Rating: Summary: Short Stories with Fun and Action Review: The book reads like a series of short stories. Cele Goldsmith commissioned Fritz Leiber to write a series of Fahrd and Gray Mouser stories for Fantastic Stories pulp (one of the two early plups edited by Cele Goldsmith). That says it all. They are a fast read with plenty of action and very little of the long, dreary and seemingly endless descriptions of scenery etc.. found in many other books. The stories revolve around characters and the deeds of those characters. Unlike Jordan's Wheel of time series, which provides pages and pages of explanation of the types and colours of curtains found in each room of a house, something happens on every page.Fahrd is like a Viking big, lustful and not scared to kill. Gray Mouser is an apprentice wizard that is not scared to use the black arts to get revenge eg. burning enemies to a crisp. Forget political correctness which is expected in so much of the literature these days, you will not find it in this book. It is like the old Star Trek (kill anything that gets in your way) and unlike the Next Generation (lets us open up the lines of communication so we can have meaningful dialogue). If you like short stories that are well written, do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book.
Rating: Summary: Masterpieces; humorous and different Review: The late Fritz Leiber deserves a major aknowledgement among fans of Fantasy. He was one of the groundbreaking authors who reformed the genre during the fifties and sixties, and created his own, most personal style. Leiber's stories about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser is unique Fantasy litterature in many ways. They don't deal with world-saving heroics and nauseating brave, honorable central characters, but instead tell the tale about two rough, excentric, greedy, selfish, self-asured drunkards of adventurers, in behaviour and manners more resembling the common man than most Fantasy heroes. Although Farfhrd and the Mouser are far from evil, they always have one top priority: themselves. All the adventures and quests they embark on (an uncountable number during the seven books) has the motives of personal winning, excitement, lust or vengeance. Never would they risk their lives to save the world (unless the get paid for it), and the women they devour, love, long for, fight over or rape are more likely to be tavern wenches, slaves, whores, thieves or supernatural beings than fair maidens or princesses. Overall, the stories of the giant northerner and the lean little thief is, with very few exceptions, something completely out of the ordinary, and though most of the stories are kind of old, they all seem surprisingly vivid and fresh compared to the commercial, mainstream Fantasy litterature of today. READ THEM! You won't be dissapointed!
Rating: Summary: Classic Swords & Sorcery Review: This book is the earliest adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, their early lives, how they met and adventures. The novellas are rich in detail of the surroundings and show that the world of Nehwon is well-developed. Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser's interactions are realistic (except perhaps for the high-flown language) and kept me turning pages eagerly. Lots of hack'n'slash as well as intellectual puzzles, a few moments of hair-raising suspense and some definite sizzle. Classic swords & sorcery with very little mumbo-jumbo and no complicated explanations.
Rating: Summary: The beginning of a Legend Review: This is wonderful. The perfect antidote to Tolkien's snorefests. You should read it.
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