Fred Saberhagen

The Books of the Swords — (1983-1984) Publisher: Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords novels have captivated fantasy readers for more than a decade. Here, now available in one volume, are the three books that started it all. For a game the gods have given the world twelve Swords of Power so that they might be amused as the nations battle for their possession. But Vulcan the Smith has had his own little joke: the Swords can kill the gods themselves. What started out as Divine Jest has become all too serious as the gods fight to recover the Swords, and mortals discover that the mantle of power is more delicious and more terrible than anything they could have imagined.

The Complete Book of Swords: Nothing special

This book earns a generous 2-1/2 stars, mostly because of the very good premise with the Swords and the setup in the first few chapters of Book One (in which the writing is markedly better than in later chapters — deadline rush?). In essence, the god Vulcan forges 12 magical swords, each with distinctive powers, and lets them loose in the world, in the hands of mortals. From then on, though, the story's a rapid, sometimes confusing yarn where things just don't seem to add up. And, perhaps most glaringly in the light of modern fantasy standards, there is no distinctive characterization. The characters are just shells who ride the whirlwind of the narrative: Mark is a bland hero with a mysterious father; Ben is big and strong and not as dumb as he looks; Barbara is a woman who can use a sling; Baron Doon has a Machiavellian, treasure-hunting streak. That's about it. (I think Nestor simply disappears after Book One. What the heck happened?)

In sum, it's fun to watch the introduction of each Sword, its power and weakness, but the Swords are much more interesting than the characters. —Rob Rhodes