The Fall of the Kings

The Fall of the Kings (2002) Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman

This book is set in the same world as Swordspoint, about two generations later. The story begins at the University, where Basil St Cloud is a young Doctor of History at the University. It is there that he meets Theron Campion, son of the Mad Duke and heir to Tremontaine.

I liked this book far less than I liked Swordspoint, which means that it’s still a good book, although not a great book. What kept it from being great is that I just didn’t care as much about the main characters as I did in Swordspoint. I was fond of some of the secondary characters, especially Justis, but I just couldn’t get really attached to the main characters. I almost felt as if the author(s) knew that she (they) was (were) going to do bad things to some of the characters, and so didn’t want to get too attached, so that she (they) could go through with it.

The other problem I had was that there was just too much sex for my tastes. Sure it may necessary to describe the sexual relationship between characters, because of the relationship between Kings and Wizards in history; I just don’t care to read about all the details. Of course it wasn’t as bad as I’m making it sound, I just would have preferred more detailed swordfights and fewer detailed sex scenes. (Which right there tells you plenty about me I suppose.)

Tied in, is the fact that when some of the characters made claims of being in love, I just didn’t believe it. Lust I could believe. Obsession I could believe. But love? The story would have been far stronger if I could have believed it was a love story. I just didn’t.

Oddly enough, I enjoyed the bits about research and scholarship, but then I do work in academia, so that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise I suppose.

But, all in all, the book had political intrigue, romantic intrigue, and a fantastic plot, so the it is is well worth reading, despite my misgivings.

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