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Wind Rider's Oath (The Bahzell)
by David Weber
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Baen (2005-07-26)
ISBN: 1416508953
EAN: 9781416508953
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Binding/Media: Mass Market Paperback - 592 pages
SKU: S132-1595
Condition: New
Comments: In stock - Sent fast from British booksellers.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In The War God's Own, Bahzell had managed to stop a war by convincing Baron Tellian, leader of the Sothoii, to "surrender" to him, the War God's champion. Now, he has journeyed to the Sothoii Wind Plain to oversee the parole he granted to Tellian and his men, to represent the Order of Tomanak, the War God, and to be an ambassador for the hradani. What's more, the flying coursers of the Sothoii have accepted Bahzell as a wind rider-the first hradani wind rider in history. And since the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell's ascension is as likely to stir resentment as respect. That combination of duties would have been enough to keep anyone busy-even a warrior prince like Bahzell-but additional complications are bubbling under the surface. The goddess Shigu, the Queen of Hell, is sowing dissension among the war maids of the Sothoii. The supporters of the deposed Sothoii noble who started the war are plotting to murder their new leige lord and frame Bahzell for the deed. Of course, those problems are all in a day's work for a champion of the War God. But what is Bahzell going to do about the fact that Baron Tellian's daughter, and heir to the realm, seems to be thinking that he is the only man-or hradani-for her?
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Customer Reviews
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as clunky as a pair of the hero's boots
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-07-13
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I know that one of the main premises of this series is that the hradrani are mage/god touched as to make them into super-warriors, and our male lead, Bahzell, is the biggest, "most giftedest" one of all. And this is a fantasy novel. Still, occasional subtlety would have been refreshing. The forshadowing was very heavy-handed (enormous man who has always "secretly" pined for an enormous horse in the land of enormous horses saving said horses from a fate worse than death....hmmmm...what could possibly happen?).
The editing really should have been much tighter. There were a number of loose ends left unresolved from the earlier books, and many more were added with this book. Characters were introduced, then disappeared from the main storyline or were killed, seemingly introduced only so that the author could name those being wiped out. I had to reread portions just to make sure I'd gotten straight who was doing what to whom and where. The maps in the front really weren't much help at all. I kept flipping back to them thinking that locations should be clearly labeled on them, maybe even travel paths, but they weren't.
The cover picture was just wrong. I kept trying to figure out who the grumpy-looking "chick" with her boobs hanging out was supposed to be. See the cover of "The War God's Own" for a much more appropriate representation of what the male and female lead would be wearing, then add a layer of gore and damage, since they had just finished a battle.
A friend loaned me the three books in this series, and they sat for months before I finally decided to read them because the descriptions on the back covers sounded too "over the top". I was pleasantly surprised. The first two books were good enough that I wanted to read the third. This book was okay, and I will read the next one in the series to find out what happens, but I'm really hoping that they will clean the fourth book up before it's published. Maybe they'll even make the cover artist actually read the book, too.
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It just ends
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-04-05
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
It's an excellent book, but it just... ends. There's no wrap up. No satisfying conclusion, nothing. I only hope there are a couple more in the works.
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Not your usual run of swords and sorcery book
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-08-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Most of David Weber's work is military SF, but he has branched out into the swords and sorcery genre with his three books about Bahzell Bahnakson. I don't usually have much time for "Conan" style books even when they're written by authors of the calibre of Roland Green or Harry Turtledove, but these three - Oath of Swords, The War God's own, and Wind-rider's Oath - are something else.
Some of the particular strengths of this series are things which are carried over from Weber's other work - good use of humour, brave but believable heroes and heroines, characters who have to overcome their own prejudices and mostly do so.
One thing which I appreciate about David Weber as an author is that he does not find it necessary to insert a gratuitous love story into every book, even in this genre. Not that his characters are sexless or incapable of love, and there are hints of interplay between characters which may - or may not - develop into romances later in the series, but Weber's characters fall in love when it fits the bigger story canvass and not for the sake of including a romance in every volume in some formulaic pattern.
Perhaps the best feature of the book is that it is not entirely predictable and first impressions are not always right. For example, when one of the central characters meets someone who initially appears to be a bigoted blockhead, there is a roughly 25% chance that he or she really will turn out to be a hopeless case or a bad guy, and a 75% chance that he or she will actually be an honest person who is at least sometimes capable of doing the right thing. Equally some of those who appear at first to be good guys (or girls) turn out to be in the wrong, or even working for the dark Gods.
The storyline is strong, if a little complicated. It is much easier to keep track of what is going on if you had previously read the first two books in the series. One interesting feature is that, during a pause in the middle of the book, Bahzell's patron God gives him an explanation of how free will and destiny could both exist: it is a take on the "many worlds" thesis which I had not previously encountered and for me it was worth reading this book just for that passage.
There are some irritating minor issues in the presentation of the book. It contains two maps, but both of them fail to show most of the main locations in this book. There is a list of mortal characters at the front of the book and a list of Gods (good and evil) at the back. The three most important characters in the book are not included, which is not really a problem, but also excluded from the list are one or two characters from previous books who are repeatedly referred to and I found this rather annoying. In one scene two of the characters discuss someone called Wencit of Rum, and after trying and failing to remember who he is I looked at the index of characters: no mention. Eventually to make sense of the conversation I had to dig up the previous books in the series to remind myself who Wencit is (he is approximately the equivalent of Gandalf or Belgarath).
When I originally wrote this review I said that the point of the cover art, showing the concluding scene of the book, appeared to have been diminished by the unfortunate placement of a bubble with the words "New York Times best seller" which I suspected hid the object which Kaeritha has just thrown in Bahzell's direction. In subsequent printings the offending words have been removed and the item is indeed now visible.
Bottom line: if you liked any of David Weber's other books, read the three Bahzell Bahnakson books and it is unlikely that you will be disappointed. If you like the swords and sorcery genre generally, it is also likely that you will like these three. But if you do read any of these, make sure to read them in the right order, which is Oath of Swords, The War God's own, and Wind-rider's Oath.
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Not Weber's Best, but Still Good
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-07-19
I was a bit worried when I opened this book. It had been years since I read the first two in the series, and I didn't have them with me. But the story drew me right in, refreshing my memory of the characters and the world without getting bogged down in summarizing the earlier books.
David Weber does a lot of things well. His battles have a powerful, epic feel, and the action in this book pulls you right along.
At the same time, there's a distinction between being larger than life, and being a bit flat as a character. I don't just mean Bahzell here. All of the heroes are too heroic. Weber spends a great deal of time building up the animosity between the Sothoii and the Hradani, but pretty much ever one of the Sothoii go through the same pattern of initially hating Bahzell, then seeing the error of their ways and humbly apologizing, after which Bahzell so nobly offers his understanding. It's nice that all of the good guys are oh so enlightened, but it started to strain the seams of credibility.
Likewise, the nastiness of the villains started to go a bit overboard when they all started giving off a poisonous, vile green glow.
My last nitpick is that things happen a bit too easily for the champions, at times. Not only are they all marvelous warriors (which makes sense, as they're champions of a war god), but if they're ever in over their heads, the god Tomanak pops in to help them out. They're stronger than their enemies, and Bahzell's god is stronger than everyone else's. Even the green glow of kryptonite--I mean, of evil--isn't enough to defeat these superheroes. They get tired and exhausted, pushing themselves to the brink, but there's rarely a sense that they're in genuine danger.
I admit it: I'm a picky reader, and I have a hard time ignoring flaws like these in a book. In this case, the strengths of the story were more than enough to pull me through. More than anything, Bahzell and his companions are fun. They believe in justice and good and all that noble stuff, but they also have a sense of humor. Even the war god jokes around with his champions sometimes. And while I prefer my stories and characters a bit more complex, there's also something to be said for a good old clash of good vs. evil.
I would definitely recommend starting with the first two books, which I think are stronger. But I don't regret buying this one, either.
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Good, But Not Excellent
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-07-07
The first of this series I had the pleasure to read was the middle volume, THE WAR GOD'S OWN. I found it to be well written and interesting and different enough from the run of the mill product to be really of note. After that, I read the first volume and now I have just finished the third. It too is well written but does not have the excitement or the humor of the second. It is about on par with the first volume. This may be disappointing but it should not be. Everything cannot be a masterpiece and even Weber's lesser works are VERY well done.
In this installment, our Hradani champion is called upon to go to the Sothoii Kingdom, the hereditary enemies of his own people. He is called upon to foil yet another plot the a coterie of the gods of darkness and this time it will be more difficult because they are working under false colors. It is also more difficult because the political situation with regard to his race as well as that of his allies is highly complex. The Sothoii love the Coursers and both hate the Hradani. That makes it difficult when the Champion come to save your people is a hated hradani and it gets weirder when the champion gets bonded with a courser. It also makes for a few smiles.
Its not his best work but it is enjoyable.
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