Book Review – The First Book of Lankhmar
Author: Fritz Leiber
Cover Artist: Chris Moore
Publisher: Gollancz
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: June 14 2001
During the 1930s, Fritz Leiber and a friend invented the classic sword and sorcery characters, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Leiber quickly took over the characters, penning nearly 40 stories over a 50 year period. “The First Book of Lankhmar” contains stories (first published in magazines) that had been previously collected in four volumes: “Swords and Deviltry,” “Swords Against Death,” “Swords in the Mist,” and “Swords Against Wizardry.”
Leiber has been credited with coining the term “sword and sorcery” and is clearly one of the founding authors of the genre. Anyone using this latest collection as an introduction his famous adventurers may feel the work clichéd–-until it is remembered that Leiber created many of the archetypes in sword and sorcery and fantasy that were popularized by later authors and roleplaying games. These archetypes are ubiquitous today. It is a shame, therefore, that this collection spends little time enlightening the reader about Leiber and his contributions. The stories are presented without any commentary to help the reader place them into historical context.
Fafhrd is a towering barbarian from the north. The Gray Mouser is an apprentice hedge wizard turned bravado. Both are rogues wandering the world of Nehwon and the streets of its main city, the notorious Lankhmar. Both Nehwon and Lankhmar are influential characters in their own right.
Readers will also note that the stories vary radically in tone. A downside to this is that the stories do not flow neatly one into the other (remember, these were stories written and published over half a century). One of the upsides to this varying tone is that there’s something to please very nearly everyone in these stories. Some are extremely brief, others long novellas. Some are light and hilarious, others serious and dark; some whimsical, others philosophical. All are clever, containing plot twists and amazingly vivid locales. Although it would be hard for any reader to chose a favorite story, special highlights include the critically acclaimed and award-winning “Ill Met in Lankhmar,” “Bazaar of the Bizarre,” and “Lean Times in Lankhmar.”
For the well-deserved magnitude of its influence, “The First Book of Lankhmar” is a must-read for fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) fans.
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