Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 2/25/2013 + 1032 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

Okay, I'm done with this series. I really liked Dies the Fire, tho I was a bit less thrilled with the next two in that set. Stirling writes good characters and knows how to keep the action flowing. But he also writes long-winded descriptions that get a bit tedious the tenth time you've read the same thing. I've slogged my way through endless descriptions of armor, cavalry, Wiccan religious practice, and how to string a longbow.
Anyway I started The Sunrise Lands wanting to know what happens to Rudi (Artos) and the prophecy that he'd be king. Stirling sets up that book with a quest for Rudi, to get a magical sword from Nantucket. Cool, right? We get to see what happened to the rest of the country. But then it all comes to a great, word-filled, grinding slowness. In The Scourge of God he takes 600 pages just to get them to Iowa. Fight, recover, eat, make some friends, travel, fight, eat, make some friends and on and on and on. This book, Sword of the Lady, is exactly the same. Stirling could have cut out 500 pages or more and you'd never notice.
Rudi does FINALLY get his sword - in the last 10 pages - but now he's got to get back cross country and fight the CUT army. I was so bored at the end I sought out reviews of the next couple in the series, to see if it was just me who was tired of the whole thing. And there are lots of folks with the same opinion. So I'm done.

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