hardcover

Three of Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books in one volume. (Swords Against Wizardry; The Swords of Lankhmar; Swords and Ice Magic) If you like these stories you will like the book. I plan to re-read, then start a book ray with it.

The first novel (Swords Against Wizardry) in this collection of three is, strictly speaking, not a novel at all. It is two longish stories grafted together. That's ok. Two Fafhrd & Gray Mouser tales, even short, are good. The first has them climbing a fantastic peak in search of fabulous jewels. The second has them underground, in the realm of Quarmall, where they've hired themselves out to warring brother-princes.

The second novel (The Swords of Lankhmar) is easily the best of the three. A seemingly innocent task as guards on a grain fleet leads to strange magic involving rats who act like men and men (and women! there are always women!) who shrink to rat-size beneath the city of Lankhmar.

The last novel (Swords and Ice Magic) begins with some short adventures that relate only marginally to the long tale that completes the volume. A personified Death and some lesser Gods toy with our Heroes. This sets up the theme of the last story, where the pair are led to Rime Isle, where great unseen forces and two very familiar Gods from our own mythology play games with the population. In this, the last of the Fafhrd & Mouser tales, we see them begin to grow from the thieving adventures they have been into mature men, capable of leading others.

Having these three books together in one volume is very satisfying. There were trends and threads I missed when I read them individually many years ago.


This is not great literature but it is great fun!



This book is part of a Book Ray.

Released on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at Browns Mills Post Office in Browns Mills, New Jersey USA.

Mailed to labmomnm in the first step of a BookRay.

Received by mail from tom-m. I have a few bookrays/rings ahead of this one, but I'm zooming through them.

5/25/04 - reading. Ended up skimming the mountain story...it just wasn't doing it for me, not sure why (or why not). But the next 2 sucked me right in!

6/1/04 - I think this must be my mood - I really liked some of these stories, but skimmed others. I don't think the stories were "up & down" - probably I was. I still love these 2 characters (I've always like the Grey Mouser better; I have no idea why) and will keep an eye out for more of their adventures.

6/5/04 - mailed to RonOren

Got it in the mail today, but I'm afraid I won't get to it in a few more days...

I quite liked it, but it's more of the outcome of a role-playing game than real stories. still, it's written well enough to keep me mesmerized for two weeks or so.
I definitely liked the third part best, especially the short stories were Death tries to snare the two heroes. It's both the short, almost meaningless character of the stories and the humouressly written style that I liked. I do agree with tom-m, however, that the second one is most of a real story.

I enjoyed it a lot, that's for sure. Will send it off to Bountifulpots next, and hope she'll enjoy it as much as I did!

07-11: send it to Bountifulpots yesterday. Happy reading!

Got this for a bookray. Will journal again once I've read it.

First I must apologize for how long this took for me to read, but I have finally finished! At first, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this, because it seemed extremely plot driven, and I tend to prefer character driven stories. Of course, I also knew that I had not read the first 3 books, so I was sure that I missed a lot because of that. However, as the stories continued and I got to see more of the characters, I enjoyed it more and more. All the characters (though I had a particular love for the Mouser) were great fun, and the stories DID feel a bit like a D&D campaign, but that's a compliment from me, I enjoy that. Overall, I had a good time with this one. I will get it out in the mail as soon as possible, hopefully today or tomorrow.

received :)

Wow!
This is legendary, this was my first International BookRay inscription!
Besides the book is truly lovely, will begin reading right away! :)

Escalla and me switched reading order for this book, since I can start it at once. with me now, thanks for the bookray!

sorry for the delay in reading this book, it has been with me for longer than I would have liked - I have had little time and have found the book+ s style a little hard at catching my attention. I would have passed it on unfinished, but Escalla is not ready for the book yet, so I am going to keep it a few more weeks and try to finish it till then.

I could not make much progress with it, so I passed it along to the next participant Escalla/JustSandra.