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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.
milo_afc's review
4.0
”A fantastic, original and character-focused follow up that will satisfy readers of The Emperor’s Knife.” ~The Founding Fields
Warning! There are spoilers for the first novel in the trilogy, The Emperor’s Knife, which I strongly recommend that you read before reading this one.
The Emperor’s Knife, Mazarkis Williams’ debut, was an awesome read, so when I found out that Knife Sworn, the sequel – was available on NetGalley with some decent cover art, I jumped at the opportunity, and thankfully, I had my request accepted. Now, several pages later, I found myself at the end of another great, if slow-moving, instalment of The Tower and Knife Trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what Williams provides us with in the final outing.
After spending most of his life in captivity, Sarmin now sits upon the Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. And the emperor’s own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor’s Knife served to defend the throne from menace, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer . . . but upon whom can be he bestow the burden of the Knife-Sworn?
The originality of the concept and the setting was one thing that drew me into The Emperor’s Knife. Everything that was good about that book carried on over to its sequel, making it arguably the better of the two. Whilst it may not have been a page turner, Knife Sworn was nonetheless a great read, character-focused and enjoyable.
Sarmin is the main storyteller as half of our dramatis personae from Book 1 don’t make it to the sequel. Grada is another character who gets a lot of page time, and they are both developed further in this book. Characters are a strong point of Williams, and Knife Sworn shows that he can write them well. We get a varied and strong cast, with no perfect or archetypical characters here, even if Grada’s story is perhaps the most uninteresting, as we don’t gain anything from having her POV in here, which is a real shame and one of my two main issues with this book.
Read the full review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/12/tower-knife-trilogy-knife-sworn-mazarkis-williams-book-review-bane-kings/.
Warning! There are spoilers for the first novel in the trilogy, The Emperor’s Knife, which I strongly recommend that you read before reading this one.
The Emperor’s Knife, Mazarkis Williams’ debut, was an awesome read, so when I found out that Knife Sworn, the sequel – was available on NetGalley with some decent cover art, I jumped at the opportunity, and thankfully, I had my request accepted. Now, several pages later, I found myself at the end of another great, if slow-moving, instalment of The Tower and Knife Trilogy, and I can’t wait to see what Williams provides us with in the final outing.
After spending most of his life in captivity, Sarmin now sits upon the Throne of Cerana. But his reign is an uneasy one. And the emperor’s own heart is torn between two very different women: Mesema, a Windreader princess, and Grada, a lowborn untouchable with whom Sarmin shares a unique bond. In times past, a royal assassin known as the Emperor’s Knife served to defend the throne from menace, but the last Knife has perished and his successor has yet to be named. Sarmin must choose his own loyal death-dealer . . . but upon whom can be he bestow the burden of the Knife-Sworn?
The originality of the concept and the setting was one thing that drew me into The Emperor’s Knife. Everything that was good about that book carried on over to its sequel, making it arguably the better of the two. Whilst it may not have been a page turner, Knife Sworn was nonetheless a great read, character-focused and enjoyable.
Sarmin is the main storyteller as half of our dramatis personae from Book 1 don’t make it to the sequel. Grada is another character who gets a lot of page time, and they are both developed further in this book. Characters are a strong point of Williams, and Knife Sworn shows that he can write them well. We get a varied and strong cast, with no perfect or archetypical characters here, even if Grada’s story is perhaps the most uninteresting, as we don’t gain anything from having her POV in here, which is a real shame and one of my two main issues with this book.
Read the full review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/12/tower-knife-trilogy-knife-sworn-mazarkis-williams-book-review-bane-kings/.
tirellearchive_9899's review
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
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!)
tmarthal's review
5.0
Long time between reading the first novel and the second in the series; the author brought the reader up to speed smoothly, kept a continuation of characters and referenced events in the previous book that made me remember the story and epicness. Good middle book, moved the plot along and defined the main “villain” that will be hopefully be solved in the final book.
diaryofthebookdragon's review
4.0
I read 'The Emperor's Knife' (first book in this trilogy) last week. If you have read my review, you probably noticed that although some concepts and ideas were very original, when you calculate all the flaws the book was just an average read to me.
So I tentatively started reading 'Knife Sworn'. After all this book would be a deal-breaker to me, it will decide if I will continue to read this series or give up.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the 'Knife Sworn'. It's surprising to see how much Mazarkis Williams's style matured and improved in a year. While I was reading, I felt like he read my review and worked on all the things that really bothered me in 'The Emperor's Knife'. Of course that is not possible, except if he does not own a time traveling machine. :)
All the good things from the first book are still here in 'Knife Sworn': character driven story and show don't tell principle of writing. But switches between different points of view are not so sudden anymore. There is less tension because of chapter per character concept, but I feel it was worth it, because the story flow feels much smoother now.
Whose point of view we now have, since half of them were killed in the first book?
Sarmin is the main storyteller of course. He is now the emperor and he tries to applies all those ideals of peace to his country. To spice up the things and give us some different perspectives and views of events, we also have Grada, Nessaket and Rushes (a servant girl).
You all for sure remember Grada. I complained how I simply could not understand insta-love between Sarmin and her. I hoped that listening to story from her point of view would help, but I still don't understand and do not like her very much.
Nessaket, on the other hand, was a real surprise. We get to know what drives her actions and I think that you could never look at her and think of her as power-grabbing stops-at-nothing b...h again. Mazarkis Williams really managed to breathe a soul to her character.
'Knife Sworn' touches some interesting subjects. It shows us that seizing and getting control of the empire is the easy part. Healing & ruling it fairly are the hard ones.
What will Sarmin do, when the best advice he gets is: "You should find a new place, Sarmin emperor. This one is undone."
"How a man who could not rule himself might speak for a nation and heal the emptiness that threatened to consume them all"?
Read the book to find out. ;)
This book does not end in real cliffhangers but there are a lot of revelations and new decisions in the end that I can't wait for the next book to be released. I need to find out what will happen next!
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on Amazon and my blog.
So I tentatively started reading 'Knife Sworn'. After all this book would be a deal-breaker to me, it will decide if I will continue to read this series or give up.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the 'Knife Sworn'. It's surprising to see how much Mazarkis Williams's style matured and improved in a year. While I was reading, I felt like he read my review and worked on all the things that really bothered me in 'The Emperor's Knife'. Of course that is not possible, except if he does not own a time traveling machine. :)
All the good things from the first book are still here in 'Knife Sworn': character driven story and show don't tell principle of writing. But switches between different points of view are not so sudden anymore. There is less tension because of chapter per character concept, but I feel it was worth it, because the story flow feels much smoother now.
Whose point of view we now have, since half of them were killed in the first book?
Sarmin is the main storyteller of course. He is now the emperor and he tries to applies all those ideals of peace to his country. To spice up the things and give us some different perspectives and views of events, we also have Grada, Nessaket and Rushes (a servant girl).
You all for sure remember Grada. I complained how I simply could not understand insta-love between Sarmin and her. I hoped that listening to story from her point of view would help, but I still don't understand and do not like her very much.
Nessaket, on the other hand, was a real surprise. We get to know what drives her actions and I think that you could never look at her and think of her as power-grabbing stops-at-nothing b...h again. Mazarkis Williams really managed to breathe a soul to her character.
'Knife Sworn' touches some interesting subjects. It shows us that seizing and getting control of the empire is the easy part. Healing & ruling it fairly are the hard ones.
What will Sarmin do, when the best advice he gets is: "You should find a new place, Sarmin emperor. This one is undone."
"How a man who could not rule himself might speak for a nation and heal the emptiness that threatened to consume them all"?
Read the book to find out. ;)
This book does not end in real cliffhangers but there are a lot of revelations and new decisions in the end that I can't wait for the next book to be released. I need to find out what will happen next!
Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This text is also posted on Amazon and my blog.
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!
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.