Theft of Swords: By Michael Sullivan

THEFT OF SWORDS

SUMMARY

THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.

Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles--until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.

Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires in order to keep a secret too terrible for the world to know?

REVIEW

Sullivan’s Theft of Swords is absolutely fantastic. Its characters are humorous and robust, its plot dynamic, and its writing just plain well written. In fact if you’re looking for comparisons Theft of Swords reminded me of an interesting combination of Simon R. Green’s Hawk and Fisher series (with the mystery fantasy element with a witty back and forth between the protagonists) and Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series (with is strong band of characters and dynamic plot full of twists.)

Of course while I enjoyed the book, my favorite aspect of it had to be the characters. They were well written, and as readers go through books one and two (both are contained in Theft of Swords) readers will really get a feeling for Royce and Hadrian. Obviously these two are my favorite characters (especially Hadrian). They are humorous, honorable (yet still maintain the fact that they are thieves for hire), and relatable characters. Not only that but Sullivan has created rich back stories for them that he’s slowly revealing in order to impress upon the readers the importance of each these dynamic character’s histories.

That said, I also very much enjoy Esra (I didn’t like him in book one, but he grew on me by book two and feel like he could present some interesting situations in the rest of the series), the Pickering boys (they’re talented strong willed good natured boys who add a nice element to the story), and Myron (the lovable and hilarious monk.)

All in all this book is filled with pretty much constant action, it’s got great characters, and is just plain fun to read. I can’t wait for the next book in the series, and am happy that Orbit is planning to release them in consecutive months. All in all there’s a reason this book was a Kindle Best Seller before it was published by Orbit.

RATING

9 out of 10

INFO

Publisher: Orbit

Published: November 23, 2011

Price: $14.99