Six Sacred Swords

Weapons and Wielders #1

by Andrew Rowe

It doesn’t take a legendary sword to make a legendary swordsman, but it certainly helps.

Keras Selyrian is already well on the way to cutting his name into the annals of legend. He’s fought false divinities, thieving sorcerers, and corrupt demigods — and left them defeated in his wake. But he’s a long way from home, and Kaldwyn offers a different brand of danger than he’s used to.

He’s already got a sword of unfathomable power, but it’s damaged and leaking world-annihilating mana, so he’s in the market for a new one.

Possibly six. The more the better, really.

The Six Sacred Swords are Kaldwyn’s most famous artifacts, forged as the only means to defeat the god beasts. Each sword must be earned by a worthy champion, and no single person has ever managed to collect them all.

Not yet, at least.

Keras is just getting started.

Additional Info:
Six Sacred Swords is a light-hearted fantasy adventure inspired by Japanese game series like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Fire Emblem. It takes place in the same universe as the Arcane Ascension novels, but years earlier and with a different protagonist. While the books are interconnected, they can be read on their own in any order.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magic, Dragons, Adventure

329 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2019

Reviews

[Petrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Continuously fun and light-hearted in tone, Six Sacred Swords was a great beginning to a new spin-off series by Andrew Rowe.

Six Sacred Swords is the first book in Weapons and Wielders series by Andrew Rowe. It is unknown at the moment how many books are planned for this series, but one thing for sure that you should know is that this series serves as a prequel to Rowe’s Arcane Ascensions series; a series I highly enjoyed. Some of the most dominant elements in Arcane Ascensions are the intricate magic system, the magic school setting, the tests, and the dungeon crawlers. Six Sacred Swords is both different and similar to Arcane Ascension by excluding the magic theory and magic school setting; focusing the narrative on the fun adventure, video games dungeon-crawler aspect, and anime-esque battle scenes. At the same time, this series serves also as a sequel series to Rowe’s War of Broken Mirrors; I haven’t read this one. That being said, rest assured that you can definitely start your journey into Rowe’s imagination by starting with this book.

Keras Selyrian is on his way to becoming a legend. He has fought and defeated false divinities, thieving sorcerers, and corrupt demigods but he has been transported to Kaldwyn. Kaldwyn brings a new kind of danger for Keras as he tries to collect the Six Sacred Swords; Kaldwyn’s most famous artifacts. Similar to Arcane Ascension, if you love reading SFF and you love playing JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Games), I really think you can’t go wrong with giving Rowe’s series a try. It doesn’t matter whether you start from Sufficiently Advanced Magic or this book, both books serve absolutely well as a great homage to JRPG and both are highly entertaining light-hearted adventure stories. Seriously, just from the chapter titles alone, you’ll get a good idea just how much of this book is a homage to JRPG’s. A few examples:

Chapter II – Breath of Fire (From the JRPG franchise Breath of Fire)

Chapter III – A Dragon’s Quest (From the JRPG franchise Dragon’s Quest)

Chapter XI – A Link to the Future (From The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)

Chapter XIV – Brave By Default (From the video game Bravely Default)

There are just a few examples, all the titles within this book are inspired by real-life JRPG that I have enjoyed playing growing up. However, what makes this book even more fun to read for me was how Rowe connects the content to reflect the title of the chapter; it felt like I was truly playing and reading a JRPG/novel, if that makes sense.

I honestly found this book to even more entertaining to read and light-hearted in tone compared to Arcane Ascensions for two main reasons. The first one is that although I immensely enjoyed Arcane Ascensions, I also have to admit that the magic systems’ explanation of that series at times can be a bit overkill that they ended up being quite tiring to read after a while. The second reason is that Keras is a very engaging main character; he has an incredibly positive attitude that's worth rooting for. Plus, the small cast of main characters in this book actually helped to make the book felt more intimate. The friendship between Keras, Reika, and Dawnbringer was utterly delightful to read; putting a smile upon my face on many occasions. I mean, a kind-hearted and powerful swordsman, an introvert romance-genre loving dragon, and a sassy sentient sword make for an incredible trio.

I have to admit that I haven’t been playing video games a lot for the past three years. I used to be able to play more than 40 video games per year, but now, as I get older and life gets busier, I only play one or two games per year at most. It’s a sad statistic, I know, but the only way I can increase that stats is by sacrificing my reading/reviewing time and honestly right now, I’m enjoying reading/reviewing more for many reasons that will be too long to explain here. My point is this, I’m grateful for books like this. For a book I read for the first time, it was able to spark a sense of nostalgia; reminding me of the adventure I had playing video games growing up, and just for that alone, this was a worthwhile read. I highly recommend Six Sacred Swords for any reader who’s in the mood for compelling light-hearted adventure. If you’re already a fan of Arcane Ascensions like I am, you’ll find a lot of things to love here; even more so if you’re not a fan of magic-school or intricate magic systems. Right now, I’m actually looking forward to the sequel of this book more than Arcane Ascensions, it was that enjoyable to read and I want more from it.

You can order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping)

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

By this point, (and I don't mean at the point of Dawnbreaker) I'm pretty much hooked on anything that Rowe writes. It doesn't matter anymore. My trust is always rewarded.

This here sets up a brand new series that happens to be set in the same world as Arcane Ascension but takes place quite a bit before.

What is similar?

Quests, dungeon crawling, puzzles, big action, and quirky coolness.

What is different?

Oh, nothing much, just an uber-powerful guy punching dragons and breaking the rules to the sacred tests, befriending constructs, romance-reading dragons, and trying to keep his world-killing sword from, well, you know, KILLING THE WORLD.

Oh, and he's a pretty positive guy. :) I can see why he picked up such wonderful companions in this book. :)

I had a HELLUVA FUN time. :) And you know what? This author really spins not just a great yarn, but he knows his audience WELL. :) We're the gamer audience. So many chapters hearken right back to our favorite JRPG games. :) All the dungeon crawler stuff is just adding story icing on all the corny puzzles we grew up with. And in other cases, I'm kinda awestruck that we get a BETTER Dawnbreaker story, assuming we're thinking on a particular Skyrim quest. :) Rowe tops that one. :)

What can I say?

This book is pure candy. Candy for the mind. :)

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six Sacred Swords is listed as book 2.5 in Andrew Rowe's Arcane Ascension series but is actually a prequel to that series focusing on Keras Selyrian's early adventures on the continent of Kaldwyn. It also works as a sequel to Rowe's War of the Broken Mirrors series as Keras is really just a pseudonym used by, one of that series main characters, Taelien Salaris!

The story was actually pretty enjoyable. Taelien/Keras was telling his story to Corin and the others during a travel interlude in the Arcane Ascension series so this whole book was told from his POV in the first person. It was a style that worked well as Taelien turned out to be a fairly amusing and likeable lead character. He was telling the tale of his early arrival to the continent of Kaldwyn and his mission to collect the six sacred swords that would help him defeat the God-Beasts at the top of the Towers and so grant him the audience he seeks with the Goddess Selys.

This ended up being a story with a tighter focus than either of Rowe's other series and I think that ended up being a surprising strength for the story. All the focus was on action and adventure as Keras went about trying to secure the first of the Sacred Swords and had to go through a bunch of tests and quests that were similar in nature to what Corin had to deal with in the Tower. It kept things moving at a decent pace but the real plus for this one was the fact that Keras proved to be quite an amusing narrator. The other big plus was the fact that this book had the best two support characters of any of Rowe's books so far in the form of Reika and Dawnbringer. Both characters were a ton of fun and I loved their interactions and banter with Keras. We got more humour in this one than in the other Rowe books I've read but I felt like that ended up being a big positive for the story as while I did enjoy the action and adventure elements of the story it is the character focused moments that can make or break a story for me and I feel like Rowe really got things spot on in this one in that regard!

If I had a complaint it was that the nature of the Weapons and Wielders series does seem to limit Rowe when it comes to any potential character growth for Keras if for no other reason than we know where he ends up by the start of the Arcane Ascension series. I feel like that is a big negative for this series as we know Keras will not form any true bonds with the likes of Reika or Dawn as neither are with him in the books that are set later in the timeline! Knowing Keras ditches the pair at some point in the future definitely slightly took some of the fun out of this one for me. The good news is Rowe did manage to neutralize the same damaging effect on his War of the Broken Mirrors series by revealing the fact that his companions from that one were supposed to be travelling with him to Kaldwyn but something had gone awry and that they either had not in fact been sent or they had ended up in a totally different location and so it would take a bit of time to find them. I liked that as it felt like the relationships Keras had established in the first two books of that series had not just been fleeting and throwaway. It is likely a personal preference but I do prefer it when the characters in my stories form lasting bonds to other characters as it gives the feeling that the stuff they do matters and that they are naturally growing as characters. Characters that just bounce from adventure to adventure in the Bond/Conan style without ever showing any change or character development along the way are not all that appealing a prospect for me as it tends to get tiresome pretty quickly once one figures out nothing they do really matters as it will all be reset by the time the next adventure starts. I do fear this series has the potential to fall into that trap so it will be interesting to see what develops in the next instalment of the series.

The good news is that I felt like this was probably that most exciting and enjoyable of all Rowe's books I've read so far. Which is all of them after my recent 4-book Rowe book binge!

Rating 4 stars. I'm rating it the same as the War of the Broken Mirrors books but should note that I do think I enjoyed this one just a tiny bit better due to the addition of more humour and the fun secondary characters.

Audio Note: Nick Podehl was superb. He gave a great performance and really nailed the humour scenes.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this title up after having read the first two Arcane Ascension books and I am very excited about the prospect of another new series beginning in the same world. I really enjoyed those titles, and this is kind of a prequel series following one of the characters, Keras, and his journey in a new land and on a quest to gather some sacred swords. Readers of the Arcane Ascension series will recognise Keras and what he later becomes, but this is him in his own words telling his story of his past.

What I like about this is that it moves along at a fast pace and it has just a few main characters who we're focused on for the majority of the book. Keras is a little pompous at times, and he's also a little sickly sweet at times, constantly sparing people despite just how good he is at fighting. I do think he's not my favourite of the two main characters from this author so far (Corin and Keras) but I think he's still someone who I enjoy hearing from and who has a good story to tell.

The other characters that we are following include Raika (I audio-booked this so apologies for spelling if incorrect) and Dawn who are a Dragon and a magical sword. Both of these characters are vital to Keras' adventures and the story he is telling as they accompany him on his quest, and Dawn is a big part of the end-goal. Of the two I think Raika was the more irritating to me because she is constantly treated like a small child would be, but Dawn can be pretty self-absorbed too. They've all got their flaws, but as a team and group of friends they work well together and they do a good job of helping Keras.

In terms of plot-line I think this is a fairly linear one with a quest and a search for lost swords and friends being at the forefront and a lot of scene setting. I anticipate that this is a series which has room to grow with the next few books, and I look forward to seeing where the story goes as the time continues.

Overall, I personally prefer the Arcane Ascension titles, but this story is well worth reading and adds a lot of background to that series too. I look forward to continuing with this when more books are released, and you can start here or with Arcane Ascension and you will probably enjoy one if you like the other. 3.5*s from me.

[Andrews WizardlyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic blend of action,light romance, characterization and cozy!!! This was so awesome Andrew Rowe is 3/3 for me 4.5/5

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I considered long on my rating here. A 5 is the best I can go and there are (of course) many books I'd have to rate above this one...but not a lot. I've actually gone through this one twice already. This one I'd have to describe as, well as fun.

You know humor often falls flat when paired with action adventure. We've all seen comedy action movies' and some are great. Sadly for every good one there are probably a few dozen that fail. The same can be true for novels. Here it works well.

Our "hero" is relating the story of his quest(s) to a group of...younger fighters. The death defying deeds along with the ability to show a protagonist who keeps his wry wit is great.

If the book has a flaw it could be that sometimes our hero comes across as almost too competent. But it never really goes over the top and the book keeps you involved, excited and laughing.

I just started the next one.

Recommended, enjoy.

[RodTheWay · Rating 2 out of 5]

you get to choose 1 boon.
-fully healed body
-enhanced protection vs cutting aura
-legendary items
or
-give a 20min old spriritual construct the illusion of being alive and keep her prisoner within a small area of the shrine + give her a fake brother.
(Crystal : Ahh you have good values...you remind me of my creators)

I'm almost puking
his choice was disturbingly retarded (like school kids sniffing glue)
the crystal being's praises were sickening (both characters are the author...so he is congratulating himself for being saintlier than mother theresa)
gtfo
I mean it

[Soima Traian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty bad

The MC is supposed to be a 20 something man but he acts like a 5 year old anime character. I kept hoping that it would get better towards the end but no. Children have more mental maturity and strategy sense than him. I gave the book an extra star because it was slightly entertaining at times but NO, this book is not worth it.

[Luke Chmilenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and fantastic!

An absolutely fun read from beginning to end! I've been crazily excited for this book since the first day I heard about it and it 100% held up in end! Now I'm excitedly awaiting the others!!

[Deb✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mini-series set between the author's two main fantasy series.

Keras is the MC in this story and it is told from his POV. This is such a fun, humorous, light-hearted book, read by my all-time favorite narrator, Nick Podehl on audible books.

Keras, happens to befriend a book reading, romance-obsessed dragon, named Reika, and a talking sword, named Dawnbringer. Dawnbringer is the sword he breaks free from a hardened blue crystal rock formation, so he can wield it. There are some great fight scenes and guardian spirits with their "trials" that he happens upon. Keras has the ability to win, but he does take a lot of damage to his health each time. Reika helps heal him sometimes.

I loved how fun the book was to listen to. I recommend this one! I'm looking forward to the next one, Diamantine.

[T.R. Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Andrew Rowe book. I quite enjoyed it. The characters were cute, the banter was fun, and the world was interesting. I can tell already that he is making a lot of references to his other works. I like that sort of thing. It makes the whole fictional universe feel connected. I have 'Sufficiently Advanced Magic' on my shelf right now. I'd like to get to it soon, but there are so many damn books already on my mountain of a list. I always love to see an Indie author succeeding and gaining a passionate fanbase.

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was entertaining enough that I finished it and didn't return it (barely), but it was mostly just disappointing. It was a long series of fight scenes that felt a bit repetitive and were mostly solved via deus ex machina kind of endings. The characters made a point, instead of being clever, of solving all problems via cheating (by virtue of being from somewhere else so he didn't know how to do otherwise), and perpetual talk about how excited the main character was to find a "worthy fight" was in stark contrast to the fact that he perpetually got his ass kicked and had his injuries massively talked up, which then perpetually conflicted with the fact that he'd join yet another fight five minutes later. The point being, nothing was really believable, the "show don't tell" advice for authors seemed not only to be ignored but to be in conflict since what the characters actually "showed" was in stark contrast to the courage, intelligence, or fighting ability that was perpetually attributed to them.

So yeah, quite disappointing. I also had a minor complaint, which is that in the opening scenes in a fight between two characters, one of the two characters was described as "they." I don't know what this was about, but all it did for me was make the scene very confusing as I kept having to rewind to check and see if someone else had joined the scene only to discover that the plural was in fact being used to apply to a single character, again. Not sure what that was about, but it made an already rather mediocre book start with a rather annoying writing dynamic that made one distrust the narrator in a way that also further detracted from the whole story. This then fed into the sense that what was described about the characters conflicted with the traits they exhibited, leaving one with a broad sense of inept characters and a dishonest narrator both. This made the book frustrating on top of being disappointing.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. Rereading this a second time through I have a little better understanding of it in comparison with the other books set in this same world with some of the same characters. It is fun to see Keras' adventures on this continent before meeting up with the teenagers in the other series. I love the snark between Keras' and the sword and the dragon. The puns are good too. Who ever knew there were so many double meanings with swords, etc. and not even in a sexual way.
Very enjoyable.

[THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a good time with this book. This was pure adventure and fun. I love the magic, I love the characters, and I love the action along with the sense of mystery that Rowe weaves throughout the story. I haven't read any works by Rowe previously, so I can't comment on the lore aspect of the books, but I found the fantasy world to be quite intriguing.

The story is a sort of quest. There's a sassy sentient sword whose delightful personality made me happy every time I read about her. Yes, the sword is a she. And, Reika I already love her. She's cute, a little shy book-loving dragon who loves reading fantasy romance, and is always enthusiastic about a good fight. Keras, I like him too. He isn't a overpowered protagonist, and is kind-hearted for a powerful swordsman who refuses to kill until he has to. The banter and interaction between Reika, Keras, and Dawnbringer brings life to the story of this book.

The book has a sword and sorcery feel to it, but is rather light-hearted. Keras is the narrator of the story, and I feel that he's not telling the reader all things. I'm eager to see how the story progresses in the second book, as I can't seem to get enough of this unlikely trio. And, I hope that Rowe gives a romantic touch to Reika and Keras. They look so adorable together.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Keras, but the book didn't manage to match the main series.
Of course I loved finally hearing the story he told Corin and the others, but ... I'm just not that into that humour thing :'D

[Andrey Lukyanenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great story, loved it!
My only qualm is the dissonance between Keras personality as he was described in previous books and in this one.

Also his reluctance to hurt enemies, even when he is in danger.

[Nick Tankard · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

[Alex Southard · Rating 1 out of 5]

meaningless

[Calvin Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six Sacred Swords by Andrew Rowe is the first book in a new series set in the same world as his War of Broken Mirrors series and his Arcane Ascension series. It is set as a sort of interlude that takes place directly following the ending of On the Shoulders of Titans the second book in the Arcane Ascension series. Having said that, you could read Six Sacred Swords without having read Arcane Ascension, though the first chapter will thereby include some implicit spoilers. This makes it seem like a more complicated setup than it actually is. Bottom line: Keras is telling some of his backstory to the other characters, and it’s pretty cool.

As we can safely expect from Andrew Rowe, there are a number of magical battles in this book. They’re all fun and well described. One of the things I think Rowe does very well is giving us battles that are filled with tension. These are the sorts of battles you could easily expect to see in an anime. In fact, the flow and tension of the battles puts me constantly in mind of battles in various anime in all the best ways. The fight sequences are highly enjoyable. In addition to the battles, I loved learning more about Keras. In Arcane Ascension Keras is incredibly strong. In Six Sacred Swords we see a much weaker Keras. He’s still strong. But he’s much weaker than we’re used to, and this makes things interesting. We also get to see things from Keras’ perspective. I love that. It’s neat to see what makes him tick. In fact, one of the things I love, is that he’s so good. Keras is principled. This novel is hopeful and lighthearted. Speaking of lighthearted, Rowe writes some wonderful banter in this one. There are also some wonderful homages to classic computer RPGs in the chapter titles.

There were a couple things I didn’t like. The largest of these was the voice. What I mean by this is that, while it was neat to get inside Keras’ head, it didn’t always feel like Keras. He often overthinks things in a manner very similar to Corin, the viewpoint character for the Arcane Ascension series. There are other small ways that he doesn’t feel quite like the Keras we’re used to in Arcane Ascension. To be clear, some of this may simply be down to the fact that he hasn’t grown into that character yet. That’s fine. For me, however, the character voice just didn’t seem to be quite right. I also felt like the characterizations of the side characters could have been a bit stronger.

For me, Six Sacred Swords doesn’t quite live up to the two currently published books in the Arcane Ascension series. It’s still good and worth your time, make no mistake about that. From tense battles to some very cool world building this has all the things we’ve come to expect and love about Andrew Rowe’s writing.

7.5/10

3.75/5 stars.

5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile
4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile
3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time
2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it
1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing

[Micperk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh man, I'm a huge fan of the Arcane Ascension series so when I saw this up for grabs on my kindle I knew it wouldn't be too long before I read it. This book is based in the same world as his other books and is a great addition to the overall scope of the world he's created. This is definitely a book that you should know what to expect before making a purchase on though. This book is heavily influenced by RPG games and even gives off anime vibes. A few examples - magical swords that talk, mysterious forests that teleport you back to the beginning, dungeons with various traps and treasures, and all types of different monsters. While you might think all of these tropes sound off-putting. I guarantee you that Andrew Rowe will give them to you in a way that's incredibly unique and satisfying.

While at it's core this is a lighthearted adventure type novel, the fight scenes can't be described as anything but absolutely epic. I honestly feel like I'm watching an anime fight during the action scenes in this book, they're extremely detailed and among the best I've read. The in-depth magic system allows for some truly epic confrontations.

While there isn't much in the way of story (jrpg). The dialogue was more than enough to keep me interested in between the exploration and fight sequences. You'll find a lot of puns and tropes turned upside down in this book, it's one of the few fantasy books that I found myself laughing while reading certain parts.

So if you're in the market for something different and fun I'd definitely recommend this book to you. But if you're in the mood for an in depth story with a bunch of plot twists and emotional moments you should probably hold off until you find yourself wanting something a bit lighter and funner. I came into this book knowing what to expect and it delivered in that regard.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story, except for this one part when he kept referring to the dragon as "they", when there was only 1 dragon. Seriously, that is what editors are for. Yes, I'm being facetious, I know the character didn't know what "gender the THING was" and so was trying to be gender neutral. My disgust with trying to redefine the existing English language to suit the BS that is PC holds no bounds. The term that would have made sense was IT, and I think MUCH less of the author for doing that. The author CLEARLY buys into the PC garbage that is flying around these days, and wants to "gently" signal to those SJWs "in the know" as much. For anyone who might disagree with the disgust I personally feel with this, you should at least agree that he should not have tried to insert such a contested political topic into the book, as the side who would agree would probably forget about it within the next few chapters (at the most), and those who disagree, in this case like me, would have a MUCH stronger reaction (granted, the people without an opinion probably won't notice). Imagine if the author had said, for example something pro-life, that "that person was pregnant, and she could NEVER abort the baby, because abortion is murder, and is always wrong unless it is to save the life of the mother". The topic is rather spicy, no?

[Alex Riina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first two Arcane Ascension books and was looking forward to learning more about the distant continent that Keras is from and his mysterious history. This definitely delivers a bit on both, but I'm not that into Keras. To avoid spoiling any of the events in the book, here's my impression of Keras in New York:

Keras is the kind of guy who wakes up, pours himself a bowl of cheerios, looks for traps, and then asks the cheerios if they're willing to be eaten or what distant lands he can venture to and what artifacts he can recover to deserve the honor of eating those cheerios. The milk, which also happens to be sentient, becomes a love interest despite only knowing the inside of the carton and having the maturity of a child.

When Keras is not using his sword to slice through intricate puzzles and suspicious doors, he's carefully weighing the risk vs the speed of each line at the grocery store. When he's not obliviously asking personal questions, he's carefully maneuvering conversations to extract critical information.


This book has a similar amount of detail and internal thought to Arcane Ascension, but lacks the character growth and thorough introduction to the world's magic that made Arcane Ascension charming.

[Phil Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frustratingly simplistic. The main character (hell, all of the characters) have a child's idea of morality, and it makes things drag on and on. This is an adult book?

I've read all of the books in this series. Loved some of them, and the world is really fascinating, but the characters have always been a detriment and they become more painful to read every new book i pick up. They're like children, with their 'oo boy, i love fighting. this is so much fun!' light hearted attitude vs. their uber serious 'i must forsake all benefit to myself because someone across the world coughed a little bit and there is the slightest chance in the world i might have caused that cough. The pain! The shame!'. I was rolling my eyes at least half of the time while reading this.

There would be points where you would hear conversations like:

- You won! You get a boon for winning (great! what will this be?)
- You can choose a magic you've always wanted, or heal a pain that has bothered you for years that no one has been able to heal! (ah. so that kind of boon. let's see what stupid reason he'll come up with to refuse this)

I almost quit the book entirely based on his response to that situation.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the Arcane Ascension series, this book didn't quite do it for me.

1. You know Keras will survive to meet with Corin, so there is no real threat in the story
2. Keras is already pretty powerful, able to defeat a dragon and nightmare spirit, so there is not much growth to his powers unlike Corin and gang.
3. The romance parts with Reika and Dawn reminds me of harem stories
4. The choices that Keras makes don't make sense

It's a light-hearted read with some geeky references and even though I didn't take to the protagonist, I'd still like to find out what happens in the series.

[Sharkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn't like big, brawny dudes and awesome, romance-loving dragons being badass and fighting?

I sure as hell love it.

Getting a glimpse behind the veil that is Keras is interesting, fun, and a good bit of story telling and world building.

I wasn't as in love with the fact Keras is telling this to the SAM crew, but that was easy to overlook and didn't detract from the story.

Overall, very good story. Very enjoyable.

[Jonathan Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six Sacred Swords was a relatively quick, straightforward romp, which I'm understanding is a prequel to Rowe's previous series. I enjoyed the book for the most part, though it was a bit more of a popcorn-munch type of rapid ride than I expected.

The novel follows Keras, a semi-magical knight-type hero who possesses a magical sword, but is on a mission to recover the six sacred swords of Kaldwyn. He meets and befriends a dragon and another sentient sword along the way, engaging in a lot of light-hearted banter as the characters get to know each other, and work their way through their challenges. It almost comes across as like, a single dungeon side quest in a D&D game, in that it covers a relatively small quest (in detail) of a character I'm thinking is fleshed out in other novels, based on other reviews.

Either way, this was a fun, if imperfect novel. It's a page-turner, and is clearly designed to be, but also lacks a bit of substance I was looking for. The dialogue was fun, but could have been better. As a whole, I'd say I felt this was a 3.5 - good but not excellent, however it was a fun read.

[terpkristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, a side series for Arcane Ascension. This book starts to tell the stories of the 6 magical swords in the world of AA. This book reminds me a bit of an upcoming game called Boyfriend Dungeon. In that game, you take weapons on "dates" by using them through dungeons (that are basically malls with enemies). In this story, there was a sentient weapon that seemed to enjoy flirting with the main character...and, of course, fighting.

[Meekachii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I’m going to give this a 4.5 out of 5. Might be my favorite Andrew Rowe book yet

[Melenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is good. I don't care for how it is presented and some things don't ring true to how the main character was previously presented. Worth reading to keep up with the rest of the stories, but I won't be rereading it.