Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Ace Books (New York, 1968). 1st edition, 1st printing. 224 pages. $0.60.
Description
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser take to the sea in the third installment of this seminal sword and sorcery series that "has lost none of its luminous magic" (San Francisco Chronicle). Swords in the Mist, book three in the Lankhmar series, thrusts our indentured, sword-swinging servants into the question of hate, its power, and its purpose. Times are lean in Lankhmar, illuminating the link between money and love. Luckily, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser don't always believe in love. When Lankhmar gets too gritty, our travelers take to their other, less harsh mistress, the sea. But the sea can play tricks on men, and so can the sea king. He can break a man, or worse yet, curse him. But when he is away, it's all play for the formidable swordsmen and the Triple Goddess . . . and two luscious sea queens. But luck may not always be there, as they discover on the way to see Ningauble, their wizard employer. After a long journey in defense of their control over their own fates, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser find themselves pawns in a life-and-death chess game, all of Lankhmar being the pieces. How many pawns will be left on the board before someone wins? Before The Lord of the Rings took the world by storm, Leiber's fantastic but thoroughly flawed antiheroes, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, adventured deep within the caves of Inner Earth, albeit a different one. They wondered and wandered to the edges of the Outer Sea, across the Land of Nehwon and throughout every nook and cranny of gothic Lankhmar, Nehwon's grandest and most mystically corrupt city. Lankhmar is Leiber's fully realized, vivid incarnation of urban decay and civilization's corroding effect on the human psyche. Drawing on themes from Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft, master manipulator Fritz Leiber is a worldwide legend within the fantasy genre and actually coined the term Sword and Sorcery that describes the subgenre he helped create. … (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Larou
The next stop in my project of re-reading the whole of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books is Swords in the Mist, the third volume, which contains one lengthy early novella, three mid-period stories from the fifties and sixties, and two bridge vignettes Leiber wrote for this volume to
This collection contains what might very well be my favourite story in the series, “Lean Times in Lankhmar”. It probably is also the most satirical, even more so than “Bazaar of the Bizarre”, the barbs this time chiefly aimed at religion. Not only does that story have almost none of the usual Fantasy trappings, it also finds Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser working separately, even against each other, and seeing how their friendship persists and makes itself felt even when they are at cross-purposes with each other, is just one of the many delights this story provides the reader. The satire itself is rather mild, although I suppose your mileage may vary if you happen to be a deeply religious person – Leiber is unambiguously poking some fun at institutionalized religion here, the way a religion does become an institution, the role money plays in that, and the way belief can spring from the most unlikely of sources. If your are not offended by it, it is a very funny story indeed, and definitely confirms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser as a major source for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
That story alone might have made Swords in the Mist one of the best volumes in the series – if it was not for what must surely be one of the most blatant “What the hell was the author thinking?” moments of WTF-ery in all of Fantasy literature. I am, of course, referring the novella “Adept’s Gambit” (which takes up about half of this volume) and the vignette leading up to it, “The Wrong Branch”. There, Leiber transports his heroes for absolutely no good reason that I was able to conceive of from Nehwon to our Earth. The story could just as have well taken place in Nehwon with just the change of a few names, instead we get an elaborate setup that is full of holes and inconsistencies (do they remember their previous lives or not? Leiber actually claims both in different places) and just does make any sense. The result is that the reader gets thrown off completely and spends the time they should be enjoying the novella with scratching their head wondering where that came from and what the hell Leiber was thinking. You can probably tell by now that I was majorly annoyed at this sudden, unmotivated shift, and it seems almost as if Leiber was somewhat embarrassed by it himself, at least he does not even attempt to explain how Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser got back to Nehwon, but just opens up the next volume in the series with them being back in their familiar world.
As for “The Adept’s Gambit” itself, it is an okay story, not one of the best in the series but not one of the worst either, with some lovely touches (like the curse that gets put on Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, transforming their lovers into pigs or snails), some padding (the chapters that tell the backstory do drag a bit) but overall a decent fun factor. Despite an excellent first half, Swords in the Mist does not quite live up to the previous volume, though - or indeed to the next one.
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bring his stories into some kind of continuity.This collection contains what might very well be my favourite story in the series, “Lean Times in Lankhmar”. It probably is also the most satirical, even more so than “Bazaar of the Bizarre”, the barbs this time chiefly aimed at religion. Not only does that story have almost none of the usual Fantasy trappings, it also finds Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser working separately, even against each other, and seeing how their friendship persists and makes itself felt even when they are at cross-purposes with each other, is just one of the many delights this story provides the reader. The satire itself is rather mild, although I suppose your mileage may vary if you happen to be a deeply religious person – Leiber is unambiguously poking some fun at institutionalized religion here, the way a religion does become an institution, the role money plays in that, and the way belief can spring from the most unlikely of sources. If your are not offended by it, it is a very funny story indeed, and definitely confirms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser as a major source for Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
That story alone might have made Swords in the Mist one of the best volumes in the series – if it was not for what must surely be one of the most blatant “What the hell was the author thinking?” moments of WTF-ery in all of Fantasy literature. I am, of course, referring the novella “Adept’s Gambit” (which takes up about half of this volume) and the vignette leading up to it, “The Wrong Branch”. There, Leiber transports his heroes for absolutely no good reason that I was able to conceive of from Nehwon to our Earth. The story could just as have well taken place in Nehwon with just the change of a few names, instead we get an elaborate setup that is full of holes and inconsistencies (do they remember their previous lives or not? Leiber actually claims both in different places) and just does make any sense. The result is that the reader gets thrown off completely and spends the time they should be enjoying the novella with scratching their head wondering where that came from and what the hell Leiber was thinking. You can probably tell by now that I was majorly annoyed at this sudden, unmotivated shift, and it seems almost as if Leiber was somewhat embarrassed by it himself, at least he does not even attempt to explain how Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser got back to Nehwon, but just opens up the next volume in the series with them being back in their familiar world.
As for “The Adept’s Gambit” itself, it is an okay story, not one of the best in the series but not one of the worst either, with some lovely touches (like the curse that gets put on Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, transforming their lovers into pigs or snails), some padding (the chapters that tell the backstory do drag a bit) but overall a decent fun factor. Despite an excellent first half, Swords in the Mist does not quite live up to the previous volume, though - or indeed to the next one.
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LibraryThing member schteve
More greatness in the Swords series. In this volume Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser find themselves at odds during a profitless spell in Lankhmar, at the bottom of the sea and in the real city of Tyre shortly after the time of Alexander the Great. This last story 'The Adept's Gambit' is a tour-de-force
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of Lieber's subtlety and sophistication, traits not normally associated with Sword and Sorcery. Show Less
LibraryThing member aethercowboy
This third volume of Lanhmar's noted larcenists features a collection of reprinted tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, in which the dynamic duo take up religion, poke fun at society (both ours and theirs), and find themselves manifested in ancient Greece.
Leiber was a master at crafting these
Leiber was a master at crafting these
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golden age fantasy tales, and the team of Fafhrd and Mouser belong on the shelves of any fantasy aficionado. Show Less
LibraryThing member Brendan.H
Fantastic, if not quite as good as "Swords Against Death".
LibraryThing member elenchus
The first book was comprised of longer tales, as is the next (Book 4). Books 2 and 3 showcase Leiber's episodic storytelling: he uses set pieces, later adapted to the classic RPG module scenario. Leiber is episodic not only in choosing the short story, but within stories there are gaps between
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"The Cloud of Hate" (1963 / Fantastic Stories of Imagination)
A companion and fitting prelude to "Lean Times", with the hate of believers focused and channeled into an eldritch foe.
"Lean Times in Lankhmar" (1959 / Fantastic Science Fiction Stories)
"Their Mistress, The Sea" (1968 / newly written for this book)
"Lean Times" being one of the central tales in the cycle, both for plot and inventive scene-setting. Like "Bazaar" the subtextual commentary isn't so much subtle as woven into the storytelling so well as to be comic but never farcical. Lankhmar's religious tradition as central to the city's culture and sense of place as is the Thieves' Guild. "Mistress" follows on immediately, the plot is not crucial, essentially a meditation on what is needed to bring the heroes back to fighting trim, bodily and spiritually.
"When the Sea-King's Away" (1960 / Fantastic Science Fiction Stories)
Feels like it took inspiration from a myth or legend, or perhaps simply written as though it were. They are not triumphant in their immediate quest, but characteristically they snatch a minor victory from the jaws of defeat.
"The Wrong Branch" (1968 / newly written for this book)
"Adept's Gambit" (1947 / Night's Black Agents)
"Branch" one of Leiber's bridging stories, as he fits stories into a consistent biography. Curious that "Gambit" is slotted so late into the cycle, perhaps simply because early in writing Leiber was inventive and liked the prospect of bringing his heroes into the Roman Empire, despite the setting not being central or even necessary. Indeed, there is enough here for three or four of the more typical tales.
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action, often linked by atmospheric description or the aside of the omniscient narrator. In one story at least ("The Sunken Land"), narration is with both heroes for a stretch, and then shifts to just one, and stays with him even after the action links the two characters again. In "Bazaar", the narrator is first with one, then the other. Readers stitch together something bigger from the episodes, though, and this stitching lends a distinct character. //
"The Cloud of Hate" (1963 / Fantastic Stories of Imagination)
A companion and fitting prelude to "Lean Times", with the hate of believers focused and channeled into an eldritch foe.
"Lean Times in Lankhmar" (1959 / Fantastic Science Fiction Stories)
"Their Mistress, The Sea" (1968 / newly written for this book)
"Lean Times" being one of the central tales in the cycle, both for plot and inventive scene-setting. Like "Bazaar" the subtextual commentary isn't so much subtle as woven into the storytelling so well as to be comic but never farcical. Lankhmar's religious tradition as central to the city's culture and sense of place as is the Thieves' Guild. "Mistress" follows on immediately, the plot is not crucial, essentially a meditation on what is needed to bring the heroes back to fighting trim, bodily and spiritually.
"When the Sea-King's Away" (1960 / Fantastic Science Fiction Stories)
Feels like it took inspiration from a myth or legend, or perhaps simply written as though it were. They are not triumphant in their immediate quest, but characteristically they snatch a minor victory from the jaws of defeat.
"The Wrong Branch" (1968 / newly written for this book)
"Adept's Gambit" (1947 / Night's Black Agents)
"Branch" one of Leiber's bridging stories, as he fits stories into a consistent biography. Curious that "Gambit" is slotted so late into the cycle, perhaps simply because early in writing Leiber was inventive and liked the prospect of bringing his heroes into the Roman Empire, despite the setting not being central or even necessary. Indeed, there is enough here for three or four of the more typical tales.
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LibraryThing member Lyndatrue
"The third book of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser wherein the two greatest swordsmen in Lankhmar try out a new way of life, but give it up in favor of the lure of the sea and an Adept's Gambit."
LibraryThing member sben
My favorite of his first three, though not worthy of a full star’s rating increase. The final novella had big unwieldy chunks of exposition that dragged.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This is great fun! The six classic tales were deftly edited into an almost novel, and more-or-less define the concept of Sword-and-Sorcery fiction. "Hard Times in Lankhmar" will always remain etched in my memory. So read the book, you won't forget it...especially the "Gods of Lankhmar"
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
This is another compilation of short stories/novellas. There is sword and sorcery, but some stories are touched by a darker fantasy, bordering on horror.
The Cloud of Hate was the one that sent chills down my back. The idea that enough people can create a palpable hate rings too true. Lean Times in
If you like the Lankhmar books, you will probably enjoy this book. It isn't necessary to read them in order, so feel free to pick this one up and read away.
The Cloud of Hate was the one that sent chills down my back. The idea that enough people can create a palpable hate rings too true. Lean Times in
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Lankhmar had me shaking my head, wondering how Fafhrd and Grey Mouser would bet out of this one! The Adept's Gambit was one that I found interesting. Ningauble's messages had me snickering throughout.If you like the Lankhmar books, you will probably enjoy this book. It isn't necessary to read them in order, so feel free to pick this one up and read away.
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Awards
Locus All-Time Best (Fantasy Novel — 35.3 — 1998)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
Physical description
224 p.; 7 inches
Local notes
Signed (as purchased).