The Swordsman’s Lament by G.M. White | Blog Tour

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When a prince is murdered, a legendary swordsman stands accused.

The King wants blood...

...and loyalty counts for nothing.

Belasko thought he was beyond intrigues and machinations. But when the grief-stricken King demands vengeance, Belasko discovers he is expendable. His options are clear... find the real killer or satisfy the royal bloodlust. 

With the forces of the palace mobilised against him he is thrust into the city’s bleak underbelly and must fight to discover the truth.
With betrayal around every corner he must form unlikely alliances. Can the veteran warrior survive long enough to protect his friends and prove his innocence?

Join Belasko on a page-turning adventure as he hunts the real killer, from courtly intrigue to the depths of the city’s criminal underworld, and learns the true meaning of The Swordsman’s Lament.

A fast paced fantasy thriller perfect for fans of David Gemmell, Sebastien de Castell, and Ed McDonald. The Swordsman’s Lament is a story about friendship, betrayal, and those who are willing to do what is right no matter the cost.

The Swordsman’s Lament– what a curious and intriguing title.  I am known to like my fantasy novels to be swift, brutal and to take no prisoners.  This book was all these things and so much more.  It’s a book to read on a rainy day, the chores can wait, the miserable weather the perfect backdrop to catapult you into an amazing fictional world.  The synopsis promises blood and the book delivers that with a fatal blow.  The narrative transported me in between the pages, wandering through the bloodshed with no armour, would I survive the onslaught?

Enter our protagonist, Belasko.  Good old faithful, Belasko.  Loyal to a fault, he always looks out for his Kings best interests and nothing will get to the King, not on his watch.  That is until the faithful day when the royal prince is killed.  Who do you think takes the fall for this tragic event?  That’s right, good old faithful, Belasko.  No pleading or begging will make the king listen or show mercy, Belasko is to blame and that is the end of the story for him.  He has committed the ultimate sin.  The only thing left for Belasko to do is to find the real killer or face the sword himself. 

The Swordsman’s Lament instantly resonated with me.  It’s a story of injustice and betrayal.  Haven’t we all been in a place or time when we have been accused of doing something we haven’t?  Okay, so it probably hasn’t been something as inherently evil as murdering a prince, but we’ve felt the injustice of it all the same.  We can feel Belasko’s pain, we want to reach out to him and tell him it’s going to be okay, but really is it?  Will he find out who committed this dreadful act before it all collapses upon him?

One thing I was pleased and surprised at with this tale was the depth of the feeling and emotion.  The discussion behind the themes of guilt, desperation and pain was in-depth and just gave me a sense that this story was going to stay with me for the long-term.  It’s a story with multiple layers and the more you peeled them back the more you had a feeling at being at home – something a great fantasy can emit from me. 

The author led me down a path of no return.  He lay down clues that I had to follow, I was unaware of my surroundings until of course he grabbed me by the jugular and wouldn’t let go until that final page had me in its sights.  The Swordsman’s Lament is a quick paced story that I literally inhaled in a matter of hours and left an imprint on my soul.  This is when self-published stories are at their most excellent and this one is up there with the absolute best.    

ABOUT G.M. WHITE

G.M. White has always been an avid reader, a love of the written word instilled in him by his parents at an early age. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that he was a very talkative child and the only time he was quiet was when he had his head in a book. Anyway, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one. A lifelong

storyteller he finally decided to put his imagination to good use and set pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard) and started to write down the worlds that he carried with him in his head. The Swordsman’s Lament is his first novel, published September 2019.

G.M. White