Skryling's Blade

Rune Sword #2

by Rose Estes, Tom Wham

Orphan-warrior Caltus Talienson must capture Skryling's Blade, the ancient rune-carved sword and the only weapon that can slay the Dark Lord's fire-breathing servant

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

220 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Rose Estes is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books, including full length novels and multiple choice gamebooks. After contributing extensively to TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest series (of which she wrote the first six, as well as others later down the line), she wrote her first full length novel, Children of the Dragon (1985). She continued to write for TSR by writing six volumes in a series of Greyhawk novels. She contributed to other series, but continued to write books and start series of her own that, like Children of the Dragon, take place in a fantasy or science fiction world created by her own imagination. She also wrote the Golden Book Music Video Sing, Giggle and Grin.

Reviews

[Allen Garvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book for over a decade. There was something I liked about the first, but I forget what. Anyway, this uses the same characters but has different authors. I took it from a shelf in my enormous book queue. It's basically Ace books creating some D&D like series. There's a party of 4: a sorceress, a fighter, an elf, and a troll (who's a vegetarian). Each novel has a powerful Runesword to get and return to Vili, brother of Odin. It's a quick read, inconsequential, but the dwarf Gunnar who appears is a cute twist, and some whimsical mythology is introduced. A cut above the standard RPG-type fantasy novel.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are fun books, but haven't really stood the test of time. I remember loving them when I first read them (in the 90's, I think) but when I re-read them a decade or so later they have certainly aged quite a bit. Still, they are enjoyable and fast reads.

[Ice star · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is, I mean the story is the same, they are all back together again on their second adventure.
Cal finds a second rune sword, Hathor meets other trolls (they are in fact all females from what I remember), ... they have a lot of adventures. I remember Elizabeth and Endril being kidnapped by the "Dark Lord". In the end they reunite and after all the hard work they refuse to ever work in the future for "Vili" because the great god promised them rewards, riches, gold and they gained nothing.
Still a great book and one of my favorites.