The book looks like it should be classic sword and sorcery of the Conan variety - and it does hit a lot of the key tropes - barbarian warrior who wanders into civilization after the death of his family and ends up saving everyone, secretive evil sorcerer, brave but clueless sidekick...

But somewhere it takes a left turn. In fact, it takes a left turn almost immediately, because Devlin is not your classic sword and sorcery hero. He was a farmer and a blacksmith. And he doesn't want fame or glory or fortune. The only thing he wants is to repay his debts and find an honorable death. He thinks becoming the Chosen One of Jorsk will give him both, but is wasn't counting on the gods or his own sense of duty...

From Captain Drakken of the Palace Guard to the minstrel Stephen and Duke Gerhard of the King's Council, Devlin's journey brings him into contact with a number of characters who will help and hinder him. And it the actions and interactions of these characters that takes this book from cliched sword and sorcery to gripping tale of rebirth - the rebirth of a man and the rebirth of a kingdom.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys classic fantasy, but is tired of seeing the same old muscle-thewed barbarians cut their way through the same old enemy hordes. ( )

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

2.5 stars

Devlin is a tortured soul who wants to die, so he becomes the country's Chosen One because it pays a fortune (which he sends to his brother's widow) and he's sure to be killed soon. Sounds exciting, but don't bother putting on your blood pressure cuff because it wasn't.

Devlin's sure he's going to die during the initiation ceremony (boring), but, unfortunately, he doesn't. And so we accompany him on his journeys which read more like a book report than an adventure. Descriptions are dull, people are dull (though a few had such potential), fights are dull, monsters are dull. And the language is dull. For example, Devlin doesn't see things, he beholds them. He doesn't talk to people, he has speech with them. He doesn't put on clothes, he dons garments. And he doesn't go to bed, he seeks his quarters. Here is part of the most exciting scene of the first book, when Devlin is fighting a guy who is trying to kill sleeping travellers in an inn. Devlin has just managed to wake up one of the travellers (by shouting "Awake, awake," not "Get the hell out of the damn bed!"), so he says to the traveler (while he's holding off the killer with an axe):

"What are you called?" Devlin asked, never taking his eyes off his opponent.
"Dalkassar."
"Rise Dalkassar, and call to your companion. And arm yourself. This man tried to kill you."

Wow. Not even an exclamation mark. How am I supposed to get excited if Devlin isn't?

There are hardly any women in The Sword of Change series. I got half way through Devlin's Honor (second book) and never met the interesting-looking woman on the cover. And speaking of that cover: Devlin lost two fingers at the end of the first book, so what are they doing still attached? Perhaps I didn't read far enough.

Read more Patricia Bray reviews at Fantasy Literature ( )

An entertaining fantasy (3.5 stars) about a tortured man (much of it self inflicted) who takes up a position for the sake of paying a debt that only he, with his strict code of honor, really sees as his own. The position with the kingdom had been reduced to a joke, but he tries to turn it back into a position of high honor. The self-inflicted torture does NOT continue at the levels of Thomas Covenant, although it starts there. He's hurt bad at the start, but regains his balance as the book & trilogy progresses, so it's not a complete downer.An interesting theme is that he belongs to a recently subjugated nation & is seen as a traitor for working for the 'enemy', no matter how honorable his intentions & actions are. He's also a rural man who brings clean country values to the decadent city.One of the things that impressed me the most is the concept of travel in this empire. The author gets the issues with medieval roads, knows that horses aren't cars & what this means to lines of communications & supply. Money/economics seems pretty well done, too.This is a trilogy & I bought all 3 books & read them in a row. I'd highly recommend that to anyone else. There's no sense reading out of sequence or reading just this book. If you have any interest in it, you'll need to read all three. ( )

Like many fantasy novels, this one follows a somewhat reluctant normal guy who is chosen by the gods to save the kingdom. What’s unusual is that Devlin, a former farmer and metalsmith, sought the post as a way of commiting suicide out of guilt over his families’ deaths. Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for the kingdom), he keeps managing to survive.

The plot was a little too simple for my taste, with an unknown enemy who is too easy to guess (although it seemed reasonable for the characters not to figure it out, as they didn’t know they were in a novel). Whenever a new character appears, it’s pretty obvious whether they are going to be good or bad based on what the plot needs. Despite that, it wasn’t ever boring or slow, and it wasn’t quite clear how it all tied together. There are still some questions (and two sequels).

For the most part, the characters themselves are well-done, and didn’t fall too badly into fantasy cliches. (Exceptions being the king and the Duke, who were weak-willed and arrogant, respectively, and without particular reason.) Even Devlin’s depression seems reasonable and is not annoying.

The prose is at times a little lengthy for the content, reemphasizing what was already clear, and the beginning seemed a bit slow, but it picked up fairly quickly.

It’s the first of a trilogy, and I plan to pick up the other two, as well as her latest. Nice thing about being years behind in my reading is that by the time I start a trilogy, all the books are out.

This book belongs to my favorite subgenre of fantasy [1], and the one which I’ve been reading the least of lately, so reading it was like coming home after a long vacation - happy to have seen new sights, but glad to return to my own bed.

[1] Dunno how it’s defined. Pick some amalgam of epic, heroic, and sword & sorcery without lots of action. ( )

It makes me sad that so few people have read this book on Librarything. It is a very good fantasy novel. Lots of action, a good plot, and brave interesting characters. If you lots of action and adventure in your fantasy your sure to love this book. ( )