The Misenchanted Sword (1985)

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A great start to the Ethshar series. I really enjoyed this book. As fantasy novels go, this is short and to the point. The main character is an ordinary person with some small talent for magic and a seriously flawed sword. Not a superhero with the ultimate weapon, which makes this more interesting than the run of the mill fantasy. ( )

NIL

I found this book through Joseph Mallozzi's blog / book club. It sounded interesting, and I liked that the author took the time to answer the questions. The general impression sounded good and it sounded like an interesting book in the fantasy genre that didn't just throw around the same plot and cliches. (It has new cliches and a distinct refusal to accept the common fantasy plot.)
I really enjoyed the book, and found it a refreshing look at a fantasy setting. I really like that the focus of the story was not on saving the world and defeating an overpowering enemy. It focuses on a character and how the character is changed by magic and war. I am always interested in books that take conventions of the genre and do different and new things with them. I'm also interested in good standard treatments though. I am not sure that I could count the number of treatments of Lord of the Rings that I've read.

The story is well written and goes by quickly. The story really focuses on one character more or less but the other people you meet along the way keep things interesting also. I enjoyed the book enough that I went and bought the second book in the series. Apparently this is one of the author's less successful series, so if the second book is also good I think I'll look into tracking down some of his more popular stuff.

Anyway, another book to get if you notice it somewhere! ( )

Fun. I've read some of the other Ethshar books relatively recently (this year, I think), and it's neat to see some of the beginnings. Now I need to reread my books to see if Valder shows up - I have a vague recollection of him, but it might have been from a description or snippet rather than from another book. I avoided Ethshar and Lawrence Watt-Evans for years because they were too silly - but this one didn't strike me as silly at all (some of the other Ethshar books do, but they _also_ have good stories). ( )