The Swordsman's Oath: The Second Tale of Einarinn by Juliet E. McKenna Search Amazon for other books by or about Juliet E. McKenna. Rating: Reviewed by: Caroline Bott

The action in the first book, The Thief's Gamble, took place in the Autumn and The Swordsman's Oath picks up the tale the following Spring. This time the story is centred on Ryshad, the sworn swordsman of the title, who appeared part way through The Thief's Gamble on the scent of the same problem as the Archmage's agents. Juliet McKenna writes alternating between the first and third person viewpoint and in The Swordsman's Oath the first person is Ryshad. In The Thief's Gamble the first person viewpoint was Livak's. The swap is initially disconcerting, especially in any scene involving Livak, but I then found it refreshing.

Part of the tale in this book follows a colonisation of distant islands many centuries past. This has far more relevance to the current events than you might initially suspect and Juliet McKenna twists her threads into a dramatic ending, which is still only a pause in the course of this series.

Juliet McKenna gives a great deal of attention to details and to the logic behind the plot, without making this obtrusive. In fact it gladdened my historical re-enactors soul to see the details of a late Medieval society being set up so well. Juliet McKenna's writing skills are improving and The Swordsman's Oath benefits from her greater experience. She has created a world with a number of different countries with rich and varied cultures, and the action in the series takes the characters to places that are new to them as well as the reader.

This is book two of a five book series.