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Book Reviews of Reluctant Swordsman (Seventh Swordsman, Book 1)

Reluctant Swordsman (Seventh Swordsman, Book 1)
Reluctant Swordsman - Seventh Swordsman, Book 1
Author: Dave Duncan
ISBN-13: 9780345352910
ISBN-10: 0345352912
Publication Date: 4/12/1988
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 26

3.8 stars, based on 26 ratings
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

3 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Reluctant Swordsman (Seventh Swordsman, Book 1) on + 14 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A man inexplicably wakes up in a strange body, in a strange world, where he is a large athletic swordsman and people want to kill him. . . the premise seemed a bit familiar to me. Obvious culture-shock in comparison to his home world, but a boy-shaped demigod gives him all the esoteric knowledge of his craft in a moment--a lost opportunity for the character to have to figure things out for himself, I thought. He's told he's been chosen by the Goddess to do a mission, and the story begins.

I found that the writing was pretty good--descriptive prose and character development--but it took quite a while for any significant action to get going. In this world the People follow rigid hierarchical honor-bound behavior, loosely based on feudal Japan, and it felt a bit stifling. Will Willie/Shonsu shake things up? We can only hope so.

This book was highly recommended to me, and I admit I was disappointed. Not sure yet if I'll continue with this series.
reviewed Reluctant Swordsman (Seventh Swordsman, Book 1) on + 49 more book reviews
Excellent book. I couldn't put it down!
reviewed Reluctant Swordsman (Seventh Swordsman, Book 1) on + 70 more book reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I have all of Dave Duncan's books. This is the first of 3, all of which I just posted. He has a really different take on swords and sorcery.