The Broken Sword

Another great book by this author. He is now on the top of my favorite authors list! ( )

Another riveting novel from a fantastic author! I liked the fact that this novel focused on Lorenzo and Qhora, as I found them intriguing in the first book. I was hooked from the beginning! ( )

This novel is the second one in the "Halcyon" series, written by this author, and it turned out to be an entertaining and interesting book, overall. You find yourself again meeting some of the characters from the first book, but with a different focus and another scenario, plus some new elements that will play their part in the plot. I liked it and it made me like Lorenzo and Qhora even more, but it seems I came to read this with too high expectations and got a little disappointed, specially when it comes to Syfax. ^_^U

Overall, though, it's a great, well-written novel, with the right dose of action, adventure, romance and religion or philosophy, so it's worth reading it. If you're a Syfax fan, like me, you may get your heart a bit broken, but, other than that, it's definitely a good read. :)

Full review (in English): http://hiyokonojinsei.dreamwidth.org/449904.html ( )

The international bunch from the first book is back, this time with their lives intersecting in Espani. Taziri is now flying the Halycon 2, which is an airplane instead of an airship. Major Zidane is working as flight security, and Keenan is her copilot. Qhora and Lorenzo are married and living in Madrid running a fencing school. One day, Taziri's flight drifts a bit off-course, while bringing passengers from Italia to Mazigh, and they happen to spot a brand-new Espani warship that promptly shoots at them. Forced down over Espani, Taziri takes her passengers to Lorenzo's home, where they stumble into the middle of his personal quest to find the skyfire stone. A stone that fell from heaven in the frigid northern part of Espani, and that is supposed to emit heat that Lorenzo hopes will save the faith of his fellow Espanis.

In the first book, Lewis surprised me by writing a steampunk that I actually enjoyed. In this one, he managed to do that with a fantasy. Definitely impressive. Whereas the first book focused on Taziri and the Mazigh steampunk science, this one focuses in on Espani--a culture that shuns science and instead trusts in faith. This is not a set-up that would normally lead to me getting an enjoyable read, but the characters are sympathetic enough that it works. It's sort of a way of examining the impact the industrial revolution had only with Europe being the one behind the times.

My complaint in the first book was there was too much exposition and it took too long to get the action going. Not a problem here! However I was disappointed by two things. First, Taziri's plot again mostly involves her wanting to get back to her family and missing her daughter. This feels a bit too much like a repeat of the first book. Second, where were all the Espani women? I cannot think of a single significant one encountered in a whole book set there. This made me sad after the large presence of females in the first book. Qhora talks about Espani female gentility and such, but we don't ever really see it.

Overall, this is a fulfilling follow-up to the first book that does not suffer from the middle book in the trilogy plight that so often occurs to book two. The setting is different, and the action is tighter. I'm excited to read the final book in the trilogy and am certain fans of the first book will not be disappointed by this one.

Check out my full review: http://wp.me/pp7vL-Id (Link will be live on February 6, 2012). ( )

Having read the first book in this series, I was happy to return to the world that Lewis has created. This world, similar to ours but caught in an Ice Age that never ended, is strongly developed and very real. I felt that the pacing in The Broken Sword was a little more even than in the previous adventure, The Burning Sky. Lewis writes a good mixture of adventure, romance and humor about very solidly developed characters. I enjoy the contrast of technology and mythology that winds through this book, and I certainly look forward to more from this author.

I received a free electronic copy of this book through a LibraryThing giveaway. ( )