Scan barcode
jorgefernandez's review against another edition
3.0
Para mi gusto, bastante inferior a las anteriores entregas. Quizá venga lastrado por una primera mitad plagada de pequeñas historias sin ningún interés, o por el agotamiento de la fórmula. Veremos con el último tomo de las aventuras hacia donde se inclina la balanza. Muy cerca de las dos estrellas.
zeroiv's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
antonism's review
3.0
Another short book in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series. Leiber's writing is as always superb. I continue getting amazed by the way he describes scenery or action, feelings and thoughts, characters and just about anything. The plot in this one felt a bit weaker than in the first books. Maybe I'm getting used to some motifs reappearig more often in every book or maybe it's just that I generally dislike sea-stuff and ships and sailing which feature rather prominently in this book.
I'd say 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5.
I'd say 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5.
ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favourite overall, though I like his tone from moment to moment. The earlier short stories didn't stay with me, the later novella was better, and got better as it went along. If everything had been at the standard of the second half of the final novella, it would have been great fun indeed. I wonder if I'm not just saddened that the series will soon be over, since it was such a pleasant ride for the most part, and am attaching my grief to the work itself. (I sobbed for fifteen minutes at the finale of Angel because it seemed to signal the end of the Buffyverse, not because the finale itself was so incredibly moving, so I know I'm a wuss). That's certainly why I took so long to complete it!
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
luana420's review against another edition
3.0
The first half is a bunch of short stories, followed by a novelette and novella. For the first time, a Fafhrd & Grey Mouser collection feels like it has thematic cohesion, it not being a gathering of stories from different decades placed together chronologically.
That theme is "Fafhrd & Mouser gotta settle down!" which is nice, I suppose. It's funny that Leiber just kind of provides Girl Fafhrd & Girl Mouser to make this happen. The shorts are generally good fun (the "offended gods" one is so Pratchett) but I am still not a fan of descriptions of maritime maneuvers and jargon so the "moon and sun are blowholes" one was a big bore to me.
The Frost Monstreme/Rime Isle latter half of the book was also plagued by this, as it is with the very impersonal threat of the two Mingol fleets; Khakht the Baxter Stockman of Newhon is a fun bad guy who doesn't get too much to do, unfortunately.
However, I liked where Rime Isle ended up, with the plot being essentially the very same as American Gods -- down to the Norse Gods specifics -- and it is very interesting to see how the same basic plot dressed up as sword & sorcery or as urban fantasy can result in an entirely different experience.
Also LOLOL "maybe fondling teenage girls is bad" our boy Leiber is growing up....
That theme is "Fafhrd & Mouser gotta settle down!" which is nice, I suppose. It's funny that Leiber just kind of provides Girl Fafhrd & Girl Mouser to make this happen. The shorts are generally good fun (the "offended gods" one is so Pratchett) but I am still not a fan of descriptions of maritime maneuvers and jargon so the "moon and sun are blowholes" one was a big bore to me.
The Frost Monstreme/Rime Isle latter half of the book was also plagued by this, as it is with the very impersonal threat of the two Mingol fleets; Khakht the Baxter Stockman of Newhon is a fun bad guy who doesn't get too much to do, unfortunately.
However, I liked where Rime Isle ended up, with the plot being essentially the very same as American Gods -- down to the Norse Gods specifics -- and it is very interesting to see how the same basic plot dressed up as sword & sorcery or as urban fantasy can result in an entirely different experience.
Also LOLOL "maybe fondling teenage girls is bad" our boy Leiber is growing up....
cwebb's review against another edition
4.0
Fafhrd, der grosse Barbar und der kleinere listige Gray Mouser - man könnte die beiden mit anderen verwechseln, nicht? So geschieht es hier, Odin und Loki erscheinen in Nehwon und treiben Unfug.
riduidel's review against another edition
2.0
Un début poussif avec quatre premières nouvelles qui ne sont que des évocations des amours passées de nos deux héros.
Toutefois, le dernier texte est plus intéressant avec Odin et Loki en invités surprises et une conclusion... Un peu trop magique à mon goût.
Ça reste toutefois une lecture distrayante, même si ce tome rend les aventuriers de plus en plus passifs : ils ont des visions de leur passé, on tente de les maudire, mais ils ne sont pas acteurs de leur épopée. Est-ce que c'est vraiment à lire ? Je n'en sais trop rien. Personnellement, c'est une sorte de madeleine : un souvenir de mes lectures de jeunesse que je tente de faire revivre avec un brin de nostalgie, mais ça n'est sans doute pas le meilleur tome. Et si la conclusion en est épique, c'est en quelque sorte au détriment des deux personnages qui intègrent maintenant une communauté.
Toutefois, le dernier texte est plus intéressant avec Odin et Loki en invités surprises et une conclusion... Un peu trop magique à mon goût.
Ça reste toutefois une lecture distrayante, même si ce tome rend les aventuriers de plus en plus passifs : ils ont des visions de leur passé, on tente de les maudire, mais ils ne sont pas acteurs de leur épopée. Est-ce que c'est vraiment à lire ? Je n'en sais trop rien. Personnellement, c'est une sorte de madeleine : un souvenir de mes lectures de jeunesse que je tente de faire revivre avec un brin de nostalgie, mais ça n'est sans doute pas le meilleur tome. Et si la conclusion en est épique, c'est en quelque sorte au détriment des deux personnages qui intègrent maintenant une communauté.
jgkeely's review
2.0
Leiber has shown himself capable of vibrant, clever, moody books, but he has lost his touch with age, as regrettably happens to many authors. Every creative mind has its peak, and Leiber has passed his. Though published as separate stories, the chapters of this book form one long, uninterrupted plot, lacking the variance in mood and style which marked his earlier collections.
His attempt to continue a single arc while publishing the chapters as stories is awkward, as Leiber constantly reminds us of characters and plot elements as if we were new readers, but can't seem to find an unobtrusive way to do so. Really, the reminders don't even feel necessary; they weren't in the loosely connected stories that mark his creative peak. He also reintroduces characters and events from several books ago, but oddly enough, rarely prefaces these with reminders.
I lamented the faltering of his once-strong women in the last book, and this one is worse. The first quarter shows a strange obsession with the protagonists' former relationships, culminating in the only example of a clip show I've ever seen in a novel. It would be perfectly natural for characters, as they grow older, to reminisce, or even to obsess over their past, but this is less about the characters' internal hang-ups than a parade of nude women who have lost their personalities.
Happily, we soon move on to the main plot, which starts promisingly with curious worldbuilding involving Death and his demesne. These light-hearted, long-form novellas only seems to grow more and more like Leiber's follower, Pratchett. But this plot is also left behind for an unrelated conflict on a faraway island, an isolated Thule that has little of the charm of Newhon.
Leiber goes off on rather involved asides about the cosmology of the world, with characters acting as encyclopedias, giving unwelcome Tolkienian details about how the stars are meant to work. This is a sudden departure from the Howardian mode, which prefers to reveal the world by small clues, as one might learn about Rome from numerous stories and historians.
The cosmology prefigures some interesting background details from Dungeons & Dragons, which has always been more Leiber than Tolkien or Howard. His portrayal of godhood, worship, and alternate worlds parallels Planescape, one of the most remarkable and unusual roleplaying settings. It's unfortunate that, in this case, the inspiration cannot live up to the idea it spawned.
The story's conclusion, despite a great deal of build-up, is strangely absent, departing not with a bang, but a whimper. The characters are strangely inactive, failing to solve problems and generally relying on literal Dei ex Machinae. The secondary characters have less personality than the last book, and the love interests are defined more by their appearance than by thoughts or decisions.
Leiber does occasionally find his voice, and there are some lovely and evocative passages, as well as exploration of archaic terms and structure, though I couldn't say if that is the result of greater fidelity in a modern edition to the original stories. But by and large, Leiber's dotage has shown an increasing lack of imagination and an almost total loss of the vivid characterization that marked the high water mark of the series.
The final remaining Lankhmar book continues this trend, stranding our heroes in their new, dull land and trading in adventure plots for meandering scenes and uninspired sex comedy. It doesn't lessen the achievement of the earlier books, but I'm glad I started at the beginning of the series, or I might have given up on Leiber altogether as simply another old man working chiefly in cliches and awkward chauvinist obsessions. He still isn't as dull or long-winded as some guilty parties of the genre, but it's sad to see a fruitful mind grow sere.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books
His attempt to continue a single arc while publishing the chapters as stories is awkward, as Leiber constantly reminds us of characters and plot elements as if we were new readers, but can't seem to find an unobtrusive way to do so. Really, the reminders don't even feel necessary; they weren't in the loosely connected stories that mark his creative peak. He also reintroduces characters and events from several books ago, but oddly enough, rarely prefaces these with reminders.
I lamented the faltering of his once-strong women in the last book, and this one is worse. The first quarter shows a strange obsession with the protagonists' former relationships, culminating in the only example of a clip show I've ever seen in a novel. It would be perfectly natural for characters, as they grow older, to reminisce, or even to obsess over their past, but this is less about the characters' internal hang-ups than a parade of nude women who have lost their personalities.
Happily, we soon move on to the main plot, which starts promisingly with curious worldbuilding involving Death and his demesne. These light-hearted, long-form novellas only seems to grow more and more like Leiber's follower, Pratchett. But this plot is also left behind for an unrelated conflict on a faraway island, an isolated Thule that has little of the charm of Newhon.
Leiber goes off on rather involved asides about the cosmology of the world, with characters acting as encyclopedias, giving unwelcome Tolkienian details about how the stars are meant to work. This is a sudden departure from the Howardian mode, which prefers to reveal the world by small clues, as one might learn about Rome from numerous stories and historians.
The cosmology prefigures some interesting background details from Dungeons & Dragons, which has always been more Leiber than Tolkien or Howard. His portrayal of godhood, worship, and alternate worlds parallels Planescape, one of the most remarkable and unusual roleplaying settings. It's unfortunate that, in this case, the inspiration cannot live up to the idea it spawned.
The story's conclusion, despite a great deal of build-up, is strangely absent, departing not with a bang, but a whimper. The characters are strangely inactive, failing to solve problems and generally relying on literal Dei ex Machinae. The secondary characters have less personality than the last book, and the love interests are defined more by their appearance than by thoughts or decisions.
Leiber does occasionally find his voice, and there are some lovely and evocative passages, as well as exploration of archaic terms and structure, though I couldn't say if that is the result of greater fidelity in a modern edition to the original stories. But by and large, Leiber's dotage has shown an increasing lack of imagination and an almost total loss of the vivid characterization that marked the high water mark of the series.
The final remaining Lankhmar book continues this trend, stranding our heroes in their new, dull land and trading in adventure plots for meandering scenes and uninspired sex comedy. It doesn't lessen the achievement of the earlier books, but I'm glad I started at the beginning of the series, or I might have given up on Leiber altogether as simply another old man working chiefly in cliches and awkward chauvinist obsessions. He still isn't as dull or long-winded as some guilty parties of the genre, but it's sad to see a fruitful mind grow sere.
My List of Suggested Fantasy Books