Impossible Odds
A Chronicle of the King's Blade
by Dave Duncan
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Hardcover book is in new, never been read condition.
Dust jacket is in like new condition. Very minor wear on edges of dust
jacket. Inside of book pages are crisp and clean, no stains. ISBN#
0380818345. 2003 edition. 384 pages long. Approx: 9 by 6 by 1. Publisher:
EOS Books. Additional pictures of condition are always available.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Canadian author Duncan explores the perils and pitfalls
of dynastic politics in this swashbuckling fantasy, the fifth entry in his
popular King's Blades series (after 2002's Paragon Lost). When Grand Duke
Rubin of Krupina asks King Athelgar of Chivial for help in regaining his
duchy, he's promised two of the King's Blades, peerless swordsmen mystically
bonded to their wards. Given the shortage of trained Blades, though, Rubin
will have to make do with Ranter and Ringwood, two senior boys. They,
meanwhile, have to make do with Rubin, a deposed noble of uncertain
prospects to whom they will be pledged for life, and his companion, Baron
von Fader, an acerbic old man. Getting Rubin back to the throne of Krupina
involves fending off shadowmen, preserving secret identities, uncovering
traitors and penetrating impregnable fortresses.
An exiled Grand Duke Rubin arrives at Ironhall, which by this point in
Duncan's Chronicles of the King's Blades is almost a character in its own
right, not just a setting. Rubin's mission is to recruit Blades to rescue
his duchy from an evil sorcerer who can communicate with and use the
abilities of the dead. Live Blades are in somewhat short supply, and that is
only the duke's first problem. The next is that the duke is really, in the
best tradition of Shakespeare, a duchess in disguise, and that little gender
issue has to be satisfactorily resolved before anything else can be done.
When it comes time for the traditional fantasy quest, the questers at hand
constitute a distinctly raggle-taggle band, and the number of new mysteries
to be solved reminds one of Dumas and his musketeers. This is all told with
great verve, so as to please faithful King's Blades fans and win new ones
for an underrated saga full of familiar fantasy elements treated with wit
and ingenuity.
A photo gallery of pictures from this book is shown below
as well as a description of the pictures. Any questions please
email me
aldergrove@ppowner.com
   
This site was last updated
01/16/11
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