Book One: The Apprentice Trilogy
Faltori has killed more people than there are days in a year. She was a soldier of the Church of the Nine, branded an oathbreaker for a crime she never committed and cursed with a mark that burns anew every day. For twenty years she has hunted the ones who betrayed her, believing their deaths would set her free. The killing is done now. Yet, the pain remains. And the debt, it seems, was never hers to settle.
Dint is seventeen, an orphan, and a liar. He charms tavern girls with stories he didn't earn and borrows magic that was never his – until a golden-eyed thief robs him of an enchanted ring worth more than he can earn in a lifetime of honest work. If he’s going to get it back, he’ll have to become the man he pretends to be.
In the crowded city of Semble, their paths cross over a single stolen artefact: one that sorcerers have killed to possess, and malevolent powers are already moving to seize. A warrior with nothing left to lose. A boy who has never had anything at all. And a secret buried beneath the city that could remake the whole world.
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For years I have had an intense fatigue when it comes to the fantasy genre, but this year I have slowly been getting back into the genre thanks to fantasy novels that do things a bit different… Swordlords by Rhett Sinemma is such a novel.
Swordlords follows two main characters: Dint and Faltori. Dint works at a magical emporium that sells potions and magical items. One day while trying to get a girl's attention he has a ring that he “borrowed” from the Emporium stolen from him. Faltori is a former soldier that has been branded as an exile by her faith and order after she performed a crime. One day, she gets attacked and has all.her things stolen from her. We essentially have a plot that starts off with both characters seeking what was stolen from them and it develops into something far more political, and world threatening.
Rhett is a great writer. His prose is solid. I think his greatest strength is dialogue. It felt real. His character work and world building is also decent. My favourite aspect of this world is the magic system. Magic comes at a genuine cost, and can't often be used due to it. I wish I could elaborate more but the reveal of how it works is so good in the book. I also absolutely adore the focus on enchanted items and how they have come to exist or be created. I genuinely hope to see more of this in the series.
Honestly, Swordlords by Rhett Sinnema was a fun and interesting read. It reminded me of a classic 80s fantasy novel in the best ways possible.
thank you to The Crow's Copy for sending me an ARC of this book!
for me, the first book in a fantasy series is often rough. it's all exposition and world-building, and it can get confusing and dense.
i think swordlords packs its punch while staying very manageable. i also think that the novel can read like it's the first book in a trilogy. which could structurally lend itself to the lord of the rings inspiration, much like the magical ring system in the book.
it does start off slow, but once you get to the last third, it becomes undeniably hard to put down. faltori, my beloved, is a petal in the pavement, a woman scorned with a score to settle. dint, my equally beloved, may your charm and humour remain unbreakable.
swordlords does a good job at laying the groundwork for the rest of the series, and i can't hide my excitement for reading the second book when it releases. my one wish is that the appendix content, should there be more in book two, be sprinkled throughout the story!
Fantasy offers many rich pleasures to a reader, which is why I loved Eragon as a teenager. Although, as an adult, Paolini's enchantments wore off me. I am not easily pleased as a reader. When I read Swordlords, I rediscovered old pleasures in abundance, especially of the kind where one explores a rich and vivid mystery of another land. To my surprise, I experienced pleasures I find in other genres, ones I do not associate with fantasy. Somehow, though they live in a world unlike our own, the characters revealed things in my own life and touched it. If that is the sign of anything, it is of a book that entertains (the proof of that is how I read the book in 10 days) and gives you something more than what you were looking for. Clearly, the book was written by someone who is serious about the craft and the genre. The future of fantasy, and the future of the book, has a champion in Rhett Sinnema.
I received this free copy from The Crows Copy for an honest review.
This is my first time reading a book in the sword and sorcery genre. At first, it was hard to read through, but later on, it was a struggle to pull my eyes away from its pages.
I love how human these characters felt, and it was easy to relate to them. Throughout the story, I found myself so engaged that sometimes I was basically whisper-shouting at certain characters not to do something or to do something as if they could hear me.
The world-building was beautifully done. I could see everything playing out in my mind as clearly as watching a movie.
This story ended on a cliffhanger that left some questions in my mind unanswered, which I am excited to see answered in the second book.
Loved this book. The characters are so enticing. It’s so easy to love Dint. And Faltori is so bad ass that it’s impossible not to think about her even once you’ve closed the book. The story is a real adventure that keeps you hooked from page one. Cannot wait for book two!