People get the strangest ideas about swordsmen
# 83: Swordspoint by Ellen Kuchner:
'They miss you on the Hill, now you're not young and wild anymore. Who've you finally settled down with, Ginnie Vandall? No one seems to know.'
'It's a man,' he told her, 'a stranger called Alec.'
'What's he like?'
He seemed to consider the question carefully. 'Nothing else, really. He's not like anything I've ever seen.'
'What does he do?'
'He used to be a student, I'm pretty sure of that. Now he tries to get himself killed,' he told her with perfect seriousness.
'With what, falling rocks?'
'Falling rocks, knives, people...anything that's handy.'
She considered the prospect. 'A student. Can't fight.'
'Total incompetent. It keeps me busy.'
Synopsis: The greatest swordsman who ever lived, faces the greatest challenge of his life: falling in love.
There's also some swordfighting and political intrigue. But mainly it's a love story.
Wow. I feel as if no worldbuilding I've ever done has come close to what Kushner gets up to in constructing her city. I can SEE the buildings, I've had drinks in the taverns. It's all mind-blowing. And I loved the protagonists. Loved them to pieces, both and cheered for them the whole way, even having to read ahead sometimes.
The copy of the book I have, btw, includes the sequel, "The Death of the Duke", a story which made me bawl my little eyes out in all the best ways.
This one's definitely a keeper.
'They miss you on the Hill, now you're not young and wild anymore. Who've you finally settled down with, Ginnie Vandall? No one seems to know.'
'It's a man,' he told her, 'a stranger called Alec.'
'What's he like?'
He seemed to consider the question carefully. 'Nothing else, really. He's not like anything I've ever seen.'
'What does he do?'
'He used to be a student, I'm pretty sure of that. Now he tries to get himself killed,' he told her with perfect seriousness.
'With what, falling rocks?'
'Falling rocks, knives, people...anything that's handy.'
She considered the prospect. 'A student. Can't fight.'
'Total incompetent. It keeps me busy.'
Synopsis: The greatest swordsman who ever lived, faces the greatest challenge of his life: falling in love.
There's also some swordfighting and political intrigue. But mainly it's a love story.
Wow. I feel as if no worldbuilding I've ever done has come close to what Kushner gets up to in constructing her city. I can SEE the buildings, I've had drinks in the taverns. It's all mind-blowing. And I loved the protagonists. Loved them to pieces, both and cheered for them the whole way, even having to read ahead sometimes.
The copy of the book I have, btw, includes the sequel, "The Death of the Duke", a story which made me bawl my little eyes out in all the best ways.
This one's definitely a keeper.