I received this an an ER book. I think it was offered for the April or May batch, but I didn't receive it until almost the end of July. At the time I was immersed in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" world. I didn't want to start reading Swordmage until I was done with Martin's books. Once I finally started Swordmage I found it very difficult to continue reading it. Like other ER reviewers I too had difficulty with the format of the book (spiral bound; pages printed landscaped). On top of that I found the characters one dimensional and the story very thin at best. I kept leaving the book off to the side while I read through other more interesting stories.

I just couldn't get into Baker's story. I felt like I was back in the '80s reading those D&D spin-off novels (not the Dragonlance series which for the most part superb but their poor cousins like one ones penned by Gary Gygax). Swordmage was not my first choice for an ER book from that month and I completely regret selecting it at all. ( )

I need to start off that this review is not really about the story, but about the format I received the story in under the Early Reviewers program. Spiral-bound 2:1 format. NOT reader-friendly. I tried 3 times to get into the story, but just found it too cumbersome. In justice to the author, this could be the BEST STORY EVER, but I won't know. It didn't grab me enough to go out and buy a copy to read in a better format. The publisher did this author no favors in this instance.

Swordmage, book one in The Blades of the Moonsea series, is the first novel set in the "new" Forgotten Realms.

When I first picked up this book and began reading it I immediately disliked the fact that a character in a Forgotten Realms series was a "swordmage". In my opinion, sword users and mages should always be seperate characters. It took me awhile to get over this issue but when I did I really enjoyed the story.

Geran Hulmaster, after many years away has returned to his childhood hometown, Hulburg. The return, however, is not a happy one. His childhood friend has been killed and he, with the help of his halfling friend Hamil and other allies, intends to find answers to his death. The main issue with this are the merchant houses who have taken control of the city in his absence.

Geran also discovers that there are even larger and more serious problems than the death of an old friend, there is an orc threat that will test him and his small band of friends, as well as, the country. These orcs are probably more intelligent and powerful than any you've seen in a fantasy novel.

I would strongly recommend this book to any fantasy reader. ( )

Richard Baker's Swordmage is part of the Wizard's of the Coast Forgotten Realms novels. I used to read ever book that Wizards and its predecessor TSR put out, but lately have not read many of these. Baker's book starts off slowly with a prolouge of events that occurred a few years before the present book. The prolouge has little if anything to do with this book and seems to be a set up for the rest of the series. It was also one of the weakest parts of the book.

After wading through the prolouge, I was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the book. Baker settles down with his main character Geran Hulmaster who has returned home for the funeral of a childhood friend. From there he gets embroiled in every increasing intrigue from other citys, his step-brother and a rampaging orc horde. (to be finished ( )

As a Drizzt lover, I thought this book would be right up my alley, and perhaps it would be. I'm saddened to say I couldn't finish it. I found the style of writing too forced for me to get into the story. I'm not a minimalist by any means, but I felt the author simply said to much, falling into that precarious trap of telling rather than showing. With too much description and internal dialogue, there's no work for me, as the reader, to do. Which is boring. ( )