Customer Reviews

Second Book of Lankhmar (Fantasy Masterworks 24)

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This omnibus, collecting the last three of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books (THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, SWORDS AND ICE MAGIC, and THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS), finds its author approaching, in the time-honored tradition of aging SF authors, full-blown dirty-old-man-mode (at least Heinlein was able to attribute his latter-years satyriasis on a brain tumor). True, Leiber's duo of heroes, unlike, say, those of Tolkien, exhibited active libidos from the start, but here one can chart a sort of crescendo of kink, starting with the relatively chaste, but nudity- and sex-filled nonetheless, THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR (1968), but escalating rapidly in the last two books, as Leiber explicitly indulges the Mouser's ephebophilia and sadism ("The Mer She", from THE KNIGHT AND KNAVE OF SWORDS, for example finds the Gray One repeatedly binding an adolescent stowaway to his shipboard bunk), and both heroes develop a Tourrette's-like tendency to drop c-bombs (and other misogynistic interjections) in casual conversation.

But even a priapic Leiber could write rings around most authors (indeed, the penis mightier than the sword), and this collection is filled to overflowing with the wild romance, strange adventure, perilous plotting, memorable characters (Kreeshkra, the ghoul-girl from THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, being particularly fun), and clever banter that have been hallmarks of Leiber's Lankhmar tales since 1939's "Two Sought Adventure."

"But one certainly cannot fault the little darlings for their occasional itch for each other, since their taste is so exactly like my own." -Mouser