emruth13
Written on May 9, 2019
- ISBN10 0765383837
- ISBN13 9780765383839
- Publish Date 1 May 2019 (first published 23 April 2019)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 4 April 2022
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Tor Teen
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 400
- Language English
Reviews
Quirky Cat
Written on Apr 8, 2019
The Sword and the Dagger is the debut novel by Robert Cochran. The description sounds a bit like the beginning of a joke, a princess, a knight, and an assassin. But in all seriousness, this is a fascinating novel.
The novel is fictional, but it is based on real events and time periods. That brings a whole new level of realism to the world itself. The obstacles the characters come up against are believably because they happened quite frequently during their time.
What really made this novel extraordinary was the way Cochran made his characters – all inherently different – capable of seeing eye to eye with one another. Here we have a Christian princess, a Muslim assassin, and a Christian Prince/Knight who believed in his right to rule. You'd think that these three would have nothing in common, right?
Based on the other reviews I've seen out there, people are either going to love or hate this novel. I personally enjoyed it a lot, but to each their own. The reasons I mentioned above are a good part of why I enjoyed it, but there is more as well.
Warnings: The Sword and the Dagger is a historical novel, and it shows some of the worst of our past. There's religious bias and discrimination, slavery, and forced marriages. And as in history novel where horses and war are involved...it doesn't go well for the mounts. None of these events are terribly graphic though, for what it is worth.
The Sword and the Dagger was a fascinating read. I really enjoyed it, mainly for the characters and getting to see how much they changed during the course of the novel. Character building is one of my favorite aspects of writing, so this was a huge detail for me.
The world was richly detailed, and as I mentioned above having it based in real events really enhanced the whole feeling of the novel. Though obviously the characters created were pure fiction – I preferred that, personally.
I will say that there was one element of this novel that may be off-putting for some. There are frequent and sudden perspective changes throughout the novel. I don't mind this when they're delineated by chapter changes, but that wasn't the case here. It would change mid-chapter, and then change back again at a whim. Once I got into the rhythm of it I was fine, but I know some people are especially bothered by this writing style.
I think my only other complaint about this novel was the conclusion. And I don't really mean the conclusion to the main plot, but really one of the secondary plots between characters. It seemed too sudden – I would have preferred the implication that more time had passed before the...decision was made. Perhaps that's just me though.
On the whole I really enjoyed the Sword and the Dagger, and am so happy I took the time to read it. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Robert Cochran comes out with. I'd be curious to see how his writing evolves with time.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
shannonmiz
Written on Mar 23, 2019
This was such an unexpected gem for me! I flew through the pages, and to be honest, I don't even know if I can fully explain why? I mean, I'll try though!
- •The Crusades and Genghis Khan and that whole time period are horrible and also fascinating as hell. I mean, this book is not for the squeamish, but it also is pretty accurate from everything I have read about the era. In fact, I think the author does a good job of presenting the absolute horror without being unnecessarily gory, if that helps. But make no mistake, it was a gory time in history, so.
- •I love these three main characters so, so much. You have Elaine, the princess of Tripoli, who is kind of over the patriarchy. Conrad is her would-be husband and prince of Antioch who, at the start, I was hoping got stabbed. Rashid is the assassin, who is from a small, hidden Muslim community who has tasked him with killing Elaine. And I won't lie, I was scared because ummm are we sure we want to portray it that way? But it wasn't. At all. Rashid is arguably the best of them, and absolutely the most open-minded. The thing I loved about the characters is that they each underwent so, so much growth, and all had flaws, and a blind spot when it came to judging another group of people.
- •Elaine was a feminist before it had a name. She was sick of being treated like property, and girl, preach. She basically set off to find Rashid knowing she could die, but figuring it was better than being forced to marry Conrad.
- •So. Much. Adventure. They headed off on a quest through... well look I am not even 100% sure how far, but it seemed like a long distance. And through some pretty rough territory- both geographically and politically. And I adore a journey of survival and such, so this was a big draw for me.
- •The trio formed an incredible bond. It was interesting to see them morph from bitter adversaries to... well, you'll have to read it for yourself to see how it goes down, but it was really great. I will say, that they start to begrudgingly respect each other fairly on, so you'll just have to find out what happens after that!
My only real issue was at about maybe 60% in, things started to feel a little redundant for about a quarter of the book. I just didn't feel the same draw to keep reading that I did during the first part (or the last bit, where things picked up again). So that was my only real negative, and I adored how the book ended. From what I can tell, this was a standalone and it wrapped up thusly. The author's note in the back gives a lot of background on the historical stuff, and it's very clear that a lot of research went into it!
Bottom Line: Such great character development and an incredibly exciting world made me eager to keep reading!
nightingalereads
Written on Aug 11, 2018
Going into this book, I really had no idea what to expect. The premise sounded intriguing - a Christian princess, a Muslim assassin, and a neighboring prince forced together on a quest that may leave them bonding despite their differences.
Robert Cochran's author bio says he was a co-creator of the show 24, which doesn't surprise me at all. The plot of this story reads like it could be written for TV. It's quick-paced, for sure - definitely not of the Tolkien variety - but still intricate. Though the plot moves like a high-speed train, the story still manages to explore a lot of interesting and relevant themes, especially when it comes to religion. The most important to me being: how do you view and treat others who have different beliefs than you?
There were a few aspects of the story that bothered me.
- Conrad's view of women for the first half of the book was irritating, though I know it's meant to reflect the time period.
- As far as the portrayal of religion, I'll preface by saying I'm a Christian, so I can't speak in-depth on the representation for the Muslim characters, but the Christianity depicted in this book was very surface level. (Which was obviously fine and as expected, since it's not a Christian book!)
- All of the characters could've used more fleshing out. Though I enjoyed our three protagonists, they felt a little like cardboard cutouts and never had my full emotional investment. Rashid was my favorite, though, if I had to choose.
Overall, this book was both fun and thought-provoking. The title The Sword & the Dagger also makes a lot of sense once you finish. I'm curious if this story will be a standalone or if a sequel is in the works!