Friday, August 18, 2017

Books read in 2017: No. 27 -- The Swords of Lankhmar

by Fritz Leiber

Started: Aug. 8
Finished: Aug. 18

Notes: I was fortunate enough a few months back to stumble upon this first edition, as well as several others, during a foray to quite possibly the best used book store I've ever encountered. "Best" at least for fans of sci-fi and fantasy from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. Unfortunately, this book store is going out of business before year's end. On the plus side, the owners have informed me they still have plenty of stock in their warehouse. Which means I'm visiting every few weeks to see what they've got that's of interest to me, and so far I've found quite a lot. Anyway, it's not impossible I've read this novel or parts of it in one collection or other, but I don't believe I have.

Mini review: Rats, rats and more rats! Yes, an army of rats invades the fabled city of Lankhmar, and its up to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to do something about it in their usual rambling, sporadic, even comical manner. I still don't remember having read any of this before, though the Gods of Lankhmar seemed familiar, yet maybe they've shown themselves in more than one tale. Sword and sorcery fans will find much here to love, though I was a little disappointed at how much time Fafhrd and the Mouser spent apart from one another.

3 comments:

Adventuresfantastic said...

Nice find. Where is this bookstore and do they do mail order?

Charles Gramlich said...

I always found them a fun read.

Ty said...

Keith, sorry, they don't do mail order. I don't think they even have a web site. It's Browsery Antiques in Greensboro, NC. The front of the store is mostly glass antique stuff, but in the back they have a large book section plus an upstairs and a warehouse full of books. It really is the best collection of 1960s through early 1980s sci-fi and fantasy I've seen in a long time, which is great for me because that's probably my favorite era for the genres. My shelves at home are already sagging from all the stuff I've bought from them during the past few months, and I hope to hit them another time or 2 before they close ... which the last I heard is in September, though there's some speculation they might be open longer depending upon the sale of the building.