329 pages
English language
Published Feb. 17, 2003
A classic melodrama of manners, filled with remarkable plot twists and unexpected humor, takes fantasy to an unprecedented level of elegant writing and scintillating wit. Award-winning author Ellen Kushner has created a world of unforgettable characters whose political ambitions, passionate love affairs, and age-old rivalries collide with deadly results.
Swordspoint
On the treacherous streets of Riverside, a man lives and dies by the sword. Even the nobles on the Hill turn to duels to settle their disputes. Within this elite, dangerous world, Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master, as skilled as he is ruthless--until a death by the sword is met with outrage instead of awe, and the city discovers that the line between hero and villain can be altered in the blink of an eye.
Interesting imagining of a society with wide=spread legal duels to the death
The final court battle is well-told
Being the story of the famed swordsman Richard St. Vier, and his adventures within a world of machinations over which he has no control. In the poor streets of Riverside between the twin rivers, St Vier is undefeated; yet the eyes of the aristocracy are turned towards him, and what they want of him requires skills other than those learned in the fencing-room and in savage quarrels.Then he exacts a revenge which casts the hero as murderer for doing what he has always done, and whose side are we on now?
Being the story of the famed swordsman Richard St. Vier, and his adventures within a world of machinations over which he has no control. In the poor streets of Riverside between the twin rivers, St Vier is undefeated; yet the eyes of the aristocracy are turned towards him, and what they want of him requires skills other than those learned in the fencing-room and in savage quarrels.Then he exacts a revenge which casts the hero as murderer for doing what he has always done, and whose side are we on now?
