Michelle West - The Sun Sword Series...

[The Master™]

Anybody read this series??? I notice that book 6 is out, and wondered if it was worthy of a read...

 

[Crisspin]

As a new member to your community, you are allowed to flog me for this very stale necro-post.

That being said, I searched the forums and could find very little about this series or Michelle (Sagara) West. I have been reading for decades, and find so much epic fantasy to be poorly written and derivitive. I found that I enjoyed Ms. West's Sunsword books emensely.

The world and story itself was fascinating, and her writing is passionate and detailed. Her characters rang "true" to my ear and the story went places I did not expect. It was fast and screamed forward at times, making what seems an enormous 6 books go by very quickly.

I'd also like to mention that she has two fantastic female characters in these books. They are entirely different characters while both exploring the deep inner workings of self, community, family and responsibility.

Overall, if you like epic fantasy and find it difficult to find quality writers please give Ms. West a chance ... she is sure to please!

 

[GOLLUM]

Overall, if you like epic fantasy and find it difficult to find quality writers please give Ms. West a chance ... she is sure to please!

Welcome and nice review...

I see a lot of West's works on my local shelves but you're right she's not that widely read I suspect or at least talked about on the forums I inhabit. I might give her a go now that you've posted this.

I'm a fairly avid fan of Fantasy and in particular EPIC fantasy. To this end you may like you check out Steven Erikson's Malazan series, George Martin's Song Of Ice and Fire and R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, Ricardo Pinto's Stone Dance of The Chameleon and Rodger Zelazny's Chronicles Of Amber. They're all very good post-war (WWII) EPICs. You may have read these already but if not you might like to give them a go.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

She's been publishing steadily since 1991 -- novels and short stories. Michelle's been especially productive when it comes to short fiction. She's had dozens of short stories published.

But Chronicles members don't seem to read much in the way of short fiction, which would partly explain why her name doesn't get mentioned around here.

 

[Werthead]

I think another problem is that she has not been published in the UK and her book covers are utterly, utterly, awful. I wouldn't touch a book that looked like that with a barge-pole, neither would I buy it. The series has a lot of very positive reviews from people I respect, but I think I'll hold on until a UK publisher brings it out in covers that don't make me look like a closet Mills and Boon fan.

Shallow? Absolutely.

 

[elvet]

I thought I'd reserect this thread since Skirmish has been released recently. It finally brings us (after 3 House War books about Jewel) up to speed with what happens at the end of the Sun Sword books. Michelle had also made available summaries that would help the uniniciated to jump in at this point:
http://msagarawest.wordpress.com/
After reading Skirmish and thoroughly enjoying it, I was unable to let go of her world and got the 6 short stories that go with the books. They were very goods, especially Memory of Stone.