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"Rogue Sword" by Poul Anderson

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annis
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"Rogue Sword" by Poul Anderson

Post by annis » Fri November 28th, 2008, 10:02 pm

As I mentioned this novel on another thread, I thought I'd add my Amazon review for it here. I made a point of writing an Amazon review (not something I do very often) because when I first came across mention of this book, I couldn't find out anything helpful about its content, so thought I'd save others the same hassle.

"Rogue Sword", published in 1960, is a rarity for the master of fantasy; a straight historical adventure. Don't be put off by the hilariously bad cover; although slightly old-fashioned, it's written well and with historical accuracy.

Lucas Greco (the Greek) is the bastard son of a Venetian nobleman and a Cretan woman. Apprenticed as a youth to a wealthy Venetian merchant, he makes a lifelong enemy by cuckolding his master and escapes Venice in the service of Catalan knight Jaime de Caza, travelling with him as far as Byzantium. In 1306, after years of wandering, he returns to Byzantium where his path leads him back to the Iberian nobleman, En Jaime, his former employer. En Jaime is now a commander with the Grand Catalan Company, a band of Catalan and Aragonese mercenaries originally hired by the Emperor of Byzantium, but now in an armed standoff with the Byzantine forces after the treacherous murder of their leader En Roger de Flor at the Emperor’s command.

A swaggering swashbuckler set in the Mediterranean and Eurasian melting-pot of the early fourteenth century, it’s an excellent picture of the forces in power at the time- the Venetians, Genoese, the fading Byzantines and the Frankish Crusader states, all struggling with each other and against the Turks for domination of vital strategic trading routes; and slashing their own blood-stained way into history, the fearsome men of the Grand Catalan Company.

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Mon December 1st, 2008, 11:34 pm

[quote=""annis""]As I mentioned this novel on another thread, I thought I'd add my Amazon review for it here. I made a point of writing an Amazon review (not something I do very often) because when I first came across mention of this book, I couldn't find out anything helpful about its content, so thought I'd save others the same hassle.

"Rogue Sword", published in 1960, is a rarity for the master of fantasy; a straight historical adventure. Don't be put off by the hilariously bad cover; although slightly old-fashioned, it's written well and with historical accuracy.

Lucas Greco (the Greek) is the bastard son of a Venetian nobleman and a Cretan woman. Apprenticed as a youth to a wealthy Venetian merchant, he makes a lifelong enemy by cuckolding his master and escapes Venice in the service of Catalan knight Jaime de Caza, travelling with him as far as Byzantium. In 1306, after years of wandering, he returns to Byzantium where his path leads him back to the Iberian nobleman, En Jaime, his former employer. En Jaime is now a commander with the Grand Catalan Company, a band of Catalan and Aragonese mercenaries originally hired by the Emperor of Byzantium, but now in an armed standoff with the Byzantine forces after the treacherous murder of their leader En Roger de Flor at the Emperor’s command.

A swaggering swashbuckler set in the Mediterranean and Eurasian melting-pot of the early fourteenth century, it’s an excellent picture of the forces in power at the time- the Venetians, Genoese, the fading Byzantines and the Frankish Crusader states, all struggling with each other and against the Turks for domination of vital strategic trading routes; and slashing their own blood-stained way into history, the fearsome men of the Grand Catalan Company.[/quote]

sounds like a lot of fun, thanks

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Mon December 1st, 2008, 11:58 pm

ah bummer. i just found a copy on the british amazon. but they wont send it to the continent.

(i do see what you mean about the cover :-)

some other time

annis
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Post by annis » Tue December 2nd, 2008, 1:22 am

Must be frustrating for you, keny- it's hard enough tracking down books from New Zealand, and often the cheaper ones from secon-hand online stores are not available for overseas customers.

Maybe you'll pick up a copy of "Rogue Sword" somewhere else in the future. Desspite being in the swashbuckling tradition it's actually quite a dark story, where no-one comes out looking very heroic, but it is a good picture of a turbulent period in history and of all the players involved.

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Tue December 2nd, 2008, 8:21 pm

[quote=""annis""]Must be frustrating for you, keny- it's hard enough tracking down books from New Zealand, and often the cheaper ones from secon-hand online stores are not available for overseas customers.

Maybe you'll pick up a copy of "Rogue Sword" somewhere else in the future. Desspite being in the swashbuckling tradition it's actually quite a dark story, where no-one comes out looking very heroic, but it is a good picture of a turbulent period in history and of all the players involved.[/quote]

its just kind of annoying. its hard to english language books here that arent best sellers. id pay for the extra postage obviously, they just dont like to send stuff here.

anyway, im sure im preaching to the converted here.

id like to read this one. ive read other andersen stuff and liked it. i do take to morbid realistic views for whatever reason (which is why i like writers like duggan). ive always thought andersen should turn his talents to HF but obviously thats just me wishing he had written more in my prefered genre. im sure the sci fi people were happy he leaned more in that direction.

anyway, thanks for the tip.
keny

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Wed December 3rd, 2008, 6:19 am

I'm having problems with the Amazon bureaucracy myself at the moment. I keep trying to tell them their summary and reviews for the listing of Alfred Duggan's Alfred the Great are all actually for Duggan's Winter Quarters. They keep sending me emails back telling me to report it in some different way, and I keep trying to follow their procedure and getting yet another email telling me I haven't provided the right information in the right way. Very frustrating. You'd think they'd welcome this kind of input, but apparently not.

On a brighter note, Annis has contributed a more in-depth review of Rogue Sword at http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Rogue-Sword.html. The link at the end of the review goes to Powell's Books, which does ship overseas. It's expensive - more than 3 times the cost of the book, in the case of Rogue Sword, which is an inexpensive used copy - but their shipping chart gives very specific information on the charges, so it's obviously possible. (There's a link directly to the shipping information page from yesterday's blog post, which gives details on Powell's holiday discount for HistoricalNovels.info visitors.)
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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Carine
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Post by Carine » Wed December 3rd, 2008, 7:29 am

[quote=""keny from prague""]ah bummer. i just found a copy on the british amazon. but they wont send it to the continent.

(i do see what you mean about the cover :-)

some other time[/quote]

Keny, have you tried AbeBooks ?

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Wed December 3rd, 2008, 6:14 pm

[quote=""Carine""]Keny, have you tried AbeBooks ?[/quote]

cheers, carine. ill give it a go.

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