Sword-Breaker
core novel 1991 Sword-Dancer
Record
| First published | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.06 (3,784 ratings, collected 2026-10-07) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780886774769 |
| Internal chronology | 4 |
Synopsis
Tiger and Del are accused of murdering a man whom the Southron tribes believe to be their messiah, the jhihadi, but who was in fact the murderer of Del's family, and they flee across the Punja desert hunted by religious zealots and by sword-dancer assassins who were once Tiger's colleagues. Tiger made his Northern sword, but in the making he trapped an angry sorcerer's soul in the blade, and the jivatma fights him for control at every turn, while Del, her song of vengeance finished, is a sword without a song at twenty-three. The fourth novel closes the first arc of the saga with the sword-breaking of its title and a prophecy about the jhihadi that may point at Tiger himself, and sets up the exile that the fifth book begins.
Where it sits
- Universe: Sword-Dancer
- Series: Tiger and Del core; position 4 of 8 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Jennifer Roberson
Notes
- From the series record (Tiger and Del): Jennifer Roberson's Sword-Dancer saga (1986-), told in the sardonic voice of Tiger, the Sandtiger, a Southron sword-dancer, and following his partnership with Del, a Northern sword-singer: duels in the ritual circle, souls bound into blades, and the long question of Tiger's origins. Six novels published 1986-2002 as a complete arc, then two more (2013, 2022) with a ninth mentioned.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Tiger and Del: position 4 of 8: previous Sword-Maker (1989) · next Sword-Born (1998)
Sources
← Sword-Dancer dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.