of his life probably isn't the best way to go on being a live hostage.... Now Bahzell's on the run with an armed
Epic fantasy with a sense of humor and lots of action.
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hunt behind him, mysterious voices plaguing his dreams, and only a heckling Bloody Sword Hradnai for company. Good thing he has long legs, a strong back, a sharp sword, a thick skull and a solid sense of honor - he's going to need them.Epic fantasy with a sense of humor and lots of action.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
I am irrationally fond of this book, and this series. Irrationally, because it's about the pulpiest pulp I have on my shelves - it reads like an extended D&D campaign, where every new sequence happens because that's what the dungeonmaster happened to think up that week, the characters are charming
Nevertheless, it's glib, witty, and a great deal of fun. Even if it doesn't so much have a plot arc as a plot series-of-tangents, I was still left wanting to know what happened next.
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but not particularly original, the theology is trying to be profound and utterly failing, and the running "gag" where the main character keeps "having" to rescue women from rape against his better judgement is kind of appalling if you examine it too closely.Nevertheless, it's glib, witty, and a great deal of fun. Even if it doesn't so much have a plot arc as a plot series-of-tangents, I was still left wanting to know what happened next.
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LibraryThing member T_K_Elliott
David Weber is famous for his Honor Harrington science fiction/space opera series, and not every author can do fantasy and sci fi successfully.
David Weber, however, most certainly can.
If you are expecting something like Honor Harrington, but with more swords (OK, not that many more swords) but
In Weber's fantasy world, there are five 'races of man' - humans, dwarves, elves, halflings and hradani. The hradani are a kind of orc-equivalent - large and violent - and Our Hero, Bahzell, is one of them. This immediately marks the book off from other fantasy novels as the hero is not straight vanilla human, and he's from a race that's traditionally the Bad Guys in fantasy. In fact, since Bahzell's world is several hundred years after a fairly apocalyptic mage war in which the hradani fought on the wrong side, hradani are seen as the Bad Guys by everyone who isn't a hradani in this book too. The lingering prejudice against hradani is a running theme in the book.
Bahzell, being the son of the ruler of one of the hradani city-states, is a sort of envoy crossed with hostage at the court of another hradani prince. He interferes in some local nastiness which results in him having to flee (with the female victim) for his life. His local friend, Brandark, goes with him 'to keep him out of trouble'.
The rest of the book is the chronicle of Bahzell and Brandark's amusingly ill-fated journey across the continent, dealing with evildoers, rescuing maidens in distress, and confronting unwanted gods. Unwanted by Bahzell, anyway.
Although this is quite definitely 'light fantasy', it has enough depth to be interesting and Weber has written characters that you like (or like to hate) so you want to read on in order to find out what happens to them, and what scrape Bahzell (and Brandark) is going to get into next. It's good clean fun, and I've read it more times than I like to admit.
David Weber, however, most certainly can.
If you are expecting something like Honor Harrington, but with more swords (OK, not that many more swords) but
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fewer spaceships, forget it. Oath of Swords is something else entirely. This is a funny, observant romp of a traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy novel.In Weber's fantasy world, there are five 'races of man' - humans, dwarves, elves, halflings and hradani. The hradani are a kind of orc-equivalent - large and violent - and Our Hero, Bahzell, is one of them. This immediately marks the book off from other fantasy novels as the hero is not straight vanilla human, and he's from a race that's traditionally the Bad Guys in fantasy. In fact, since Bahzell's world is several hundred years after a fairly apocalyptic mage war in which the hradani fought on the wrong side, hradani are seen as the Bad Guys by everyone who isn't a hradani in this book too. The lingering prejudice against hradani is a running theme in the book.
Bahzell, being the son of the ruler of one of the hradani city-states, is a sort of envoy crossed with hostage at the court of another hradani prince. He interferes in some local nastiness which results in him having to flee (with the female victim) for his life. His local friend, Brandark, goes with him 'to keep him out of trouble'.
The rest of the book is the chronicle of Bahzell and Brandark's amusingly ill-fated journey across the continent, dealing with evildoers, rescuing maidens in distress, and confronting unwanted gods. Unwanted by Bahzell, anyway.
Although this is quite definitely 'light fantasy', it has enough depth to be interesting and Weber has written characters that you like (or like to hate) so you want to read on in order to find out what happens to them, and what scrape Bahzell (and Brandark) is going to get into next. It's good clean fun, and I've read it more times than I like to admit.
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LibraryThing member Homechicken
My wife loves this series, and she’s been waiting very patiently for her friend to return her set that she loaned to her so I could read them. Well, fast-forward two years and throw in a trip to Powell’s in Portland and we now have several of them in hardback (but not this one yet). We picked
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up a used copy so I could finally read this story. Weber does a great job with his characters, and the story is quite good. It’s an entertaining read, and I jumped right in to the next book as soon as I finished. I highly recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
I do love Bahzell. He's so absolutely stubborn - among other things, about admitting how 'noble' he is. There's some really beautiful worldbuilding in here too - a few visible chunks of exposition, but a lot of the-way-things-are fitted nicely into the story. And the non-Tolkien versions of the
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various races are also really good - not just the horns on the halflings. but their history. Not just the physical oddities of hradani, but the Rage and what it means - the history, the attitudes, and the usefulness of it. And ditto the elves. I have a hard time thinking only of what's in this book - I've read all three at least three times and I think more. The whole universe is a familiar place to me. and I know what people will be to Bahzell and Brandark in the later books. It's fun reading those first meetings and all the caution therein again. I'll have to reread the others too, of course, but not right now - got library books to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Guide2
Fantasy from Weber is unexpected, but surprisingly interesting and with a good sense of fun even with the somewhat heavy themes.
LibraryThing member ladyoflorien
I've reread this book and I still really like it. It's one of those feel good books you can read at any time that makes you happy.
LibraryThing member Linyarai
The plot was ok but I wasn't drawn to the characters and I found it to be a really slow read.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1995
Physical description
576 p.; 6.18 inches
ISBN
1416520864 / 9781416520863