David Weber | humanitysdarkerside

I have long been a fan of David Weber. By the time I discovered Oath of Swords I had already read most of his science fiction stuff. Weber has a varied writing background of which the War God series is his only venture into the world of fantasy – a good choice for him in my opinion.

Some of the violence in the novel was disturbing to me. This was the part that dealt with Sharna – one of the dark gods. Why this specific kind of violence is especially disturbing to me is difficult to understand. Maybe it has something to do with my religious upbringing? Because, in fact, the violent parts are not worse that a whole lot of other violence that I have read and not been especially bothered by. Just saying.

One reviewer wished Bazhell would have kept on fighting Tormak until the end. I kind of agree with that assessment. Bazhell is a stubborn old hradani and his fighting what the war-god wanted was fun. What the ending would have been like if he had resisted until the end is something only David Weber could know.

Oath of Swords is very much about being the outsider. Bahzell is a hradani hostage at the human court. He is extremely easy to spot – size and all. Like any outsider he is treated as less. But he does have friends at court and also support from some of the gods.

I enjoyed Oath of Swords a lot and have actually read it two or three times.