First post here. I wanna start this off by saying, there's a bit of lore behind the reason I checked out this relatively obscure, forgotten fantasy novel in the first place. My partner and I went to a used bookstore, and one book caught my eye – a fantasy novel called Queen's Blade by Susan Shwartz, branding a synopsis that absolutely thrilled me. I had never heard of the author before, and I'd never seen anybody talk about the book, so I was hopeful I'd uncovered some hidden gem.
I did not, in fact, do that.
When I got home I swiftly discovered that Queen's Blade was actually the third in a trilogy. I tracked down the first two books (in eBook form), then got to reading, excited to unveil this diamond in the rough. In a few weeks' time, would I be able to share with the world this discovery, cast a new light upon an undiscovered masterpiece?
What I actually unveiled was one of the most boring, soulless slogs of a book I have ever read. 90% of the sentences are written with the cadence of "this happened, then this happened, then this happened." Or, the author will spend too long describing an action, using weak refefence points or vague terms, and end up undercutting the impact of what's supposed to be a fast-paced scene. Here, let me pull up a passage from Book 1, Byzantium's Crown:
"Sutekh's fist drove out, but Marric was prepared. He caught the man's wrist and twisted it, a grip that would have brought a smaller man writhing down on his knees. They faced off, almost as close as brothers embracing after a long parting. Each struggled to upset the other. Finally Marric threw the overseer off balance just slightly."
This is supposed to be a fight scene. There is no impact, no motion, no weight. The majority of the book is written like this. During dialogue-centric scenes this isn't quite as bad, and admittedly Shwartz's dialogue isn't terrible, but this prose nearly drove me to DNF the book, multiple times. If you thought Brandon Sanderson's prose was dry, Shwartz's prose could kill you of dehydration.
I was left mildly curious during my reading session. How was there a trilogy? When I looked up the author, I found out that Byzantium's Crown was nominated for a Hugo and a Nebula. Were standards for fantasy novels just in the toilet at the time? Whatever the case, the reception to the book online (the very little of it that exists) seems to be middling. Even the most generous readers say that it's nothing more than "pretty good". At the very least, I can feel vindicated now that I have a good feeling as to why the book series is forgotten now. I can't picture somebody recommending these books, even back in the 80's, and I wouldn't recommend them now. I will not be reading books 2 and 3. What am I gonna do with my copy of Queen's Blade, I'll figure it out.
by VCreate348