Review - The Sword Saint - C.F Iggulden
Review – The Sword Saint – Book Three in The Empire of Salt series by C. F. Iggulden
SPOILERS!
As with the previous two books in the series, The Sword Saint was given to me as a gift. I am a fan of Conn Iggulden’s historical fiction and have found many of his books in that genre unputdownable. If that is not a word, it should be.
It is partly because I admire his writing so much that I have stuck with the whole series. I really wanted to be completely bowled over by Empire of Salt. I wanted to devour these books as I have devoured his others. The truth is that they never really ‘grabbed’ me as I so wanted them to do. I enjoyed them, yes; but I wasn’t in a rush to get back to them and in fact read one or two other books in between reading these. They just didn’t pull me in as I first thought they would.
However, I was interested to know the fate of certain characters and to learn the future of the beleaguered city of Darien. In The Sword Saint we meet several characters who featured in previous books, as well as being introduced to one or two new ones, in particular a young prince who is sent to Darien on a devious mission by his ruthless and heartless father. This mission not only leaves the young prince gravely wounded, but brings war to Darien’s doorstep.
I was pleased to see Elias Post was back. I always thought him a truly interesting character and would have liked to have seen more of him. (I thought Jack Daw was also a great character. Sadly, he is killed off in Book One if I remember right.) Vic Deeds and Nancy are also back, as is, of course, Tellius; one of the central characters absolutely vital to the plot. This character definitely develops and becomes more rounded throughout the series.
I have to say though, that I found the storyline in each book essentially the same. A great enemy is threatening the walls of Darien. The people within have to defend it, and ‘hold the wall.’ Although there are subtle differences and sidelines in each story, this in essence the plot for each book. Even so, by Book Three I had grown to quite like Tellius and Lady Sallet. I thought the sad ending was surprising I must say. I did not see it coming, yet when it happened it also seemed fitting.
I can picture Darien quite clearly in my mind. The one thing that did occur to me when reading was that this would probably translate quite successfully to film. On the whole this is a good series which is well written by an excellent author. For me personally, I hope he continues writing his outstanding historical fiction. I have seen others describe this series as ‘solid’ and I have to agree that I would probably describe it in much the same way. A good, solid read.
