Have Sword, Will Travel by authors Garth Nix and Sean Williams is an exciting, medieval, adventure novel set in the time of knights, magic swords that talk, and dragons. As Odo and Eleanor set off on their grand adventure, searching to find the solution to why the river has stopped flowing, they are also hoping that they become true knights. Along their journey, they learn that there is more to being a knight than they first thought. They also discover that being a knight is not one big grand act, but the culmination of the little things they do along the way. A good lesson for anyone to learn:  that it’s the little daily things we do that make us who we are.

Nix and Williams take readers on an epic adventure that keeps them turning pages. Have Sword, Will Travel is equal parts daring quest, comic relief with talking swords, and the battle between good vs. evil. This is sure to be a novel that will appeal to anyone ready to set off on an adventure of their own.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Character recalls how her mother had died in battle; character cuts hand on sword; magic sword attacks 2 characters; magic sword threatens 2 people who mock it; magic sword tells story of someone dying from being shot by a cross bow; boy tells how he burned his hands working in a blacksmith shop; boy tells how he has been branded; sword fight results in person getting stabbed in the shoulder; man threatens to burn somebody with a hot rock; man knocked unconscious by a character with an anvil; characters are threatened with death by creatures called urthkin; character has to take part in a trial by combat which is said to often result in death; bandit overheard to be saying that they will kill a couple of people in the next village; characters attacked by fire breathing dragon; magic sword tells how anyone that ends up wielding it ends up dead; person tells how he was threatened with death; characters are attacked by and fight them off with swords; person is stabbed in the shoulder with a sword; person is eaten by a mythical creature.

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

Death.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None