A review by milointhewoods
The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner

4.0

the thing is, this is definitely better than some of the books i’ve rated five stars, but i can’t bring myself to rate it five stars, because it took a bit of getting into and the ending was a little bit disappointing. it’s well written, swashbuckling entertainment with more serious tones about the dark side of marriage and societal expectations for women. however it’s all wrapped up in the last few chapters with little fanfare. as an ending to such a suspenseful and enjoyable book it was a little bit rushed or lacklustre. and although i’ve been told that the reason one of the characters plot lines was abandoned was to set up for the next book, it still gives this novel a slightly unrefined quality. a revelation about a character, then immediately ditching their storyline and not mentioning them for the rest of the book comes across as a bit messy and i do believe that in a series you should still be able to read each book separately and enjoy them as separate stories, which this book does mostly quite impressively but not in this instance.