faehistory's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
library_bookwyrm's review
5.0
Wow! Like the first of the series, Knife Sworn was good fantasy, laced with political intrigue. I wondered how Williams would make the stories flow together, as the first novel wrapped up so nicely - she made it not only work, but work beautifully. I can't wait to read the third novel!
megan_roze's review against another edition
1.0
I've finally finished. The end wasn't even that satisfying or interesting.
Don't think I can push myself the read the last book just yet, this was far too dull and annoying to interest me further at the moment. I shall have to wait and see if it ever piques my interest in the future.
Don't think I can push myself the read the last book just yet, this was far too dull and annoying to interest me further at the moment. I shall have to wait and see if it ever piques my interest in the future.
cindyc's review
4.0
(There may be some minor spoilers in here)
Williams writes with the same magnificent prose as in The Emperor’s Knife. I really love her writing, it’s so complex, so deep, intimate and lyrical. For both The Emperor’s Knife and Knife-Sworn this is a big plus. But this isn’t a book you can read easily, due to the complexity Williams puts in her writing, you really have to keep your head in the game ‘cause otherwise a lot of information will get lost on you.
The book got off to a rather slow start, with a lot of random scenes describing the aftermath of the destruction of the Pattern and the Pattern Master on the people and on Sarmin. We meet the two new additions to the imperial family and there are some new mysteries introduced, this all mixed with a background of military, political and religious tactics. It could have used a stronger beginning to grab the attention of the reader right at the start, but I’m all for giving books a chance, so I read on without complaint.
It took a while for the story to get a grip on me. In the first book I never really had a connection with the story, though it fascinated me. Around page 100 of “Knife-Sworn” I was finally drawn in and it didn't let me go. I don't know what changed, but there was some sort off click that made me immerse myself in the story. It was much easier to keep reading and to feel emotions while reading some of the chapters. Especially the chapter where Sarmin sees the memory of Gallan and how that ended really touched me. The unfairness of it all, the cruelty left a deep impression on me.
Knife Sworn is, just as its predecessor, an intriguing and fascinating book. The author resolved the problem of the pattern at the end of the first book, but not all is well in Nooria. First all were connected with each other through the pattern, sharing grievances, pain and joy alike, but now everyone's abruptly alone again. This loneliness haunts the citizens of Nooria and it is referred to as "the Longing". People take drastic measures to escape this longing (suicide, drugs,...), but out of the desert comes an old faith, banished from Cerana years ago, promising to unite the people once again. But is there truth in this promise? And with people desperate for a new connection with their fellow Unpatterned, is there any way to stop it when there's something darker beneath the smooth words of the Mogyrk priests?
To top it off, The Longing is not all the Pattern has left behind. At each anchorpoint used by Helmar for his Pattern, a nothingness is consuming everything in its path. What is it, and can it be stopped?
Lots of intrigue and mystery in this second book of the Tower and Knife series, just how I like it. And this time I did connect with some of the characters. Williams gave more dimension to her characters, showing sides that were hidden in the first book and created more depth.
The author sets yet again a scorching pace, with twists and turns every few pages, throwing obstacles on our character's paths and introducing questions that trouble character as well as reader. Though in the first book the pacing was a bit too fast to my liking, I had no problem with it this time.
I really enjoyed “Knife-Sworn”, more so than I did “The Emperor’s Knife”. This shows to me that Mazarkis Williams is only growing with every new book and I’m hoping the third book “The Tower Broken” will be even better. I’ll certainly be reading it as soon as it hits shelves (or if I’m lucky and I can snatch up a review copy somewhere, even sooner!)
Williams writes with the same magnificent prose as in The Emperor’s Knife. I really love her writing, it’s so complex, so deep, intimate and lyrical. For both The Emperor’s Knife and Knife-Sworn this is a big plus. But this isn’t a book you can read easily, due to the complexity Williams puts in her writing, you really have to keep your head in the game ‘cause otherwise a lot of information will get lost on you.
The book got off to a rather slow start, with a lot of random scenes describing the aftermath of the destruction of the Pattern and the Pattern Master on the people and on Sarmin. We meet the two new additions to the imperial family and there are some new mysteries introduced, this all mixed with a background of military, political and religious tactics. It could have used a stronger beginning to grab the attention of the reader right at the start, but I’m all for giving books a chance, so I read on without complaint.
It took a while for the story to get a grip on me. In the first book I never really had a connection with the story, though it fascinated me. Around page 100 of “Knife-Sworn” I was finally drawn in and it didn't let me go. I don't know what changed, but there was some sort off click that made me immerse myself in the story. It was much easier to keep reading and to feel emotions while reading some of the chapters. Especially the chapter where Sarmin sees the memory of Gallan and how that ended really touched me. The unfairness of it all, the cruelty left a deep impression on me.
Knife Sworn is, just as its predecessor, an intriguing and fascinating book. The author resolved the problem of the pattern at the end of the first book, but not all is well in Nooria. First all were connected with each other through the pattern, sharing grievances, pain and joy alike, but now everyone's abruptly alone again. This loneliness haunts the citizens of Nooria and it is referred to as "the Longing". People take drastic measures to escape this longing (suicide, drugs,...), but out of the desert comes an old faith, banished from Cerana years ago, promising to unite the people once again. But is there truth in this promise? And with people desperate for a new connection with their fellow Unpatterned, is there any way to stop it when there's something darker beneath the smooth words of the Mogyrk priests?
To top it off, The Longing is not all the Pattern has left behind. At each anchorpoint used by Helmar for his Pattern, a nothingness is consuming everything in its path. What is it, and can it be stopped?
Lots of intrigue and mystery in this second book of the Tower and Knife series, just how I like it. And this time I did connect with some of the characters. Williams gave more dimension to her characters, showing sides that were hidden in the first book and created more depth.
The author sets yet again a scorching pace, with twists and turns every few pages, throwing obstacles on our character's paths and introducing questions that trouble character as well as reader. Though in the first book the pacing was a bit too fast to my liking, I had no problem with it this time.
I really enjoyed “Knife-Sworn”, more so than I did “The Emperor’s Knife”. This shows to me that Mazarkis Williams is only growing with every new book and I’m hoping the third book “The Tower Broken” will be even better. I’ll certainly be reading it as soon as it hits shelves (or if I’m lucky and I can snatch up a review copy somewhere, even sooner!)
tomunro's review against another edition
5.0
Not just the first book I've finished in 2014, but the first fantasy book I've finished in a while.
I had been struggling my way through books by two different writers. Such towering figures within the genre that my travails of readership left me wondering "is it me?" So I turned at last to Knife Sworn book two in Mazarkis William's trilogy and found at last a book that could have me turning the pages in eagerness to see what happened next, yet still determined to make sure I caught every word.
In the Emperor's Knife I had been intriged by the world Mazarkis had imagined - a Cerani Empire built on rigid hierarchies and the most absolute of absolute monarchies. It had at once the air of mystery bound by threads so familiar they felt like strands of our own history.
In Knifesworn the world building is complete from a reader's perspective and the story plunges abruptly into themes of world destruction as the Emperor Sarmin finds threats of every kind assail him from without and from within to the point where even the one person he should be most sure of turns out to be the one most likely to betray him.
The theme of "the pattern" from the Emperor's knife is revisited and developed. I liked the idea that there had been a kind of value in the way that the pattern bound people together in a collaborative entity which leaves some survivors bereft and lonely. It put me in mind of my dim grasp of William Blake's railing against the imprisonment of man in the mental prison of his own individuality sampling the world through five imperfect senses.
The magic and the mystery are not laboured; Mazarkis Williams offers no lectures on her world's systems, no disconcerting authorial asides to the reader. It is a story that you experience through the eyes and ears of its protaganists seeing and feeling only what they do. You are swept along the narrative river and sometimes you might wonder at some feature that has flown by, but all the threads converge at the end.
I had been struggling my way through books by two different writers. Such towering figures within the genre that my travails of readership left me wondering "is it me?" So I turned at last to Knife Sworn book two in Mazarkis William's trilogy and found at last a book that could have me turning the pages in eagerness to see what happened next, yet still determined to make sure I caught every word.
In the Emperor's Knife I had been intriged by the world Mazarkis had imagined - a Cerani Empire built on rigid hierarchies and the most absolute of absolute monarchies. It had at once the air of mystery bound by threads so familiar they felt like strands of our own history.
In Knifesworn the world building is complete from a reader's perspective and the story plunges abruptly into themes of world destruction as the Emperor Sarmin finds threats of every kind assail him from without and from within to the point where even the one person he should be most sure of turns out to be the one most likely to betray him.
The theme of "the pattern" from the Emperor's knife is revisited and developed. I liked the idea that there had been a kind of value in the way that the pattern bound people together in a collaborative entity which leaves some survivors bereft and lonely. It put me in mind of my dim grasp of William Blake's railing against the imprisonment of man in the mental prison of his own individuality sampling the world through five imperfect senses.
The magic and the mystery are not laboured; Mazarkis Williams offers no lectures on her world's systems, no disconcerting authorial asides to the reader. It is a story that you experience through the eyes and ears of its protaganists seeing and feeling only what they do. You are swept along the narrative river and sometimes you might wonder at some feature that has flown by, but all the threads converge at the end.
bibliotropic's review against another edition
4.0
Continuing shortly after the point where The Emperor’s Knife left off, the Empire is in a state of uncertainty. Sarmin, his life spent in captivity and more than half mad, is now the Emperor. The Many, previously afflicted with the Pattern, are directionless, seeking the unity and certainty that they once felt through the Pattern-Master’s influence. A new religion rises. The Empire is under threat from a spreading emptiness from the previous Emperor’s tomb. Plots weave in and out, a tight set of stories all interconnecting, with a rich culture behind them and a fascinating world to explore.
If it’s been a while since you read the first book of the series, then I recommend picking it up for a reread before tackling Knife Sworn. There are very few reminders of events that happened in the first book, so unless your memory is quite good, you’re going to be a little lost in the beginning. This is where the book fell down for me, largely. I spent the first chunk of the novel trying to figure things out from context, and there’s no gentle reminders or nudges in the right direction. Williams pulls no punches when it comes to assuming that readers know the ins and outs of what’s been happening. Easy to circumvent, but only if you know what’s coming first.
Williams has a superb ability to weave separate plot thread into one solid story, taking complex situations and characters and building upon the foundations of the world established in The Emperor’s Knife. The characters, even when you don’t like them or understand the depth of their motivations, are never the less highly interesting to read about. From Sarmin’s attempts to understand reality and his own hidden gods, to Nessaket’s political schemes, to Rushes’s encounters with a growing religion inside the Empire, each character’s focus is unique and attention-grabbing, switching often enough to keep things interesting but not so often that the multiple stories become disorienting.
But while the set-up and story-building was engrossing, the ending was somewhat underwhelming, leaving things feeling incomplete not just in a way that heralds another book in the series, but more in the way that an ending was just reached, anti-climactic, because that was the end of this plot arc. I can’t fault Williams too much on this, because an underwhelming ending is still better than dragging a book on when there’s nothing left to be done, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel disappointed.
While definitely a strong novel with intelligent themes and masterful characterization, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the previous one in the series. It has a great deal of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing where the rest of the story goes, though I think after my experience with Knife Sworn, I’ll make a point of rereading the series once more before picking up any future books, just to make sure that the author and I are on the same page.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
If it’s been a while since you read the first book of the series, then I recommend picking it up for a reread before tackling Knife Sworn. There are very few reminders of events that happened in the first book, so unless your memory is quite good, you’re going to be a little lost in the beginning. This is where the book fell down for me, largely. I spent the first chunk of the novel trying to figure things out from context, and there’s no gentle reminders or nudges in the right direction. Williams pulls no punches when it comes to assuming that readers know the ins and outs of what’s been happening. Easy to circumvent, but only if you know what’s coming first.
Williams has a superb ability to weave separate plot thread into one solid story, taking complex situations and characters and building upon the foundations of the world established in The Emperor’s Knife. The characters, even when you don’t like them or understand the depth of their motivations, are never the less highly interesting to read about. From Sarmin’s attempts to understand reality and his own hidden gods, to Nessaket’s political schemes, to Rushes’s encounters with a growing religion inside the Empire, each character’s focus is unique and attention-grabbing, switching often enough to keep things interesting but not so often that the multiple stories become disorienting.
But while the set-up and story-building was engrossing, the ending was somewhat underwhelming, leaving things feeling incomplete not just in a way that heralds another book in the series, but more in the way that an ending was just reached, anti-climactic, because that was the end of this plot arc. I can’t fault Williams too much on this, because an underwhelming ending is still better than dragging a book on when there’s nothing left to be done, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel disappointed.
While definitely a strong novel with intelligent themes and masterful characterization, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the previous one in the series. It has a great deal of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing where the rest of the story goes, though I think after my experience with Knife Sworn, I’ll make a point of rereading the series once more before picking up any future books, just to make sure that the author and I are on the same page.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
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