Third Book of Swords (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Up at the unpeopled borderland of cloudy heaven, where unending wind drove eternal snow between and over high gray rocks, the gods and goddesses were..." (more)
Key Phrases: black hilt, riding beast, blind face, Dark King, Sir Andrew, Blue Temple (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fred Saberhagen has always been on of the best writers in the business,"--Stephen R. Donaldson, author of White Gold Wielder

"Hoist with their own petard by setting humans up as pawns in their game of swords, the gods now face their own destruction in the violent thrilling conclusion to Sanberhagen's Swords trilogy."--Booklist

"Fred Saberhagen has proved he is one of the best."--Lester Del Rey
-- Review

Review

"Fred Saberhagen has always been on of the best writers in the business,"--Stephen R. Donaldson, author of White Gold Wielder

"Hoist with their own petard by setting humans up as pawns in their game of swords, the gods now face their own destruction in the violent thrilling conclusion to Sanberhagen's Swords trilogy."--Booklist

"Fred Saberhagen has proved he is one of the best."--Lester Del Rey

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (September 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812553454
• ISBN-13: 978-0812553451
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #441,285 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #9 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Saberhagen, Fred

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a mixture of magic and mythology [spoilers noted], December 18, 2004

By	Oscar "DaRK KNighT" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

"The Third Book of Swords" is the third and final novel in "The Book of Swords" trilogy approximately four years following the prior book. It has an interesting storyline involving an assortment of deities supplemented with a variety of creative magical weaponry.

The book splits time mostly between Denis and Mark. I find Mark a charming personality who could have been managed with greater attention while Denis is a new character, left as a complete enigma. The remaining group of characters who got the series thus far is downgraded to secondary characters. A subtle revelation regarding the Emperor adds an interesting twist.

[minor spoiler]

Earlier in the series, Shieldbreaker successfully defended a wielder against an attacking warbeast, slicing off its paws. In this novel, Vulcan is attacking with Shieldbreaker a group of humans who grapple him unarmed to the ground. The interesting fact is the Sword passes through the unarmed people in an immaterial state but harms the god. In the spirit of the fight, I would consider the human hands a choking weapon. The swarming of unarmed humans to subdue the Sword wielding god compared to the warbeast is a large flaw in the story.

[end minor spoiler]

Assorted spelling errors, in greater number than the earlier novels, slows down the reading. While the book starts quite descriptive, by the end the storytelling is hurried. I do not care for the mixture of Greek and Roman names for the gods and goddesses, I would prefer to stick with one mythological theme. A detailed map of the significant terrains would have been useful.

Given the power of the Swords in an appealing world, I would recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Thank you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, December 1, 2003

By	Nathan Trautman "ntrautman" (Norfolk, NE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The third book of swords (Paperback)

If you like the Lord of the Ring books you will love these books. This one happens to be one of my favorites. As our main hero Mark works his way around the country he finds all sorts of answers to questions readers had since the first book. The battle for the swords rage between humanity and the gods; both trying to concour it all. Its a must read for fantasy adventure fans.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fred Saberhagen is simply one of the best fictional authors!, September 10, 2002

By	Jack Deth "JackDeth" (Neenah, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews

Fred Saberhagen is simply one of the best fictional authors in the business. I got this book to complete a collection I started years ago. If you've never read the "Swords" books, you are really missing out. This series is one of the greatest works of fiction of all time and a great majority of the material in these books can be referenced to some work of fact or fictional literature from the past. His style of writing is simply amazing and will captivate you and entertain you for years to come as you read and re-read his books over and over again.