Product Description

Welcome to Riverside, where the aristocratic and the ambitious battle for power in the city's ballroom, brothels and boudoirs. Into this alluring world walks Katherine, a well-bred country girl versed in the rules of conventional society. Her mistake is thinking that they apply. For Katherine's host and uncle, Alec Campion, aka the Mad Duke Tremontaine, is in charge here—and to him, rules are made to be broken. When Alec decides it would be more amusing for his niece to learn swordplay than to follow the usual path to marriage, her world changes forever. Blade in hand, it's up to Katherine to navigate a maze of secrets and scoundrels and to gain the self-discovery that comes to those who master: the privilege of the sword.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #372624 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-26
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.88" h x .97" w x 4.16" l, .50 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 480 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Kushner's winning high fantasy with its sophisticated swordplay marks a welcome return to the romantic Riverside world she introduced in Swordspoint (1987). Coming-of-age gets complicated for winsome Lady Katherine Samantha Campion Talbert after she's shipped off to her uncle, the Mad Duke of Tremontaine (aka David Alexander "Alec" Tielman Campion), who reigns over a decadent world of erotic and political intrigue. At first Kate's frightened of becoming a swashbuckler, but after training with the duke's favorite lover, the dashing Richard St. Vier, and becoming friends with Marcus, Alec's devoted young assistant, she finds she's more than up for the task. Her skills are tested in her effort to avenge the rape of her best friend, Lady Artemesia Fitz-Levy, by one of her uncle's foes, Anthony Deverin (aka Lord Ferris, Crescent Chancellor of the Council of Lords). Kate's discovery that "Fear is enemy to the sword" and love is the key to triumph leads to surprising consequences. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The most recent Riverside story follows Swordspoint (2003) in chronology and features many of its characters. Alec, Duke Tremontaine, aka the Mad Duke of Riverside, has sent for his impoverished young niece, Katherine. She and her family hope he'll make a good marriage for her, but the Mad Duke has decided to train her as a sword fighter. She is furious, and besides a swordmaster to train her, her uncle also springs what becomes her fall into society, without warning or training, on her. She learns the sword perforce out of self-defense and also, bit by bit, the city, the nobility, politics, and her uncle. When Katherine is trained and entered into society with her weapon, she wades hip-deep into plots against her uncle and becomes the champion of a lady in distress, too. Plot and style hereare in the swashbuckling tradition of Dumas, but the characters are very real beneath their facades, people who bleed when they are cut, even when manners require that they make nothing of it. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"It's beautifully written, breezy, quick, hysterically funny, poignant and bloody and world-weary and heartrendingly naive by turns. This is a fantastic book, a coming-of-age story, and I love it with a quite deep and unreasonable love".—Elizabeth Bear, author of Worldwired

"Winning high fantasy ... a welcome return to the romantic Riverside world Kushner introduced in Swordspoint."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most gorgeous books I've ever read: it's witty and wonderful, with characters that will provoke, charm and delight."—Holly Black, author of Tithe and Valiant

"A magical mixture of Dumas and Georgette Heyer. The dialogue dazzles and so does the swordplay."—Kelly Link, author of Magic For Beginners

"A swashbuckler for women—splendid!"—Tamora Pierce

“Unholy fun, and wholly fun...an elegant riposte, dazzlingly executed.” – Gregory Maguire, NYT bestselling author of Wicked


From the Trade Paperback edition.