The Sword Smith [Paperback]

ELEANOR ARNASON (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Condor; First Edition edition (1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895160285
• ISBN-13: 978-0895160287
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,441,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I think this is supposed to be classic fantasy, March 6, 2005

By 

M. Schoonover "picky reader" (Wasatch Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sword Smith (Paperback)

I purchased this book for my Fantasy as Literature class in college, after finding out it was kind of hard to get a hold of a copy. I can't believe there are no reviews on it here, since I swear it was supposed to very important and influential in the history of fantasy, according to my teacher.

This, then, is the story of Limper, who was the finest smith in Eshgorin - until he ran away. Tired of using his skills to make useless trinkets for the King of Eshgorin, Limper is running across the countryside with his faithful, cute dragon companion Nargri. Limper learned everything he knows about smithing from the dragons, who unbeknownst to humans are the true masters of the craft- (that's why humans associate them with fire and hoardes of gold treasures.)

Limper has a variety of adventures, being captured by several different groups of people, most of whom want to turn him to the King of Eshgorin, who has put a price on his head. On the other hand, some of them just want to kill him for the heck of it. He meets an assortment of companions and together they get into and out of some sticky situations.

Apart from the fact that Limper is a rather wry character with a strange philosophy on life, and that Nargri is adorable, and that I love the unique take on dragons, this is a fairly mediocre adult fantasy book. I find it to be a good YA fantasy novel, though. Since I can find little to no info on this book, I can't tell you if it's supposed to be young adult fantasy or not. The writing is very simplistic and straightforward - it's a travel-log of events, things happen, more things happen, then the book ends. There's no conclusion WHATSOEVER to this book. Regardless, it's a good light read.

3.0 out of 5 stars Very light reading, February 2, 2007

By 

Michael E. Noll "sphinxes" (Omaha) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sword Smith (Paperback)

This book consists of a series of encounters along the road as Limper the sword-smith attempts to escape from the king. Limper's traveling companion is a very young dragon (the dragon race in Arnason's book are similiar to dwarves but I guess its easier and cuter to have a young dragon along than a young dwarf). Ends as it begins, still travelling along the road but now out of the king's reach.