Diamond sword, wooden sword

The Méline Empire is ruled by a puppet monarchy , while the real power belongs to the magic orders of the Rainbow. In Mellin, small nations (Inhumans) are discriminated against - such as Danu, elves, gnomes and orcs. According to the prophecy, Danu and the gnomes will soon have magic weapons that embody their hatred of each other and people - the Diamond Sword (Dragnir) of the Dwarves and the Wooden Sword (Immelstorn) of Danu.

The young Emperor, who wants to escape from the care of the Rainbow, using the services of the Gray League - the secret society of assassins and spies Melyn - raises a bloody rebellion in order to cut to the root hateful magic orders. However, he does not suspect that his rebellion was provoked by higher forces - the Untitled, a being from beyond the Ordered, absorbing worlds. Rainbow mages could break through his hordes only at the cost of self-destruction.

Melin is still threatened with death if Diamond and Wooden swords converge in battle. Agatha, the wearer of the Danu Wooden Sword, fell in love with the Emperor and is ready to give up revenge, but her subordinates go into battle even against her will. At the last moment, Fess, a Gray League warrior, takes possession of the Swords - an adventurer and an under-trained battle mage who escaped from another world and came to the service of the Emperor. A powerful explosion creates a giant Rift in Mellin, and Fessa and Swords throws through it into another world.

Protagonists

• Agatha, she is Seamni Oktakann - a girl from the Danu people, captured during the mission to find the germ of the Wooden Sword, later its Keeper.
• The emperor is the sovereign of the Melin Empire who recently ascended the throne.
• Kitsum is a clown of the wandering circus Onfim and Onfim, in reality - a warrior of the Gray League, who was hunting for the Wooden Sword.
• Fess, aka Car Laeda, is a warrior of the Gray League, in reality, a nee mage of the Valley of Mages who has not received a diploma and does not have membership in the Guild of War Mages.
• Tavi is a combat magician Melina, a self-taught witch who miraculously escaped the Rainbow bonfire as a child and raised by the Freedom tribe, a participant in the quest for the Diamond Sword of the Dwarven people.
• Sidri Dromarong is a gnome, a merchant, the head of the caravan, in fact, an agent of the Stone Throne, sent for the Diamond Sword.
• Actium is an unknown magician, imprisoned under the foundations of the Temple of the Cold Flame in the Melin city of Khvalin, in fact, the former True Magician Merlin, who, after the Rebellion of the New Gods, surrendered to Chaos in the name of the mages of the island of Brandey, but subsequently rejected his service and in punishment for treason, imprisoned in the world of Melin messenger of chaos.
• The owner of the Rainfall is the magician renegade of the Order of Ark, gaining immortality by devouring the souls of sentient beings who died under the streams of the Deadly Rainfall, in the past - the mentor of Tavi.
• Sylvia Nagual is a full-fledged adherent of the Order of Ark, the daughter of the Master of Rain and the granddaughter of the Supreme Magician of the Order of Ark.
• Segez is the head of the Order of Liv, the mentor of Emperor Melin.
• Klara Hummel is a nee battle mage for hire, a member (later head) of the Valley War Mages Guild.

Supporting Heroes

• Kheon - one of the patriarchs of the Gray League, by origin - a nobleman who led the rebellion against the Rainbow in the quarters of the Black City of Melin.
• Kan Torog is a Freeman warrior, a member of the Captain Circle, hired by the Stone Throne to accompany Sidri Dromarong on his mission.
• Ilmet is an adherent of the Order of Ark, a participant in the search for Swords.
• Onfim is the owner of a vagrant circus, in fact - an adherent of the Order of Ark, with the help of his slave, Danu Agatha, who discovered and captured the Wooden Sword.
• Evelyn and Nodlik are the juggler spouses from the wandering circus of Onfim, in reality - the warriors of the Gray League who were hunting for the Wooden Sword.
• Cedric Scarlet is the last prince-mage of the Danu people, who led the campaign of the remnants of the army of his people at the call of the Wooden Sword.
• Ondulast is an adherent of the Order of Kutul in Praise, who nearly exposed Sidri Dromarong's mission.
• Tarvus - Count of the Empire, the head of the Melin nobility, who took the side of the Emperor in the war against the Rainbow.
• Bragg - the baron of the Empire, the leader of the baron militia, in the confrontation of the Emperor and the Rainbow informally sided with the magicians.
• Avramy is the commander (legate) of the First Legion, one of the Melin leaders in the rebellion against the Rainbow.
• The goat-footed - the nameless minion of the Unspoken, who captivated Klara Hummel in Mellin and handed Fess the magic plate glove for the Emperor - a negator who neutralizes any magic actions directed against her wearer.
• Raina is the Valkyrie , the last survivor of the Battle of Borgild, guardian of the Valley of Mages, and subsequently the bodyguard of Klara Hummel.
• Ignatius Copper is the archmage of the Valley of Mages, a distant relative of Fess, one of the greatest mortal wizards of the Ordered.
• Evis ладаmplada is a self-employed combat mage, a member of the Valley War Mages Guild, a companion of Clara Hummel.
• Egmont is a battle mage for hire, a member of the Valley War Mages Guild, a companion of Klara Hummel.
• Melville is a battle mage for hire, a member of the Valley War Mages Guild, a companion of Klara Hummel.

The novel “Diamond Sword, Wooden Sword” served as the basis for the computer role-playing game of the same name (developers: Primal Software and Quant Games, publisher: 1C), released in 2008 ^[5] . The Absolute Games website called this game “one of the worst RPGs based on Russian science fiction”, simultaneously noting that “the work taken as a basis also did not shine” ^[6] .

In 2006, a translation of the novel into Swedish was published under the title “Svärdens väktare, första boken: Diamantsvärdet och träsvärdet, första delen” ^[7] .

Repeatedly reported on plans for the film adaptation of the book, even the company was called - "New Russian TV series" ^{[8] [9]} , but the project was never implemented.

Roman Arbitman negatively commented on the novel, calling it “fast-paced,” criticizing the vernacular “ Mitkovo ” speech of characters, spiced up with “army hawks”, the abundance of “high-flattering gibberish, where every word necessarily requires a capital letter”, tasteless scenes of violence, and also noting the secondary nature of the novel in relation to many well-known sources:

Arbitman emphasized that "the author’s moral relativism destroyed the line between good and evil," the main characters do not cause sympathy, "to watch the adventures of disgusting creatures that spill rivers of blood (including their own), is nauseous and dreary."

• Perumov.com - official website of Perumov in several languages
• Information about the novel "Diamond Sword, Wooden Sword" on the site " Fantasy Laboratory "

• Dmitry Zlotnitsky. In the dance of blades. Masters of battle from the orderly (neopr.) . Magazine World of Fantasy No. 31 (March 2006). Date of treatment June 1, 2013. Archived June 1, 2013.
• Interviewed by Natalia Kochetkova. Nick Perumov: “You must not be silent for 25 years, like Salinger.” (unspecified) . The newspaper Izvestia (July 22, 2005). Date of treatment June 1, 2013. Archived June 1, 2013.
• Dmitry Chernikov. The universal scope. (unspecified) . Kommersant Secret Firma Magazine No. 44 (276) (November 10, 2008). Date of treatment June 1, 2013. Archived June 1, 2013.
• Dmitry Zlotnitsky. Glass instead of diamond. Review of the game. (unspecified) . Magazine World of Fantasy No. 61 (September 2008). Date of treatment June 1, 2013. Archived June 1, 2013.