The Griffin or the Agate

I'm not a big fan of country music, but there's a song by Kenny Rogers that contains the lines, "You gotta know when to hold them/ know when to fold them/ know when to walk away/ know when to run." Such advice could be distributed to a number of today's fantasy authors as they flog book after book out of their franchise characters, long outlasting their literary welcome. Why does this happen? Any number of reasons pop to mind, the first of which is the great green god of money. Established characters bring with them a fan base, some loyal, some rabid, and in today's distressing publishing climate every advantageous angle is needed. The world is already created, as are the personalities of the protagonists and antagonists. The fans clamor for the book version of their comfort food, familiar faces they've come to know and love.
     So the author, wanting to please the fans and cognizant of the impending mortgage payment, fires off book after book in the series, usually of declining quality and lacking in both development and direction. Robert Aspirin once admitted that he took the plots for his Myth series from the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby 'Road' movies. And how many bad books does Anne Rice have to write about vampires before someone hides her keyboard (actually, some might say it should have been done before the first one was written)? So when the sixth book of Jennifer Roberson's Sword Dancer series fell into my lap, I took a deep sigh before wading in.
     The sigh wasn't necessary. Roberson seems to be aware that she's taken the two central characters about as far as she can. The Sandtiger, or Tiger, is returning from his trip to the island of Skandi with the other half of his May-late October romance, Delilah. Both are accomplished sword-dancers, a caste of blades-for-hire used to settle disputes in battles of honor. Tiger, who became an outcast from his brotherhood when he was forced to break their codes, has come back with quite a few problems to deal with. Newly discovered magic brews within him, unpredictable and largely unwanted. Some of his fingers have been amputated, severely affecting the way he can grip his sword. If that's not enough, his former brothers have marked him for death. Quite a full plate for the hero.
     The centerpiece of the Sword Dancer series has always been the relationship between Tiger and Del. Tiger, originally the worst sort of male chauvinist pig in a desert society that treated women as little better than chattel, has changed over the few years that he's spent with the former ice maiden Del, coming to respect her as an equal in all ways. Their banter, ranging from humorous to stinging, provided insight into what made up both characters. By the sixth book, though, it's starting to wear a little thin. Roberson's storytelling, while strong, begins to veer into familiar and formulaic territory - Tiger is incapacitated by poison, which separated him from Del and allows him to be captured without a fight. Throughout the series something like this always seems to happen to Tiger (drugged wine/horse kick to the head/being set up and betrayed). In the hands of a lesser author, Sword-Sworn might have degenerated into a rehash, but that never entirely happens here. The final section of the book seems rushed with too many threads being drawn together, as if Roberson decided halfway through the writing that this was going to be the final book and that she'd better get everything buttoned up. When push comes to shove, though, these are minor quibbles. Sword-Sworn did exactly what it was supposed to do - it engaged me, entertained me, and was enjoyable. It did not make me lament the series drawing to end, but rather seemed an appropriate closing piece. As this is the sixth book in the saga, those new to Tiger and Del would be best served starting at the beginning with Sword Dancer.
     Oh, and two questions I'd love to ask Jennifer Roberson one day - one, are there really enough people in both the South and North to support the sword dancer caste? Two, can Tiger really be upset that his magic will cause him to die at the age predicted? Seems like a pretty long life in a non-industrialized society lacking medical facilities. Just curious.   §

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