The Society of the Sword Trilogy

By: Duncan M. Hamilton

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 31 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Fans have described the trilogy as Game of Thrones meets The Three Musketeers.

When Soren is plucked from the streets and given a place at the prestigious academy of swordsmanship, he thinks his dream of being a great swordsman has become a possibility. However, with great intrigues unfolding all around him, Soren discovers that he is little more than a pawn to the ambitions of others.

As he is swept from high society into exile in foreign lands to escape those who see him as a threat, he must rely on a mysterious gift and the lessons learned at the academy if he hopes to survive in a society where disputes are settled with a sword.

The Society of the Swords Trilogy contains the complete series.

©2016 Duncan M. Hamilton (P)2017 Podium Publishing

Great Series Overall, but seemed Rushed

First, I want to say that I enjoyed the series. With that said, I believe it could have been so much more. The first book was just as I would expect from a fantasy epic. The rushing seemed to come more in the second book, and, even then, not until the ending. It seems like there was much or should have been much more written, but the author was coming up on a deadline and just rushed the ending. To be honest, it was a lot like how I write (technical writing, not stories). I can do great up to 95% complete, but that last 5% is just so much trouble to finish. You know it isn't going to go as easily as it should and you are going to find more things that are going to extend that paper/book, and you just don't want to find them (for me its from ADD and enough meds helps power through!) Anyway, that was a digression, but it felt so familiar how the ending just suddenly happened and part of the end plot was just chopped.

Finally, the third book. I don't want to say too much to ruin the plot, but one major portion of the world is finally starting to be explored, but it was done so lightly that nothing was really revealed about it or why things became the way they were except for the same dogma that has been repeated through all the books.

This review may sound like I didn't like the books, but that is completely wrong. I did. I just thought they could have been so much more. I hope there is another series to go into depth with the dangling points either never discussed or just touched upon lightly. I can see a great world of books continuing from this series, and I hope there is!

So many threads cut short!

I read a review before buying this book that suggested that Hamilton couldn't keep a story arc going to save his life. I fully believed it couldn't be that bad...but it definitely is! Potential story arc after story arc after story arc that Hamilton just throws by the way side. I honestly couldn't figure out whether Hamilton knew what he was doing or not, or if he just got bored writing this and decided to just finish the main plot instead of making this book the epic that it could have been.

Now, from the main story part, it's actually not that bad of a story. A little magic, a lot of sword play, the characters he sticks with are deep and inciting, and the plot is more than enough to keep you interested. At least, this is true for the first two books. To explain, this product is all three books put together, and this description fits for the first two books to a T. This third and final book in the series, is just lacking. The plot is all there for the final book, its just that the new characters are so incredibly terrible that the whole series is almost ruined. They're desperate and confusing. They seem like they should have been in the story the whole time, but Hamilton is just throwing them in at the end and expecting us to accept that their story's line up perfectly. It's annoying and a little insulting.

All in all though, the story is all there. I'm just complaining for the most part. But i just couldn't rate it any high, having all these potentially great characters and story arc's just eliminated before they could shine is just too infuriating.

It's a good waste of a credit and Perkins is pretty good.

Excellent

Fun book, sad its over. If you are looking for a book about sword fighting, this is the magnum opis. I found this book by recommendation from Kel Kade and it was spot on. If you liked the kings dark tidings series this might be right up your alley.

almost great

this would be a great book, except I kept wanting to slap some sense into the arrogant main character. if I could have liked it him it would be good. as it is, I wasn't sure who to root for good guy or bad guy.

An Author to Watch

This was much better than expected based on reviews... A swords and sorcery light fantasy w/ emphasis on the swords w/ the sorcery being more of a backdrop... Great pace, characters, and imagery... For a martial kinda fantasy the violence is neither excessive nor gratuitous, and a surprisingly minimal amount of profanity... Nice world building, if the magic system is a bit ephemeral... Bk 1 better than bk 2, and bk 3 as good as book 1... Bargain given you’re getting 3 for the price of one... Narration is excellent and gives the story a very binge worthy appeal... Undoubtedly worth the freight, and am now off to find more by the author...

Great Story

I have found myself, when searching for a new title to read, searching for Derek Perkins. I have never been disappointed. A well written story is always better when narrated by Mr. Perkins.

Just ok

I couldn't wait for this to be over. There was just something lacking in the story. Not enough details and then lo and behold, the character remembers something from his childhood. The premise was good, I just needed more.

another 'meh' high fantasy

First things first. Predictable story. A guy from the gutters rises up to become one of the nations best swords ever. There is a magic system in place but it's too 2 dimensional. The character development is non-existent. The protagonist is an extremely boring character with no background story to drive him forward. overall, I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone. if you have 30 hrs to spare, pick up something else.

Excellent read, Excellent value!!

Great trilogy and all for the price of one and this must be fifteen words long.

omg

i have never ever read of a hero that is so indecisive - when he does decide - 75% of the time he makes the wrong decision. it annoyed me so much...he even admitted to it towards the end. Other than that - the book was ok