Wind Rider's Oath

by David Weber

Book Overview

Bahzell of the Hradani is Back Exciting Fantasy Adventure by the New York Times Best-Selling Author of the Honor Harrington Series. First Time in Paperback. In The War God's Own, Bahzell had managed... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416508953
• ISBN13: 9781416508953
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Not your usual run of swords and sorcery book

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

Another HIT!!

David Weber has completely captured my attention with the Bahzell series. This is the third book in the series and I just wish he would write them faster. Bazell is a hradani (very tall human like with fox ears, unhuman endurance and 'the rage'). Weber has more fantasy in this series than in some of his others but once again, his writing is excellent. He drags you into a world where the Gods sometime interact thru their 'champions'. The War God has chosen Bazell as one of his champions and sets him tasks to help all of the hradani people. It's easy to find yourself in this world and only wake up when the novel is done. The characters are well thought out and in-depth - after reading the first two books, I was looking forward to the reaction some of the characters would show... I don't want to recap the plot since it's above in the synopsis but if you like fantasy and enjoy well written novels, the Bahzell series is fun and full of life.

Strong story-telling adventure

Bahzell Bahnakson is the first hradani to be Champion of the war-god Tomanak, which means that he's stuck righting wrongs, fighting evil, and generally carrying on even if the people he's helping don't like him. And they really don't like him. After a thousand years of war, the Sothoii hate anything having to do with the hradani--and there's a sizable segment of the court who will do just about anything to stir up trouble and end the pesky peace that threatens to break out between Sothoii and the hradani. The dark gods, always looking for an angle, are happy to take the opportunity Bahzell's opponents give them. With luck, they'll be able to eliminate Bahzell and his fellow champion, Kaeritha (the only female Champion of Tomanak in maybe forever). Their first step is the slaughter of a courser (horse-evolved but with human intelligence creatures) herd--and stealing the power that this gives them. WIND RIDERS OATH switches back and forth between two simultaneous plots launched by the dark gods. In one, they attempt to undermine the peace--and Baron Tellian Bowmaster--along with the coursers under his domain. In the other, they stir up hostility between the unpopular War Maids (women who have fled to free cities where they are no longer subject to Sothoii's parernalistic legal structure) and the conservative nobility. Success in either plot would cast Sothoii back to its 'times of trouble.' Success in both would be a major victory for the dark gods. Author David Weber continues his fantasy series with a strong adventure. Bahzell is a charmingly 'human' champion of his god--a champion who sometimes resists the god's orders and who certainly follows them in his own way. The coursers are only a part of the strong world-building that Weber brings to this series. Weber is a story-teller rather than an 'author,' and he occasionally gets bogged down in boring conversations where characters chat things out, explain what they are going to do to one another, and generally kill the action. As with many of Weber's books, a hundred pages of trimming would have made the story stronger. Still, when Weber gets down to action, he's hard to beat. The second half of this story, in particular, was a rolicking adventure that kept me turning the pages. As with many recent Baen hardbacks, a CD-ROM, containing the full text to dozens of novels including the earlier books in this series and Weber's Honor Harrington series, dramatically enhances the value of the package.

Middle of the Series Complex

First, let me say that I love almost everything that David Weber writes (I only qualify as almost because although I've enjoyed everything of his that I've read I'm sure I've missed something), but I wouldn't put this at the top of his books.As some readers have pointed out, you definitely want to read this after the first two in the series - Oath of Swords (vol. 1) and War God's Own (vol. 2). It's also fair to say that quite a bit of this story was about Leana (a whole lot of the story). Now she's an okay character, but if you've been reading this story since the beginning - you're really looking for Bazhell and Brandark (Brandark in particular gets short shrift in this story).So why did I give it four stars? I still read it cover to cover in one sitting (I do that alot so that doesn't mean that a book is phenomenal, but at least means its good and engrossing). Weber has great fight scenes (although there's not a ton of them). His characters are also usually very interesting (although Bazhell comes across a bit like Superman). Bottom line - despite the nitpicking it was a fun book to read.The series is kind of going through an evolution. Oath of Swords was pretty much a straight up adventure - two buddies going on an adventure with only limited "grand scale issues". The War God's Own introduced a few more characters and started getting more involved in political issues - Bazhell's father leading the Hrdani (sp ??), the political structure of the War God's religion, etc.This third book really gives the impression that you're in a series. Multiple characters and plot threads developing. But there's still a good climax (actually a couple of good grand fights at the end).Don't read this book first. Oath of Swords introduces the characters really well. You care about them after reading that book. If you enjoy the first two in the series, you won't be disappointed in this one (I think its the weakest of the three, but its still good).

Obviously A Series Books

This book appeared seven years after the second book in the series and, I think, has suffered in some people's opinion because of the time separation. Weber is obviously working to the same sort of plan he did in his Honor Harrington novels (although I prefer his style in this series), with plot strands carried through from one book to the next. This was less obvious in the first two books than in WRO, and I believe the dissatisfaction some readers have expressed results at least in part from the fact that Weber didn't intend the book as a stand alone.This is clearly a complex, well realized fantasy universe, and he obviously has a long story to tell. That's going to take time and wordcount, and books are going to be interconnected and interdependent, like this one is. There are, indeed, unresolved plot strands which I expect to see resolved -- in whole or in part -- in the next book. Which hopefully will be coming out in the next year or so.Personally, I found the book very enjoyable and readable, and I felt that it progressed naturally from a "launch phase," in which a whole new society (that of the Sothoii) was being introduced, to fast and furious action in the last few chapters. Given the lengthy time break between this book and the last one, I thought Weber did an excellent job of connecting the two while still giving the new reader enough information to know what was going on. My biggest criticism? Weber and Baen Books should have given us this book at least four years ago . . . and they'd better give me the next one a heck of a lot sooner than they did this one!