I have to admit this up front: I was burned out when I read this book. Burned out on fantasy, burned out on reading so much in a row, burned out from lack of sleep (and activity). So, that may have affected what I thought of it.

Because I thought it was dull, boring, poorly written, with uninteresting characters and plot. It didn’t get truly interesting until the last 100 pages, and even then, I was dissatisfied with the ending.

Set 60 years after Swordspoint, The Fall of Kings deals with a noble and a scholar who are lovers, but also a scholar who comes to think he’s a wizard from the ancient ages and his lover is the new King of the Land. It has shadows of Arthurian legend, but done somewhat clumsily. I was bored with the history, I was bored with the myth (told you I tended to skip those parts…), I was bored with the machinations of the main characters.

I think what I really missed was the sword fighting. And the chess game of the first novel. I was dissatisfied with the ending, but at least I enjoyed the journey. That’s much better than loathing the journey and being mildly interested in the ending.