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Swords and Deviltry

(Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #1)

Fritz Leiber

3.88 · Rating details · 11,335 ratings · 703 reviews

For the first time-the story of how the greatest heroes in fantastic literature first met.

'The two thieves had themselves been robbed by two youths, who eyed each other suspiciously over the sprawled, senseless bodies.

Fafhrd said: 'Our motives for being here seem identical.' 'Surely, they must be!' the Mouser answered curtly, fiercely eyeing his huge, potential foe.

Fafhr ...more

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Paperback, 208 pages

Published December 1st 2006 by DH Press (first published January 1st 1970)

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May 20, 2007 Bill Kerwin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This is the first volume in Fritz Leiber's classic fantasy saga, the adventures of Fafhrd and his friend and partner, The Grey Mouser, composed from the 40's through the 70's. The volumes are ordered chronologically by their position in the saga, not the date of their composition, and this volume features some of Leiber's most mature works.

We meet the young Fafhrd--a barbarian of the northern wastes dominated by his mother, the great Snow Witch--who longs for the excitement and variety of civil ...more

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Jul 16, 2012 carol. rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, male-lead, short-story-collections

Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery fiction, and it shows. Reading these stories feels a little like sitting at the feet of an old, old storyteller while he reminisces about childhood heroes. There's a feel of both age and timelessness about these stories--tall, fur-clad barbarian and short swordsman-thief who can vanish in the shadows--this is like reading the origin myth for characters we've known for decades.

The four stories (three novellas and one vignette) within describe the Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery fiction, and it shows. Reading these stories feels a little like sitting at the feet of an old, old storyteller while he reminisces about childhood heroes. There's a feel of both age and timelessness about these stories--tall, fur-clad barbarian and short swordsman-thief who can vanish in the shadows--this is like reading the origin myth for characters we've known for decades.

The four stories (three novellas and one vignette) within describe the adventures of Fafhrd, a giant barbarian from the frozen wastes, and the Gray Mouser, a youth who has apprenticed to a hedge-wizard. 'Induction,' covers a meeting between the two in a famous city. 'The Snow Women' is Fafhrd's origin story, and how he came to leave his tribe. 'The Unholy Grail' covers the Grey Mouse's origin, and 'Ill Met in Lankhmar' is when they meet again and become true companions. 'Lankhmar' won a Hugo and Nebula for best novella, and it is plain why.

These are the tales that influenced the greats of fantasy. There's a tone of wry humor, perhaps a little mocking at youth and noble intentions, and early in the stories I wondered if the narrative would remain tongue-in-cheek. Then Leiber would suddenly twist it, and the frustration, the rage, and the fear in his characters would come into play. It's well done.

Leiber does, perhaps, show his age in these stories, both personally and culturally. Woman have no likeable roles, playing controlling mother-witch, junior controlling fiance-witch, Lady Macbeth, and Ophelia. Still, there is something of sophistication in their character as Leiber gets inside their emotional landscape to explain their actions, or lack of. As the stories of Fafhrd and Gray span 50 years, I'm interested to see where they end up.

Learning Leiber was one of the fathers of S&S sent me on an internet hunt, and I find my appreciation for his stories growing. His parents were both Shakespearean actors, and a reoccurring theme through his writing was acting and the life of actors. Late in life, he received royalties from D&D, who used Fafhrd and Gray as characters.

A note for Pratchett fans out there: Lankhmar was apparently an indirect inspiration for Ankh-Morpork and Pratchett has two characters in the first Discworld based on Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

A solid three and a half stars.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0... ...more

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Jan 14, 2017 Lyn rated it liked it

Wayne’s World!

Wayne’s World!

Wayne’s World!

Party on! Excellent!

Wayne: OK, welcome to our show, today we’ll be talking about some swingalicious sword and sorcery action, specifically Fritz Leiber’s 1970 collection of “prequel” stories, beginning the chronological adventures of his AWESOME heroes Fafhrd and Gray Mouser.

Garth: Yeah, they’re sword and sorcery heroes kind of like we’re rock heroes.

Wayne: Ha! Yeah, Garth, I’m kind of like Fafhrd, muscular and testosterone oozing swordsman and you’re li ...more

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Aug 12, 2017 Karl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-08-books-bought, centipede-milipede-own

This beautifully, illustrated by Tom Kidd, version of the book also contains additional material.

007 - Introduction by Michael Moorcock
015 - The Original Appearance of the Grey Mouser and Fafhrd of the Blue Eyes by Harry O. Fischer
019 - Authors Introduction by Fritz Leiber (1973)
021 - "Swords and Deviltry" including:
021 - I - Introduction
023 - II -"The Snow Woman"
116 - III - "The Unholy Grail"
149 - IV - "Ill Met In Lankhmar"
227 - Introduction to "The Childhood and of the Youth of the Grey Mouser ...more

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May 14, 2014 Markus rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016, fantasy

Fritz Leiber is another of the early defining authors in fantasy, mostly because of the coining of the term 'Sword & Sorcery'. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser is the tale of a companionship between a mountain tribe barbarian and a failed wizard's apprentice, and their journeys together in Lankhmar and the surrounding lands.

Swords and Deviltry is the first book (actually first collection of short stories) in the series, and introduced the two protagonists with one origin story each, then ends with Ill ...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Kat Hooper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I must confess that I had some preconceived notions about Fritz Leiber’s work. Because he’s credited with coining the phrase “Sword & Sorcery,” and because I never hear women talking about his stories, I imagined that they appealed mainly to men who like to read stuff that has covers like these:
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But, four factors made me decide to give Fritz Leiber a try:
1. I feel the need to be “educated” in the field of ...more

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Nov 08, 2019 Allison Hurd rated it did not like it

Shelves: sff-2019-challenge, own-to-read, sff-bookshelf, fantasy, man-author

I'm sorry, I have nothing good to say about this. ETA let it not be said I don't listen. I will say something nice. I can see in this the seed that so many people watered into the staple of troupe based fantasy and I understand the draw of the band of brothers story.

Okay, back to my rant, now that I am chastened. At best I'd say it's amateurish wish fulfillment, smut of the swashbuckling variety. Please only continue reading if you're looking for a good rant. Otherwise, allow me to politely dis ...more

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Jan 07, 2019 HBalikov rated it it was amazing

"In the midst of the table an alembic was working. The lamp’s flame—deep blue, this one—kept a-boil in the large crystal cucurbit a dark, viscid fluid with here and there diamond glints. From out of the thick, seething stuff, strands of a darker vapor streamed upward to crowd through the cucurbit’s narrow mouth and stain—oddly, with bright scarlet—the transparent head and then, dead black now, flow down the narrow pipe from the head into a spherical crystal receiver, larger even than the cucurbi "In the midst of the table an alembic was working. The lamp’s flame—deep blue, this one—kept a-boil in the large crystal cucurbit a dark, viscid fluid with here and there diamond glints. From out of the thick, seething stuff, strands of a darker vapor streamed upward to crowd through the cucurbit’s narrow mouth and stain—oddly, with bright scarlet—the transparent head and then, dead black now, flow down the narrow pipe from the head into a spherical crystal receiver, larger even than the cucurbit, and there curl and weave about like so many coils of living black cord—an endless, skinny, ebon serpent."
and
"The floor was marble, the ceiling blue as lapis lazuli. The side walls were thickly hung, by ring and padlock. One was covered with all manner of thieves’ tools, from a huge thick pry-bar that looked as if it could unseat the universe, or at least the door of the Overlord’s treasure-vault, to a rod so slim it might be an elf-queen’s wand and seemingly designed to telescope out and fish from distance for precious gauds on milady’s spindle-legged, ivory-topped vanity table; the other wall had on it all sorts of quaint, gold-gleaming and jewel-flashing objects, evidently mementos chosen for their oddity from the spoils of memorable burglaries, from a female mask of thin gold, breathlessly beautiful in its features and contours, but thickly set with rubies simulating the spots of the pox in its fever-stage, to a knife whose blade was wedge-shaped diamonds set side by side and this diamond cutting-edge looking razor-sharp."

This book marks the beginning of a fantasy saga that Fritz Leiber crafted over a period of fifty years. As you might gather from the above, Leiber was a master of this genre. If you love this kind of description; if you crave a walk on the wild side; if you need to explore a world where human desires confront strange rituals, powerful shaman and gods, and where good and evil are palpable; then, you must follow me through this book and beyond.

In Swords and Deviltry, we are introduced to the two main characters: Fafhred and the Grey Mouser. One is big, somewhat naïve and impulsive. The other is on the small side, a former magician’s apprentice and very meticulous. They are an odd couple. This book begins by giving us the threads of both characters before they meet in the urban cesspool of Lankhmar, a major city in the world of Nehwon. Both have suffered and survived and brought their paramours to Lankhmar. They meet in the midst of a theft and then find reason to celebrate, at which time their lovers are introduced to each other.

Women are not mere playthings, but this is another sexist world where women avail themselves of certain means to even the distribution of power. “A woman must always keep all ways open, can you understand that? Only by being ready to league with any man, and discard one for another as fortune shifts the plan, can she begin to counter men’s great advantage."

And the women chastise the men for failing to act on promises made...“I am not a coward!” he cried. “I’ll dare Thieves’ House and fetch you Krovas’ head and toss it with blood a-drip at Vlana’s feet. I swear that, witness me, Kos the god of dooms, by the brown bones of Nalgron my father and by his sword Graywand here at my side!” He slapped…"

The story becomes darker and Leiber shows how much of H.P. Lovecraft he has integrated into his own unique style.

"In their drunken preoccupation with the project at hand and mere locomotion, they did not look behind them. There the night-smog was thicker than ever. A high-circling nighthawk would have seen the stuff converging from all sections of Lankhmar, north, east, south, west—from the Inner Sea, from the Great Salt Marsh, from the many-ditched grain lands, from the River Hlal—in swift-moving black rivers and rivulets, heaping, eddying, swirling, dark and reeking essence of Lankhmar from its branding irons, braziers, bonfires, bonefires, kitchen fires and warmth fires, kilns, forges, breweries, distilleries, junk and garbage fires innumerable, sweating alchemists’ and sorcerers’ dens, crematoriums, charcoal burners’ turfed mounds, all those and many more…converging purposefully on Dim Lane and particularly on the Silver Eel and perhaps especially on the ricketty house behind it, untenanted except for attic. The closer to that center it got, the more substantial the smog became, eddy-strands and swirl-tatters tearing off and clinging to rough stone corners and scraggly-surfaced brick like black cobwebs."
and
"The wizard lay just inside the buckled door. And he had fared as his house: the beams of his body bared and blackened; the priceless juices and subtle substances boiled, burned, destroyed forever or streamed upward to some cold hell beyond the moon."

By this time you should be able to decide whether this sort of story suits your temperament. Leiber can rightly claim that he was one of the developers of the “Sword and Sorcery” genre that has fueled the imagination of many devoted to “Dungeons and Dragons.” He is pitch-perfect in how his stories roll out and this series is particularly notable for its character development over the long haul. I know I will find it hard to resist re-reading it in its entirety. ...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Michael rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-that-speculates

Ah, sexism, we meet again. And in such an unexpected location: a pulp fantasy novel!

I don't know what Leiber looked like, but I'm picturing that sickly-skinny kid from The New Guy. This book is every bit as embarrassing to read as Piers Anthony, although it has a slightly lower number of naked women per page. What it has to make up for this is SCREAMINGLY stereotypical and degrading female characters. Women fit conveniently into one of two boxes:

(1) Old, jealous hags,
(2) Young hotties who put o Ah, sexism, we meet again. And in such an unexpected location: a pulp fantasy novel!

I don't know what Leiber looked like, but I'm picturing that sickly-skinny kid from The New Guy. This book is every bit as embarrassing to read as Piers Anthony, although it has a slightly lower number of naked women per page. What it has to make up for this is SCREAMINGLY stereotypical and degrading female characters. Women fit conveniently into one of two boxes:

(1) Old, jealous hags,
(2) Young hotties who put out.

Not only is this division of female roles strictly enforced throughout, the women all inevitably serve as foils for the male characters. In case any of you are foolish enough to read this waste of paper and time, I won't spoil exactly how this manifests itself, but it's clear that every female involved in the plot is being used as a vehicle for setting up the male characters.

In the one and only scene where two women were having a conversation without a man present, the conversation was summed up in this sort of fashion:

The two women sat on the couch, giggling and talking of girlish things.

It was one line, while the men were talking on the other side of the room about something much more important which had several pages dedicated to its explication. The wives of our two protagonists are ENTIRELY dependent upon their men, and horribly impractical and flighty. This, in spite of the fact that one of the women has seen much of the world on her own, and should understand the city they are in better than her husband: upon marriage, she apparently decided to let her man deal with all the thinking.

Uhh, so, about other aspects of this book. . . . Skip the first two stories if you choose to bother with this. They're crap, clearly written to extend the Farvhrd and the Grey Mouser series, yet creating absolutely no tension, nor developing characters. There's not even anything notably interesting about the fantasy world being presented in these two stories. The final of the three stories, "Ill-Met in Lankmar," is definitely the high point. . . although the "high-point" is relative in this case, like pointing out the "high point" in Kansas. It is significantly more entertaining, although it is as believable and realistic as Duck Tales, and caters to about the same level of intellect.

Overall, my opinion of Lieber--based only on this book, mind you--is similar to my opinion of Robert Howard, the other author credited with starting the Swords & Sorcery genre. They both sucked.

They stumbled across a genre that a lot of people have enjoyed, though, and that can't be taken away from them. Even if it is a stupid genre. I prefer the nuance, depth and world-building that's often found in the fantasy authors who came much later, like Peake, Tolkien, Martin, and to a lesser extent, Bakker and Abercrombie. But, this is just a matter of preference, which isn't based on anything scientific.

Similarly, you can't scientifically prove Bob Marley makes better music than Kriss Kross. . . but I can maintain a bullheaded opinion about it. I know who makes me wanna jump. ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Evgeny rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This is the first book of the series which gave us term and fantasy sub-genre Sword and Sorcery. It consists of 3 novellas which talk about the background of the main characters, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser and their fateful meeting.

The Snow Women. Fafhrd is a barbarian living in the lands of North where the harsh climate allows the survival of the strongest. This was the longest novella and also the most boring one. Not much happened except for Fafhrd's brooding and longing to see the civilized land This is the first book of the series which gave us term and fantasy sub-genre Sword and Sorcery. It consists of 3 novellas which talk about the background of the main characters, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser and their fateful meeting.

The Snow Women. Fafhrd is a barbarian living in the lands of North where the harsh climate allows the survival of the strongest. This was the longest novella and also the most boring one. Not much happened except for Fafhrd's brooding and longing to see the civilized lands. This part also happened to be quite sexist. Usually some minor sexism does not bother me much - I try to keep in mind the time period when a book was written - unless the author goes out of his/her ways showing it (I am looking at you, Robert A. Heinlein and your classic Stranger in a Strange Land). This time sexism in this novella bothered me.

The Unholy Grail. Mouse is an apprentice to a wizard specializing in white magic. When he came back from a mission he found his mentor brutally murdered and himself being hunted. He starts dabbling in not-so-white magic trying to stay alive and get revenge; he also changes his name to more appropriate Gray Mouser. If you think this part sounds more exciting than the previous one, you are right: it actually is.

Ill Met in Lankhmar. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser finally meet in the city which was an inspiration for Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork. They instantly like each other.

If this series was the father of sword and sorcery, then earlier written Robert E. Howard's Conan was the grandfather. To my great surprise the latter series aged a little and is still as fun to read as in the days of its first publishing. The former series aged a lot. It is considered to be a classic of genre, but it does not offer anything I have not seen before - and better done. It is still entertaining enough to warrant 3 stars. I will also try to read the sequel, but I reserve a right to stop reading it the moment I realize it is not better than this one.

This review is a copy/paste of my BookLikes one: http://gene.booklikes.com/post/847603... ...more

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Oct 13, 2008 J.G. Keely rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-story, fantasy, america, sword-and-sorcery, reviewed

Though Leiber wasn't the first to write swords and sorcery adventures, the imagination, verve, and whimsy of his writing not only set him above his contemporaries, but have made him one of the most influential authors in epic mythological fiction. He is responsible for Thieves' Guilds and Wizard Scrolls, as well as numerous elements of characterization and tone.

However, he didn't simply pluck these concepts from the waiting air. Like Howard, Leiber enriched his work with details from ancient ta Though Leiber wasn't the first to write swords and sorcery adventures, the imagination, verve, and whimsy of his writing not only set him above his contemporaries, but have made him one of the most influential authors in epic mythological fiction. He is responsible for Thieves' Guilds and Wizard Scrolls, as well as numerous elements of characterization and tone.

However, he didn't simply pluck these concepts from the waiting air. Like Howard, Leiber enriched his work with details from ancient tales and histories, thereby adding forgotten traditions of literature back into the modern style. He took Thieves' Guilds from an adventure story of Cervantes (himself the innovator of the modern novel and adventure story), taking hold of a disparate and forgotten thread and weaving it back into the pattern.

As modern offers, we should gratefully accept these gifts, and there is no better way to thank the grandmasters than to reinterpret their ideas for a new readership. However, we should also take a further lesson, and recall that Leiber was not satisfied to simply rewrite Howard's tales, but also looked to change and challenge his own style. Too many authors, particularly in fantasy, seem happy to write the same stories that have already been written, with only the names changed to protect the guilty.

This first collection presents the way in which Leiber's most famous creations, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, met; and also presents stories of their origins before their portentous meeting. They are as imaginative and fast-paced as any of Leiber's stories, but are not Leiber's best work.

These stories were actually written much later, when Leiber began to try codifying and structuring his world more deliberately. Unfortunately, this did not prove to be a fruitful direction for Leiber, often robbing his stories of their characteristic unpredictable energy. The next three collections of earlier stories show greater wit, depth, and willingness to experiment with plot and characterization.

Despite their weaknesses, they are certainly superior to the sad wane of the last two books of the series. So read this book for fun, or for completeness, or because you're tired of the scores of less audacious fantasy writers treading water in his wake.

My Fantasy Book Suggestions ...more

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May 12, 2014 Gary rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, classic-lit

This book is like a trip back in time to the beginnings of the sword and sorcery era. Yes, the language is dated. Yes, the viewpoint is clearly outmoded and outdated in terms of male/female relations. But if you look at this book as a snapshot of history, it is exactly what it should be-a formative piece of writing that inspired generations of writers and is a subterranean root drawn on by many of our current fantasy authors knowingly or unwittingly.
There is a degree of callousness in the collec ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Anthony rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-group-2018, series, fantasy, nebula-winners, hugo-winners

A bit of late-60’s/early-70’s era sexism aside, this is a wonderful combination of rollicking adventure, delightfully droll dialogue, and crystalline action, which also features a welcome sprinkling of heartfelt pathos. It’s my first encounter with the SFWA Grand Master Fritz Leiber’s work, and it won’t be my last. I see now why his two supremely famous rogues, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, are so famous: they are depicted with utter charm and humanity, featuring an authentic blend of rakish, some ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Jemppu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well, that was a jolly enough origin story for the duo, I suppose.

Included were some glaring gender politics (the usual resulting mix of world/personalities portrayed, era of conception and originally intended target audience), and drunken stupor used to promote charismatic personality (again, as a part of the characters portrayed, but which in me personally tends to cause more irk/pity rather than mirth).

The most enjoyable aspect of the whole was by far the originality of the prose; the almost ...more

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Jul 01, 2011 Algernon (Darth Anyan) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

I picked this up in order to fill one of the gaps in my fantasy education. I kept seeing references to it everytime discussions turned towards sword and sorcery fantasy books. I can now add one more flag on the road mapping the transition from Poe to Howard, to Thieves World to [for example] Riyria.
I'm glad I have finally got to know Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser - two spirited adventurers through highly magical and dangerous world of Newhon. This introductory collection of stories presents the her ...more

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Jun 19, 2018 Malum rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, short-stories

Its Swords and Deviltry, a CLASSIC of sword and sorcery fiction! A GIANT amongst the pale imitators!! The PINNACLE of fantasy adventure fiction!!!

Aaaaaaand...I didn't care for it as much.

It is broken up into three stories. The first one is about Fafhrd and, looking through the reviews, even some of the people that like this book say that this isn't a terribly great story. Yeah, it's a slog where almost nothing happens.

Next, we get a story about the Gray Mouser. It is a little better, but maybe ...more

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Oct 23, 2019 Dawn C rated it liked it

Shelves: group-shelf, 6th-read-all-the-books-challenge, media-audible

Well this was a fun romp. I have a weakness for anti heroes, for partners in crime, and these two fit the bill. I was at times reminded of Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing, the language was exquisite, classical, just old enough to make you feel like you’ve properly stepped into a different era altogether. The stories themselves are perhaps a bit naive or simplistic - I had to snicker a few times at the unlikely plot twists in Ill Met in Lankhmar - but nomatter, I was entertained by this plucky short st ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Gary Sundell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The book contains three shorter works. The first features Fafhrd before he leaves the North. I have read it before, but it was slow going until near the end of the story. The next tale deals with Mouse before he becomes Gray Mouser, more enjoyable than the first story. The gem in this collection is Ill Met in Lankhmar,a tale well deserving its awards.

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May 10, 2012 Jean-marcel rated it really liked it

Before I say anything about this book specifically, I must flat-out state that Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are my favourite on-going fantasy series. I don't generally read huge, sprawling multi-volume sagas of anything, just because I can't imagine how a writer could possibly keep up interest or inspiration over thousands and thousands of pages for the same world or set of characters and maintain a consistent enough quality to make the undertaking a worthwhile experience for me. Before I say anything about this book specifically, I must flat-out state that Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are my favourite on-going fantasy series. I don't generally read huge, sprawling multi-volume sagas of anything, just because I can't imagine how a writer could possibly keep up interest or inspiration over thousands and thousands of pages for the same world or set of characters and maintain a consistent enough quality to make the undertaking a worthwhile experience for me. Life's too short, you know, and I am a ponderous, thoughtful raeder who takes his time with everything. This series isn't like that; the seven volumes are slim (or perhaps you bought them in two nice omnibus editions), and they are themselves made up of shorter tales, except for The Swords of Lankhmar, which is the only Nehwon/F&GM novel. I think this is the ideal format for a number of reasons, but mostly because we're never in any doubt that what we're seeing are in fact "snapshots", so to speak, of the lives of this eminently lovable pair, and you bet, they have loads of adventures and complications that we'll never read about. This is a good thing, not for opportunistic fan fiction writers (are there F&GM fan fiction writers?), but for all of our imaginations. We don't mind watching these characters grow, because even if they are sometimes prone to funks, quarrels and can even occasionally be obnoxious people, the glimpses are brief and they'll probably eventually get over whatever crisis has caused them to behave poorly, and do it in a natural way. Finally, I just love reading short stories; it isn't that I haven't the attention span for novels, but I enjoy reading things in a single sitting and I like to take stories with me on trips, or even on my way to work in the mornings as I ride public transit.

SO, since this marks the beginning of my favourite long-running fantasy series, why did I only give this book three stars? A three star rating is still a pretty good book as far as I'm concerned, so I've got nothing much bad to say about Leiber's work here, except that it just gets a hell of a lot better. I really mean that: Start with this book, yes, but if it doesn't rock your world and put a huge grin on your face, persevere, because once the troublesome twosome have really developed a rapport after wandering and adventuring together for years, the stories become marvelous. This is the beginning, though, and the comfortable rhythm doesn't quite seem established yet. Also, the first two stories establish the backgrounds of Fafhrd, the hulking northern barbarian with a lust for travel and a hunger to see the sights of the world and learn as much as he can, and the diminutive Gray Mouser, a wily and cunning rogue who started off as a magician's apprentice but soon turned to thievery and underhand means to get by in the teeming city of Lankhmar. These two stories are certainly worthy, and it's good to have the tale told of where each of the twain originated and why they left their homelands.

However, the first story, "The Snow Women", does not start very auspiciously. Leiber seems to think that he can convey the harsh coldness of this land largely by making adjectives out of "ice" and "snow" and adding them to as many commonplace nouns as possible. The first couple of times, one hardly notices, but especially in the opening pages, it gets pretty excessive and I'm reminded of much poorer fantasies of which I have far less favourable opinions, and I know damn well that Leiber is actually far above this, even though he pulled the same sort of trick in the later story "The Adept's Gambit" (he used it in a much more self-aware/clever way in that tale). I suppose modern readers might, too, have a problem with Leiber's portrayal of women in this story, as all the ladies of Fafhrd's tribe turn out to be witches (a favourite theme of his early work), and the whole establishment seems to be set out to trap him and turn him into another ineffectual man like all the other males in his clan. I think though that it's important to remember that this is, basically, part of a rite of passage for Fafhrd (the second part of this rite takes place in "Ill-Met in Lankhmar(, and that this is relating events taking place in Fafhrd's seventeenth year. he's a young, brash lout, and he's bored. He wants to travel far, but the men in the tribe generally always return home, unless they win the disfavour of the women, in which case they tend to meet unfortunate ends. He's also lain with a girl he doesn't seem to love, thinking it something very casual and meaningless (or so it seems), but she has other ideas. Indeed, Fafhrd is not always too sharp in his interactions with people, but he does his best, and his hungers are pretty understandable, especially in a youth of seventeen. The writing does get a lot better as the story goes on, and Leiber thinks up dozens of ways of telling us of the grimness of this land, and also Fafhrd's reasons for wanting to leave. When a travelling show comes into town and Fafhrd hooks up with one of the carnival girls, the events are set in motion. I loved the way everyone in this land travels around on skis.

The second tale is "The Unholy Grail", and it details the Mouser's fall from grace and employ of dark magics in order to rescue his loved one. This shows a side of the Gray Mouser we don't often get to see, and it's strange to see Leiber put him under so much stress so early on. Nevertheless, it feels a little bit inconsequential compared with Fafhrd's tale, and in a way it is a shame that we hardly get to see Mouser practise any magic later in the stories, though given what he has to go through here, I can well understand why he'd want to turn away from the Arts!

Finally, "Ill-Met in Lankhmar", the meeting of the pair and the birth of their long, fruitful relationship. Right away we're thrust into a fight on the street, and the two meet by helping one another out of sheer instinct and respect based on seeing the other's style. Soon they're having a big party in Mouser's room, but now they've gotten mixed up with the Thieves' Guild, and will have to be careful where they tread in Lankhmar, the thriving, filthy metropolis where anything is possible, from hence forth. It's a good, breezy tale, with a kicker ending, and the first Fafhrd and Mouser story I read, a long time ago on a long bus trip. I enjoyed the story then, but didn't exactly rush out to read the others. I'm not even sure I was aware there were loads more of them. I only really grew to like this a lot more in the context of the other stories, and I suspect the same will be true for many. It's interesting to see references to Thieves Guilds and such here; at the time I first read this I was pretty much in my "contempt of the fantasy genre" phase, and I thought, "ah great, more RPG-inspired crap", but of course, it's the other way around; I'm sure Lankhmar was the model for many games of the future...the taverns, inns, guilds, magicians in strange edifices on the outskirts....all those things would much later become cliché. But once I realise where something originated, I'm pretty good at severing it from its feebler offspring, and I'm always interested in where and how conventions got started. There are a lot of them here, but there's so much more to the stories in general.

SO yes, while this isn't exactly F&GM at their best, I strongly advise reading everything in order, for then you can experience the true growth of the characters and live their stories as they lived them. I could suggest some of what I feel are the best stories in their entire span (most of which come after the second book), but I think that would be cheating. Savour and devour these, and know there's much more yet to come! ...more

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May 01, 2015 Stuart rated it liked it

Shelves: epic-fantasy, satirical-humorous

Swords and Deviltry: The origin stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
If you want to read “sword & sorcery” tales, why not go back to the source? Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series was first conceived in the 1930s and the first story “Two Sought Adventure” was published in 1939 in Unknown. For the next two decades he wrote additional stories but it was not until the 1960s that Leiber decided to organize and integrate the stories more closely by Swords and Deviltry: The origin stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
If you want to read “sword & sorcery” tales, why not go back to the source? Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series was first conceived in the 1930s and the first story “Two Sought Adventure” was published in 1939 in Unknown. For the next two decades he wrote additional stories but it was not until the 1960s that Leiber decided to organize and integrate the stories more closely by ordering them chronologically and added connecting materials and backstories.

Therefore, Swords and Deviltry (1970) is the first of the series based on characters’ storyline, but was actually written much later. The seventh and final book, The Knight and Knave of Swords (1988), comes almost 50 years after the initial story, making it one of the most long-lived series in modern fantasy. Swords and Deviltry consists of three stories, “The Snow Women”, “The Unholy Grail”, and “Ill Met in Lankhmar”.

“The Snow Women” (1970) is the origin story of Fafhrd, the giant red-headed barbarian from the frozen North. He is an idealistic youth of 18, but is already betrothed to Mara, a demanding young woman, and is dominated by his powerful mother Mor, since his father Nalgron died climbing an icy mountain. The women of the Snow Clan are domineering, shrewish, and dabble in dark magic as well. As the story begins, the clan has moved down south to trade and encounters an acting troupe. Fafhrd is bewitched by the lead actress, Vlana, and finds himself caught in a love triangle between Vlana and Mara (actually there is another girl he dallies with in the woods, so does that make it a love rectangle?). Anyway, it’s a messy situation and he narrowly escapes death by fleeing the Snow Women using an ingenious combination of rockets and skis. The story ends with he and Vlana heading to the city of Lankhmar to exact revenge on the Thieves Guild, which wronged Vlana earlier.

“The Unholy Grail” (1962) is the origin story of the Gray Mouser, a short and quick-witted thief and rogue who is highly skilled with both rapier and dagger. In the story he is apprenticed to the hedge wizard Glavas Rho, who dwells hidden in the forest realm of Duke Janaarl, since magic is forbidden. After returning from a quest to retrieve an enchanted stone, the Gray Mouser (still called “Mouse” in his early years) discovers his master has been killed by the Duke, and that this happened due to the accidental betrayal by the Duke’s daughter Ivrian, who was also studying with Glavas Rho. Initially he considers Ivrian a traitor and hates her, but discovers that her father coerced this information from her. He and the Duke eventually confront each other, and the Grey Mouser prevails with the use of black magic. He and Ivrian escape together to Lankhmar.

“Ill Met in Lankhmar” (1970) is a Hugo and Nebula Award-wining novella in which Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser first meet. The events all occur in one single momentous night, in which the two thieves happen to waylay two members of the city’s Thieves Guild after a jewel heist, knocking them unconscious and then fighting off several street bravos together. Recognizing a kindred spirit, the two men form a friendship and share the loot. Returning to the Mouser’s hideout, they introduce their women Vlana and Ivrian to each other. They all celebrate with drink, but being guys, the two newly-met companions decide to go out for more drink in town, during which time they hatch a clever plot to infiltrate the Thieves’ House and plunder it for more riches. However, when they return to their lair later, they discover [spoiler removed]. In a rage, they charge into the Thieves’ House intent on revenge, and mayhem ensues.

Essentially the first two stories are backstories to fill in the gaps in the companions’ early years, and I wasn’t that impressed by them as independent stories, especially “The Unholy Grail”. If you aren’t concerned about their origins, you could conceivably skip these stories, but if you’ve gone to the trouble to purchase the book or audiobook, it’s worth reading/listening to them.

“Ill Met in Lankhmar” is the crucial story of their first meeting and sets the stage for their later adventures. It is also much darker in tone than the first two stories, as their earlier carefree approach to thieving, wenching and brawling suddenly takes a tragic turn. This event has repercussions that are felt throughout their later adventures, and make them far more sympathetic and vulnerable than your average warrior/thief tandem. It is definitely a standout story and well worth your time.

Honestly, it’s hard to judge this first installment of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. The stories are extremely well-written in a slightly archaic style that is well-suited to describe their mythic adventures, but it may come off a bit stilted for readers more comfortable with modern fantasy series like George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire or Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law. Still, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are fairly sardonic and jaded about their own exploits, so they feel like real characters with complex motivations even if they are mainly intent on thieving, swindling, brawling, wenching, etc.

Morever, since the series has been so influential over the 75 years since its first appearance, it’s safe to say that most fantasy authors have borrowed some elements from Leiber’s stories, so the stories sometimes feel overly familiar. It’s an unavoidable pitfall of success, after all. You can also see the huge influence the series has had on the Dungeon and Dragons roleplaying games created by Gary Gygax. But certainly they remain entertaining and thrilling tales of adventure set in the mythic land of Nehwon.

The narrator Jonathan Davis does an excellent job with the voices of Fafhrd the big but often idealistic barbarian and his more cynical and worldly partner the Gray Mouser, who gets a slightly British accent to denote his sophistication. However, he does struggle portraying the female characters, who inevitably sound shrill and foolish. Then again, this series does not really have many three-dimensional female characters, as they are mainly domineering harpies, seductive temptresses, innocent maidens, and not much else. So that is mostly the author’s responsibility. If you are looking for complex and interesting female characters, I suggest looking elsewhere. If you are curious how the ‘sword and sorcery’ genre came to being, you’ve come to the right place. ...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 1970-1979, short-fiction, kings-of-badassia, sorcerous-swords, audiobook, single-author-collections

3.5 stars This novel collects the first of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. The first two stories, The Snow Women and the Unholy Grail introduce us to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser individually. While these are decent stories, the real magic is when the two meet for the first time in Ill Met In Lankhmar which is a superb story in the classic sword and sorcery meets buddy book genre. The last story is a 4.0 to 4.5 star story. The relative weakness of the first two stores is what brings the ov ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 York rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure, owned, classic, short-stories, fantasy

Great group of stories which introduces the two main characters in Lieber's most popular books... ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Kristin B. Bodreau rated it liked it

Shelves: scifi-and-fantasy-book-club, 7k

I have no strong feelings about this book either way. Our main characters were interesting in a caricaturistic kind of way. Fafhrd was every bit the “strapping small town boy wants to see things beyond his sheltered life and finds himself a plucky heroine from the outside world.” Gray Mouser was the “small, sweet boy is wronged and grows up quickly as a result and what he lacks in size he makes up for in witty banter and pluck.” The women were likewise “the sheltered and delicate royal” and “the ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Marc *Dark Reader of the Woods* rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, swords-and-sorcery

Eleven months later this was still in "review to come" status, and I don't have anything to add beyond my original brief comments. My overall impression is that this chronological approach is not the best way to introduce these characters. These stories were written decades after the characters were created, and as first published most readers would already be acquainted with them, so reading them first goes against the original intent. On their own, I was not particularly interested in the char ...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Joseph rated it really liked it

Not one, not two, but three, three, three! origin stories in one. First we see Fafhrd the northern barbarian, strangely fascinated by decadent civilization, up in his cold northern wastes; then we meet the Gray Mouser (well, "Mouse" at this point), wizard's apprentice with an undercurrent of darkness. Then finally, in Ill-Met in Lankhmar, they join forces for the first time, with unexpected and tragic consequences.

This is kind of an odd one -- the stories were written as backstory long after Faf ...more

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May 04, 2017 Dave rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were created by the renowned fantasy/sci-fi/horror writer Fritz Leiber(1910-1992). Leiber wrote his first Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser story in the late '30s and his last in the late '80s, the stories were reassembled chronologically for this seven volume "Swords" series. This series was extremely influential and you can find footprints left by Leiber and his legendary rogue duo all over fantasy, sword and sorcery, video games, and most notably D&D. On top of that, Mr. L Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were created by the renowned fantasy/sci-fi/horror writer Fritz Leiber(1910-1992). Leiber wrote his first Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser story in the late '30s and his last in the late '80s, the stories were reassembled chronologically for this seven volume "Swords" series. This series was extremely influential and you can find footprints left by Leiber and his legendary rogue duo all over fantasy, sword and sorcery, video games, and most notably D&D. On top of that, Mr. Leiber is actually credited for coming up with the term "sword and sorcery".

This volume contains an origin story for each character. In "The Snow Women" (1970) we meet a young Fafhrd (pronounced Faf-erd) the seven foot tall barbarian. Unlike a typical barbarian in many ways, he is longing for civilization and freedom from the domineering coven of ice witches that rule the Snow Clan. "The Unholy Grail" (1962) gives us the story of Mouse, from the time when he was serving as an apprentice to a wizard, before he took the name The Grey Mouser. I gave this collection 5 stars based mainly on the strength of the final story, the Hugo and Nebula award winning novella "Ill Met in Lankhmar" (1970), the story of the first collaboration between the two as they take on the thieves guild of Lankhmar.

The first two stories are decent. The first story is very strange and it may take a bit of time to get used to the writing, especially if you are mostly a reader of modern fantasy. You will be much more prepared if you are familiar with any of the weird fiction greats such as Lovecraft, Howard, CL Moore, and Clark Ashton-Smith etc. If you try this book and are finding that you really aren't into it, I highly suggest soldiering on until the final story where they decide to join forces. The real magic in this series lies within the dynamics between the pair of thieves. Along with the tales of Conan by Howard, Jirel of Joiry by Moore, Imaro by Saunders, and Elric by Moorcock, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are amongst the best characters in sword and sorcery history. Leiber was exceptionally prolific during his 60 year career as a professional writer, and although he is mostly known for his S&S series, he was also a master of horror and science fiction. I highly recommend the works of Fritz Leiber and consider him to be one of the best speculative fiction authors of his time. ...more

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Jun 10, 2018 Phil rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

The start of one of the best sword & sorcery series ever created.

While I personally feel that sword & sorcery heroes don't really need origin stories (Conan did fine without one), there are three presented here. "The Snow Women" introduces Fafhrd, "The Unholy Grail" focuses on The Gray Mouser, and "Ill Met in Lankhmar" shows how the two heroes joined forces.

"Ill Met in Lankhmar" is an absolute classic in the genre, and is a delight to read and re-read. While it left me cold, so to speak, when I The start of one of the best sword & sorcery series ever created.

While I personally feel that sword & sorcery heroes don't really need origin stories (Conan did fine without one), there are three presented here. "The Snow Women" introduces Fafhrd, "The Unholy Grail" focuses on The Gray Mouser, and "Ill Met in Lankhmar" shows how the two heroes joined forces.

"Ill Met in Lankhmar" is an absolute classic in the genre, and is a delight to read and re-read. While it left me cold, so to speak, when I first encountered it as a teenager, I gained a whole new appreciation of "The Snow Women" and the fraught gender politics contained within as a married adult.

I found "The Unholy Grail" to be the weakest of the three stories, and that's particularly disappointing given that The Gray Mouser is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. His origin story is pretty flat and disappointing. He starts off as a magician's apprentice little different from those seen in many other fantasy stories, and there's little hint of the wry sybaritic thief he becomes in the later stories. The ending has a hint of deus ex machina to it, as well. That being said, it's not a bad story, it's just not as good as its companions.

One thing that struck me during this reread was how Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser's ill-fated lady loves are presented in the stories here. It threw me off a bit when I was a teenager, but Fafhrd's Vlana and Mouser's Ivrian are not the idealized women so often portrayed in fantasy fiction. Vlana has been around the block a few times, and she displays a mercenary tendency to attach herself to any strong-seeming man that can advance her agenda. When Fafhrd calls her out on this, she immediately shuts him down, telling him that he hasn't a clue how hard it has been for her in a male-dominated world. Ivrian, on the other hand, is a bit frail and silly, and her presentation put me in mind of chivalric love, making me think that maybe the Mouser didn't love her so much as he did the IDEA of her and having an audience for his gallantry.

These stories are classics in the field, and worthwhile reads for any fantasy fan. ...more

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Sep 10, 2008 Jim rated it liked it

Shelves: 2fiction, sword-sorcery, fantasy, 3series, 1paper

It's Sword & Sorcery &/or Heroic fantasy mixed with some satire & horror elements, the latter reminiscent of Lovecraft to my eye. Leiber started off with this series I believe & worked on it most of his career, so the collection of short stories (all? One novel?) varies a lot in the mood, but the quality is always there. I'm only giving this one 3 stars, but it might be worthy of more. I didn't like this quite as much as some of the other ones, probably because the characters weren't as well dev ...more

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Oct 18, 2017 Sotiris Karaiskos rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

In my journey in the genre of sword and sorcery I end up here, in a collection of short stories about 2 very popular heroes. I find them both interesting and their stories are fast paced and action packed but beside that there is not a trace of significant literature in this book. Maybe a good way to realise how much progress has been done in fantasy in the last decades.

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Aug 30, 2013 Nicky rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

Not entirely sure what I think of this one. I can give it a bit of latitude due to its era, etc, but it's ridiculously and stereotypically male oriented. There's a point where a seemingly spineless girl does something immensely brave and difficult -- I nearly cheered. But that's pretty short-lived. Otherwise, there's a bunch of stereotyped controlling women, and a bunch of violence. It's... okay, with some lovely bits of prose and touches of humour, but. Eh.

I know these books are classics so I' ...more

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SciFi and Fantasy...: "Swords and Deviltry" Discuss Everything Spoilers	28	52	Oct 22, 2019 08:50PM
The Scrolls of La...: Please rate the short story, The Snow Women	1	6	Jul 05, 2019 02:36PM
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About Fritz Leiber

Fritz Leiber

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Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various ...more

Other books in the series

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (7 books)

Books by Fritz Leiber

Swords Against Death (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #2)

Swords Against Wizardry (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #4)

The Swords of Lankhmar (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #5)

Ill Met in Lankhmar (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #1-2)

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Quotes from Swords and Deviltry

“From all around came very faintly a low sad hum, as the unhoused bees mourned.” — 2 likes

“None can use black magic without straining the soul to the uttermost—and staining it into the bargain. None can inflict suffering without enduring the same. None can send death by spells and sorcery without walking on the brink of death’s own abyss, aye, and dripping his own blood into it. The forces black magic evokes are like two-edged poisoned swords with grips studded with scorpion stings. Only a strong man, leather-handed, in whom hate and evil are very powerful, can wield them, and he only for a space.” — 2 likes

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