A Really Great Review of "Swords Against Bastards - Barbarians of the Storm, Book III"

"A Review of 'Swords Against Bastards' - The End of an Era, and the Start of Something New" - by The Lord Otter

With heartfelt ends come new beginnings.

If there was one takeaway I had while reading Swords Against Bastards, Rob Rimes’ third novella (technically fourth) within his Barbarians of the Storm series, it would be just that. Within this one book alone, the first major story arc has now concluded in this world of swords and magic, derring-do, love, and sacrifice. Several characters' journeys end up finding their inevitable end within these pages, all while others’ are only just beginning.

As such, this review will be dealing primarily with book #3, along with some of my overall thoughts on the series thus far.

With that said, I feel like it would only be fair that I should disclose my own personal biases. Perhaps with the sole exception of The Long Moonlight, Rob Rimes’ Dan the Destructor was one of the first pieces of Iron Age fiction that I read. I came across the book while being in-between different places in life. Strangely enough, this came about as I stumbled across a (seemingly) random Twitter thread, where Rob was promoting other small creators.

The cover looked pretty neat, I thought to myself, and it was only a few months later that I finally purchased the story in question. Despite my initial apprehension, what I read shined through as a breath of fresh air, especially compared to what I was used to from many other indie creators. Here was just a normal everyman, Dan, who found himself teleported into a world full of magic and savagery, monsters and adventure, all the while having elements of “B-movies” thrown in for good fun.

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…check out The Lord Otter’s Substack Downstream Pulp for the full review and give a sub, as well.

Barbarians of the Storm books are available HERE.