Dave Duncan

The Great Game — (1995-1997) Publisher: World War I rages in Europe. Edward Exeter has been named in an ancient prophecy as the Liberator who will bring death to Death in the alternative world called Nextdoor. Death seeks to balk the prophecy by killing Edward first, and the battle continues on two worlds. As in most of my stories, the system of magic used is not your usual run-of-the-mill sorcery. Why did I set the real-world part of the story in 1914? That becomes clear as the series unfolds.

Tales of the King's Blades (1998-2000) Publisher: The grim school of Ironhall takes in unwanted, rebellious boys and five years later sends forth the finest swordsmen in the world, the King of Chivial's Blades. Bound to absolute loyalty by a magical sword-stroke through their hearts, they stand ready to defend the King or whomever else he designates against all perils, whether human or sorcerous. Each book in this trilogy stands alone, but together they make a larger story. The Gilded Chain tells of the greatest swordsman Ironhall has produced in its long history, Sir Durendal. When King Ambrose needs a Blade to accompany his agent on a dangerous mission to the far ends of the Earth, he naturally chooses young Durendal. Alas, even the plans of kings can go sadly awry.

The Gilded Chain: Musketeers on speed

Fantasy books can be like beverages: you have your exquisitely aged wines (The Lord of the Rings, Mists of Avalon); your rich ports and liquors (the works of Guy Kay and Patricia McKillip); your searingly clear vodka (A Song of Ice and Fire); your boxed wines (The Wheel of Time, The Sword of Truth); and your panoply of Bud, Coors, Schlitz and so on. This novel, the first in Dave Duncan's King's Blades series, is the Jolt Cola of the fantasy canon: for those who love page-turning, caffeine-burning, sword-and-sorcery sugar, this is one for you.

The King's Blades are master swordsmen trained from youth in Ironhall. The senior trainee, when called upon by the king, endures a magical ritual in which a sword is driven through his heart by his ward. If the trainee survives, he becomes a bound blade, a bodyguard with magically enhanced strength, speed and stamina, one of the greatest swordsmen in the land: a musketeer on speed, whose first priority is always his ward's safety.

The Gilded Chain chronicles the life of Durendal, perhaps the greatest of all Blades, from his beginning as the Ironhall Brat, through his fabled career as Blade, adventurer, captain of the guard, and so on. Duncan tells the story at breakneck speed with a minimum of commentary or description, spinning off a huge yarn of adventure and intrigue in a land reminiscent of 16-17th century England. (There is the minister of this and that, Parliament, the Exchequer, and so on; and with armor largely obsolete due to new conjurations, rapiers are the weapon of choice.) The overall feel certainly recalls Dumas's musketeers and the episodic French tales of Gargantua and Pantagruel and Candide.

This is not to say that the writing itself is especially elegant or refined. Certainly there are better-written works rotting in the slush pile of every publishing house. It doesn't help that the first chapter after the prologue can only be understood hundreds of pages later or that women have almost no presence whatsoever (with the possible exception of Durendal's wife), except when they're mentioned in the running gag about how the Blades' superhuman stamina doesn't require them to sleep at night ...

Fun, fast, furious, potentially addictive — The Gilded Chain is best obtained as a library loan. Unless you really love this kind of thing, there's no need to 'jolt' your wallet or reserve a special place in your cellar. —Rob Rhodes

Chronicles of the King's Blades — (2002-2004) Publisher: The swordsman school of Ironhall never turned out a bad Blade, but some towered over all the rest. When King Athelgar was planning to send his most trusted aide on a vital mission to distant Skyrria,he wanted him to be guarded by the three very best Blades available. Grand Master never hesitated in his choice: Oak and Arkell were superb, and young Beaumont was so outstanding that the whole school called him the Paragon. His heart was dauntless and his mind as keen as his sword. Within days he proved his worth, for without his skills his ward would never have arrived in Skyrria at all. Which might have been a very good thing, for that harsh domain was ruled by the bloody-handed Czar Igor. Although the tyrant had his own sinister magical bodyguards, he soon decided he wanted Blades of his own as well — and would stop at nothing to get them. Beaumont could outwit the autocrat and his minions, but even he could not withstand fickle chance and the disaster it dealt him. He returned home to Chivial in disgrace to face the King's rage and expulsion from the Order. That is not the end of the story, though.

The Dodec books — (2006-2007) Publisher: Bloodlord Stralg invaded Florengia with his horde of warriors, all of whom were sworn members of the cult of Weru, god of War. Aided by god-given powers, they destroyed every force that dared oppose them. To spare his city from inevitable sack, the Doge of Celebre opened its gates to the invaders and swore allegiance to the Bloodlord. His four children were taken hostage as guarantors of his good faith. They were sent away to a distant land, and separated.