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A review by ashleylm
Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber
5.0
I'm just enthralled with these series of stories (and I gather one of the books is an actual novel, not a collection--what riches await!) Considering their age, I find them incredibly modern (or timeless, I suppose, in the same way that I can read Jane Austen perfectly well, but there are books from 50 years ago that seem dated and unreadable).
The plots and circumstances seem fresh and inventive, which is especially remarkable considering other authors have had ample time to steal from them. It seems like some works yield flagrant imitators (e.g. Harry Potter) and others don't so much. It also helps that I'm reading something I don't love nearly so much at the same time (Three Hearts and Three Lions) which has uninteresting characters, uninteresting situations, and (worse) is a portal fantasy, which despite my love for Alice, Oz, and Narnia, seems a bit juvenile.
If you haven't tried the Lankhmar books, please, go for it. The first two stories in the first book seem the least likely to draw you in, in my opinion, but almost anything else should give you a sense of the fun to be had, and this volume is especially strong. I'm beating myself up (figuratively, not literally) for having waited so long to read these, when the Internet made it easy enough to acquire the volumes some 20 years ago ... and yet I waited. I'm a fool!
P.S. "Bazaar of the Bizarre" would have been one of my favourite Buffy episodes, had it been a Buffy episode and not a Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser story. If you like the tone of Buffy (humorous, exciting, suspenseful, all at once) you will appreciate these greatly.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
The plots and circumstances seem fresh and inventive, which is especially remarkable considering other authors have had ample time to steal from them. It seems like some works yield flagrant imitators (e.g. Harry Potter) and others don't so much. It also helps that I'm reading something I don't love nearly so much at the same time (Three Hearts and Three Lions) which has uninteresting characters, uninteresting situations, and (worse) is a portal fantasy, which despite my love for Alice, Oz, and Narnia, seems a bit juvenile.
If you haven't tried the Lankhmar books, please, go for it. The first two stories in the first book seem the least likely to draw you in, in my opinion, but almost anything else should give you a sense of the fun to be had, and this volume is especially strong. I'm beating myself up (figuratively, not literally) for having waited so long to read these, when the Internet made it easy enough to acquire the volumes some 20 years ago ... and yet I waited. I'm a fool!
P.S. "Bazaar of the Bizarre" would have been one of my favourite Buffy episodes, had it been a Buffy episode and not a Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser story. If you like the tone of Buffy (humorous, exciting, suspenseful, all at once) you will appreciate these greatly.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!