I'm reading Ellen Kushner's Riverside books. I started by rereading Swordspoint, which I first read about twenty years ago, and now I'm almost done The Fall of the Kings (published about six years ago and co-written by Delia Sherman) and then I'll read The Privilege of the Sword (published in 2007).
Swordspoint is fantasy with the only fantasy element being that the world in which it is set doesn't exist. The main characters are a swordsman and his lover, who is not quite what he seems. There's political intrigue, action, witty dialogue, mysteries to be resolved, and a bit of, shall we say, adult content, primarily of the gay male variety.
The Fall of the Kings, set a generation or two later, has somewhat more of a fantasy feel. An academic researching the days before the nobles overthrew the monarchy and wiped out the kings' wizards finds himself and his lover, a young aristocrat, taking on the seemingly mythic roles of the wizard and the true king. Again, loads of action, great characters, great setting, great dialogue.
The third book features a young woman as a central character, which should make for a nice change of pace. There are strong woman characters in the first two books but for the most part men are the main characters. I'm having enough fun reading these that I may have to get a copy of the 2003 edition of Swordspoint, which adds a few short stories set in the same world (they aren't in the old Tor edition I have).
Well worth reading for people for something both sophisticated and fun, and for people tired of the same old same old in fantasy. Swordspoint has been described as a cross between Alexandre Dumas and Georgette Heyer. That's not a bad comparison.
Swordspoint is fantasy with the only fantasy element being that the world in which it is set doesn't exist. The main characters are a swordsman and his lover, who is not quite what he seems. There's political intrigue, action, witty dialogue, mysteries to be resolved, and a bit of, shall we say, adult content, primarily of the gay male variety.
The Fall of the Kings, set a generation or two later, has somewhat more of a fantasy feel. An academic researching the days before the nobles overthrew the monarchy and wiped out the kings' wizards finds himself and his lover, a young aristocrat, taking on the seemingly mythic roles of the wizard and the true king. Again, loads of action, great characters, great setting, great dialogue.
The third book features a young woman as a central character, which should make for a nice change of pace. There are strong woman characters in the first two books but for the most part men are the main characters. I'm having enough fun reading these that I may have to get a copy of the 2003 edition of Swordspoint, which adds a few short stories set in the same world (they aren't in the old Tor edition I have).
Well worth reading for people for something both sophisticated and fun, and for people tired of the same old same old in fantasy. Swordspoint has been described as a cross between Alexandre Dumas and Georgette Heyer. That's not a bad comparison.
