Release Date: 01/09/11
SYNOPSIS:
Enter a world of darkness and danger, honour, daring and destiny in David Chandler’s magnificent epic trilogy: The Ancient Blades.
One thief against the world…
When allies become enemies, to whom can a clever thief turn?
Armed with one of seven swords forged at the dawn of time, Malden was chosen by Fate to act as saviour…and failed dismally. Deceived by the trickery of his one-time ally, Mörget, the young thief employed his newfound might to help destroy the naturally barrier protecting the kingdom of Skrae – and now there will be no stopping Mörget’s barbarian hordes from pillaging the land. Suddenly friends and former supporters alike covet the young hero’s magic while seeking his destruction – from the treacherous King and leaders of the City of Ness to the rogue knight Cloy, who owes Malden his life.
It will take more than Malden’s makeshift army of harlots and cutpurses to preserve a realm. Luckily the sorceress Cythera fights at his side, along with the ingenious, irascible dwarf Slag. And the wily thief still has a desperate and daring plan or two up his larcenous sleeve…
REVIEW:
The final part in David Chandler’s Ancient Blades trilogy and one that builds up to the crescendo for one hell of a final confrontation as the events from the previous play out to their epic conclusion. Whilst I had problems with the first book, the second picked up and the third continued in much the same vein allowing the reader to get a full blooded fantasy adventure and one that satisfied when the final page was turned.
It was definitely an interesting series, the prose for the final was solid and with a principle player that I could really get behind made this a real joy to read. Great stuff.
Release Date: 04/08/11
SYNOPSIS:
Enter a world of darkness and danger, honour, daring and destiny in David Chandler’s magnificent epic trilogy: The Ancient Blades.
It takes a thief to destroy a demon…
Circumstance made him a criminal.
Destiny may make him a hero.
As a thief, Malden is unparalleled in the Free City of Ness. But he has no desire to take up arms against the forces of horrific evil. By saving the life of the knight Croy, however, Malden has bound himself to an ancient, noble brotherhood…and he now possesses a magical weapon forged at the dawn of time – one of only seven swords capable of destroying demons.
Malden fears accompanying Croy and the barbarian Mörget on their quest to dispatch a foul creature of nightmare…nor does he want to disturb the vengeful dead. But with an assassin on his heels, the young cutpurse is left with no choice but to follow. And there is the comely sorceress, Cythera, to consider – promised to Croy but in love with Malden – not to mention the fabulous treasure rumoured to be waiting in the inescapable depths of the demon’s lair…
REVIEW:
For me, the first book is always one that announces an author to a genre, yet its always the second book that can either earn them their own triumph or damn them to the gallows. So with this, his second Fantasy title to be released in the Ancient Blades Trilogy, David Wellington had to make up for a sadly disappointing (in my opinion) fantasy debut which I felt concentrated more on centralising the world than any real solid characters or development, which for me is a huge error.
So what did this book do? For me, this title restored a lot of my faith in him as an author as it allowed his writing skills to come to the fore as the plot moves forward at quite a pace. The characters pick up from their original 2d impressions to be more fleshed so that they stand out and when you add crisp prose alongside some good dialogue (with the addition of a cracking undercurrent) which made this book vastly superior to its predecessor. I really am now looking forward to the third and final part.
Release Date: 07/07/11
SYNOPSIS:
Enter a world of darkness and danger, honour, daring and destiny in David Chandler's magnificent epic trilogy: The Ancient Blades. Croy is a knight errant, and bearer of an ancient blade with a powerful destiny. He's also kind of, well, dim. He believes in honour. He believes that people are fundamentally good, and will do the right thing if you give them a chance. Unfortunately, Croy lives in the city of Ness. A thriving medieval city of fifty thousand people, none of whom are fundamentally even decent, and who will gleefully stab you in the back. If you give them a chance. Ness is also the home to Malden. Malden is a thief. He lives by his wits, disarming cunning traps, sneaking past sleeping guards, and running away very fast whenever people are trying to kill him. Which is often. One time Malden stole a crown. And then he had to steal it back to avoid a civil war. Croy got the credit, of course, because he's a noble knight. Another time the two of them went into the tomb of an ancient warrior race, and Croy accidentally started a barbarian invasion. Guess who had to clean that up? They probably wouldn't be friends at all if it wasn't for Cythera. Cythera is a witch. A mostly-good witch. And despite herself she can't stop thieves and knights falling in love with her! At the same time.
REVIEW:
Whilst many may not know the name of David Chandler, this debut series is one that I’ve been keeping an eager eye on when I originally heard about its forthcoming release. Firstly as it was to be released in quite a short turnaround and secondly because I know David’s writing under another name David Wellington.
What I expected from this tale was a story that is cleverly woven, one that keeps the reader glued and a whole host of fascinating characters to populate the world and whilst that is what was presented the world felt a little flat and sadly not quite formed well enough in his imagination to help keep the reader attached.
Add to this sadly stereotypical characters that yet again felt more 2d than fully rounded and it was a title that whilst reasonable enough left me feeling that the author had taken a bit of a backwards step as a writer. Don’t get me wrong, for those not used to the authors writing style it will entertain but it doesn’t blast out from the genre to stand apart like a great many others and when you’re up against authors like Patrick Rothfuss and George RR Martin you really need to pull all the stops out. With luck the second book will pick up where this one fell and hopefully redeem the series to a level that is more reminiscent to David’s Laura Caxton series.
Release Date: 01/09/11
