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Lost Swords #3
Stonecutter's Story
Young Kasimir was the custodian of Stonecutter, the sword which could hew mountains or diamonds with equal ease. But now, Stonecutter has been stolen, and Kasimir must recover it before it causes irrevocable damage. "An entertainment of high order."--Publishers Weekly.
247 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1988
13 people are currently reading
564 people want to read
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
335 books496 followersFred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.
From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 16, 2023
An odd tale, removed from the trappings of the first two books in something that aspires to a Sherlock Holmes novel. Very enjoyable nonetheless.
December 11, 2012
If you've been following this series, this one will throw you off a bit. It's still an interesting read, but pretty much abandons the main characters to go on a Sherlock Holmes-like tangent.
Stonecutter, a magical sword forged by the gods with the power to cut through any stone, is loaned to a desert prince by Prince Mark of Tasavalta and is then promptly stolen under mysterious circumstances. A young doctor, Kasimir, feels bad because he was in the tent when the sword was taken and feels obligated to find the thief and retrieve the sword. He's in luck when he runs into a famous Magistrate, Wen Chang, who agrees to take on the investigation for the prince and takes Kasimir along for the ride. Twists abound as they follow the trail of the sword which keeps changing hands as various underground groups and individuals steal the sword from each other for their own reasons.
The most fun I got out of this book was trying to identify all of the mega inspector and his trusty companion cliches. Amusing, but not the best of Saberhagan's work.
Stonecutter, a magical sword forged by the gods with the power to cut through any stone, is loaned to a desert prince by Prince Mark of Tasavalta and is then promptly stolen under mysterious circumstances. A young doctor, Kasimir, feels bad because he was in the tent when the sword was taken and feels obligated to find the thief and retrieve the sword. He's in luck when he runs into a famous Magistrate, Wen Chang, who agrees to take on the investigation for the prince and takes Kasimir along for the ride. Twists abound as they follow the trail of the sword which keeps changing hands as various underground groups and individuals steal the sword from each other for their own reasons.
The most fun I got out of this book was trying to identify all of the mega inspector and his trusty companion cliches. Amusing, but not the best of Saberhagan's work.
February 1, 2022
Well this is not like the fun middle book in the Complete Book of Swords (SFBC). This one was so far out of the way I had real problems reading it. What I thought would be an easy read (under 200 pages in my Omnibus) Ended up taking the longest to read as the First book in the series. Suddenly changing from the normal Magic of the first 5 books to an not very entertaining 6th book. And turned the Swords series into Sherlock Homes and Watson book. Thunk Which made this one of the most boring predictable books I've laid my hands on :( It also doesn't get very much into Natalia and her lover. I wish it did.
January 11, 2018
Helps build the “Swords” world but being as it takes place in a new region with new characters it feels out of place at times and can drag on.
June 30, 2019
I liked all of the original sword books and the empire of the east books. The lost sword books are okay. Just interesting enough that I’ll keep reading them but not great.
May 28, 2022
So far, this has been my favorite of all the Book of Swords series. It’s nothing like its predecessors. Comes across as a Sherlock Holmes clone rather than the fantasy of the other books.
November 19, 2012
Nice long title for a relatively short book.
This is yet another book that I really should have read (it was in my collection, and it’s almost unheard of for me to have a book without reading it) – but nothing inside set off any bells. Which in many ways is good, because I can truly enjoy something “again for the first time”.
This book isn’t so much a fantasy book as a detective/mystery dressed up in fantasy clothing. Which works pretty well for it. It’s a fairly straightforward, clue-by-clue, mystery – as opposed to a modern twist-after-twist story where they try and surprise you as much as humanly possible. The ending is a nice, satisfying semi-surprise, yet not out of blue and annoying.
It’s set in the same world as the other books in the series, yet it doesn’t really directly relate to them, which is kind of frustrating. The main characters and the kingdom from the previous books are involved in that they loaned the titular sword to the group the protagonist is traveling with. That, and the setting itself, is the thin thread that ties this into the rest of the series. So, taken as a book in a series it fails but, taken as a story sharing the props & setting it works just fine. If, however, the characters from this book do return for further engagements (I can’t remember the other books either), then it will fit correctly into the series.
If you want some light fantasy/mystery reading I think you’ll enjoy this book. Especially since it doesn’t require reading the other books in any way.
THREE AND 3/4 STARS
This is yet another book that I really should have read (it was in my collection, and it’s almost unheard of for me to have a book without reading it) – but nothing inside set off any bells. Which in many ways is good, because I can truly enjoy something “again for the first time”.
This book isn’t so much a fantasy book as a detective/mystery dressed up in fantasy clothing. Which works pretty well for it. It’s a fairly straightforward, clue-by-clue, mystery – as opposed to a modern twist-after-twist story where they try and surprise you as much as humanly possible. The ending is a nice, satisfying semi-surprise, yet not out of blue and annoying.
It’s set in the same world as the other books in the series, yet it doesn’t really directly relate to them, which is kind of frustrating. The main characters and the kingdom from the previous books are involved in that they loaned the titular sword to the group the protagonist is traveling with. That, and the setting itself, is the thin thread that ties this into the rest of the series. So, taken as a book in a series it fails but, taken as a story sharing the props & setting it works just fine. If, however, the characters from this book do return for further engagements (I can’t remember the other books either), then it will fit correctly into the series.
If you want some light fantasy/mystery reading I think you’ll enjoy this book. Especially since it doesn’t require reading the other books in any way.
THREE AND 3/4 STARS
September 13, 2010
Another good, solid entry in the Swords/Lost Sword series(es) from Fred Saberhagen. This one is essentially a side-note in the series (appropriate, since it's a "Lost" sword), none of the usual main characters are present except in a few references; instead, Saberhagen introduces a Sherlock-Holmes-like character, and with the requisite Watson analog turns the whole thing into a Holmesian investigation, of sorts.
He's really quite good at it, and the story is quite enjoyable...but somehow, doesn't quite click in the end. It's a good story, but when you're reading an obvious Holmes tribute, particularly when it's a well-written Holmesian story like this one, there really needs to be a clever and memorable ending. Unfortunately the ending in this case simply wasn't up to the quality of the rest of the book. If it had been I'd have easily rated the book four stars.
He's really quite good at it, and the story is quite enjoyable...but somehow, doesn't quite click in the end. It's a good story, but when you're reading an obvious Holmes tribute, particularly when it's a well-written Holmesian story like this one, there really needs to be a clever and memorable ending. Unfortunately the ending in this case simply wasn't up to the quality of the rest of the book. If it had been I'd have easily rated the book four stars.
August 8, 2013
This book starts with a whole new set of characters and really begins to broaden the scope of the series to show that there may be some overarching story line. And for a kid it may be utterly fascinating. Certainly it’s a fun little romp, and one is left to wonder if Benjamin of the Steppe is the same Benjamin from the first two books. But it’s the last of the series that I own and the writing just isn’t good enough for me to want to pursue finding the others in the set, so I found this book very difficult to get into. I just didn’t have any investment in the characters and very little curiosity about the outcome.
April 14, 2014
Determined to read the whole series in one go, I did. But when book 3 came, I stumbled. I ate the first two books in 4 days and this one took me 5 months.
The change in writing style caught me off guard and I was just having hard time picking it up.
Detective musings... There was a time in my life where I like Sherlock Holmes kind of books now I just wanted mystical creatures and spells and knights.
Coming from book one and two, I just wanted that again. Oh well, done with it and on to farslayer.
The change in writing style caught me off guard and I was just having hard time picking it up.
Detective musings... There was a time in my life where I like Sherlock Holmes kind of books now I just wanted mystical creatures and spells and knights.
Coming from book one and two, I just wanted that again. Oh well, done with it and on to farslayer.
February 1, 2016
I read the Sword books in high school. I remember liking them and enjoying having the magic revolve around the weapon rather than a person. In this series I remember liking some books more than others so some of them should probably be rated 4 stars but I don't remember which were the better ones, it has been too many years. This will be the same review for all of the books in the series except for the last two which were published after I left high school and so were not read at the same time.
December 10, 2016
This... is not what I was expecting after reading this far in the series...
A good book in its own Fred Saberhagen uses his swords setting to write a different genre of book.
The story is pretty good and most of the time pretty well wrapped up with little loose ends.
The characters fulfill their roles... Even though this magistrate don't smoke illicit drugs...
Even if you can see how the story will end after a couple of chapters you can only see how it gets there by reading the full book
A good book in its own Fred Saberhagen uses his swords setting to write a different genre of book.
The story is pretty good and most of the time pretty well wrapped up with little loose ends.
The characters fulfill their roles... Even though this magistrate don't smoke illicit drugs...
Even if you can see how the story will end after a couple of chapters you can only see how it gets there by reading the full book
December 1, 2010
see first book of swords for my review of the series. Its been a while so I may blunder but I seem to recall there weren't any exceptions to the awesomeness outside of the fact that the first three were a little slower than the rest.
February 22, 2011
Saberhagen was having a good time with this one; it's written as a film noir detective story set in a swords and sorcery world; the main character is intelligent, there's a femme fatale, and the magic is always in service of the mystery. My favorite book in this re-read of the series.
January 18, 2010
These are satifying if not overly complicated reads.
June 18, 2014
This is a rather odd fantasy setting, but I really enjoy these books.
August 4, 2011
Like this one a lot as well.
December 22, 2011
I'm enjoying this series by Fred Saberhagen. This one is not like the others. It's a real slight of hand mystery. All in good fun with some interesting characters.
December 14, 2019
Kinda weird to throw an Arabian Nights analogue of Sherlock Holmes in the middle of an ongoing series, but it kinda works.
March 19, 2014
Awesome!
August 9, 2016
A Swords adventure with Sherlockian intrigue! Hilarious; if still in the old-style, overly-detailed pacing.
August 10, 2016
Totally enjoyed the entire series. Classic Fantasy!
December 4, 2015
An interesting genre bender that was fun and engaging. A few of the mysteries were easily guessed at, but the overall story was well done in the innocence of a green sword and sorcery gumshoe.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews