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Bridge of Swords (Empire of Bones #1)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 16 ratings · 9 reviews

Sendatsu is a hunted man. His people, even his own father, want him dead. Cast out of his home, he finds himself in a strange new land, desperate to find a way to return to his children.

Alone in the land of Vales, Sendatsu is forced to rely on his talents as a fighter to survive. His skills are welcomes by two fugitives - Huw and Rhiannon - who are hurrying to alert the pe...more

Paperback, 515 pages

Published August 17th 2012 by HarperCollinsPublishers (first published August 1st 2012)

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May 05, 2013 Shaheen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hc-aust, favorites

The beauty of this book is that it takes everything we know and love about fantastical literature and uses them in an innovative way. Everything about Bridge of Swords is brilliant – a gripping plot line peppered with well executed action sequences, interesting characters driven by realistic motivations, and a new world rich in culture, history and mystery. This has been my first foray into the works of Duncan Lay and I wonder how I overlooked his work for so long!

Sendatsu is the hero of this st...more The beauty of this book is that it takes everything we know and love about fantastical literature and uses them in an innovative way. Everything about Bridge of Swords is brilliant – a gripping plot line peppered with well executed action sequences, interesting characters driven by realistic motivations, and a new world rich in culture, history and mystery. This has been my first foray into the works of Duncan Lay and I wonder how I overlooked his work for so long!

Sendatsu is the hero of this story – an elf charged with unearthing the real reason that elves shut themselves off from the human world centuries ago. While it is easy to understand his desire to return home to his family and continue his life, I found him to be lacking in courage and sometimes wished he would man – elf? – up and take charge of his life. But this is the entire point of Sendatsu: he is the ultimate reluctant hero. He finds two strangers to accompany him on his quest - Huw the bard and Rhiannon the dancer, who have secrets and motivations of their own. The interactions and relationships between these three are fascinating to read and they drive the plot forward as an integral aspect of the book.

The world building in this book is simply superb – not only are the cultures of the elves and humans beautifully delineated and balanced, the ties that link the two races are clear and it is nice to see the lines blur between them later in the book. I only looked at the map provided with the book one when began reading – which is always the mark of incredible writing in my opinion. Duncan Lay’s writing lends a strong sense of place to this book and I really admire his skill doing so.

There is a lot more I want to say about this wonderful book, but I can’t for fear of spoiling things for readers. So I will say this: Rhiannon is a wonderful character – finally a woman who isn’t a typical cut out of ‘helpless maiden’ or ‘fearless warrior that doesn’t act like a woman unless she cries’ – but I hated the way that Sendatsu and Huw treated her. Hated it. I liked Asami for similar reasons, and hope that she gets a larger story arc in future books. Jaken, Sendatsu’s father intrigues me. Although he is portrayed as a power-hungry leader, I think he would be interesting to get to know better.

Filled with great characters and a wonderful world, Bridge of Swords is epic fantasy at its best. Everyone should rush out and grab a copy! While fans of the genre will undoubtably enjoy reading this book, it is perfect for those wanting to try high fantasy for the first time.

You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Kristopher Mason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-bookshelf

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, unfortunately this novel suffered the same fate as almost every fantasy novel I've ever read, and that is that I start to find them tiresome halfway through. This is not a negative statement against the author, it's just something I find hard to avoid. It's more than likely to do with the amount of backstory, history and politics in fantasy novels; sometimes I find them too full on and have to put them down for a bit. But I digress...

I found Bridge of Swords to be...more I thoroughly enjoyed this book, unfortunately this novel suffered the same fate as almost every fantasy novel I've ever read, and that is that I start to find them tiresome halfway through. This is not a negative statement against the author, it's just something I find hard to avoid. It's more than likely to do with the amount of backstory, history and politics in fantasy novels; sometimes I find them too full on and have to put them down for a bit. But I digress...

I found Bridge of Swords to be an interesting take on what seems to be the stock-standard fantasy mythos. There were no goblins, orcs or otherwise. There is magic, and it is the humans in the world who have harnessed magic who have become to be called Elves by humans, while still regarding themselves as “Elfaran”.

The story follows the protagonist Sendatsu as he discovers an ancient and secret betrayal about the Elfarans and the magic they possess. When he presents his father, the leader of Elfaran council with the information that the magic is fading he is exiled into the human world so this can’t be revealed to anyone else. Sendatsu then embarks of a quest to find humans who have harnessed magic and return to Dokuzen to confront his father and the council and overthrow them.

Along the way he gets embroiled in the human world politics between two nations, Vales and Forland and picks up two accomplices who accompany him on both his journey to discover the hidden history between humans and Elfarans, and to strengthen the nation of vales from a bunch of ragtag farming villages to a strong sovereign nation.

I found the characters engaging and interesting, especially the main character Sendatsu and he grows from the pain and loss of his identity and discovers a new identity in the human world; and the character Huw and he journeys from being a lowly bard in the kings hall to a leader of his people. I found the King of Forland was a bit lacking in richness though, he comes across as a whoring war-mongerer and it kind of feels as though he is simply there to be evil. I didn't feel as though there was much context or depth to his character. Having said that though, he is essential to the story and his role is played out well. So it kind of balances out.

All in all, I enjoyed the book even though it took me about six months to finish because I put it down for a very long time, and I will be buying the second when it comes out… I need to know how this story progresses.(less)

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Aug 10, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sendatsu is cast away from his home, sent to a new land in hope to finding the secret to why the elves locked themselves away from the humans centuries ago. As an elf who has lived 'behind the wall' in Dokuzen all his life he knows nothing of this strange world, only that he must return to his children at home soon. He is soon found by two fugitives Huw and Rhiannon who have their own agendas and motivations. Soon Sendatsu is a wildcard for freedom as lies unfurl and the truth is revealed.

The se...more Sendatsu is cast away from his home, sent to a new land in hope to finding the secret to why the elves locked themselves away from the humans centuries ago. As an elf who has lived 'behind the wall' in Dokuzen all his life he knows nothing of this strange world, only that he must return to his children at home soon. He is soon found by two fugitives Huw and Rhiannon who have their own agendas and motivations. Soon Sendatsu is a wildcard for freedom as lies unfurl and the truth is revealed.

The setting and the world is absolutely beautiful and breath-taking from the lush and eloquently crafted elven-buildings in Dokuzen to castles and spires in the 'human world'. Duncan Lay really sets you up for a fast paced adventure and his writing is superb. There is an element of brutality, slight gore and warfare that I quite enjoyed and acted like a constant theme through the novel. The warfare was executed neatly with small plot developments and snippets of characterisation frequently occurring. I loved the personalities of the elves and their darker side that was always evident. The magic-weavers (elves with strong magical abilities) were again executed brilliantly as a group and as individuals and really added to that supernatural element. Sendatsu was a great main character and the contrast between his blood-lust and his care for his children was an interesting and well-developed combination.

The novel itself was quite long exceeding five hundred pages yet events never seemed to drag on and characters still developed meaning in their journey. The plot is intricate and you learn the names of many areas in short periods of time as well interesting history which was great to read about. Huw, the companion that Sendatsu meets was an interesting character that developed slowly. I often found, though, that some of his decisions were strange and un-realistic. Rihannon was a great female character who was incredibly brave and was ready for any challenge and really helped move the plot forward. The relationship between these three characters was at the fore-front of the novel and really added to the mystery and intrigue.

Overall, this is an epic fantasy that contains incredible world building, brilliantly developed characters with key qualities and a great mixture of warfare. Bridge of Swords is a must read and I'm absolutely sure you will love it especially those who love high fantasy!

For more reviews please visit my blog: Possession of Books (less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought it today and met the man himself! I've only read a short amount into it so far, but I'm finding the writing style to be descriptive and the plot to be an interesting one.

I generally don't read fantasy unless it is suggested by a friend whose taste in novels I approve of, and I also find elves to be a rather dull set of characters. Not in this case though. The idea that Sendatsu's people are not the elves they claim to be is pretty compelling.

There's a lot of potential and I don't see ho...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Tsana Dolichva rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bridge of Swords is the first book in Duncan Lay's second trilogy, Empire of Bones. It is set about three hundred years after the Dragon Sword Histories (The Wounded Guardian, The Radiant Child and The Risen Queen), however you definitely need not have read the first series for this one to make sense. Given the large time gap, there are no common characters and in the interim the face of the world has changed significantly so that even those who have read the first series will find it relatively...more Bridge of Swords is the first book in Duncan Lay's second trilogy, Empire of Bones. It is set about three hundred years after the Dragon Sword Histories (The Wounded Guardian, The Radiant Child and The Risen Queen), however you definitely need not have read the first series for this one to make sense. Given the large time gap, there are no common characters and in the interim the face of the world has changed significantly so that even those who have read the first series will find it relatively unfamiliar at the start.

There are three central characters in Bridge of Swords: Sendatsu the elf, Huw the bard and Rhiannon the dancer. Sendatsu found himself inadvertently at the centre of a conflict among his secluded people and travelled into the human world to help resolve it. Throughout the story, he misses and pines for his young children whom he was forced to leave behind. The focus on the relationship between father and young children is not something that is often a strong element of fantasy writing, perhaps to its detriment — in fact the only other example I can think of is in Lay's Dragon Sword Histories. Lay's writing shows that positive father figure and heroic fighter need not be mutually exclusive characteristics.

Huw, the bard from Vales, travelled to the Forlish king's court to play the lute. While there he became enamoured of the talented dancer Rhiannon and also learnt about the king's plans to subdue and conquer Vales. Compelled to leave court and warn his homeland, he convinces/tricks Rhiannon into coming with him. In the course of events, they team up with Sendatsu and find themselves helping Velsh villages mount defences against the Forlish.

I liked that none of the main characters were perfect people and enjoyed watching them grow throughout the book. As I'm one for moral shades of grey characters, I enjoyed the two men more than Rhiannon. Although she definitely grows during the story, she goes from naïve to more worldly without really doing anything morally ambiguous, unlike the other two.

Something Lay does well is write about the minutiae of battles. I don't mean the blow by blow account — although that's good too — I mean the details of the preparation and organisation. I noted in in the Dragon Sword Histories and it shone through again in Bridge of Swords. I really appreciate the attention to detail and the research that obviously goes into the world-building.

All in all, I definitely recommend Bridge of Swords to fantasy lovers, especially those that enjoy fight scenes. And enjoyable read which left me hanging for the next book — especially after that cliffhanger ending, yeesh.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog, Tsana's Reads.(less)

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May 15, 2013 Michael Bailey rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really tried to like it, as I'm always chasing new authors....but it just didn't grab me. The setting seems derivative and a little contrived and the characters weren't holding my attention.

Still, I'll try again in a few months and see if I've been too harsh.

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Mar 22, 2013 Annika rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall, an interesting plot. However, some of it so predictable it is a bit shameful. I would probably read the second book when it comes out, but if I never did, I don't know that I would be upset by it.

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Nov 06, 2012 Tracy Fisher added it

Thoughly enjoyed this.

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Jan 20, 2013 Rainy Days rated it 2 of 5 stars

I can't stop reading it-help, must eat!!

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May 19, 2013 Tarklovishki rated it 3 of 5 stars

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About Duncan Lay

Duncan Lay is a layout designer and headline writer at the Sunday Telegraph (Australia). He has always worked in journalism and has worked for a number of different newspapers and media outlets. He lives on the Central Coast of NSW with his wife and two young children.

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Books by Duncan Lay

The Wounded Guardian (The Dragon Sword Histories, #1)

The Risen Queen (The Dragon Sword Histories, #2)

The Radiant Child (The Dragon Sword Histories, #3)

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