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Title: Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber ISBN: 0-7434-8821-0 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.09 (11 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: It could have been much better
Comment: Weber has faltered with this series, and, oddly, he has faltered in much the same way he did with his last Honor Harrington book. Both the Bazhzell and HH series have lived on their great action scenes. Well, the last HH book (war of honor) had virtually no action until the final few chapters, and neither does this Bahzell book. How little? This book has 46 chapters. Bahzell does not draw his sword in anger for the first time until chapter 41, Kerry, not until chapter 44. Most of the rest of the book is dialogue. And not particularly interesting or amusing dialogue either. Those of you who follow the HH series might be thinking about the dejavu of that. Weber also spent virtually his entire last book on dialogue, and not very interesting dialogue there, either.
Others have noted the plot line involving Leeana, the teen war maid. I found it intensely dull, and by mid book was not even bothering to skim any more - I was skipping all the scenes of her entirely. Unfortunately, if other reviewers are right, Weber is setting her and the boring war maids up as the centrepiece of at least the next novel. Sad, very sad.
This book could have been awesome. I had expected to see scenes of the high and mighty Sothoi trying to wrap their minds around Bahzell and company. We got little of that, and not cleverly done either. Maybe Weber is losing his touch. I'd hoped to see something of what the Hradani were building with the war done, as well, but we got nothing there.
Don't get me wrong; this book is worth reading. There are some decent scenes and - leaving aside the girl Leeana - the rest is fairly readable. But you might want to wait for the paperback version. And watch out if there's another book and it features the boring young Leeana.
Rating: 3
Summary: solid sword and sorcery
Comment: Though badly outnumbered hradani horse stealer Bahzell Bahnakson persuaded Sothoii leader Baron Tellian to surrender to him rather than lose to him, as Bahzell is the War God's champion (see THE WAR GOD'S OWN). As part of the agreement reached by Bahzell and Tellian, he allowed the Sothoii to go home in peace in one piece.
Named by his father the hradani chief as ambassador to the Sothoii, Bahzell travels to the Wind Plain. Being extremely tall, he sees this as an opportunity to obtain a large steed, something the Sothoii are noted for and why they detest the hradani for stealing and eating their horses.
Surprisingly several Sothoii accept Bahzell as a windrider-the first hradani to achieve such acclaim. However, between the surrender when they outnumbered the enemy by 30 to 1 even if he is the War God's favorite and the honor of windrider bestowed upon a hradani, many Sothoii purists are outraged; this outsider has battered their pride in their heritage. An insurgency surfaces further stirred by the Goddess Queen of Hell and those who recently lost power plotting assassination to bring down the current rulers including Bahzell.
WIND RIDER'S OATH is not up to the level of excellence normally achieved by David Weber especially with this sword and sorcery fantasy series. The story line contains too many subplots that lack action and seem more like gates to future sequels. The prime tale centers on the heroic Bahzell who learns how hard it is to be a God's champion as challengers come from everywhere. Fans of the series and Mr. Weber will be a bit disappointed, but need to consider that hradani threads go through WIND RIDER'S OATH.
Harriet Klausner
Rating: 1
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: Just so you all know I consider myself a Weber fan, and have read most of his books. To me his stories can be hit or miss; this is one of the biggest misses. But I'll still keep reading his books because I love the good ones and re-read them again and again. I'd advise passing this one by, or waiting for paperback if you must have it. And if you like all of Weber's books, you'll probably like this one as well.
I really missed character development in this one--which is my usual complaint when I don't like a Weber book. Where's the interplay between Brandark and Bazhell? To me, their friendship and development was key to the first 2 books, but in this one I barely saw any of that. As for the other characters, their stories weren't as compelling as they were in the first two books of the series. The secondary and minor characters had depth and I cared about them more in those books.
Maybe the jokes are getting a little stale or the characters are too powerful and have developed as far as they can. Bazhell isn't struggling with becoming or being a champion anymore, and I didn't get any new, believable conflict in this story for his character. We've read about how he can run and keep up with horses--enough already.
I feel compelled to say that talking horse companions have been beaten to death in this genre, so seeing them crop up with some of the same jokes from Mercedes Lacky used just doesn't inspire.
One final note, in this case you can judge this book by it's cover. In the history of bad cover art, this passes the cover to Billy Joel's album, "River of Dreams". At least he had the excuse that his soon-to-ex wife designed it (you will note it didn't save the marriage). Not only do they pick the worst scene in the book (see the other reviewer), but the people look like posable action figures. OK, this is probably a publishing decision, not an author's decision but I couldn't keep quiet.
Maybe number 4 in this series will be better.
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Title: 1634 : The Galileo Affair by Andrew Dennis, Eric Flint ISBN: 0743488156 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Crown Of Slaves by David Weber, Eric Flint ISBN: 0743471482 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Ring of Fire by Eric Flint ISBN: 074347175X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Road to Damascus by John Ringo, Linda Evans ISBN: 0743471873 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo ISBN: 0743471644 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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