Oath of Swords

David Weber is famous for his Honor Harrington science fiction/space opera series, and not every author can do fantasy and sci fi successfully.

David Weber, however, most certainly can.

If you are expecting something like Honor Harrington, but with more swords (OK, not that many more swords) but fewer spaceships, forget it. Oath of Swords is something else entirely. This is a funny, observant romp of a traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy novel.

In Weber's fantasy world, there are five 'races of man' - humans, dwarves, elves, halflings and hradani. The hradani are a kind of orc-equivalent - large and violent - and Our Hero, Bahzell, is one of them. This immediately marks the book off from other fantasy novels as the hero is not straight show more vanilla human, and he's from a race that's traditionally the Bad Guys in fantasy. In fact, since Bahzell's world is several hundred years after a fairly apocalyptic mage war in which the hradani fought on the wrong side, hradani are seen as the Bad Guys by everyone who isn't a hradani in this book too. The lingering prejudice against hradani is a running theme in the book.

Bahzell, being the son of the ruler of one of the hradani city-states, is a sort of envoy crossed with hostage at the court of another hradani prince. He interferes in some local nastiness which results in him having to flee (with the female victim) for his life. His local friend, Brandark, goes with him 'to keep him out of trouble'.

The rest of the book is the chronicle of Bahzell and Brandark's amusingly ill-fated journey across the continent, dealing with evildoers, rescuing maidens in distress, and confronting unwanted gods. Unwanted by Bahzell, anyway.

Although this is quite definitely 'light fantasy', it has enough depth to be interesting and Weber has written characters that you like (or like to hate) so you want to read on in order to find out what happens to them, and what scrape Bahzell (and Brandark) is going to get into next. It's good clean fun, and I've read it more times than I like to admit. show less

I do love Bahzell. He's so absolutely stubborn - among other things, about admitting how 'noble' he is. There's some really beautiful worldbuilding in here too - a few visible chunks of exposition, but a lot of the-way-things-are fitted nicely into the story. And the non-Tolkien versions of the various races are also really good - not just the horns on the halflings. but their history. Not just the physical oddities of hradani, but the Rage and what it means - the history, the attitudes, and the usefulness of it. And ditto the elves. I have a hard time thinking only of what's in this book - I've read all three at least three times and I think more. The whole universe is a familiar place to me. and I know what people will be to Bahzell show more and Brandark in the later books. It's fun reading those first meetings and all the caution therein again. I'll have to reread the others too, of course, but not right now - got library books to read. show less

Prince Bahzell Bahnakson may be a Horse Stealer Hradni and a political hostage, but stomaching rape is beyond him. Of course, beating the Crown Prince of your host country within an inch of his life probably isn't the best way to go on being a live hostage.... Now Bahzell's on the run with an armed hunt behind him, mysterious voices plaguing his dreams, and only a heckling Bloody Sword Hradnai for company. Good thing he has long legs, a strong back, a sharp sword, a thick skull and a solid sense of honor - he's going to need them.

Epic fantasy with a sense of humor and lots of action.

I am irrationally fond of this book, and this series. Irrationally, because it's about the pulpiest pulp I have on my shelves - it reads like an extended D&D campaign, where every new sequence happens because that's what the dungeonmaster happened to think up that week, the characters are charming but not particularly original, the theology is trying to be profound and utterly failing, and the running "gag" where the main character keeps "having" to rescue women from rape against his better judgement is kind of appalling if you examine it too closely.

Nevertheless, it's glib, witty, and a great deal of fun. Even if it doesn't so much have a plot arc as a plot series-of-tangents, I was still left wanting to know what happened next.

Well written, fun interaction between the two main guys Bahzell and Brandark.

Some of the other viewpoint characters aren't that fun, and the overall arc is pretty wild.

The extra short story at the end is completely out there, but showcases Weber's talent for military science-fiction.

Not yet sure if I'll continue reading the series.

Enjoyable story with interesting characters, pretty well told. I probably would have liked it better if it didn't have quite so much "Dungeons and Dragons adventure" feel to it, and a little less direct action by the gods; but I realize that may be a fairly personal preference.

Fantasy from Weber is unexpected, but surprisingly interesting and with a good sense of fun even with the somewhat heavy themes.