Sword-Dancer

The Novels of Tiger and Del Sword-Dancer (1986), Sword-Singer (1988), Sword-Maker (1989), Sword-Breaker (1991), Sword-Born (1998), Sword-Sworn (2002) by Jennifer Roberson

I am quite fond of the first book in this series, Sword-Dancer. I like the characters, I like the writing, and I like the story. I particularly like Tiger, who sounds quite a bit like he’s channeling Robert Parker’s Spenser, only in a fantasy realm instead of Boston. I like “hearing” the internal thoughts of characters. I believe it also made some of the more difficult parts about Del’s past easier to read.

The story follows two characters, Tiger, a Southern male sword-dancer, and Del, a Northern female sword-dancer, as Del seeks to recover her brother and wreak revenge upon the bandit who destroyed her family and her life, as it had been. As they traverse the South, they have to deal with not only the natural hazards of the desert, but also a culture that does not accept independent women. (The fact that the story is written from the point-of-view of Tiger, the male character, makes this all the more interesting.)

There is plenty of sword-fighting and horseback riding and general adventure–more than enough to keep the feminist undercurrent from becoming overpowering. It’s a good adventure.

Unfortunately, for me, the rest of the series never lived up to the first book. The story is for the most part still good (with the possible exception of the fifth book, which I just found bizarre) but I just didn’t find the books as compelling as the first.

I think my biggest problem with the later books is that there was more book than story. I liked the stories, however I found myself skimming to move things along faster. I think they would have been much stronger had they been the 275 pages of the first book rather than the 400 and some pages of the last two books.

There was an occasional problem with the point-of-view. Because the books are written from a first person point-of-view, when she shifts the point of view in an attempt to create suspense the tone is quite jarring, and instead of leading to feeling of suspense, instead leads you to a sense of plot device. Although the transition became smoother in the later books, it was still uncomfortable and uneasy.

Of course having all six books does remove a certain level of suspense as well. If they didn’t survive, then what are the rest of the books about?

A minor gripe: The fourth book, Sword-Breaker, has the Worst Cover Ever. Both characters look like refugees from an 80s hair band. I wanted to cover the book in brown paper, so no one would see that I was reading a book with one of those covers. Which is too bad because I quite liked the covers of the first two books. (One last complaint about the covers. Jennifer Roberson continually describes Tiger as clean-shaven, and even talks about the difficult time he has shaving around his scars, yet every cover has him with a beard. I hate inconsistencies like that.)

So although the series has a good start, and the tale is good, the overall quality is such that I’d recommend picking the books up used or borrowing them.

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