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    The Book of Swords
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    The Book of Swords
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    The Book of Swords
    Audiobook22 hours

    The Book of Swords

    Published by HarperCollins

    Narrated by Arthur Morey, John Lee, Katharine McEwan and

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    An epic collection of fantasy tales in the grand tradition, including a never-before-published A Song of Ice and Fire story by George R.R. Martin and an introduction by Gardner Dozois.

    Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a cornerstone of fantasy fiction, and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own tales of magical adventure.

    Now, in The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an anthology of sixteen original epic stories by a stellar cast of modern masters, including George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, Ken Liu, Daniel Abraham, Scott Lynch, Cecelia Holland, Ellen Kushner, and more on journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid adventure, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 19, 2017
    ISBN9780008274849
    Unavailable
    The Book of Swords

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    Reviews for The Book of Swords

    3.5/5

    46 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      In the introduction to this collection of short stories, the editor writes that he has always been a fan of "Sword and Sorcery" Fantasy, and he recognizes the essential stamp of that style on the realistic "Grimdark" Fantasy that has been gaining popularity since the mid-1990's. To me, the general difference between those sorts of stories is that the former tends to have more success (or at least survival) for its protagonists, and those protagonists tend to be more heroic (even if they're brooding troubled Byronic anti-heroes). The stories in this collection vary between those two subgenres, and I think that makes the total package stronger. There's no guarantee that things will turn out well for any of the characters, but neither is there a promise that it will all always go wrong.
    • 4/5
      Entertaining short storys, picked up mainly to read the GOT short story but found others were good ones.. i recommend her fathers sword,the sword of destiny,the sons of the dragon
    • 1/5
      After listening to more then 50% of this book, I decided it was time to just drop it. I only liked one of the 14 stories I did listen to , I did skip a few of them within those 14 but I just can't do it anymore. These are long, drawn out and boring stories. None of them were keeping my attention, I was falling asleep through them, it just wasn't worth my time and effort. The one story I did like was "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hood, it was interesting and appealing, and kept my attention. I may be missing out on the rest of the stories, but I honestly don't know and honestly don't care. Its not worth the struggle to keep trying to listen to this
    • 3/5
      Some good stories here, but don't be fooled by the title - the stories for the most part don't have anything to do with swords. I fell for the trap and assumed this would be somehow related to swords, combat, something like that. This is just another vehicle for fantasy writers to write short stories, which may or may not have swords in them. Many of them are about rogues, not swordsmen. It would probably also help if I was more familiar with the worlds of some of the authors, so if you are fans of some of these writer's longer works, the stories may appeal to you more.
    • 3/5
      Some of the stories were well written, interesting and somewhat original, in fact most.I liked CJ Cherryh's and K.J. Parker's particularly. GRRM called it in. Giving yet another Westros history lesson, his carelessness is indicated with lots of leals and the use of prevaricate when he means indecisive delaying.
    • 4/5
      I found this book to be rather disappointing. It was advertised as an anthology of Sword & Sorcery stories, but it really isn't. By my definition at least, Sword & Sorcery stories are usually a fast paced and action oriented with an almost nihilistic feel. Their heroes are usually self centered, morally ambiguous people with goals along the lines of getting treasure, conquering a kingdom, or killing an enemy. The only story along those lines is "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar.Despite the fact that the genre is mislabeled, the stories themselves are pretty goo, with one glaring exception—George R. R. Martin's "The Sons of the Dragon.," which is a shame since A Song of Ice and Fire is so popular that a lot of people will pick up the anthology just for this "story" and be disappointed. I put "story" in quotation marks because it reads more like an excerpt from a history textbook on the kingdom of Westeros than an actual story.If you're considering buying this because you love Sword & Sorcery of for GRRM's story give it a pass. Otherwise it is still an enjoyable fantasy anthology.