[7/10]In this Seventh Sword sequel, the swordsman is no longer 'reluctant' - Wally Smith refers to himself as Shonsu and he has accepted the role of Goddess Champion, even if he (and the reader) is still clueless about what the mission is actually about. All he has is a 'gnomic utterance': a puzzle in the form of prophecy, and a band of brothers and sisters to help him along. And a World to discover: Now he was going to be given a chance to see a whole new planet and an ancient and complex culture, albeit a primitive one. He felt like school was out at last. The other name of the World is River, not unlike the worldbuilding in Philip Jose Farmer books. The personification of the Goddess is the River, with every human settlement connected somehow to the huge body of flowing water that encircles the World. Most of the novel is a travelogue by ship from one city to another, learning about trade and about the different customs of the world. A potential adversary for the Champion is offered in the form of Sorcerers, who are the sworn enemies of the Swordsmen caste and who are slowly conquering with magic the cities controlled by said Swordsmen.The book starts with a murder investigation in a small settlement, giving Shonsu / Wally a chance to show off his sense of humour: Wallie had thought that his mission would require him to play hero in a barbarian epic, not detective in a whodunnit.- How do you kill a man with music, Holmes?- Elegantly, my dear Watson. This slightly irreverent tone makes most of the charm of the book, with Shonsu brilliantly seconded by the urchin Katanji and by his older brother Nnanji. Honakura and Jja were a little useless on the trip, more like passive observers than active participants in the plot. But we get a whole bunch of 'water rats' : sailor slash pirates slash merchants slash swordsmen and whoosh!. They might become Shonsu's promised army, if they can restrain from killing him long enough to make friends. I'm also starting to detect a predilection in David Duncan to include a lot of attractive women in his narrative, more often than not scantily dressed. Duncan is not quite guilty of sexism, but is flirting with it. In his degense I will state that his women are also fierce, smart, independent and damn good fighters. Again the novel is saved by the humorous tone and by friendly innuendo when dealing with sexuality.The reason I rate this slightly lower than the debut of the series, is the very big role given in the story to prophecy and divine intervention. Some plot twists do not function at all without 'deux et machina', but on the plus side, this provokes some very interesting debates about free will and ethics when faced with doing God's Will. Second complaint is the apparent lack of wisdom in Shonsu when he has to guess the nature of the sorcerer's magic powers. (view spoiler)[ he is supposed to be a chemical engineer in our world, yet he is baffled too long when he finds out the sorcerers need copper alambics, urine, tannins for their secret activities (hide spoiler)]
The Seventh Sword #2Book Description:Wallie Smith is staring death in the face; only a miracle can save him. And then one does! The Goddess appears to preserve his soul, but she does much more than that. She promises to bestow upon him a new and powerful body, and, more importantly, to endow him with the fabled Sapphire Sword of Chioxin. But nothing in this world or any other comes without a price. The Goddess demands that, for her services, Wallie become her champion. It will be an honor to serve such a presence, to have the chance to be victorious over all challengers. But Wallie and his sword quickly find themselves outmatched in a world of high-stakes magic. Even the Goddess's priests cannot offer any resistance to the invading sorcerers and their quest to conquer souls for the Fire God. Wallie will need to find in himself and in the world the powers that will save all mortals. He will need to find The Coming of Wisdom.-This is one of those trilogies I could read over & over again.
Do You like book The Coming Of Wisdom (1988)?
I was wavering between giving this book 3 or 4 stars and decided on 3 stars. I liked the book but I got bogged down during some of it. I guess I'm wary of books that go from one place to another just to have the characters moving. If I notice the characters are just moving that's not a good thing. If a book is good I don't notice the movement it's just part of the story. While I recognize that there were reasons for the movement in this book , it was too much. The whole second book is about character development really not the action because there really isn't too much of it. However, I do like the characters and I'm glad we got some of the story told from their point of views. I'm not sure about going on to the 3rd book right now as I have other books that I want to dive into. I'm thinking a break from this story will help it in the future,
—Julie
Wallie Smith has finally figured out why the Goddess stuffed his mind into the body of Shonsu, a beefcake of a swordsman: he is supposed to stop sorcerers from taking over the World. A combination of prophecy and miracle make it clear that he must accomplish this by sailing with a family of traders who detest him until his motley band figures out how cold steel can stop sorcerers capable of invisibility, shape-shifting, and summoning fire demons. As much mystery as adventure novel, book two ends in a revelation that could rock the whole World.
—Sarah
Genre: High FantasySecond book in the _Seventh Sword_ series. It continues to be fast-pased and quite interesting. The structure of this book is an action-mystery. It turns out that the world that Wallie has been dumped in has sorcerers who seem to be the reason the Goddess has brough Wallie to this world. The question of what they can do, and how it works is the crux of the novel. I love the twist at the end - it's a rare one in fantasy, in my experience - but if I gush about it I'll give away the whole book ;-).
—Sbuchler
