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Summary: A sword-and-sorcery saga for the Viking in you
Review: 'The Broken Sword' is swift, brutal, and morally grey. Anderson packs a tremendous story into a mere 207 pages; while characterization is necessarily sacrificed, his prose is potent and the setting captures a wondrousness so often neglected in recent fantasy epics.Anderson's grim but poetic approach to Norse mythology and story-telling tradition make this a unique addition to any fantasy collection. It's not likely to be your next favourite, but it will stretch your understanding of what fantasy can be.
Rating:
Summary: A sword-and-sorcery saga for the Viking in you
Review: 'The Broken Sword' is swift, brutal, and morally grey. Anderson packs a tremendous story into a mere 207 pages; while characterization is necessarily sacrificed, his prose is potent and the setting captures a wondrousness so often neglected in recent fantasy epics. Anderson's grim but poetic approach to Norse mythology and story-telling tradition make this a unique addition to any fantasy collection. It's not likely to be your next favourite, but it will stretch your understanding of what fantasy can be.
Rating: 
Summary: A Forgotten 'Mini' Classic - A must for Fantasy Fans
Review: Fast paced, imaginative and well plotted. A fantasy that evokes Norse mthology. Reads like a 'short story' with characterisation perhaps sacrificed for thunderous pace. Yet the magical nature of the story is so breathtaking that the author gets away with it. A gritty, often brutal saga which contrasts greatly with the ponderous epic Lord of the Rings. The Broken Sword is a 'mini' classic which I really enjoyed. There are two versions of this story - the author apparently rewrote it to soften some of the edges. I have read the earlier version only and love it!
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Summary: Great little piece of fantasy.
Review: It's been a long time since I read fantasy but I found this at a library book sale and was intrigued. This book is not exactly like Lord of the Rings as the author suggests, it is darker and more foreboding. I am outraged that this fine book by Poul Anderson was allowed to go out of print. By the way, if anybody knows of a sequel to this book, please contact me at the address below.
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Summary: A dark fantasy in the Norse vein; bloody, violent & harsh.
Review: Not the best of the saga-like fantasies, this one's nevertheless quite unique in its odd melding of fantasy & the scientific justification presented to make the tale seem real. The elves, a cold and clever race, not truly malevolent but quite indifferent to men, are a race apart (along with their enemies the trolls and the goblins & other faerie folk). They are unable to withstand sunlight or the touch of iron and are yet rich in alternative, albeit medieval technologies. They use unheard of alloys of silver for their tools & weaponry and "frictionless" ships to ply the seas. Here is the story of a mortal taken into this world as a babe, replaced in his cradle by a changeling infant, half troll, half elf, but conjured into the image of the child he has replaced, and of how these two grow to manhood in their respective worlds -- the human to serve the needs of the elves by handling the iron they cannot touch themselves and the changeling to come to revile and betray the mortal family he was raised to believe were his kin. Both are betrayed by the worlds in which they are raised and lost for that -- the human for the inhuman heritage he has been raised with; the changleing for his longing for humanness & his hatred for those who have what he cannot attain. The plot is set in motion by the curse of a witch, herself the victim of the harshly brutal behavior of the stolen babe's father, and pivots on the interplay of the magical beings of faerie and the gods who toy with them. All are players and yet pieces, too, on a great chessboard which none knows the extent of -- and the stakes are the very existence of the magical beings and the gods themselves. Into this world the human hero, Scafloc, is thrust, a preening and overconfident hero among the elves who finds his fate and his end through a forbidden love and, in so doing, brings into the world the greatest evil, even as he strives to save those who have raised him. Not a happy tale by any stretch yet headlong & well-told as far as it goes. It is rich in the lore and feel of Norse saga literature and well worth reading, though the end's a bit predictable and does not move us quite as it should. Better than average among fantasies, unique but not quite among the greats. -- Stuart W. Mirsk
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Summary: Epic story, set in Norse type myth world. Few pages.
Review: The Broken Sword is a beautifully told, violent and epic, fantasy story. Set in a Norse/ Scandinavian Myth landscape, with Elves and Dwarves etc; The Broken Sword draws upon similar caricatures as Tolkein's Lord of the Rings
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Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is an excellent book. It is dark and interesting. The writing is very good and the story haunts the mind.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This is an excellent book. It is dark and interesting. The writing is very good and the story haunts the mind.
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Summary: IS TOO the best of the 'saga-like fantasies'!
Review: This is THE classic sword and sorcery book. Anderson has his sagas down cold. He got the old Weird Tales alternate-technology magic just right. The reviewer below must be a little slow.
Rating:
Summary: IS TOO the best of the 'saga-like fantasies'!
Review: This is THE classic sword and sorcery book. Anderson has his sagas down cold. He got the old Weird Tales alternate-technology magic just right. The reviewer below must be a little slow.
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