The Gilded Chain

Quite solid heroic fantasy, without being outstanding. It's the first in the King's Blades series but all of the books work well as standalones with different characters.

It's a swashbuckling story, vaguely inspired by The three Musketeers and by the swords & sorcery genre. The book follows the life and career of Durendal, perhaps the greatest of the King's Blades. The Blades are a knightly order which recruits young boys, often troublesome ones or ones without family but who show athletic promise, and trains them into becoming some of the finest swordsman in the world. Then, through a magical ritual, the resulting young men are bonded to the king or to a person of his choosing. This person is referred to as a blade's "ward". Blades are show more connected to their ward psychically, and can't help being loyal beyond any other consideration, and giving their lives if necessary to protect their ward.

The story starts with a young waif being tested for reflexes and skill before being accepted into the Order. This would have been a good opportunity to get us readers to bond with the hero by following his training, starting with his period as "the Brat", the newest blade candidate, who is subjected to hazing until a new boy is recruited. However, this is a more long-term story, so we skip ahead to the end of his training, when he is already one of the most skilled blade candidates produced by the order.

We would expect young Durendal then to start a career of adventures. Instead, he is bonded to a despicable fop from the court, and it seems his talent and life will be wasted. Years pass, however, and we finally see that fate has other things in mind for sir Durendal.

Because of what I have explained, the start of the book can be a bit underwhelming, and it takes a while before we get the adventures and the magic we had been expecting. But we sure do get them, in a swashbuckling, swords & sorcery style.

Then we follow Durendal's later life and, as we wait to see what his ultimate fate will be, the circle of the story ends up closing in a very satisfactory manner.

On the negative side, the worldbuilding is a bit generic, inspired by Britain in the late Middle Ages. Also, the characterization is not as skillful as it could have been. I liked Durendal, but I did not feel as if I knew him as deeply as I might have.

On the other hand, although I was suspicious of the time skips in the beginning, I finally thought that the story was quite well-structured. Duncan does well in showing how the kingdom changes throughout the life of the main character, and the story arc closes in a way that gives cohesion to a seemingly episodic story. show less

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer   Synopsis A young blade is bound to a foppish nobleman, only to find he's just a pawn in the politics of the kingdom. He is then rebound to the King, has a series of adventures in a foreign land, comes home and ends up as Prime Chancellor, only to have his adventures in foreign lands come back to haunt him in the worst way. And Ambrose, the king, is still playing politics.   My Thoughts When I finished Lord of the Firelands,  I show more didn't see how Duncan could write another novel that was as good, much less better. Well, I was wrong and glad of it.   This was a corker of a novel.  It dealt almost exclusively with Chivian politics and characters and we find out a lot more about the workings of Ambrose the King and his attitude towards the Blades, the Kingdom, just about everything.   In this book we follow Blade Durendal, as he is used, abused and treated like an object instead of a man by his king. We get to see how Durendal must reconcile his magical bonding [which allows him to in no way harm the king] with his strong sense of right and wrong. The issue at hand is immortality, but at such a cost that Durendal knows it is evil. We see him from the start of his Blade years until his retirement and at each point along the way he must be so imaginatively creative in his thinking and doing that it was a true feat of mental gymnastics. It was a joy to read.   This was a straight up adventure story seasoned with a little fighting, a little politics, a little magic and a little romance. Highly recommended!   Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars Author: Dave Duncan " show less

"When you put the sword in my heart - remember you are fighting to save your own life. Ram it all the way through, you hear? That's how the King does it. Push till the point comes out of my back."

To most men a sword to the heart is the end, but to a Blade it is a beginning. As a boy he enters Ironhall to train daily in sword craft, and as a youth he waits under the Sky of Swords, until the night he is Bound into service. For a Blade lives his adulthood as an enchanted man. Once a Blade's own cats-eye sword leaves his flesh the man who wielded it becomes his one true obsession. A Blade is no mere protector, but a lethal bodyguard possessing the supernatural ability to forgo sleep and sometimes food. He will protect his ward day and show more night unceasingly until relieved of duty or dead. These brave men are fencers extraordinaire, legendary lovers and stalwart friends to their King and their brotherhood.

The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan is the first book in the Blade series and it's a good introduction to their world. Its focus is primarily on Sir Durendal, Lord Roland. The book showcases Durendal at different points in his life: at court as a young blade, off to a far land on a quest for the King, and then back at court again as one of the King's administrators.

Each time I read it this story becomes more exciting to me. I am no great lover of the fantasy genre but the book continues to hold my interest. There is so much originality here. I really like what Duncan has done with his world-building and the magic is used to great effect. Not only in the enchantment on the Blades but also the dangers they face. Duncan does his own twist on werewolves and even zombies in this book, though you don't immediately recognize it as such it's so nicely done. I also really enjoy Duncan's prose and dialogue.

I recommend The Gilded Chain to anyone looking for a good swashbuckle. show less

This is the story of Lord Roland, Durendal (named after the founder of Ironhall), the greatest swordsman of the King's Blades and a legend in his own lifetime. He entered Ironhall, as all those elite swordsmen do, as the Brat, was forged into a Blade there, and was assigned in service by the king ... to a fop. The binding conjuration ensures that each Blade will defend their ward to the death, whether they like them personally or despise them. But Durendal's dream has been to serve his king, Ambrose IV (very much reminiscent of Henry VIII), and he gives the crown a lifetime of the best service.

This is a story of courage and honour and loyalty, of duty and adventure. It takes us through coming of age, action and court politics, love and show more sorrow, and it's funny (hilarious, even) and engaging. In short, I had a rollicking good time reading it, and I shall be hunting down the others in the series. One of Duncan's best. show less

I really enjoyed this book. I picked this up and the other 3 in this sort-of trilogy at a flea market. I'm glad I did. How did I not know about Dave Duncan until now?

The worldbuilding is very interesting with magic that requires an octagon and chanting and other things. Although it's possible there are scrolls and perhaps quicker ways to cast certain spells, but that wasn't detailed in this book.

Boys are accepted and trained in swordsmanship of varying kinds, along with hand-to-hand fighting. I assume they learn other things like how to read and write. They move up the ranks and when the king is ready, they are magically bound to him as his protector. Sometimes the king will grant one of his "Blades" to a court favorite. This makes show more for some interesting situations since the Blade must protect his ward at all costs, even if the ward is planning treason. It puts the main character, Durendal, into moral corundums.

The story bounces back and forth in time, which some may find disconcerting. But it acts as a sort of post-shadowing. You know something is coming up eventually but you aren't sure how you will get there.

I think this would be a great premise for a movie or TV show. And definitely would make a great plot of a roleplaying game like Dungeons & Dragons.

I can't wait to read the next book.

PS: Each of these 3 books can be read on their own, but apparently they are best when you read al three. Duncan has also written some other books that take place in this world as well. He is a hidden gem. show less

Sir Durendal is an elite swordsman trained in Ironhall and magically bonded to protect a royal ward. Instead of protecting the king, Durendal is bonded to an incompetent fop, forcing him into a long, perilous adventure filled with political intrigue, treason, and hidden secrets.

The Blades are elite, fiercely loyal swordsmen bound to their wards via a magical ritual involving a sword through the heart. Durendal, arguably the best of his class, is sent on a seemingly wasted assignment protecting a slimy git.

This book was really fun. More of a traditional knights and kings story. I loved the main concept of the blades and their bindings to their ward. How those bindings ruled them even if the ward they were chained to was unjust. The book had a great pace and the main character, Sir Durendal, was easy to root for.
I will be reading the next in the series.