Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)by Fritz Leiber
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  stubooks | Apr 4, 2024 |   I was the tiniest bit worried that Leiber might not be able to maintain a novel's length worth of interest, especially since some of his novelette-sized tales dragged a bit. But the author of Conjure Wife (one of my favourites) has risen to the occasion and I feel a bit silly for doubting him. The protagonists are male, but the prominent female characters are scarcely helpless maidens--in fact, I've rarely seen such a diversity of female characters, though each is (to borrow an anime term) a bit fan-service, two of them being prominently naked at all times. That's the only aspect of this that carries a hint of the times with it--otherwise this is a fresh, entertaining romp of a novel. (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! (  ) ashleytylerjohn | Oct 13, 2020 |  ) DinadansFriend | Aug 30, 2019 |  ) DinadansFriend | Feb 20, 2017 | ) manishch | Aug 2, 2016 | no reviews | add a review
Is contained inIs an expanded version ofDistinctionsNotable Lists
From the Grand Master of Science Fiction, the fifth book in a series that stands as "one of the great works of fantasy in this century" (Publishers Weekly). The Swords of Lankhmar finds the city characteristically plagued by rats. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are in the employ of Glipkerio, the overlord, to guard a grain ship on its journey. Along the way, the rats onboard stage a rebellion and threaten to take the ship until a two-headed sea monster saves the day. If only there were two-headed sea monsters everywhere, Lankhmar would be safe, too. Alas, upon returning to the city, the two discover that Lankhmar is controlled by rats. It is a city known for its thieves and swine, but even the city's muddiest bottom feeders have never seen pillaging and plundering like this. And only the sorcerers Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes can scare this scourge. Mouser must shrink into the rat's world and Fafhrd must unleash the feared feline War Cats. Then the fun really begins. Before The Lord of the Rings took the world by storm, Leiber's fantastic but thoroughly flawed antiheroes, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, adventured deep within the caves of Inner Earth, albeit a different one. They wondered and wandered to the edges of the Outer Sea, across the Land of Nehwon and throughout every nook and cranny of gothic Lankhmar, Nehwon's grandest and most mystically corrupt city. Lankhmar is Leiber's fully realized, vivid incarnation of urban decay and civilization's corroding effect on the human psyche. Drawing on themes from Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft, master manipulator Fritz Leiber is a worldwide legend within the fantasy genre and actually coined the term Sword and Sorcery that describes the subgenre he helped create. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.84)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English
1
Good fun, despite being very predictable as to how it was going to resolve itself and generally ridiculous in many parts.
I really enjoyed the fact that Fafhrd and the Mouser were separated and had differing storylines for the majority of this book. It definitely helped it get away from the "sameness" that most of their short story adventures have. (