The Last Book of Swords: Shieldbreaker's Story (Books of Lost Swords) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "HUNCHED in his saddle on the flying demon's back, buffeted by winds of air and magic, Vilkata the Dark King confronted catastrophe with a snarl..." (more)
Key Phrases: old armorer, black hilt, elder wizard, Dark King, Old World, Sword of Force (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A wicked magician and a batch of demons almost succeed in taking over Sarykam, capital of Prince Mark of Tasavalta, in this lackluster 11th, and final, volume of the series that began with The First Book of Swords . Vilkata the Dark King and his shape-changing demons return from the Moon, where they had been sent by Prince Mark, who can hurl demons into the heavens with an incantation. Employing the power of the Mindsword, which gives the holder the allegiance of all beings he encounters, Vilkata gains the fealty of the city and palace occupants except for 14-year-old Prince Stephen, son of Mark. The prince makes his escape using Shieldbreaker, the Sword of Force and the strongest of the dozen created by the Gods, and Sightblinder, the Sword of Stealth; he loses the former to Vilkata, although the Mindsword is destroyed. Then the Dark King gains an ally in the adventurer Baron Amintor, wielder of Coinspinner, the Sword of Chance, and sets out to consolidate his hold on the city by destroying all other swords. Meanwhile, Stephen tries to make his way to his father to seek aid. Saberhagen's saga ends happily and at a good time, since his original concept has run out of steam with tired and sketchy characterizations and plot and only brief appearances by many players from other volumes.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the concluding volume of Saberhagen's Swords saga, battle extends from palace to peasant hut--indeed, all the way to the moon--and is loaded with remnants of premagical technology as well as the secret of why the Old World fell and magic came to rule. Key to the battle against Vikata the Dark King is Prince Mark's second son, Prince Stephen, who turns out to be a formidable wielder of swords. By the time journeys and battles are done, the only one of the twelve swords that survives is Woundhealer, for even the terrifying Shieldbreaker has perished. Followers of the Swords tales will find the last much to their taste, so fantasy collections should supply it. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy (June 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812505778
• ISBN-13: 978-0812505771
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #952,580 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a disappointing end to a great series, February 24, 2000

By	"theukulele" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I've been following this series all the way from its beginning with the Empire of the East series and I was extremely disappointed with the seemingly rushed way this one was written. Egad, what a goofy way to explain the Emperor figure. I was hoping for an intelligent tie in back to the Empire of the East premise, but ah well. The rest of the series is great.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good action. End could be better., June 23, 1997

By A Customer

Coming down off reading the other seven Lost Swords books, I was terribly disappointed with the end. We learn many answers to the questions Saberhagen has raised in the previous hundreds of pages of text, but we see just as many questions go unanswered. Really a rather shoddy ending to such a grand detailed story. The Armory of Swords (short stories) show more promise, in that they aren't all going to be finished by Saberhagen

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Lame Book of Swords: HeartBreaker's Story, December 8, 1999

By	Harold Hagstrom Jr (Bellevue, WA) - See all my reviews

I bought all paperbacks from the first trio through last book and sat down and read them from beginning to end. I have to conclude that this story was the most disappointing of all of them. Unfortunately for me Sheildbreaker's book was the reason why I force fed some of the other bad ones. This book in paticular is bizzare and inconsistent as far a as plot and environment with respect to the series. In summary, I didn't like the way the other swords played out and I thought the characters were neglected and unengaging. As far as I am concerned this series found a creative niche to add personality and intrigue to all the swords, quite uncommon for this genre surprisingly, however, the plots, stories, chararcters, ideas and action scenes fell well short of a great series let alone good stories. I am sorry, but I cannot recommend this book (or series) to anyone. For what it is worth, Book 2 of swords was the best of them all. In some way, I wish the author could have a do-over with the swords concept. Great ideas, not so good implementation.