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The Sword of the Land Mass Market Paperback – February 25, 2003

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

After pledging her loyalty to her cousin Sithli, princess Rilsin Sea Becha, heir to the throne, realizes that she has made a grave mistake as she, unable to experience life and love, watches her cousin slowly destroy the kingdom, forcing Rilsin to risk everything she holds dear to save the Land. Original.
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In a daring coup, the house of Melisin attacks the Saeditin throne, killing all but one of the ruling house of Becha. Eight-year-old Rilsin witnesses the brutal murder of her mother, the queen or SaeKet, and then is imprisoned. The new SaeKet's daughter, Rilsin's cousin, Sithli, secretly visits her daily, and after she prevents Rilsin's execution, bonds with her in an odd alliance. Weary of the bloodshed in her land, rightful heir Rilsin pledges her allegiance and a lifelong commitment to keeping the peace to Sithli, who takes the throne at age 17. She is an erratic, cold, often unstable SaeKet, however, primarily concerned with fashion and full coffers, for which the people are overtaxed, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the ruthless Runchot nation. Finally, Rilsin understands she must betray her pledge to save her people. With the commoners rallying behind her, she moves to recover the throne, perhaps too late, for Sithli, near madness, holds Rilsin's baby daughter--the future of Saeditin--hostage. An engaging story with a wonderfully strong female protagonist. Paula Luedtke
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; First Edition (February 25, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0441010318
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441010318
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.3 x 1.01 x 6.64 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

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Noel-Anne Brennan
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Noel-Anne Brennan has spent most of her time reading fantasy and science fiction. She has been writing it since 1986 when "Winter Reckoning" was published. She was a finalist for the Romantic Times Award for "The Sword of the Land" in 2003. She has also written poetry and non-fiction. Until she retired she taught Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of Rhode Island. She lives with her family in southern Rhode Island. Occasionally, in her spare time, she sleeps.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
21 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014
    I have read fantasy since I was a child and this is well written, interesting and kept me looking for more. I got it as a free download and cheerfully purchased the second one!!
    I highly recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy - REAL fantasy, with an alternative reality, no crazy sex scenes (not that I mind those per say but we have preteen readers in our house and I have to pre read everything if I don't want to explain a zillion details of sexual exploits in many fantasy stories).
    The heroine is realistic and personable and I am super excited to have found this author, I will be purchasing everything I can by her
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2014
    The Sword of the Land has everything you could want from a dark low fantasy adventure. It has suspence that has you hooked from the beginning, twists that will catch you off guard, and action that is descriptive enough to let you know what is going on. A strong point, I believe, was the characters. They had realistic feelings and hidden depths, and were changed by the events of the book. There were several instances where I found awkwardly worded sentances, but it was easy to discern what they were trying to convey and continue on.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014
    The book was great, could not stop reading it! Read it from start to finish in a few hours. Highly recommend you buy it ,if you love a good story with a strong female lead.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2014
    Ms Brennan is an awesome story teller. I couldn't put this one down and lost quite a bit of sleep, but I don't care because a good book is well worth it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2016
    Loved the book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2014
    I have a hard time with the names, other wise it was a good read. I recommend it. Good book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2005
    I purchased this book based on the reviews that I had read. Overall it had reviewed well. After reading this book it was .... disappointing .... The writting style was annoying jumping here and there. Compeltly disjointed with no flow thru the story. The story itself was simplistic. Almost as if the author had followed a formula "How to write a book in 30-days". If you must have this book, save yourself the money and find it in a used bookstore. I am sure it will be there, as this is not a keeper.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2006
    This was an okay book. It was fairly enjoyable, except that I kept waiting for the "real story" to start. It's fairly obvious that Rilsin is going to have to overthrow her cousin and oust her from the throne -- Sithli is an incompetent ruler -- and I spent almost the entire novel waiting for the rebellion to get started. I suppose we're supposed to be all caught up in Rilsin's struggle with her divided loyalties, but instead all I felt was incredibly frustrated.

    Still, the author made me care enough that I finished the entire book. There were some extremely compelling moments and ideas, and Ms. Brennan has a gift for creating fascinating, three-dimensional characters. I found the plot boring and relatively uninteresting, however. This book didn't give me that compulsive page-turning, "I can't wait to see what happens next" feeling.

    So I'm giving this book three stars -- its good points and its bad points average out to leave it smack dab in the middle.
    One person found this helpful
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