Book Notes: A Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I almost feel like telling you to skip my review and instead go and read the author interview printed in the back of this book, because all of the particularities I noticed while I was reading "Theft of Swords" are explained by the author in his interview/afterword.

In other words: he did it all on purpose.

What did Michael J. Sullivan do? Well, he wrote an engaging, fast-moving, cinematic fantasy yarn.

"Cinematic" is the key word here: this story unfolds in front of the eyes of your mind. There's very little that's abstract, and that focus on concrete action and dialogue (and setting! great settings) keeps the story moving. This is great, but it also has the effect of occasionally making the story feel shallow.

Not entirely though. There's an ancient wizard that shows up occasionally, and whenever he's on the page (except when he's making quips), the whole scene takes on deeper, more ominous tones, and that in a good way. And the quieter of the two heroes also has a serious, fascinating effect - on this reader at least. Both of the heroes, though, are very properly heroic, mysterious, *and* likeable, which is a neat trick.

Do I recommend it? To the lover of fantasy fiction: absolutely. This is a fun book, the characters are engaging and often funny, some of the settings are so well-drawn I can *still* see them when I close my eyes, even though I finished the book a few weeks ago, and the plot moves briskly along.

Also, the author wrote this for his own teenage child, and so there is very little objectionable content. (Though it always bothers me when books have prostitutes who are robustly psychologically healthy. It just always strikes me as highly unlikely.) (Okay, I just realized the last parenthetical statement seems to disprove the sentence right before it. To clarify: there are brothels and prostitutes in this fantasy realm - which is realistic of just about any world, really - but their place in the plot isn't salacious.)

I really appreciate Sullivan's conviction that fantasy shouldn't be boring and the skill that allowed him to live up to that conviction. So, if following two heroes on a daring quest is your idea of a good time, give this one a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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