Wielder

Soldiers and Swords #1

by Margaret Couplet

Hundreds of years after a race of magical beings called dindeary have taken over most of the world Corporal Clark Jameson is graduating from the Human Empire’s military academy after four years of grueling work. As a common born orphan from a small town too close to the border for anyone’s comfort Clark knows that he doesn’t have many prospects until, on the night before his future unit is to be decided he meets a strange pair of men who belong to the infamous Squad 42: Adam Milson, a sexy blonde that makes Clark’s blood run hot, and Harry Browning, the mysterious swordsman carrying one of the 13 magical swords which the dindeary will do anything to reclaim.

He never expected to see them again, especially considering Adam Milson was the heir to one of the most wealthy provinces but the next day he is called before all three of the members of Squad 42 and is offered the opportunity to try and wield Harry’s sword, Linsgarum. But Clark was a commoner, he couldn’t wield a sentient blade that burned any who were deemed unworthy, could he?

Genres: Fantasy, M M Romance, Military Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Gay

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Casey MacKenzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.
An interesting premise, but all over the place

[GeishaX · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel conflicted about rating this story.

I like
- that is is orginal, has a totally new concept, interesting world-building, the promise for an engaging story, the mix of fantasy, futuristic, soldier-life and really different races

I don't like
- the constant use of "the blonde" which grated on my nerves, that the story is all over the place, there is many threads that go nowhere (maybe they will in a later volume but at this point they appear pointless), the love-story seems very instant and weird - I couldn't feel it, the writing seems a bit clumsy in places

Overall the story shows promise but feels like we get to read it before the editor, like a raw draft, a first version.
The narrator does a decent job here, btw, not brilliant but no complaints either.

[Sarinha M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that I don't really mesh well with Margaret Couplet's writing style!

I've had both this book & Artemis's brother on pause for quite a while, I then attempt to start either one again, only to have to pause it again.

Now, this is through me reading some of the comments, but I thought this was going to be a throuple, but it seems not & there's also a weirdly sexual relationship with a sword?!? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Poor Harry, bless him, he's simply the voyeur & it seems that only blondes get to have fun in this universe, as if I'm recalling correctly, the MC & his love interest, who he sexes up about 5mns after meeting him while Harry watches are both blonde whereas Harry is a brunette 🤷‍♀️

I can't recall if the sword (manifestation/avatar/apparition/projection/ghost, whatever the kissing scene with the sword is about (also not really a spoilers it happens no more than 20mns into the book) was a blonde or not... I might need to re-listen to that part, but I (think) I recall that the swords eyes were the focus in that scene... 🤔

I'll keep trying, hopefully I'll manage to actually finish this one or Artemis's brother, but I'm not holding out too much hope TBPH!

I think it's the author's style to drop us into the middle of her stories, introducing us to numerous characters simultaneously, when we haven't even formed a "bond" with the MMCs (or remember their names yet, for that matter) so, far longer than is necessary is spent getting all the players in order in my mind so that I can confidently move the story along... which is where the nonending restarts have become an issue!

It seems that the author favours shorter stories, which I usually prefer as most authors use a lot of fodder to fatten up their books, but I honestly do believe that it's preferable to have a longer first book in a series, so that you can be introduced to every single character, the lore, the world building, etc in a more digestible way ... rather than trying to unravel every single character, their relationships to each other, abilities, eorld politics, what have you in the first 15mms of the book....

Introduce me to a character as they become prominent not all at once or so closely together that I have no idea who's who or why I'm supposed to care about them. Start me off by making me understand the point of the story that I'm starting out!

I think this author's work lends itself better to being read rather than listened to & yes, I'm fully aware that books are meant to be read, however most of us nowadays, listen to books on the go to keep us company &/or entertained & we only read books when we actually have some free time to fully dedicate to sitting down, chilling & fully immersing ourselves into a book...

So, I might need to see if the author's book are available on KU as currently they're available on Audible Plus & see if that makes it easier to follow along as I'm more likely to retain info if I read it... so it might be worth a try 🤷‍♀️

[Coda_o7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world building was interesting, but where is the rest of it? Swords with their own minds that choose a person to bond to? I’d be down for The Stormlight Archive but with mm (or other) sexy time, but this book is a tiny fraction of the size of books from that series, so there’s no room for developing those ideas into a grander, overarching conflict, unless future books in the series are going to do more than this one did. It’s basically an abbreviated academy story, abbreviated because our hero is already done with military school at the start, he’s just getting ready to find his post-school placement. And he finds it. The end. I guess there was no time for a backstory or our hero finding his resolve in the midst of adversity, or something like that.

As for the romance, I liked the casualness of the sex and what felt to me like kinetic chemistry of the two heroes, but I prefer spontaneous horniness first THEN learning that they love each other vs taking is slow and learning you love someone before having the sexy adult fun time. I also like how handsy and weird their friends are. Just the comfortability and normalization of the casual homosociality and homoeroticism felt very wholesome and affirming, as someone who is both gay and touchy-feely. ymmv. The one downside to this is that there’s very little conflict or doubt in the relationship, so that story point is thin as well.

I still rate it 4 stars because I found the social dynamic and culture of the hero’s friends to be so compelling, and the world-building was a nice flavor-text backdrop, even if it doesn’t seem interested in going anywhere.

[Wide Eyes, Big Ears! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corporal Clark Jameson is just about to graduate from the Human Empire’s military academy, he’d make a proficient sniper but has no idea what unit or job he’ll actually be assigned. His prosaic future is suddenly upended when he meets famed sniper Adam Milson (aka Iron Sight) and the even more famous magical sword wielder, Harry Browning (aka Hades), both from the highly respected Squad 42. Harry’s sword, Linsgarum, has expressed interest in Clark being his new wielder, but how can a mere commoner ever be eligible to wield such power?

I loved the idea of sentient, embodied swords that have a symbiotic relationship with their wielder and I thought the creative world building was great. Having said that, this fantasy romance wasn’t a straightforward read and it took some time to feel like I had a grasp on things. There’s a confusing but compelling opening scene, then we meet Clark’s academy classmates, the team of Squad 42, some baddies, and the High Council—that’s a fair few characters to get across, especially since most make fairly brief appearances in this shortish narrative (192 pp, around 5 hrs on audio). It’s worth being patient, though, the key ones are Clark and Squad 42. I especially liked the camaraderie of the team, I thought the dialogue was fun and engaging, I’m intrigued by Clark & Adam’s relationship, and I really liked the ‘underdog does good’ story arc. As the first in a trilogy, the story does end a little abruptly, but, given so many positives, I’m totally hooked! 🎧 Voice actor Dan Levy does a superb job of the characters, the action, and the banter.

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine. But. But. There's the main story. It has a beginning, middle, and end. You know at least something about every character by the end of the story - you have some idea of what are the rules of the universe - AND then there's the prologue. Which seems to be part of a different story. Or at least, hasn't connected with this one by the end of the book. And there's what may be the setup for the next book - but it's random characters who make a quick appearance and then vanish leaving a whole bunch of wait- is this the same world, what is happening here Questions behind them.

Could use a editor. Really.

[thatchickuh8 · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF...I think. I wasn't paying attention. It's one of those books where there is somehow too much going on and nothing going on at the same time. Amidst the copious amount of worldbuilding (something I've noticed with this author in other books), there is an interesting element, that being the sword link (inspired by Bleach?), but that gets lost. Between random characters, unnatural dialogue and all the smut, I couldn't grasp the strands of a coherent plot. I think I might have listened to the end, but I have no idea how it ended. The Narration didn't work for me.

[Sara Opel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun characters and great world

I read this book so quickly and I loved every moment of it. The characters are well written and fun and the world that the author built is interesting and awesome!

[Skyla Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

[Happei · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so nice to read something with an original concept, some world building and also smexy times.