Swordspoint

How it reads

Swordspoint is fantasy (mannerpunk swordplay fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a big city setting, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are love, power and politics and class and society. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It opens a series. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's a short book. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.