The Fall of the Kings (Swords of Riverside 3) Paperback – 10 November 2016

Really enjoying the political fantasy this book gives us. Its quite different from the two books before in the series, but I think it works well and I would definitely give it five stars. Also Love the cover!!

Cette suite de Swordspoint, 60 ans plus tard, est intéressante pour les fans de Riverside, mais ne vous attendez pas à une merveille comme "The privilege of the sword". L'histoire est assez originale et parvient à nous tenir en haleine, mais la qualité de la narration est irrégulière : on passe de scènes captivantes à des passages longuets, voire franchement ennuyeux. Et le fils d'Alec a beau être sympathique et débauché, il est loin d'avoir la sublime démesure de son illustre papa. Basil St Cloud, l'ami/professeur/amant du fils d'Alec, a un peu plus d'étoffe. La fin surprend (personnellement, je m'attendais à mieux).Malgré tout, l'histoire complète plutôt bien l'univers de Riverside et mérite d'être lue, ne serait-ce que pour apprendre ce que sont devenus Alec, St Vier, Katherine et Marcus après "The privilege of the sword", et pour découvrir les 2 rejetons d'Alec.

『剣の輪舞』（Swordpoint）の続編です。前作はカシュナーの単著でしたが、本書はデリア・シャーマンとの共著になっています。王たちの没落というタイトルは、作中の歴史書の名前でもあります。内容はというと、『剣の輪舞』の六十年後、前作の登場人物がほとんどいない時期になります。中心になるのは前作の登場人物の息子である貴族Theronです。彼は大学に通っており、大学の新進気鋭の教師Basilと知り合うが、街（国）の古代の王にまつわる神話や秘密組織などが複雑に絡み合ってきて…というような話です。『剣の輪舞』は起承転結がはっきりした話でしたが、本書は冒険活劇という要素はあまりなく、どちらかというと重い話になっています。これはデリア・シャーマンの持ち味かもしれませんね。エレン・カシュナーの軽快さ・愉快さがあまり見られないのは残念でしたが、大学や学問の描写はなかなか凄いと思いました。また、男尊女卑などの街の暗部にたいする問題意識も、前作と異なり露わにされています（これも多分デリア・シャーマン）。『剣の輪舞』的ストーリー展開を期待すると違和感があるかもしれませんが、違った意味で読み応えがある小説です。個人的にはカシュナーの単著がよかったんですけど。英語は『剣の輪舞』と同じぐらいのレベルですが、Basilが専門とする歴史の描写などがしっかり書かれているので、その辺りは少し難しいです。

I bought this book because it is a sequel to Swordspoint, which I enjoyed enormously. The characters all seem fairly realistic in this work, and there are touches of the diction that Kushner employed in Swordspoint-- unfortunately, I don't think I need to read anything more of Ms. Sherman's work, though. I'd be interested to read the original short story which this novel was based on, for I suspect that the parts I like best are from that short story.My second objection comes in because there's a LOT more smut in this novel than there needed to be: the book could've been accomplished without getting quite so earthy (and at least one of the authors managed this feat in a book called Swordspoint). I'm not objecting on the ground of some conservative perspective: I share a sexual preference with the main characters in this world.I have recommended this book to some friends- but made sure they understood that they'd be wandering into what's at-least-R-rated so they could, if they chose, not find themselves reading a passage describing a rather heated coupling while on public transit. The other problem with the smut to me is that the plotline of the story, which was rather clever, seemed to be used as a string on which episodes of the two male characters making love were threaded like pearls.I honestly don't feel Ms. Sherman contributed very much to this book, and am not looking forward to her next Swordspoint-sequel book. The main reason I am giving this book two stars is because its publication has occasioned a reprinting of Swordspoint, which is a good that makes up for a great deal of banality.

This book is fabulous in all senses. From the description of the University's ambience to the unveiling of the mystery of the city's history, to the fascinating charachters of Basil St Cloud, Theron Campion and his mother, the devious anti-revisionistCrabbe (by the way Crabbe is also the name of one of the minions of Malfoy,Harry Potter's enemy),Nicholas Galing and all the others.But oh, the sumptuous writings, the splendid descriptions of the parties of the nobility, whit a dialogue almost Wildean in its witticism, the obsessive power of artifacts...all is superb. The passages in which Basil St Cloud is first obsessed by luscious and archaic dreams, then awakens and peruses a strange old book who he believes is the origin of the dreams...well,you have to read it. You are reminded of Vandermeer's Book of Ambergris.But The Fall Of Kings is an absolute masterpiece, in a class of his own.