The Sword Saint

This is the most underrated trilogy I've ever read. Conn Iggulden using a pen name for this trilogy definitely impacted how many people have heard of it, which is a shame because the entire trilogy was great.

Clocking in at a little under 1000 pages for the entire trilogy, it's one of the leanest series I've ever read. The Sword Saint in particular - about 330 pages- was all killer no filler. This entire book was fantastic, it set up an entirely new bad guy and did it easily while paying off the narrative threads of the last two books. Iggulden does a fantastic job with characters, every single one of them feels real and all the major characters have satisfying arcs, besides maybe one. Iggulden is able to maximize investment in character with very little page time.

The magic in this series is cool. There are magical objects around that grant abilities and they have been largely hoarded by noble families who each have a family heirloom, but occasionally, a person also just have a magical ability, or a “knack”, like being able to see a few seconds into the future or nulling the magical objects around.

The combination of magic, compelling characters, and surprising plot developments (plus very tense action sequences!) made this entire series extremely bingeable and compelling. If you like political fantasy, fantasy about thieves and outlaws (the series vaguely feels like Gentleman Bastards to me), or fast paced novels that don't bog themselves down with worldbuilding, I highly encourage you to check this trilogy out.