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Swords and Deviltry  By  cover art

Swords and Deviltry

By: Fritz Leiber
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Neil Gaiman (introduction)
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Publisher's summary

Neil Gaiman Presents: the first book in Fritz Leiber's classic sword-and-sorcery series, which includes the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella, Ill Met in Lankhmar.

In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon, facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears.

The late Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser launched the sword-and-sorcery genre, and were the inspiration for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Epic edge: download more tales of Lankhmar.
©1995 The Estate of Fritz Leiber (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's, like all of Fritz Leiber's fiction, delightful and, like all of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, a wonderful place to go." (Neil Gaiman)
"Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are virtually a genre unto themselves. Urbane, idiosyncratic, comic, erotic and human, spiked with believable action and the eerie creations of a master fantasist!" (William Gibson)

What listeners say about Swords and Deviltry

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Classic sword and sorcery

Wonderful story and great narration being this classic tale to life. Also very inexpensive. Buy it now!

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Superb

Fritz Leiber’s creation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, it’s not only at the top of all of the genre Of sword and sorcery fiction, not only at the top of the larger genre of fantasy in imaginative fiction, but in my humble opinion is one of the greatest works in all of fiction.

This volume, for me is as great as all of the best of this work. And Jonathan Davis, may he rest in peace, may his work in memory always be a blessing, interprets this work as well as anything
he ever did.

While there’s more I want to say, I just can’t think of good ways to say it. All I can say to conclude his highest recommendations on this.

Oh, and PS: Neil Gaiman‘s introduction is also outstanding, and he obviously is also a fan of this work and the author.

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A classic

If you’re looking for old sword & sorcery, you can’t go wrong here. I’m trying to get into better storytelling for D&D and this was exactly what I was looking for.

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A timeless classic

What can I say? One of the greatest sword and sorcery tales ever, written by a true master!

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Something that I hope will be remembered

The four pillars of Sword and Sorcery. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Conan, Elric and Kane. Anti heroes, rogues, barbarians, thieves, magicians, without any of which we would not have such powerhouse properties such as D&D, Warcraft, or roleplaying as we know it. The level of fun and companionship shown in this and subsequent books inspired many who wanted to go on similar adventures, even if only in their imaginations. I loved the book, but I did struggle to enjoy myself until the two leads joined up together. Until then it was just character building and occasional action. Once it clicked I was able to love it for the rest of the time and hope to read more soon. There are some big twists that really blow the mind. Here's to more!

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Good, punchy sometimes convoluted fantasy writing.

Important note: Also if u have an audible membership, u can listen to the individual short stories in this book, and for all the books without buying it for a credit! Dont make the same mistake i did!

Review

As a person who plays ttrpgs like dungeons and dragons, and enjoys the fantasy genre in other media, we owe much to fritz leiber. Good stories, well performed by an expressive narrator. Sentences can be overly complex, but leiber is good at inserting fun dialogue, descriptors and action

Only gripe is how i didnt like how women were portrayed in this book, but thats more a sign of the times i hope/ guess.

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    5 out of 5 stars

How we were meant to read Fantasy

I really don't know how i missed this author for so long. Mr.Leiber truely was a master of his craft. This is fantasy in its purest form. After listening to the first 3 of the novels in the series, I now realize that most of the previous "sword and sorcery" style fantasy authors i have read to date are simply pale imitators, all striving to capture or reproduce what Mr. Leiber has created.

These novels raise the bar to a new level that most fantasy authors will rarely achieve.

That being said, the narration is decent, but not spectacular. The narrator often seems confused as to which minimally varied tone he has assigned to which character. Since there are often only 2 main characters in many of the stories, his confusion is less then laudable.

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Another I read in High school. Great book/series

Loved it. Highly Recommend. Great adventures with well developed characters. Going to read the series.

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great book, great reading

loved it. Had not seen this before, wonderful. Thank you for a great performance. will get the next.

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Fafhrd & Grey Mouser Begin

This sets the foundation for sword & sorcery's greatest duo. The voice acting is good. Lieber's world is intriguing.

It starts a little slow compared to modern literature, but it's well worth the wait.

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