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Lost Swords #7
Wayfinder's Story
When Wayfinder, the Sword of Wisdom, turns up in the hut of Valdemar, a simple grower of grapes, it leads Valdemar on his quest to find a wife
251 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
12 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
335 books494 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 27, 2023
The only downside is that now I must find the 8th and final book of Lost Swords. May Coinspinner grant me luck.
December 4, 2021
The Swords saga draws nearer to the end, and like all good penultimate books, this one is full of a few surprises, but still leaves a lot unanswered, and it is becoming pretty apparent the series will likely end with a few plot holes.
The principal characters are brought back together by the long lost Wayfinder, a Sword that hasn't been seen at all since the second book of the original trilogy. The Sword of Wisdom guides anyone to the goal they want, although not always on the most direct path. The story does a good job of exploring some of the other limits of Wayfinder (questions it won't answer, the fact that it only focuses on one goal at a time, etc). The Sword finds its way to a young farmer named Valdemar, who leaves his vineyard to go in search of a wife. Naturally the Sword brings him to Zoltan and Yambu, who then encounter Ben. Ben is estranged from his wife and therefore happy to go on missions trying to find Woundhealer, to restore the injuries that Mark's wife, Kristin, sustained at the end of the previous book. The Blue Temple has allied themselves with Wood, who also wants Woundhealer for his own nefarious purposes. The various Swords switch hands a few times, and result in a large battle between Mark's team, aided by the Tasavaltan army, and Wood's soldiers.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Wood's top assistant/lover Tigris plays much more of a role in this book. We learn she is starting to regret being allied with Wood, and wants to be free. When she captures Valdemar and gets ahold of Wayfinder, she sees that as her ticket to freedom. Here Farslayer makes a brief cameo, as Wayfinder brings them to the Sword. But before she can use it on Wood, a major demon attacks them and Valdemar hurls Farslayer against it, which of course it flies off to some remote location where the demon's life is hidden. As vengenance, Wood attacks Tigris from afar with a spell that regresses her back to her pre-evil life. She no longer has (most of) her magic powers, and is somewhat more childlike.
This is where it gets super weird. Wayfinder tells both Tigris (who's real name is revealed to be Delia) and Valdemar that the other is key to their goals. Over the course of what seems to be a single day, they fall in love (like Ben/Ariane and Mark/Kristin both did). It seems extra creepy because while Tigris/Delia is a full-grown adult, her mental faculties seem to have reduced her to pre-pubescent maturity. Yet Valdemar hooks up with her anyway. Gross.
The Tigris/Delia backstory is only hinted at, never really explored, which is a shame because you wonder how she became so evil to begin with. But based on the ending, it seems the two will ride off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
Mark arrives with Shieldbreaker and Sightblinder and assaults Wood's camp. In the chaos of battle, Mark is wounded and Zoltan takes up Shieldbreaker. Wood, not seeing this from in the air on his griffin, notices Zoltan and thinks he can strike him down with Wayfinder. But as we've seen before, swinging a Sword against Shieldbreaker destroys the other Sword. The resulting blast kills Wood.
This was the biggest surprise of the book, even more than Tigris' rebellion and eventual conversion. Wood is both a master manipulator and a powerful magician (the way he is able to strike down Tigris from a distance is pretty terrifying), and the story has hinted at the possibility of an epic battle between him and the Emperor. The story thus far led us all to believe that he would be the final bad guy. That we'll never see that battle is rather disappointing. While he went out in epic fashion, destroying Wayfinder in the process, it's still rather a surprise.
This sets up the Dark King to be the final villain. I'm a bit disappointed by this, because while Vilkata is certainly very evil and very powerful, he wasn't in the same league as Wood.
As i said, there are a few questions that may not be answered by the end of the next book, mainly to do with the Emperor. Is Ariane really alive as the Emperor once suggested? Will the Emperor reunite with Yambu? Who is this guy anyway? Also, will Adrian be involved in the next story (the synopsis casts his younger brother Stephen in the lead role).
NOTES
* Valdemar is hinted to be more than he seems. I suspected he might be another son of the Emperor, although I don't think we will ever see him again.
* It's starting to get very frustrating to not know who the Emperor is. He clearly seems to be helping to manipulate events behind the scenes (e.g. I am pretty sure he is the one who delivered Wayfinder to Valdemar).
* Where did Wood get all these soldiers from? Are they part of the Blue Temple?
* Speaking of the Blue Temple, they were severely crippled here, losing their Chairman, their Director of Security, and if the above question is a yes, they lost a good deal many soldiers. I find myself wondering where they go from here, but that's probably not considered relevant to the story.
* Karel has a list of locations where demons lives are held? And he doesn't have minions going out and destroying them?
* While I'm glad it attempted to address why Woundhealer didn't restore Tigris' memory, I'm not sure I find the explanation satisfactory.
* MATH: It's mentioned here that Yambu's real age is 51. They also talk about how the raid on the blue temple was "19 years ago". This would mean Yambu was about 32 at the time of the raid. I don't recall how old Adriane was supposed to be, but 15-16 seems about right. Meaning Yambu would have had to be pregnant with her when SHE was 15-16. It's not completely clear in the story, but when they talk about it in the third book of the original trilogy, they made her seem a bit older when it happened.
SWORD COUNT (End of Third Book)
Stonecutter, Dragonslicer - Still in Prince Mark's armory. These two being vey specialized (in fact, Dragonslicer is one of the two Swords [the other being Soulcutter] that doesn't have it's own story), they aren't used too much.
Sightblinder, Woundhealer - Given by Valdemar to Ben at the end of the book, to be returned to Mark's armory.
Farslayer - After making a brief appearance here, it's cast away again to lands unknown.
Mindsword - Now in the hands of Vilkata, the somehow-not-dead Dark King.
Soulcutter - The Emperor tells Mark in Book 6 he no longer has Soulcutter, but offers no explanation.
Wayfinder - Destroyed in battle by Shieldbreaker-wielding Zoltan.
Shieldbreaker - In Mark's hands at the end of the book.
Coinspinner - We learn Murat had it for awhile, long enough to find where the Mindsword was located (I would have loved to read more about this). But as always, the Sword of Chance goes where it wants. Walls and magic shields cannot hold it
The principal characters are brought back together by the long lost Wayfinder, a Sword that hasn't been seen at all since the second book of the original trilogy. The Sword of Wisdom guides anyone to the goal they want, although not always on the most direct path. The story does a good job of exploring some of the other limits of Wayfinder (questions it won't answer, the fact that it only focuses on one goal at a time, etc). The Sword finds its way to a young farmer named Valdemar, who leaves his vineyard to go in search of a wife. Naturally the Sword brings him to Zoltan and Yambu, who then encounter Ben. Ben is estranged from his wife and therefore happy to go on missions trying to find Woundhealer, to restore the injuries that Mark's wife, Kristin, sustained at the end of the previous book. The Blue Temple has allied themselves with Wood, who also wants Woundhealer for his own nefarious purposes. The various Swords switch hands a few times, and result in a large battle between Mark's team, aided by the Tasavaltan army, and Wood's soldiers.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Wood's top assistant/lover Tigris plays much more of a role in this book. We learn she is starting to regret being allied with Wood, and wants to be free. When she captures Valdemar and gets ahold of Wayfinder, she sees that as her ticket to freedom. Here Farslayer makes a brief cameo, as Wayfinder brings them to the Sword. But before she can use it on Wood, a major demon attacks them and Valdemar hurls Farslayer against it, which of course it flies off to some remote location where the demon's life is hidden. As vengenance, Wood attacks Tigris from afar with a spell that regresses her back to her pre-evil life. She no longer has (most of) her magic powers, and is somewhat more childlike.
This is where it gets super weird. Wayfinder tells both Tigris (who's real name is revealed to be Delia) and Valdemar that the other is key to their goals. Over the course of what seems to be a single day, they fall in love (like Ben/Ariane and Mark/Kristin both did). It seems extra creepy because while Tigris/Delia is a full-grown adult, her mental faculties seem to have reduced her to pre-pubescent maturity. Yet Valdemar hooks up with her anyway. Gross.
The Tigris/Delia backstory is only hinted at, never really explored, which is a shame because you wonder how she became so evil to begin with. But based on the ending, it seems the two will ride off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
Mark arrives with Shieldbreaker and Sightblinder and assaults Wood's camp. In the chaos of battle, Mark is wounded and Zoltan takes up Shieldbreaker. Wood, not seeing this from in the air on his griffin, notices Zoltan and thinks he can strike him down with Wayfinder. But as we've seen before, swinging a Sword against Shieldbreaker destroys the other Sword. The resulting blast kills Wood.
This was the biggest surprise of the book, even more than Tigris' rebellion and eventual conversion. Wood is both a master manipulator and a powerful magician (the way he is able to strike down Tigris from a distance is pretty terrifying), and the story has hinted at the possibility of an epic battle between him and the Emperor. The story thus far led us all to believe that he would be the final bad guy. That we'll never see that battle is rather disappointing. While he went out in epic fashion, destroying Wayfinder in the process, it's still rather a surprise.
This sets up the Dark King to be the final villain. I'm a bit disappointed by this, because while Vilkata is certainly very evil and very powerful, he wasn't in the same league as Wood.
As i said, there are a few questions that may not be answered by the end of the next book, mainly to do with the Emperor. Is Ariane really alive as the Emperor once suggested? Will the Emperor reunite with Yambu? Who is this guy anyway? Also, will Adrian be involved in the next story (the synopsis casts his younger brother Stephen in the lead role).
NOTES
* Valdemar is hinted to be more than he seems. I suspected he might be another son of the Emperor, although I don't think we will ever see him again.
* It's starting to get very frustrating to not know who the Emperor is. He clearly seems to be helping to manipulate events behind the scenes (e.g. I am pretty sure he is the one who delivered Wayfinder to Valdemar).
* Where did Wood get all these soldiers from? Are they part of the Blue Temple?
* Speaking of the Blue Temple, they were severely crippled here, losing their Chairman, their Director of Security, and if the above question is a yes, they lost a good deal many soldiers. I find myself wondering where they go from here, but that's probably not considered relevant to the story.
* Karel has a list of locations where demons lives are held? And he doesn't have minions going out and destroying them?
* While I'm glad it attempted to address why Woundhealer didn't restore Tigris' memory, I'm not sure I find the explanation satisfactory.
* MATH: It's mentioned here that Yambu's real age is 51. They also talk about how the raid on the blue temple was "19 years ago". This would mean Yambu was about 32 at the time of the raid. I don't recall how old Adriane was supposed to be, but 15-16 seems about right. Meaning Yambu would have had to be pregnant with her when SHE was 15-16. It's not completely clear in the story, but when they talk about it in the third book of the original trilogy, they made her seem a bit older when it happened.
SWORD COUNT (End of Third Book)
Stonecutter, Dragonslicer - Still in Prince Mark's armory. These two being vey specialized (in fact, Dragonslicer is one of the two Swords [the other being Soulcutter] that doesn't have it's own story), they aren't used too much.
Sightblinder, Woundhealer - Given by Valdemar to Ben at the end of the book, to be returned to Mark's armory.
Farslayer - After making a brief appearance here, it's cast away again to lands unknown.
Mindsword - Now in the hands of Vilkata, the somehow-not-dead Dark King.
Soulcutter - The Emperor tells Mark in Book 6 he no longer has Soulcutter, but offers no explanation.
Wayfinder - Destroyed in battle by Shieldbreaker-wielding Zoltan.
Shieldbreaker - In Mark's hands at the end of the book.
Coinspinner - We learn Murat had it for awhile, long enough to find where the Mindsword was located (I would have loved to read more about this). But as always, the Sword of Chance goes where it wants. Walls and magic shields cannot hold it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2018
Metric system - Those are my personal opinions, you may discord, my final rating of the book is not necessarily linked to this system and may diverge from it.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 5/5 stars
- Writing stile: 2/5 stars
- Funnyness: 2/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 1/5 stars
- Plot twists: 3/5 stars
- Pace: 2/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 1/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: 2/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 1/5 negative stars
- Impact on series storyline: 4/5 stars
- Self contained (Y/N): Y
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): N
- Adult (Y/N): N
- Violence level: War
- Tech level: Basically undermedieval
- Religion level: Fictional cults and deities
- Main genre: Fantasy
- Subgenre: Quest, Adventure, somewhat fairytale
- Point of view: narration
- Aftertaste: better than most in the series
- Quote: Why is it necessary for me to be something other than what I am?
Series Storyline
- Originality: 5/5 stars
- Development: 2/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 2/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 1/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 1/5 stars
- Plot twists: 2/5 stars
- Pace: 2/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 1/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 1/5 negative stars
World
- Originality: 2/5 stars
- Variety: 1/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 2/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): N
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): Y
- Journey (Y/N): N
- Main scenario: military camp
Characters Quantity
- Total amount: ~15
- Points of view: a lot
- Main characters: none
- Secondary: hard to say
- Ordinary: ~15
Characters Quality
- Overall: 3/5 stars
- Main: -/5 stars
- Secondary: -/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Connection: 1/5 stars
- Underworld Crew (Y/N): N
- Training (Y/N): N
- Notable best characters: The Emperor
- Notable worse characters: all the rest
Rules
- Devised system: 5/5 stars
- System complexity: 4/5 stars
- System explanation: 3/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): N
- Type of Rule: Godforged swords and magic
▶◀
Finally going somewhere, maybe...
As chaotic as the coinspinner's book, this one is much better than most of the lost swords books, but still very far from the fantastic Empire of the East trilogy.
Book Storyline
- Originality: 4/5 stars
- Development: 3/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 5/5 stars
- Writing stile: 2/5 stars
- Funnyness: 2/5 stars
- Epicness: 2/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 1/5 stars
- Plot twists: 3/5 stars
- Pace: 2/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 1/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Ending: 2/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 1/5 negative stars
- Impact on series storyline: 4/5 stars
- Self contained (Y/N): Y
- Cliffhanger (Y/N): N
- Adult (Y/N): N
- Violence level: War
- Tech level: Basically undermedieval
- Religion level: Fictional cults and deities
- Main genre: Fantasy
- Subgenre: Quest, Adventure, somewhat fairytale
- Point of view: narration
- Aftertaste: better than most in the series
- Quote: Why is it necessary for me to be something other than what I am?
Series Storyline
- Originality: 5/5 stars
- Development: 2/5 stars
- Enjoyment: 4/5 stars
- Writing stile: 2/5 stars
- Funnyness: 1/5 stars
- Epicness: 1/5 stars
- Scaryness: 1/5 stars
- Smartness: 2/5 stars
- Addictiveness: 1/5 stars
- Plot twists: 2/5 stars
- Pace: 2/5 stars
- Storyline planning: 1/5 stars OR /5 negative stars
- Holes: 1/5 negative stars
World
- Originality: 2/5 stars
- Variety: 1/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Impact on the story: 2/5 stars
- Maps: -/5 stars
- Real world (Y/N): N
- Fantasy based on real world (Y/N): Y
- Journey (Y/N): N
- Main scenario: military camp
Characters Quantity
- Total amount: ~15
- Points of view: a lot
- Main characters: none
- Secondary: hard to say
- Ordinary: ~15
Characters Quality
- Overall: 3/5 stars
- Main: -/5 stars
- Secondary: -/5 stars
- Consistency: 4/5 stars
- Connection: 1/5 stars
- Underworld Crew (Y/N): N
- Training (Y/N): N
- Notable best characters: The Emperor
- Notable worse characters: all the rest
Rules
- Devised system: 5/5 stars
- System complexity: 4/5 stars
- System explanation: 3/5 stars
- Impact on storyline: 5/5 stars
- Rulebreaker (Y/N): N
- Type of Rule: Godforged swords and magic
▶◀
Finally going somewhere, maybe...
As chaotic as the coinspinner's book, this one is much better than most of the lost swords books, but still very far from the fantastic Empire of the East trilogy.
August 28, 2019
The saga continues...
Another good chapter in the book of swords...same characters in the same struggles, but still entertaining...looking forward to the last book
Another good chapter in the book of swords...same characters in the same struggles, but still entertaining...looking forward to the last book
July 8, 2020
My rating is closer to 3.5. I enjoyed this one more than the last couple in this series.
January 6, 2013
As usual, Fred Saberhagen really delivers with The Seventh Book of Lost Swords: Wayfinder's Story.
This story follows Wayfinder, a god-forged sword with the power to lead its holder to his or her most cherished goal. This story takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns as the swords switches hands from the lonely vineyard farmer, Valdemar, who wants to find a wife, to Yambu and Zoltan, to Ben, to the persistent Blue Temple, and finally to Tigris, the dread Wizard Wood's sadistic right-hand woman.
Will Valdemar find the perfect wife? Will Ben find Woundhealer to save the ailing Princess Kristen? Will Yambu and Zoltan find the truth they so desperately desire? Will Tigris acheive her own surprising goal (not here revealed due to spoilers)?
Interesting in this story is the way the Sword of Wisdom tends to take the goals of it's previous wielders into account. The result is a fantastic web of people, adventure and acheivements with unexpected consequences.
This story follows Wayfinder, a god-forged sword with the power to lead its holder to his or her most cherished goal. This story takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns as the swords switches hands from the lonely vineyard farmer, Valdemar, who wants to find a wife, to Yambu and Zoltan, to Ben, to the persistent Blue Temple, and finally to Tigris, the dread Wizard Wood's sadistic right-hand woman.
Will Valdemar find the perfect wife? Will Ben find Woundhealer to save the ailing Princess Kristen? Will Yambu and Zoltan find the truth they so desperately desire? Will Tigris acheive her own surprising goal (not here revealed due to spoilers)?
Interesting in this story is the way the Sword of Wisdom tends to take the goals of it's previous wielders into account. The result is a fantastic web of people, adventure and acheivements with unexpected consequences.
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 23, 2016
I was glad when I started this project to find that more Sword books were written. I remember after finishing the 6th Book of Lost Swords that a conclusion had not been reached. This book is very light reading but I found it to be fun and a good escape from reality.
August 29, 2016
Continuing the Saberhagen nostalgia reading. Books 7&8 were more highly rated on Amazon so I finished with those. Book 7 was fun like the original trilogy. Fast moving, lots happening. The characters are simple and the endings are happy but it's a fun journey.
September 22, 2014
This is a rather odd fantasy setting, but I really enjoy these books.
January 21, 2012
the author avoided the confrontation between Wood and Mark. Hopefully the last book will be better.
September 9, 2016
Totally enjoyed the entire series. Classic Fantasy!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews