Swordspoint
core novel 1987 Riverside
Record
| First published | 1987 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.80 (11,168 ratings, collected 2026-09-15) |
| Page count | 329 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780877959236 |
Synopsis
Swordspoint is set in an unnamed city on the treacherous streets of Riverside, a district where formal duels, fought by hired swordsmen on behalf of the nobility on the Hill, serve as a socially accepted way of settling disputes among commoners and aristocrats alike. The novel centers on Richard St. Vier, Riverside's most feared and skilled swordsman, who makes his living taking contracts from noble patrons willing to pay for his blade. When one of Richard's duels, fought on behalf of a patron, produces an outcome that provokes scandal rather than the usual quiet acclaim, it sets off a chain of political intrigue reaching into the Hill's aristocratic households. Richard's partner Alec, a mysterious and cutting former scholar, becomes entangled in the fallout, as the consequences of the duel ripple outward through Riverside's underworld and the nobility's own tangled rivalries.
Where it sits
- Universe: Riverside
- Series: Riverside core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Ellen Kushner
Notes
- Riverside #1. A secondary-world city of duelists, nobles, and the titled "Hill" district's councils and chancellors, with no magic in evidence; the New York Times praised it specifically for its lack of magic, and it is widely cited as a founding text of the "fantasy of manners" subgenre.
- From the series record (Riverside): Publication order (1987, 2002, 2006) differs from internal chronology (Swordspoint, then Privilege of the Sword ~18 years later, then Fall of the Kings ~40 years later); both orders are well documented and not in dispute, so no unresolved-chronology case applies here.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Riverside: position 1 of 3: next The Fall of the Kings (2002)
Sources
← Riverside dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.