Friday Reads & Reviews

This week has found me finally reading Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan. Theft of Swords is the kind of bread and butter fantasy book that I long for every once in a while. It has all of the familiar comforts: dwarves, elves, swordsman, thieves, and magic. You know what you’re getting into when you pick up the book, and sometimes, as is the case here, that kind of foreknowledge is really nice and helps you just relax and enjoy the read.

While the prose tends towars the simplistic, it’s intentionally so, remaining sparse to keep the focus on the plot and the characters. This doesn’t really bother me and I find in the case of an adventure book like this, it’s often better to get right into the good stuff. The clean, tight prose keeps the pages turning quickly, which is all I really ask for in this situation.

However, there is one area that almost drags the book to a dead stop: dialogue exposition. If there’s one weak part in the book(s), this is it. There are several moments where the world is fleshed out by one character asking another something about the world and the second character expounding upon history and the way things are now and so on and so forth, and this kind of thing really just drags all of the forward momentum to a stand still. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t really add enough to the story to make up the difference for me.

Luckily, these things aren’t too prevalent and the book is still really enjoyable. I’d say it’s a near perfect read in the categories of fun, light-hearted entertainment. What’s even better is that each book seems very much self-contained. Sullivan mentions having written them styled in the fashion of episodes of a TV series and it very much reads that way. With each additional episode you’re treated to some further depth about characters and they really build upon one another to the point that the second book, Avempartha, is leagues better than the first book, The Crown Conspiracy, which was no slouch either!

Overall: I had fun and I’ll definitely be going back for the next book.

Learn More: Theft of Swords on Amazon — Michael J. Sullivan’s Webpage

If you liked this book you might also like: Retribution Falls (Book Number 1 of the Tales of the Kettyjay) by Chris Wooding; The Lies of Locke Lamora (Book Number 1 of the Gentleman Bastards Sequence) by Scott Lynch.

What’s Up Next: I’m around 15% done with Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Dannan and the Fianna of Ireland, translated by Lady Gregory. More on that next week!