Wapitikev's 1st rule: "There are stupid people everywhere...the trick is to avoid being one of them, as often as possible."
It seems that a majority of the Amazon reviewers are not trying very hard.
I enjoyed By The Sword very much, despite specific objections, previously posted elswhere. Compared to literature by other authors in the horror / mystery / adventure genres, I would still rate By The Sword at 3.5 or 4 stars out of 5.
Keep in mind, as well, that those are reader reviews, not professional or juried reviews, and take them for what they're worth.
-Wapitikev
Axioms Jack seems to live by (inadvertantly or not):
Why he does what he does: "I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either." Bruce Wayne, Identity Crisis
On Rasalom: "Water's wet, the sky is blue...and good old Satan Claus, Jimmy...he's out there...and he's just gettin' stronger." Joe Hallenbeck, The Last Boyscout