The Complete Book of Swords (Omnibus, Volumes 1, 2, 3) [Hardcover]

Fred Saberhagen (Author), Duncan Eagleson (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1568650094 | ISBN-13: 978-1568650098 | Publication Date: January 1985

Its central theme revolves around twelve magical Swords forged by the gods, each endowed with a particular power or gift, and how various people acquire and use them. The series spans several decades and features dozens of characters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 626 pages
• Publisher: Nelson Doubleday / SFBC (January 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568650094
• ISBN-13: 978-1568650098
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deceptively simply storytelling, terrific tale!, January 25, 2010

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Book of Swords (Omnibus, Volumes 1, 2, 3) (Hardcover)

On the surface, and especially in the first book, this appears to be just another fantasy novel - young boy given a magical sword, sets out to seek his fate, blah blah bibbity blah. However, we see depths here, hints of a mysterious past in the world (technology was banished 2000 years ago for a length of time of 49,949 years - what a strange number - does it mean something?), tales of other magical swords - which are apparently true, as evil-doers start coming out of the woodwork left and right seeking the boy to steal his magical sword in order to gain its power for their own.

While I would like to see deeper character development, or more details on the mysterious past, at the same time it would likely ruin Saberhagen's forward momentum to slow it down and do so.

Usually the second book in a trilogy - the book to "bridge the gap" - tends to be ... shall we say, not quite up to the par of the first and third books. This is not the case in this instance. In "The Second Book of Swords," five years have passed, and while Barbara has been traveling with a carnival, Ben has chosen to sign up with the Blue Temple for service and Mark has wandered off who-knows-where in his quest to find ways to help fight against the Dark King. Early in the book they all reunite and, with Ben's urging, they decide to try to rob the Blue Temple's treasure hoard, which Ben guarantees has at least one Sword. Along the way they run across another treasure hunter - the Baron Doon, guided by the Sword Wayfinder - with whom Ben and Mark continue their quest, while Barbara goes her own way.

While The First Book of Swords was a fairly simple plot with flat characters and brisk movement, Saberhagen took more care to building his characters in the second book, while maintaining a fast pace. I was personally pleased by this, as I like to know a bit about the characters in the stories I read.

In the third book of the trilogy, another four years have passed. Ben and Barbara are living undercover as the wealthy Lord and Lady Courtenay and Mark continues on his quest to help Kind Sir Andrew - who, with his remaining troops, has been living in the swamp and using guerrilla tactics to fight the Dark King - in any way he can to stay one-up on the Dark King. Meanwhile, gods who are tired of uppity humans have decided to end their game and are trying to get their Swords back.

There is so much going on in this last book that I don't dare go much more into it without worrying about spoilers, and I don't want to do that! I'll just say that the ending, while it smacks somewhat of deus ex machina, is nonetheless satisfactory and ties things up nicely.

This is definitely a great book and one I recommend to anyone who enjoys good fantasy with a hint of epic nature. If you are a fan of the sword and sorcery genre of fantasy (with a bit of a twist), definitely spend the time it will take to find these very fun books. I know I am pleased with the trilogy and have made a note to myself to go and seek the rest of the books set in this world (there are certainly a lot of them!) - the Lost Swords books and the Empire of the East books, for example. I think I've discovered a new author to add to my list of "favorites."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing special, November 14, 2000

By 

the_smoking_quill (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book of Swords (Omnibus, Volumes 1, 2, 3) (Hardcover)

I'd really give this 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. If you're in the mood for fantasical adventure, read something by Fritz Leiber or Robin Hobb instead (or, for a true change, Guy Gavriel Kay).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Under-rated, January 24, 2003

By 

"l_michelle_m" (OH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book of Swords (Omnibus, Volumes 1, 2, 3) (Hardcover)

The book was very good reading material if you just want a story. The characters in the book are a little under-developed but the book still had meaning. If you cast aside the difference of the Roman and Greek names of the gods its a good book. I think the worst part of the book was the ending but i still would recommend it to anyone who just wants to sit down and read a good book without spending an hour analyzing it.