Sword Saint Paperback – October 29, 2020

The Sword Saint is a solid ending to the trilogy that began with Darien.The scope of the trilogy can't be faulted - city-wide, not just character-centred and yet it is the characters that spoke most to me. It is good, in this final part, that we are reunited with the characters of book 1 as well as book 2. As such, The Sword Saint feels more complete than Book 2.It is Tellius that binds all three stories together, just as much as Darien itself, and some of the 'newer' characters feel a little superfluous in this final book. Yes, I know they add to the storyline, but it could have been done a bit quicker, and more time spent on Tellius et al.Overall, I enjoyed The Sword Saint, but I would have liked a few questions answered and I would have loved much, much more of the warriors who defend Darien once more. But, I suppose it's better to leave an audience wanting more!Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.

I loved 'Darien', the first book of the Empire of Salt trilogy; it was the first book I'd read from C.F Iggulden and the mixture of fantasy and battles engrossed me. I reached eagerly for 'Shiang,' which was not up to the standard of 'Darien,' but was...okay. I was very disappointed by 'The Sword Saint,' the final book of the trilogy which I feel ended the series with a whimper rather than a bang.My personal feeling was that the author was trying to recreate the visual effects of an epic film with words, and the result was complicated and messy. I found the plot difficult to follow and as a result became quickly disengaged.I give 'The Sword Saint' just the two stars.