A Rage of Sabers: An Epic Fantasy Series

Kingdom of Ghosts #2

by Victor Gischler

He saved a kingdom. Now they want him dead for it .

After the miracle at Whiteout Pass, Merrik Niles finds that he’s a celebrity hero for orchestrating an impossible victory.
His reward? Maybe a knighthood. Maybe a sack of gold.

Nope. Archbishop Axen Fenwigg needs cash to fund his war, so he turns Merrik into a dancing bear, a hero to be paraded under the noses of the elite aristocracy along Greymond’s eastern coast. His job is to win over these nobles to King Lee’s side—the perfect use for a troublesome gadabout like Merrik.

In the meantime, civil war plunges Greymond into chaos as two men each claim the throne—one a fair-haired boy, the other a hulking, scheming hunchback. The longer Greymond rips itself apart, the weaker the kingdom will be when it must finally face the looming threat on the other side of the Arrowhead Mountains.

Magic, mayhem, a dash of romance, and crossed swords galore, A Rage of Sabers is Victor Gischler’s second installment in his Kingdom of Ghosts trilogy.

Genres: Fantasy

470 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2022

About the author

Victor Gischler is an American author of humorous crime fiction.
Gischler's debut novel Gun Monkeys was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. His work has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. He earned a Ph.D. in English at the University of Southern Mississippi. His fifth novel Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse was published in 2008 by the Touchstone/Fireside imprint of Simon & Schuster.

He has also writes American comic books like The Punisher: Frank Castle, Wolverine and Deadpool for Marvel Comics. Gischler worked on X-Men "Curse of the Mutants" starting in the Death of Dracula one-shot and continued in X-Men #1.

Gun Monkeys has been optioned for a film adaptation, with Lee Goldberg writing the script and Ryuhei Kitamura penciled in to direct.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the events at Whiteout Pass, Merrik Niles is dubbed a hero. All that seems to have done is to earn him more work. He's sent off to try to help fund the war and to draw people to King Lee's cause. The two self proclaimed Greymond kings are inevitably going to come into conflict that will only weaken Greymond against their common foe on the other side of the mountains, the Union of Territories. If that isn't enough, Merrik still has to deal with the uninvited Ghosts in his mind.

A Rage of Sabers was a fine book overall. There was no shortage of drama and interpersonal struggles. The challenge for me is that I feel like there should be greater focus on the Union of Territories and the Ghosts living in Merrik. The Ghosts and their purposes are the only aspect of the story that stands out and feels truly intriguing to me, but the focus on them isn't as much as I'd like to see.

The story isn't really progressing all that much. The two kings and their factions come into conflict as anticipated, but it feels rather brief considering this is book two of the trilogy. There is only one book left to wrap up the battle between the two kings, the battle against the Union of Territories, and the goals of the Ghosts. I'm not feeling overly optimistic that these story lines will be completed in a satisfactory manner.

A Rage of Sabers was just good enough for me to finish the trilogy. I hope the finale ends up surpassing my low expectations.

[James Heneghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy good read

I really enjoyed this and the 1st part. Easy but good reading that didn’t need too much thinking to be done, great before bed.

I have read other books by author and found them good, but more childish/comic (probably a bit harsh) but didn’t find this with this series, looking forward to the next instalment.

[Russ Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Padraig

Another awesome tale from Victor.
Well worthy to be read by all fantasy followers
I cannot recommend his books highly enough.
And to reach the climax as the episode does is heart breaking.

[Laura S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb read

Very good story, although some parts didn't make sense to me. I loved the part about Merrick and Mira being in love with each other but putting their feelings aside for the good of the kingdom and Lee!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the story being told in these books, and I love the characters. I still struggle to keep track of the characters sometimes, because of the number of them, but they are mostly entertaining. The events are sometimes wildly farfetched, but are fun to read.
This is one of my favorite fantasy series so far, and I can't wait to see where fate leads this world in the next book.