Have Sword, Will Travel
The Have Sword, Will Travel series, Book 1
Garth Nix and Sean Williams
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Odo the miller's son never wanted to be a knight, while apothecary's daughter Eleanor dreams of nothing else. When they found the sword in the creek that used to be a river by their village, he was wary but she was overjoyed - all the moreso when the blade leaps to life and speaks to them! The blood of a true knight has woken it from its long slumber, the sword Biter declares... only it wasn't Eleanor's blood, but Odo's. Their protests fall on deaf ears; it insists that not only is "Sir" Odo a knight and Eleanor a squire, but that they go upon a proper quest, as a proper knight should, and Biter won't leave them alone until they comply. Eleanor suggests that maybe they should find out why the river's running dry; without it, after all, their village will be doomed, and saving innocent villagers surely ranks high on a knight's to-do list. (And surely, they both think, along the way the sword will realize what a mistake it's made.) They set out thinking to find a simple rockfall or other obstruction, maybe a day or two upstream. They never dreamed they'd encounter mysterious travelers, inhuman Earthkin, bandits, and even the greatest dragon who ever lived - or that their own lives would ever be in so much danger.
REVIEW: Another audiobook to make work somewhat more tolerable, this turned out to be an enjoyable adventure, one where everyone has something to learn - even a partially amnesiac sword. Odo never asked to become a knight, but realizes that maybe he has more to offer the world than hauling sacks of flour around his mother's mill. Eleanor dreamed of following her late mother's footsteps and becoming a brave knight, but never understood just what that entails, not only in terms of hard work and practice but shedding blood in the name of the greater good. Even the sword Biter has to adjust its expectations, in addition to dealing with a disturbing gap in its memories around how it got into the river outside a small village to begin with. While mistakes are made and sometimes impulses and emotions get the better of everyone, nobody is excessively or glaringly stupid, and they all learn and grow in their travels, which take them quite far from their village and who they used to be indeed. It's a fun tale with danger and humor and solid characters and plenty of adventure.
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