alwroteabook's review
4.0
**Audiobook Warning**
I received a free copy of the audio from the author, with no expectation of a review.
I’m kinda swamped with work and school right now (not to mention two kids), so I’ve managed to fall way behind on my reviews. In fact, I’m falling behind on my reading too. Gasp! Anyway, moving swiftly on. I’ve been reading spec fiction for donkeys years, and somehow I've managed to avoid reading anything by Dave Duncan, so The Gilded Chain was my first experience. This one tells the tale of Durendal, a swordsman par excellence who gets sent on a potential suicide mission, instead of fulfilling his dream of guarding the king. He survives, but it sets him on a lifelong journey that may yet see him fulfill his dream, but not as planned. Here’s my thoughts on the book:
This was a fun story, with a witty script that kept me chuckling along throughout. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on, apart from the occasional flurry, but the pacing is great and the odds of you getting bored are slim. At least, that’s how it was for me. Speaking of the lack of action, at the start of the story, Durendal travels on a great journey, which is basically the start and the end. However, Durendal alludes to a great adventure that they had along the way. Even the fight scenes seem stripped down, and for a story about a legendary swordsman, this just seems a bit weird. The plot is okay, and takes the course over thirty years or so, with the occasional time jump. The story does revolve around Durendal and a mage, both of him want to be close to the King, but for different reasons.It gets a little wild down the stretch. The narrator was great, and probably the highlight of the whole audiobook.
More like 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of the audio from the author, with no expectation of a review.
I’m kinda swamped with work and school right now (not to mention two kids), so I’ve managed to fall way behind on my reviews. In fact, I’m falling behind on my reading too. Gasp! Anyway, moving swiftly on. I’ve been reading spec fiction for donkeys years, and somehow I've managed to avoid reading anything by Dave Duncan, so The Gilded Chain was my first experience. This one tells the tale of Durendal, a swordsman par excellence who gets sent on a potential suicide mission, instead of fulfilling his dream of guarding the king. He survives, but it sets him on a lifelong journey that may yet see him fulfill his dream, but not as planned. Here’s my thoughts on the book:
This was a fun story, with a witty script that kept me chuckling along throughout. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on, apart from the occasional flurry, but the pacing is great and the odds of you getting bored are slim. At least, that’s how it was for me. Speaking of the lack of action, at the start of the story, Durendal travels on a great journey, which is basically the start and the end. However, Durendal alludes to a great adventure that they had along the way. Even the fight scenes seem stripped down, and for a story about a legendary swordsman, this just seems a bit weird. The plot is okay, and takes the course over thirty years or so, with the occasional time jump. The story does revolve around Durendal and a mage, both of him want to be close to the King, but for different reasons.It gets a little wild down the stretch. The narrator was great, and probably the highlight of the whole audiobook.
More like 3.5 stars
jennyninnymuggins's review
1.0
I had many issues with this book. Firstly, the transition between time periods was done clumsily, making it unclear when some events were occurring. I have no idea why the author jumped back and forth so much at certain points in the book. It had the sense of trying to be clever, but just making things more complicated than it needed to be.
The concept wasn't horrible. I liked the main character well enough in the beginning...
!!! WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
I would have enjoyed a book about Durendel in his younger days. Instead, the author attempted to squash the main character's entire life into one book. There were entire story-lines within the plot that would've made for a great books on their own, but were instead compressed to act as highlights for the larger story here. In doing this, the author lost much of what would've made the characters and the story worthy of investing in emotionally (As the reader).
I actually had to pause and take a deep breath so as to calm my annoyance about a third of the way through the book when the author suddenly skipped two years and then basically described those two years as what was probably the most interesting time of the character's life!
Here, a quote:
"It has been an interesting trip, has it not?"
"Moderately, sir. You promised me seas and deserts and mountains- no complaints there. Brigands, yes. Wild beasts, I think you mentioned. Not too many of those. Or pirates. But hostile tribesmen...yes, you delivered those." He did not mention the snakes, scorpions, fevers, shipwreck, avalanche, forest fire and dysentery.
The actual events that were covered in the book occurred in fits and spurts. At times great detail was given to the tamest events, and then the story would skip ahead. And rather than take hold of a situation and build it into what promised to be an interesting event, the author would take his characters and leave the playground. Oh, you're supposed to be my brother in arms, friend and noble man but have become a murderous monster of the foulest kind? We were friends once, so I'll leave the thousands to their fate...
Several characters who showed promise of making the book more interesting were either killed off prematurely or were twisted into villains.
The feeling I had upon finishing the book was that little was accomplished by the characters. They lived their lives, some of them survived, some managed to make small differences in the grand scheme of things, but in the end the author's RELENTLESS use of life mirroring previous events thus creating symmetry (man has a certain experience as a child, which he later lives as the adult to another child, and that experience happens again to another child, etc.,) made the world seem stagnant and unchanging.
I honestly don't understand the appeal of this book...
The concept wasn't horrible. I liked the main character well enough in the beginning...
!!! WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
I would have enjoyed a book about Durendel in his younger days. Instead, the author attempted to squash the main character's entire life into one book. There were entire story-lines within the plot that would've made for a great books on their own, but were instead compressed to act as highlights for the larger story here. In doing this, the author lost much of what would've made the characters and the story worthy of investing in emotionally (As the reader).
I actually had to pause and take a deep breath so as to calm my annoyance about a third of the way through the book when the author suddenly skipped two years and then basically described those two years as what was probably the most interesting time of the character's life!
Here, a quote:
"It has been an interesting trip, has it not?"
"Moderately, sir. You promised me seas and deserts and mountains- no complaints there. Brigands, yes. Wild beasts, I think you mentioned. Not too many of those. Or pirates. But hostile tribesmen...yes, you delivered those." He did not mention the snakes, scorpions, fevers, shipwreck, avalanche, forest fire and dysentery.
The actual events that were covered in the book occurred in fits and spurts. At times great detail was given to the tamest events, and then the story would skip ahead. And rather than take hold of a situation and build it into what promised to be an interesting event, the author would take his characters and leave the playground. Oh, you're supposed to be my brother in arms, friend and noble man but have become a murderous monster of the foulest kind? We were friends once, so I'll leave the thousands to their fate...
Several characters who showed promise of making the book more interesting were either killed off prematurely or were twisted into villains.
The feeling I had upon finishing the book was that little was accomplished by the characters. They lived their lives, some of them survived, some managed to make small differences in the grand scheme of things, but in the end the author's RELENTLESS use of life mirroring previous events thus creating symmetry (man has a certain experience as a child, which he later lives as the adult to another child, and that experience happens again to another child, etc.,) made the world seem stagnant and unchanging.
I honestly don't understand the appeal of this book...
lsneal's review
4.0
What a great book! Everything that a sword-and-sorcery novel should be. Even the minor characters seemed fully realized, and the major ones all the more so. The plotting was also excellent...I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded. I will definitely be reading on in the series, and am even considering upgrading my Kindle edition to a physical book, which, giving my shrinking shelf space, is a rare thing these days!
froggye9dcc's review
3.0
I don't get why people rate this book so high. It was okay, thrilling there at the very end, but overall just some vignettes of one guys life. Some instances are written in detail and then others are told in aftermath form like an infodump. Plus I'm biased against the setting: fantasy court drama with a king and politics. THere wasn't a lot of that in there but it didn't help. I would have liked to hear more how the binding feels to the Blade. WE get a little at first, then the character is told "Oh you'll get used to it" and then we fast-forward in time to another vignette. And I'm also biased since I just finished "The Death of Nanji" which was a wonderful book and a unique fantasy setting with the river being the Goddess and therefore takes you where she wills, not necessarily where you might want to go!
Well I'll keep reading in this series and hope it gets better. I love the author, he's a great storyteller.
Well I'll keep reading in this series and hope it gets better. I love the author, he's a great storyteller.
hildea's review
1.0
OK plot, well written, good worldbuilding, BUT: The female characters were handled so badly that it was noticable and annoying. I've read lots of books describing societies where women have less power than men, so that's not the problem. But the women were mostly invisible, or when they appeared they were described so briefly that you could practically hear the author muttering "Let's get boring this female stuff out of the way so I can return to important things". Minor spoiler:
I expect this kind of treatment of women from Dickens, but not from someone living today.
Spoiler
Durendal's love is described as deep and important, but only in passing -- two sentences about how much he and Kate loves each other, and then it's back to the important stuff with the king. No hint of conflict of interest between family life and service to the king, no use of the obvious plot possibilities related to Kate's occupation as a sniffer (someone who can detect magic).I expect this kind of treatment of women from Dickens, but not from someone living today.
aoutrance's review
2.0
The ideas were there (magically bound nubile young swordsmen to serve as guardians for the King and anyone he wants!), but the execution was messy. The novel takes place over a long span of time and, contrary to what one may think, this actually makes it more difficult to get to know the main character(s).
We start with Durendal as a young man filled with thoughts of glory and adventure in the name of his liege lord. With an ungraceful swordthrust to the heart, he becomes the babysitter of the newest Royal Mistress's brother. His life will be boredom and willing serving wenches, woe!
As he is our protagonist, naturally something awful happens to him and his ward. After this is given a good three or four pages, we kind of ... move forward into the future? All his growing up and maturing and getting past the magically-induced pain is glossed over and Durendal is suddenly a man.
This is a trend that follows throughout the book - there's one large adventure (strangely enough, also ends in tragedy!) and then Durendal's life is just one long telling without a whole lot of showing.
The one character I really liked died, of course.
We start with Durendal as a young man filled with thoughts of glory and adventure in the name of his liege lord. With an ungraceful swordthrust to the heart, he becomes the babysitter of the newest Royal Mistress's brother. His life will be boredom and willing serving wenches, woe!
As he is our protagonist, naturally something awful happens to him and his ward. After this is given a good three or four pages, we kind of ... move forward into the future? All his growing up and maturing and getting past the magically-induced pain is glossed over and Durendal is suddenly a man.
This is a trend that follows throughout the book - there's one large adventure (strangely enough, also ends in tragedy!) and then Durendal's life is just one long telling without a whole lot of showing.
The one character I really liked died, of course.
Spoiler
Poor Wolfbiter, you were wasted.
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