Swordspoint

A Melodrama of Manners

By: Ellen Kushner

Narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Audio Drama, 2013

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on Swordspoint: "It's as if Jane Austen wrote fantasy... an imaginary world where the characters are real people: a Vanity Fair of aristocrats, rogues, orphans, and heroes; a book where the best swordsman in the land can make far more money dueling at private parties than he can as a knight-errant. Ellen Kushner casts her sharp eye over them all, but with great affection and lavish detaiI.... couldn't think of a better performer for Swordspoint than Ellen, and her reading is polished, intimate, and – since Riverside is of her creation – wholly authentic.

"What really makes this production of Swordspoint unique, though, is the supporting cast in this special "illuminated production". Several key scenes are fully dramatized, and throughout the entire book's soundscapes you will hear the cadences of the marketplace, the music of the drawing rooms, and of course the ring of steel drawn from the scabbard. Ellen actually wrote new dialogue for the crowd scenes, so the actors aren't just mumbling "rhubarb rhubarb" to simulate speech.... You'll be able to hear performances from acclaimed and award-winning actors, including Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, and the remarkable Simon Jones."

In this exciting new "illuminated production", the author herself reads her own work, supported by a full cast. Author Ellen Kushner is also a popular performer and National Public Radio host (Sound & Spirit). For years, fans have been asking her to record her own audiobook of Swordspoint. To mark the 25th anniversary of the book's publication, Ellen teamed up with Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions, known for her signature touches of soundscapes and sound effects, multi-voiced dramatizations, and all the techniques of "illuminated production". Together they have made Swordspoint a brand-new audio experience, in which the full supporting cast dramatizes and illuminates key scenes from Ellen's compelling narration.

On the streets of Riverside, a man lives and dies by the sword. Even the nobles on the Hill turn to duels to settle their disputes. And in this city, the swordsman Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master, as skilled as he is ruthless – until a death by the sword is met with outrage instead of awe, and the city discovers that the line between hero and villain can be altered in the blink of an eye. Because every man lives at sword's point, if you can only find his weakness. And even the greatest swordsman in Riverside has one thing he cares for deeply.

Hailed by critics as "a bravura performance, a delight from start to finish" (Locus), "intelligent, humorous and dramatic" (Publishers Weekly) and "witty, beguiling and ingenious" (Interzone) , Kushner's "Melodrama of Manners" has become a classic, a favorite not only of Neil Gaiman but a host of distinguished colleagues, including George R. R. Martin ("unforgettable!"), Orson Scott Card ("powerful") and Gene Wolfe ("as if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn!").

The artwork used for the audiobook edition of Swordspoint is based on the artwork and design by Thomas Canty for the original first US edition of the book.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on Swordspoint, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©1987 Ellen Kushner (P)2011 SueMedia Productions

Critic reviews

"A glorious thing, the book we might have had if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn. It’s wicked and visual and witty, and it pulls you in like the doorman of a Bourbon Street bar." (Gene Wolfe)

"Swordspoint begins with a single drop of blood on a field of new-fallen snow, an image that burned itself forever into my mind the first time I encountered it. I can close my eyes and see it still. It’s a terrific opening, an unforgettable opening... and the book just gets better from there." (George R. R. Martin)

“Ellen Kushner delivers her utterly unique blend of modern fantasy and nineteenth-century novel of manners with absolute conviction, affectionate humor, and perfect phrasing. “Neil Gaiman Presents” has provided original music, lively soundscapes, and the voices of some of the audio world’s most distinguished performers. Hearing Katherine Kellgren, Dion Graham, and others sharpen the cutting, insightful dialogue is pure pleasure.” ( Audiofile)

Gets better in second book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I actually listened to the second book first - if I had gotten this one first, I might not have gone on, so if you have doubts about this one, hang in there.

Would you recommend Swordspoint to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend the book with reservations. The narration is all over the map with the narrator sometimes speaking for a character and then a different actor speaking for the same person, so a little confusing. Voices weren't consistent and I think that made the story line a bit disjointed.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narration & pace of the story were pretty good apart from the inconsistency of who speaks/narrates.

Maybe books should have ratings.

I didn't finish listening to this. Just not my thing...bit of a soap opera. I've really liked Neil Gaiman stories and just kind of went with it on that recommendation. I found the book a bit more descriptive (I don't want to use the word crude as that's not quite right) than I'm interested in.

Great world building with very little plot

The writer is very talented but had I known so little would actually happen in this book I would have gone with something else. Also the full cast performance is actually distracting at times. The constant vocal switches in heavy dialogue scenes made it really hard to focus

Different and Thoroughly Enjoyable

Unlike most of the other reviewers posting early, I had never read (or even heard of) this book. I scooped it up based on (1) Neil Gaiman's recommendation and (2) the presence of Simon Jones, my all-time favorite narrator, in the cast.

The story is offbeat, as one might expect from Gaiman's choice of it, but is fast-moving, enjoyable, and thought-provoking, with drama, action, and an undertone of humor. The production values are great; it combines the soundtrack elements of a radio play with straight narration, and does so with superb dexterity.

A beloved story even more vivid in audio form!

A story I've loved for years becomes even more vivid in audio form. The addition of voice actors and music, in addition to Ms Kushner's superb reading, makes the magic of Riverside come even more alive. I've waited years for this title to appear as an audiobook, and this was well worth the wait.

A classic witty melodrama

First, the narrators did an EXCELLENT job. The various voices added texture, individualism, and character to the interesting people in the fantasy of old world elegance.

Light Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night there are plot twist, lovers misunderstanding, old rivalries and new alliances, humor, loyalty and chivalry which makes this a enjoyable book to hear.

In Riverside the biggest dived between if you are a noble or not is which side of the river you live. It is the time when you live and die by the sword and the rules which apply, to you living or dying, depend on if you are a noble or not.

Richard St Vier is the pre-eminent swordsman who earns his living by fighting for the nobles. Alec is a former university student with a taste for danger and self-destruction and is St. Vier companion and lover.

When the machinations of the nobles effect Richard and Alex cause Richard to change the rules of the sword and impacts the residents on both sides of Riverside.

Great world, beautiful writing

...just didn't connect with the characters. Very few female characters, and none of them with any real agency. Good story but just not for me.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

There seems to be lots of great buzz and reviews about this book, so I had some high hopes going in. It wasn't that I was completely disappointed with the book, but I don't think it lived up to the hype.

I've listened to the novel several times in an attempt to figure out what exactly I dislike about it, but I still can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was the rather disjointed plot. Lots of things happen in the book that don't necessarily have much to do with any of the other things. The author mentions in her discussion of the book that it started as several short stories. You can tell. The storylines seemed jammed painfully together, resulting in some problems with timing (ie. look at the discrepancies in the passage of time in the Richard is first hired by the dragon chancellor and Michael Godwin's decision to take up swordsmanship).

Maybe I didn't like that you never really understand what's going on. It's hard to get too worked up about political plotting and rivalries when you get absolutely no explanation of any of the government system or positions. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Gene Wolfe fan and if there was ever an author who didn't feel the need to burden the narrative with explaining himself, its Wolfe, but Kushner's novel just didn't cut it for me.

I didn't mind the multiple narrators so much as the stupid sound effects that accompany the narration. The addition of things like the sound of spoons stirring when characters are having tea, is so juvenile a technique that it takes away from the book.

Not my cup of tea.

I tought this was a rather bizarre book. Maybe I am terribly dense, but through most of the book I was left wondering what was the point, and where is the story headed. I found it difficult to relate to the characters and the story line. The narration was fine, and the performance background was a great idea, but the book did not help matters.

Lavish, languid, exquisite!

Kushner has woven an incredible world, masterfully turning a tale of love, honor, petty cruelty, jealousy, and arrogance. Characters that spring to life and you cannot help but be moved by. And it's always lovely to listen to a book read by its own author.