In Riverside, disputes are traditionally settled by swordsmen: hired mercenaries who battle one another on behalf of wealthy noblemen (or anyone with the ability to pay them). From the honor of a lady to whether or not a poet is terrible, the winning swordsman's stroke is considered the final say. But the reputation of swordsmen is in decline, with more and more matters being settled in court, while the swordsmen themselves become both romanticized and held in contempt.
Swordspoint tells the story of Richard St. Vier, the best damn swordsman in Riverside, and Alec, a university student (possibly from the Hill) who lives with him. When Richard kills two men in a duel in an aristocrat's garden, he finds himself embroiled in a rather unpleasant business. There are few he can turn to for help (which he likely wouldn't do anyway) because, every day, swordsmen become less and less respectable.
The Privilege of the Sword, set a generation after Swordspoint, tells the story of Katherine, a young noblewoman living in genteel poverty who is suddenly summoned to the city by her uncle, the Mad Duke. Katherine hopes that the summons means an upgrade in her marriage prospects, only to learn, to her horror, that the Mad Duke wants to dress her as a boy and train her to be a swordsman.
The Fall of the Kings is set a generation (give or take) after The Privilege of the Sword.
Tremontaine is the most recent addition, currently published by Serial Box. It's a prequel taking place roughly a generation before Swordspoint with a young Diane Tremontaine as one of the main cast embroiled in a steamy intrigue involving mathematics and chocolate.
This book contains examples of:
- All Myths Are True: The early history of the City states that in the time of the kings, magic was commonplace and ubiquitous, though most learned people agree now that these stories are only myths. The plot of Fall of the Kings involves a group of scholars who suspect that the legends are nothing more than fact and seek a way to bring the magic back. It works, but not for long, and the nobles quickly suppress and deny the knowledge in order to retain their own power.
- The Baroness: Diane, who maintains an air of feminine helplessness while actually controlling almost everything behind the scenes. And she isn't too dainty to resort to cold-blooded murder if someone causes her too much trouble.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Tess the Hand in the Tremontaine books is a large woman considered extremely sultry and gorgeous by both men and women, with thick red hair and creamy, flawless pale skin. The text openly describes her as "fat," but never with any negative associations. People fight for her favors and grow jealous when she settles on a new lover.
- Byronic Hero: Both Alec and Richard. (The author described them in the afterword to one edition as "my mad, bad boys.")
- City of Adventure: The unnamed City in which the books take place is a constant hive abuzz with intrigue, criminal capers, secret societies, double identities, and political maneuvering.
- City with No Name: The main setting of the books is referred to only as "The City" (Riverside, while named, is only a district). It's assumed it has a name but it's never mentioned in the stories.
- This extends to the entire realm, which is also never named beyond identifying the component founding states as the "Northern Kingdom" and "Southern Kingdom".
- Everyone Is Bi: Not everyone, strictly speaking, but certainly a large majority of the characters, and there appears to be no social stigma against same-sex relationships except when they interfere with marriage arrangements.
- Faking the Dead: Vincent is forced to retire from the swordsman business after he loses his arm. In part for his own safety, and in part to save face, Tess and Kaab convince Riverside that he actually died from the amputation. An unusual case of this, since anyone who's read Swordspoint knows that he clearly comes back and reestablishes himself at some point in the next fifteen years.
- Glorious Death: A recurring theme is the way each swordsman wants to die in battle with another swordsman, proving that they are a true swordsman. Applethorpe manages to die by St. Vier's sword, and he is happy with that.
- Grim Up North: The description of the former Northern Kingdom in The Fall of the Kings is sparse, but definitely implies a rocky, agriculture-poor region whose people lived a considerably more primitive lifestyle than that of the comparatively civilized South.
- Hitman with a Heart: Richard is a consummate professional who kills coldly and without remorse, considering it all as just a part of his job. On the other hand, he's devoted to Alec, and tends to be gentle, quiet, and respectful to those around him.
- Hollywood Autism: Micah is a mathematic savant with a poor understanding of social cues, who often comes off as shy or blunt to the point of rudeness. It's a more nuanced portrayal than most, but since ASD is unknown in this setting, there's no attempt to explain Micah's behavior as anything other than a personal peculiarity.
- Honorable Warrior's Death: The book makes a repeated point that true swordsmen die in combat at an early age and if they live long enough to die another way, it proves that they're shameful not proper swordsmen. Applethorpe manages to die by taking a challenge from Michael and is immensely pleased to finally die properly.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Many of the nobles present this attitude, both in regard to the Riverside criminal element and their fellow nobles. Alec in particular is cynical of both sides.
- Kill and Replace: The Reveal in Tremontaine - this is what "Diane" - originally the serving maid Louisa - did to the real Diane Roehaven.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Once upon a time, Richard loved a beautiful, volatile, and possessive woman named Jessamyn. The two apparently clashed to such a degree that Richard was forced to kill her in self-defense when she attacked him in a mad rage. Everyone who knew Jessamyn is unsurprised that her unstable behavior resulted in her death.
- Lover's Ledge: Years after the main body of the story ends, a short story reveals that Richard died by falling from a cliff on his island home. The common belief of the island-dwellers is that he, being blind, fell from the cliff by mistake while on a walk. Only the reader knows that his death came immediately after learning that his former lover Alec has died.
- The Magic Comes Back: The driving plot of The Fall of the Kings is an attempt to return the practice of real magic to society, and incidentally restore the monarchy (which was historically reliant upon it). It fails, mostly.
- Mayincatec: Kaab's people and culture tend to come across as a fictionalized version of South America. Unlike most representations, it's plain that they're as civilized (if not more so) than the nobles of the City, and they're very powerful political players. Their grasp of mathematics and navigation are actually a major plot point of Tremontaine, Season One.
- No Communities Were Harmed: Riverside has a fair amount in common with the Southwark of Shakespeare's day (which was and is on the banks of the River Thames).
- Offscreen Breakup:
- Between the events of Swordspoint and Privilege, Alec and Richard split for reasons that are implied but never quite made clear (context clues reveal that it may have been a combination of Alec being forced to resume his official position as Duke Tremontaine after Diana's death and Richard being forced to retire from the sword after losing his eyesight).
- In Tremontaine, Tess and Kaab split up between Season Two and Season Three for unstated reasons that leave them both wary and acrimonious when they're forced to work together again.
- Oh, Crap!: An extremely understated one at the end of The Fall of the Kings for Nicholas Galing, after the Serpent Chancellor Lord Arlen makes it clear that despite Nicholas' loyal service, Arlen is going to let him get tried and convicted for murder purely out of political convenience.
- Professional Killer: Hired swordsmen are a commodity in the city, and all the most respectable people have one on hire. They're held to a very formal code of conduct and don't kill unless they're ordered to do so—and when they are, it's their patrons, rather than the swordsmen themselves, that can be held criminally responsible.
- Rape as Drama:
- Implied in Swordspoint when Alec is taken prisoner. The book remains vague as to whether sexual assault took place, but he's very definitely threatened with it.
- A motivating incident for the main plot in The Privilege of the Sword comes when Katharine's noble-but-naive friend Artemisia is sexually assaulted at a ball.
- Religion is Magic: The magic of the wizards in The Fall of the Kings, while not explicitly incorporating any worshipped deities, is nonetheless closely connected to fertility, harvest cycles, hunting, and the natural world in a way very reminiscent of pre-Christian paganism, and is heavily based on public rituals reinforcing the King's position as an avatar/icon of the land.
- Secret Police: The Fall of the Kings features one, headed by the sinister Serpent Chancellor.
- Title Drop: "All men live at swordspoint." Lampshaded as a character thinks to himself that he feels "an epigraph looming to the surface."
- Basil St. Cloud's mentor in History at the University, Dr. Tortua, is most well known for his book Hubris and the Fall of the Kings.
- Urban Fantasy: All takes place in the unnamed City, a dangerous warren of criminal activity in contrast to the nobility of the Hill, who are just as bad but confine most of their wickedness to drawing-room politics.
- Urban Segregation: The nobles live on the hill, the poor in Riverside.
- Wholesome Crossdresser:
- Katharine is shocked when Duke Tremontaine insists that she wear men's attire in her position as his house swordswoman. Eventually, she comes to appreciate the utility of the clothing, and much later, when she's in a position to wear what she likes, she has her seamstress create men's clothing with a feminine flare.
- Micah prefers men's clothing due to sensory issues, and also prefers short hair for the same reason, leading to being mistaken for a young boy. Slightly subverted in that while most people figure out quickly that Micah is AFAB, Micah doesn't understand where the confusion comes from or why wearing men's clothes would even be an issue.
