The Book of Swords Discussion

[Jeremy]

With the upcoming release of The Book of Magic anthology, I figured it's about time to catch up with the last one.

The Book of Swords contains a Six Duchies short story, Her Father's Sword, set during the Red Ship raids in the Farseer trilogy.

Of course, there are a number of stories from other prestigious authors in the genre. Discussion is welcome for any of the short stories, but please mark any spoilers.

Full content:

- The Best Man Wins by K.J. Parker
- Her Father’s Sword by Robin Hobb
- The Hidden Girl by Ken Liu
- The Sword of Destiny by Matthew Hughes
- "I Am a Handsome Man", Said Apollo Crow by Kate Elliott
- The Triumph of Virtue by Walter Jon Williams
- The Mocking Tower by Daniel Abraham
- Hrunting by C.J. Cherryh
- A Long, Cold Trail by Garth Nix
- When I Was a Highwayman by Ellen Kushner
- The Smoke of Gold Is Glory by Scott Lynch
- The Colgrid Conundrum by Rich Larson
- The King’s Evil by Elizabeth Bear
- Waterfalling by Lavie Tidhar
- The Sword Tyraste by Cecelia Holland
- The Sons of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin

[Silvana]

I read The Sons of the Dragon and I think it is the weakest short fiction ever in the ASOIAF world.

Really curious about the rest, especially Hobb's (obviously) as well as Lynch's and Abraham's.

[DivaDiane]

That is a stunning line up. I may have to break my book buying ban!

[Jeremy]

I've been putting this off, just because I know I'm going to be into almost every story here lol. I'm particularly curious about the Hobb story - haven't heard much about it from fellow fans yet!

Hope to clear room for this one soon! (At least before Book of Magic sneaks up on me, yikes!)

[Parker]

Jeremy, I was disappointed. Fitz was the only redeeming part of the story for me. If I were rating it, the story would get a 3/5.

[Jeremy]

Say it isn't so!

Well, for those interested in just the Hobb story, the first 50 pages of the anthology are available for free. It includes K.J. Parker's story, as well as Hobb's.

https://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/08...

[Parker]

Jeremy wrote: "Say it isn't so!

Well, for those interested in just the Hobb story, the first 50 pages of the anthology are available for free. It includes K.J. Parker's story, as well as Hobb's.

https://www.unb..."

I found the whole book to be good though. Lots of really compelling stories. I had never read most of the other authors. Gardner Dozois, the editor, is an old army buddy of my husband's.

[DivaDiane]

This is off-topic.

Parker, if you weren’t aware, Gardner Dozois passed away a few months ago.

[Parker]

Diane wrote: "This is off-topic.

Parker, if you weren’t aware, Gardner Dozois passed away a few months ago."

No, we didn't know. We're both in shock right now...hubby's telling me Dozy stories 😣

[DivaDiane]

Parker, I’m sorry you had to hear about it from me. And I’m sorry you’ve lost a friend. There was a huge outpouring of love and anemcdotes when he passed. Maybe check out his Facebook feed?

[Alfred]

Jeremy: Thanks for the link - I've been meaning to try KJ Parker, so am pleased to see a whole story here. Do you know if the Hobb story is complete?

[Jeremy]

Yes, the sample ends with the end of Hobb's story so far as I've been told. Haven't quite read it yet, need to send this to my Kindle so I can read it more comfortably than on a PC screen!

[Jeremy]

I read this last night. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't mind-blowing amazing or anything. Just a quick glimpse into an aspect of the world we haven't seen much of before - the raid attacks from the perspective of the villagers.

Some spoilery thoughts: (view spoiler)[I found Fitz's cameo to be a bit unnecessary? I don't know, he could have been any other king's messenger and it would have been the same lol. It's been AGES since I read The Farseer Trilogy though. Was there a point somewhere there that he actually went to these places and we didn't get to see it? I'm guessing this occurs around Royal Assassin, but it's been so long and my memory is hazy. Trying to place it in the timeline isn't working out for me.

The ending was, uh, chilling. It's interesting to think of a girl that runs off to live with the Forged, like she's going to be their tamer or something. I wonder how long she survives? I can't block out of my mind what was said about the Forged ones raping "anyone", so I'm not optimistic about her future with her father there lol. Yikes! (hide spoiler)]

[Parker]

Jeremy, I sincerely hope that she (view spoiler)[ simply went to see where her present father was going, realised that he wasn't her father any more, and returned.(view spoiler)[

I agree that Fitz was kind of superfluous, in that it really could have been any messenger, but it was nice to see him. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]