The Privilege of the Sword

Welcome to Riverside, where the aristocratic and the ambitious battle for power in the city’s ballroom, brothels and boudoirs. Into this world walks Katherine, a well-bred country girl versed in the rules of conventional society. Her mistake is thinking that they apply. For Katherine’s uncle, the Mad Duke Tremontaine, is in charge here—and to him, rules are made to be broken.

Set about fifteen years after Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword also stands alone as “an elegant riposte, dazzlingly executed” (Gregory Maguire).

. . . and it’s all somehow bound up in a little book called “The Swordsman whose Name was not Death . . . .”

“It’s not trash,” her daughter said. “It is full of great and noble truths of the heart. And swordfights.”

“Your assumptions? Kushner smashes them.” – The Little Red Reviewer

“Quick! Tell us a little bit about yourself and The Privilege of the Sword.” – John Scalzi

Winner of the Locus Award.