F/SF

A little over a decade ago, Vulcan voluntelled some men to help him create a handful of magic swords. The process killed all of them but one, and that guy lost his arm. Vulcan gave him one of the swords as payment for his labor, though, and for years it hung on the wall of his hut. When some bad guys come to town looking for it and start a ruckus that ends in one of the man's sons dead, the other son grabs the sword and heads for the hills. Or mountains, rather. So starts Mark's adventures with his father's sword, which turns out to be wanted by a lot of powerful people for a lot of different reasons.

It started out very promising (I love the twist on the Greek gods), and I like Mark's character pretty well, but by the middle it started dragging for me some and it never really picked back up its original speed. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I'll be going on with the series. ( )

This book is the introduction to the world of the Swords and the bored gods.

On the one hand, very '70s- impressionistic, quickly written, drawing heavily on archetype characters. But Saberhagen, the man behind Berserker, makes these things his own.

In the beginning the gods are bored- and they are all the gods of classic antiquity. So Vulcan is commissioned to "make the Swords for the Game", and realizes he can use the essence of humanity in their forging.

Jorge, a blacksmith in a remote village, is the only survivor of a group of men called to aid Vulcan in the forging- his right arm taken, and a flawless, simple blade given in payment. "His" son Mark later unwillingly comes into possession of the blade- but neither it nor Mark are entirely what they seem.

Meanwhile, nobles throughout the world begin to move to procure these strange magic Swords that have appeared, each with their own characteristics.

Saberhagen aimed high with this one, didn't entirely support the quality of his concepts with his technical execution, but a worthwhile read nonetheless. There are 12 Swords of Power, each a weapon with but 11 other peers, each with a special gift it bestows on its bearer. There is a rhyme in the back of the back that contains the essence of Sword-lore- questions that remain are "what are demons?" "Who is the mysterious Emperor?" "Where did these gods come from?" "What is the point of the Swords?"

Each Sword's ability comes with a vulnerability; and each sword has a more subtle second gift. Coinspinner, the Sword of Chance or Sword of Luck, makes its bearer supernaturally lucky- but it will randomly teleport itself away from/arrange to be lost by its own, representing the fickleness of chance. Its secondary gift is guidance- it can tell you, used as a dousing rod, in which direction your path lay that gave you the greatest chance of success. So their magic is not so simple; and no Sword fully dominates the others once that is understood. ( )

I enjoyed the book, and hugely appreciate that even though went got war, he didn't get bogged down in detailed battle scenes, but let us focus on what some non-combatants were doing sometimes. I'm curious about what happens next, but don't feel driven to get the next book in my hands right away.... ( )

A blast from the past. I read this series many years ago and I'm enjoying it as much this time around as I did the first time! ( )