Misenchanted Sword [Mass Market Paperback]

Lawrence Watt-Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1985

The old wizard wasn't exactly happy with Valder, who'd led his enemy to his hut. Now hut and magical supplies were destroyed. But he'd promised the young scout a magic sword to get him safely back to his own lines -- and a much enchanted sword Valder would get!
The resulting sword gave perfect protection -- sometimes! It could kill any man -- or even half demon. In fact, once drawn, it had to kill before it could be put down or sheathed.
Army wizards told Valder that the sword would keep him alive until he'd drawn it 100 times; then it would kill him! It wouldn't prevent his being wounded, maimed or cut to pieces, but it wouldn't let him die. If his new job as Chief Assassin for the army didn't make him use up the spell, he'd be practically immortal.
Not bad, it seemed. There had to be a catch somewhere.
There was -- and it was a lulu!

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (August 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345318226
• ISBN-13: 978-0345318220
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,031,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing fantasy for thirty years... no, my fantasy's been published for thirty years. I've been writing it since I was eight. It's what I always wanted to do for a living, and I've been very fortunate in that I've been able to manage that. I try to write fantasy with an element of common sense to it -- not so much mythic archetypes as sensible people.

Other than my job, my life's pretty ordinary -- a nice house in a quiet neighborhood, a wife, two grown kids, and an overweight cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best fantasy books nobody's read., July 21, 2004

By 

T. Simons (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Misenchanted Sword (Paperback)

This little gem is the sort of book that you pick up at the used bookstore with twenty other paperbacks, not expecting much, and then end up treasuring for years.

Much modern fantasy relies on rather generic plot arcs and characterization that substitutes brutality for realism. Lawrence Watt-Evans falls into neither of those traps. The book starts with an apparently rather generic plot -- Joe Average soldier gets trapped behind enemy lines, meets friendly wizard, wizard makes him a magic sword then disappears, turns out sword isn't as beneficial as it first appears, etc.

But the interesting thing about this book is that the decency and common sense of the lead character manage to take the story in a very different direction from where such stories typically go. Rather than a generic plot-driven hero-quest fantasy, this book turns, in a very pleasant surprise, into a very enjoyable character-driven tale, and what's even better, one where all the main characters are likeable and act sensibly.

Far too much modern fantasy seems to be written by authors who think that "realism" means nothing more than an extra helping of cynicism, and 'characterization" means making sure all your characters are either brutal, stupid, or naieve. It's wonderfully refreshing to read fantasy where the lead character is just a sensible, reasonably intelligent man trying to lead his own life as pleasantly as possible with a minimum of fuss -- an ambition I'm sure we can all share.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant story of magic and fantasy, June 15, 2005

By 

Henry Cate III (CA. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Misenchanted Sword (Mass Market Paperback)

Recently on rec.arts.sf.written I noticed a discussion about Lawrence Watt-Evans efforts to publish online "The Spriggan Mirror." This was to be the ninth book in his Legends of Ethshar series. I read a couple chapters and found them well written and fun.

Amazon's guidelines ask that URLs not be included in a review, but if you'd like to read about Lawrence's efforts to publish online, go into goggle, search for "The Spriggan Mirror" and you find the web page.

I decided to start at the beginning of the series with "The Misenchanted Sword." The main character is Valder, a scout for the Esthshar army. They have been fighting the Northern Empire for decades. Valder ends up behind enemy lines and runs for his life. He accidentally stumbles into a hermit wizard who has been hiding out from civilization for years and doesn't take kindly to Valder who, even accidentally, brings the war to where the wizard has been living. The wizard decides to turn Valder's sword into a magic sword which will protect Valder and help him to return to the Esthshar army. With all the spells the wizard puts on the sword, it does help Valder to get back to the Esthshar army.

The Esthshar wizards study the sword and find there is a slight problem with the sword, that after Valder kills 100 warriors with it, the sword will kill Valder, the sword was misenchanted. Valder and his sword are used to fight the Northern Empire. Then later in the book Valder tries to figure out what to do with this misenchanted sword.

This is a pleasant story. It read well and it is hard to point down. While writing this review I've picked up the book a couple times to reread some favorite passages. If you like fantasy, this is a fun book to read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs in every fantasy lovers collection, August 26, 2003

By 

aerich "aerrich" (United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Misenchanted Sword (Paperback)

This novel goes through several interesting phases in the life of the main character and stands on its own if you can't find the rest of this series. It even has a "building" phase in which he turns a bare plot of ground into a successful inn over the course of a decade. Original storyline, great internal dialog, and timeline spanning a lifetime+ make this a classic page turner you will enjoy rereading every five years until you die.