Book Review: "Swords and Deviltry" by Fritz Leiber

[jpskewedthrone]

I'm probably going to get roasted by the SF&F community for this, but . . . After hearing about this series for ages, I finally decided to check it out as part of my "reading new authors" quest this year. This series has been around for a while (since the 60s and 70s) so it's a little retro and I tried to take that into account as I read it. That didn't seem to help too much.





The premise: This first book is really simply three stories woven together to produce a book. The Snow Women is the back story of Fafhrd, relating his early life and how and why he flees and ends up in Lankhmar. Similarly, The Unholy Grail is the back story of the Gray Mouser and how he ends up in Lankhmar. And finally, Ill Met in Lankhmar is the story of how the two meet and become the famed Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

The third story is where the heart of this book lies, and also where I assume Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser caught readers' imaginations and really took hold. It is where I finally became interested in the two characters and where the story drew me in, with the two heading off to figure out how to hurt the thieves' guild and get revenge. Of course, things don't work out as planned and what started off as a mostly drunken excursion to scout things out becomes something much more meaningful to both of them. This is the real story, and this one story is the main reason that I'll go on and read the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, the two back stories for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser didn't really catch my interest or hold my attention as well, especially Fafhrd's story (which was the introduction story in this book). I kept reading mostly because of what I'd heard from others about this series and this pair. The Gray Mouser's back story was more interesting and better written. Maybe the reason the second and especially the third story caught my attention and held it better is because they were more of what I was expecting in terms of "sword and sorcery," which is what these stories really are.

As I said, I tried to give the style of the writing some leeway, since they were written before I was born and the style then was slightly different. For example, the omniscient POV was much more prevalent, so what we now call "head-hopping" was more common. Now, we try mostly for third-person limited POV and "head-hopping" is frowned on (although still done occasionally). I must admit the head-hopping threw me and it took me a while to get used to it. The language itself and the structures of the sentences were also slightly "off" from current fiction, and that took some getting used to.

But in the end, I really think that my issues were with the story, not the style. The first one just didn't catch me. The second piqued my interested more, but it was the third where I finally felt that I was "getting" what everyone was raving out. The third story drew me in and, again, is why I'll go ahead and continue with the second volume.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

The stories were written in a fairly random order, and by the time he wrote the back stories, Leiber already had quite a lot of material on them, which cramped them. At the same time, the other earlier stories in their continuity were also early in his writing career and rather sub-Howard. The style and content change a lot as Leiber changes and grows. So this 1st volume is also the weakest.
I hope you do read some more. He's a very influential writer and changed a lot of the perceptions of what swords-and-sorcery was about. Your Amenkor novels have a similar feel to the later Fafhrd/Mouser stories (a style I love, btw! You, Violette Malan and Amanda Downum are, to my mind, the true heirs of Leiber).

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the comparison. I hope to get back to Amenkor at some point. And Varis.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I hope you do! I like all your books, but those are my favourites.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that Fritz was writing Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser short stories to poke fun at the Swords and Sorcery genre. They were collections of short stories and novellas, so they weren't written all at the same time.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I realize they are really just compilations of short stories and such, so I'm not expecting the fullness of a novel when I read them. But I really thought the first story about Fafhrd was weak here--it never seemed to have much focus. The Mouser's story was better, certainly much more focus as a story.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Like you, I've been intending to catch up on some of the 'golden age' stuff that either I missed out on first time round or read it when I was too young to really appreciate it and really can't recall it at all, now. Unfortunately I've found that reading some of the 'classics' for the first time has led to disappointment. Like you I didn't really get hooked by the stories in Swords and Deviltry (but will try some of the later ones at Kari's suggestion). I was also massively disappointed by Nine Princes in Amber because I'd had so many recommendations. I know it has its staunch devotees, but maybe you had to read it at the time (and with a much younger head) to become a true, lifelong afficionado.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Ah! Don't tell me that! I was planning on reading the Amber series (for the first time).

I've also got a bunch of Andre Norton's stuff (and getting more as I find them).

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry if I slipped up with my comments about Amber. It may just be me. I have a friend who adores them.

I'm a big Andre Norton fan. though this may be the 'right time, right age' thing working in the opposite direction. I discovered Norton in my early twenties, umpty-twiddly (cough) years ago, when I was a children's librarian. I love the Witch World books. She also wrote SF for a younger audience and I have much fondness for Moon of Three Rings. Many of her younger books might be classed as YA now (and certainly a lot of them are coming of age novels), but they were written before YA became a classification. I would heartily recommend Moon of Three Rings and Forerunner Foray (another YA). Of the Witch World ones, well, Witch World itself, obviously, but I have a sneaking liking for for the High Hallack ones, in particular Year of the Unicorn. Ones not much mentioned but which slot into the period following Year of the Unicorn are The Jargoon Pard and The Crystal Gryphon. Steer clear of the very early ones (1930s, 40s and early 50s). I like Norton, but I find things like Star Man's Son difficult to read because it's not aged well. Of the early ones I seem to recall liking Beast Master (1959) but it's years since I read it. (Ideas from it went into the film Beast Master, but neither the plot nor the characters are remotely similar.)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll still read the Amber series at some point. I already have the books.

And I read tons of Andre Norton when I was younger (around age 12 or so). So this is me going back to see if I still enjoy them as much as I remember.