Tag: English

This was a satisfying end to the series. Although as predicted she was a bit rushed to wrap everything up from the past four novels, the ending left a smile on my face and sad that there wasn’t more to the story.

The plot was a bit scattered and, as with the fourth book, seemed a bit drawn out. If I had to guess her first two books sold well enough that the publisher wanted her to stretch the series out to five and she’d only planned a trilogy or quadrilogy at first and had to add in the extra book/book and a half. There were occasions where the book repeated itself, not just from within the entire series, but from a few pages earlier, and that’s an editing problem. The only other wearying aspect of the novel were her attempts to describe battles, a few of the attempts were spot on, but others the descriptions got a bit unwieldy and left me confused about those involved and what was happening.

I’m definitely glad I finished the series as once I re-read the first novel I realised I never found out what happened with some of the characters. I did find out that she’s written two others series (both trilogies I believe) that exist in various lands that the characters visit throughout this series. I won’t go out of my way to read them, but if I see them at a used bookshop or remember her name in the library I’ll definitely check them out.

Although familiar with Juliet E. McKenna’s Tales of Einarinn, I hadn’t read any since High School. I read the first three (The Thief’s Gamble, The Swordsman’s Oath, and The Gambler’s Fortune) but the final two in the series had not been completed. While I was at home in April I found the original three and wanted to reread them to complete the series. I reread them and it lead me to The Warrior’s Bond.

Although an intriguing novel, there was nothing so special as to raise it above all the other fantasy novels that are out there. This novel specifically dealt more with politics and courtly intrigue within the nobility of Einarinn, rather than the Artifice of the forgotten/exiled Elietimm or the magic of the mages of Hadrumal.

I won’t bore you with long drawn out details, but I did enjoy the book. It was a bit of a stretch (thank you fantasy publishers), as this book and the last book played out at the same time, but in different areas. Livak, one of the main characters (if not the main character of the series), was completely absent, but Ryshad was there who was the Swordsman in book two. It was nice to see that McKenna can handle the politics and intrigue of her imagined world, as well as the magic and the geography.

I will end with an appreciation and a concern. I enjoy the fact that McKenna divides magic into Elemental, the magic of earth, air, fire and water, and Artifice, the magic of healing and mind. This however leads to concerns for the final novel in the series. Each novel previously has wrapped up their story lines in such a way as to stand on it’s own, but hint at other happenings. With only one novel left I am concerned that she may be rushed to wrap up everything, hover the novel is roughly the same size as the others and we shall soon see.