Swords And Deviltry

[Keith]

Stumbled onto a great used book store that I've been meaning to check out for months. Was happy to see shelves and shelves of books, comics, trades...great collection of quality stuff. Anyway, I found an old copy of Swords And Deviltry by Fritz Leiber. Been wanting to read this for years. Before I dive in I'd be interested in some people's opinion of the series.

[Bryan]

The best swords&sorcery series ever, although Swords And Deviltry is probably my least favourite book of the series. It's okay, and Ill Met In Lankhmar is a great story, but the series gets WAY better after this book. The Swords Of Lankhmar was probably my favourite, but every book in the series has gems. I envy you your first trip to Nehwon.

[Kevin]

One of the best buddy fantasy of all time.

[Chad]

if you can't find the rest I know Baen.com had them as omnibus/bundles

[Darren]

Keith, I just picked this up for the kindle a week or so ago. Renegade read!

[Keith]

Sounds like im gonna enjoy the read. I'm wrapping up the 1st Conan book and should start Leibers soon.

[Ben]

should be a good transition - Leiber's Swords series is great fun. I found I enjoyed some of the tales much more than others though so if one is not quite to your liking it is worth sticking with. Leiber, although inspired and influenced by the pulps is much less pulpy than Leiber although I feel his Swords stories play a tribute to all the best elements of the pulps.

If you like secondary world fantasy you might want to check out the e-magazine http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/ as there is lots of great contemporary stories there. In terms of more classic stories C.L Moores stuff is also worth checking out.

[[deleted user]]

I thought it was a really good book,I hadn't started the second book yet.

[Mark]

I would agree with the others: the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories are some of the best Fantasy of all time ... except for the last book of the series (The Knight and Knave of Swords) ... not too good :-(.

Since you also like Conan, I would recommend the Kane novels of Karl Edward Wagner. Great stuff!

[Joe Informatico]

What Bryan said. Deviltry is basically Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser's origin stories, first separately, then how they became a duo. But they're so much more fun as a partnership. I hope you like it enough to continue the series.

[Maclurker]

Fritz Leiber's Swords series are one of my all-time favorites and (IMHO) way under-rated and ignored. I love how it starts:

Sundered from us by time and stranger dimensions dreams the ancient world of Nehwon with its towers and skulls and jewels, its swords and sorcery.

And the description of Lankhmar: The massive-walled and mazy-alleyed metropolis of Lankhmar, thick with thieves and shaven priests, lean-framed magicians and fat-bellied merchants -- Lankhmar, the Imperishable, the City of the Black Toga and Seven-score Thousand Smokes.

Makes you want to hop on the nearest carpet and drop in at the Golden Lamprey on Cheap Street.

We should suggest one of these for the next sword read.

[Keith]

Just started and am enjoying it so far. I'm used to reading fat epic series with tons of description. This book is crisp, concise yet still creates a great visual without spending hundreds of pages doing it. See myself reading the next book.