Sniper

Soldiers and Swords #2

by Margaret Couplet

Corporal Clark Jameson, now Second Lieutenant Clark Jameson, had never dared to dream of a world where he belonged to a Sword Squad, let alone become the Wielder at the center of one but here he was. He still has a long way to go, a week locked up in a dorm room wasn’t exactly the best way to get to know your new squadmates and he’s never set foot outside of the empire before. Then there’s the matter of Harry and the secrets that Clark’s new squad seem to be keeping about Linsgarum’s mysterious former Wielder.

Adam Milson had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was aware of that fact but sometimes a silver spoon wasn’t enough when your father was going insane and your brother was dead. A new relationship wasn’t exactly a fix for those things but having Clark in his corner was certainly enough to help him tread water. Here’s hoping Clark wouldn’t react negatively to Harry’s secret, both of Harry’s secrets, though he was the only one who knew the second now that General Browning was dead.

Genres: Fantasy

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 7, 2023

Reviews

[Wide Eyes, Big Ears! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newly promoted Second Lieutenant Clark Jameson has left the Human Empire’s military academy on his first mission with the mavericks of Squad 42. Clark is the wielder of Linsgarum, a highly sought-after magical, sentient sword that the enemy will kill to obtain. Clark’s budding relationship with renowned sniper Adam Milson is progressing well and the Squad trust Clark enough to reveal some of the secrets of their deadliest member, Harry Browning. But life on the road is soon complicated when they pick up not one but two strays, and they learn that an astronomical price has been put on the Squad’s heads, dead or alive.

This travelogue / romance suffers the same shortcomings as Tolkien’s middle book, The Two Towers: it doesn’t have the novelty of the first book, Wielder, where everything is fresh and exciting, nor the climax and resolution of the third book, Sovereign. Instead, we follow the Squad on their travels with more dialogue than action. We’re given a few secrets and a lot of technical world-building context and explanations through that dialogue, some of which is satisfying and some of which is hard to retain. But, like in Wielder, I was scrambling to understand some scenes, which just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I like the characters a lot, I like the creative fantasy world (which is a unique blend of medieval and modern), and I’m still intrigued by the story, so I’m definitely looking forward to the final book. 🎧 Voice actor Dan Levy does a great job handling the different characters and accents on the audio!

[Skyla Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 stars