The First Book of Swords

By: Fred Saberhagen

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

For a game, the gods have given the world 12 Swords of Power so that they might be amused as the nations battle for their possession. But Vulcan the Smith has had his own little joke: the Swords can kill the gods themselves. What started out as Divine Jest has become all too serious as the gods fight to recover the Swords, and mortals discover that the mantle of power is more delicious and more terrible than anything they could have imagined.

©1983 Fred Saberhagen (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The books that started me reading

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE LAST CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK IS A SPOILER! I LOVE this series, and I was very upset to hear that last chapter, that is just a detailed explanation of all 12 swords, blurted out at the end of book 1!!!!! No story details except a few spoilers of book 3. Go back and listen to the last chapter after book 3 and you will be fine. There is a "Song of Swords" that is spread out through the books and it is in a collection in this chapter. There is also, FYI, a collection of short stories called the Armory of Swords that the last chapter was written as a guide. I am sad to see that the Armory is not available yet. After book 3 you should be ok to listen to this chapter and nothing spoiled.

Now for some dribble if you're interested...

These books were among the first books I started reading when I was in Jr High. I recieved this series through a book mail program. Turns out I couldn't get enough. I read the Complete Book of Swords(books 1, 2, and 3) and I was very happy to learn of the Lost Sword series that continues the story(if you like a sherlock holms type of book then stonecutter is for you), ending with the short stories from the Armory of Swords(again not available on audible yet).

At this point I assumed I was done,... well it turns out there were books leading up to these! The first 3 books have been placed into one book called Empire of the East. I prefered the Sword series over these, and I see reviews saying the narrator makes these books almost unbearable. I enjoyed them because they are constantly refering to the old world, or ancient battles between huge forces.

1.The Broken Lands (1968)
2.The Black Mountains (1971)
3.Changeling Earth (1973), also titled Ardneh's World
4.Ardneh's Sword (2006)

There are the 4 books that are the empire of the east books, I am not sure if the Empire of the East on audible is all 4 of these, or just the first 3 since that is how these stories were rereleased.

Sorry for my spelling errors or punctuation errors, I did this in a hurry and my new 8 month old son is wearing me out!

P.S. check out Saberhagens Book of the Gods series too. Not the swords, but still pretty good. What can I say, Greek Mythology gets me every time!

A classic series, but...

This is one of those classic fantasy (with a little bit of science fiction background) series. It came out in the early 1980s. Now, don't get me wrong -- I really did enjoy this story/this series. It does, however, leave me wanting a bit. I think about all the fantasy and sci-fi books I've read, and I just think of how far writers have come in the vein of making their worlds come alive.

You really have to dive into the rest of the author's books to get a grip on the nuances of the world (especially Ardneh and all the things associated), which I suppose isn't a bad thing for an author to do. It certainly would get people to read your books!

The swords themselves are fascinating. I have only read the core three books (the first, second, and third -- not the rest of the individual Sword stories), so I only got a little insight into a few of them. The plot of this book, and the subsequent ones, falls just sort of flat. I'm trying to say all this without giving too much of the actual plot away. Most of the books are about losing the swords and trying to find them again, and it becomes fairly unclear whether they're actually any help at all in most situations besides that people believe they will be.

Maybe that is the point. I'm not quite sure.

I think a lot of people who gush over these books (please don't take offense!) do so because they have fond memories of reading them in their childhoods. And that's fine! But I didn't read these in my childhood, and I found that these just didn't grip me like the things I actually did read back then (namely, Tolkien and Feist).

A good listen, and I did not waste my time, but with the characterization that felt a bit inconsistent (especially the love stories in the series? they made me want to hurt something) and the sort of lacking in the department of the swords (I feel like they could have been so much cooler, and I didn't want to focus on Mark and Ben after a while) makes me not particularly in love with this series. I believe when I got frustrated in the middle of reading the second, I told my husband something like, "This series is weird. First we're fighting a war against the gods, now somehow we're staging a bank heist."

Great First Book!

Fantastic mythology created about magical swords of power. Intriguing premise. I look forward to the next book. I originally read this in the 80s. It was nice to revisit the swords again.

A great series finally comes to Audible.

What made the experience of listening to The First Book of Swords the most enjoyable?

This has always been one of my favorite fantasy series. I'm glad to see it finally produced in an audio format. (My kids don't let me read much.) I especially enjoyed re-entering Saberhagen's world and re-learning the song of swords.

What other book might you compare The First Book of Swords to and why?

Perhaps The Wheel of Time series by Jordon. A young man thrust into a game he cannot control or understand as he tries to survive and protect himself and his friends.

Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

To my knowledge, this is the first of his performances I have had the pleasure of hearing. I thought his reading extremely well done and appropriate for the various characters throughout the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was, and I did. With the wife and kids out of the house, I had the entire day to myself. So, I spent it listening to this book while working on things around the house.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy classic fantasy, this is definitely worth a listen. My only regret is that the other two books in the trilogy aren't released yet as of this review. Well, that, or the fact it wasn't recorded as The Complete Book of Swords. TCBoS is an unabridged compendium of the original trilogy.

Summary sets the bar to high for first entry?

For an audiobook kicking off a series about magically powerful swords and the chaos they cause while gods play a mysterious game using the wielders as chess pieces, this book is a bit plain for a first impression. "The First Book of Swords" holds up well enough today, however the pacing still feels a bit predictable in it's structure.

The bad guys are your typical arrogant fantasy bad guys. The good guys, at least the main ones, are your typical naive but brave fantasy good guys. Perhaps later in the series, these characters will become deeper and more developed as time goes on, but as it stands from this book the only characters that stand apart seem to be a few side characters with limited exposure.

The plot also isn't nearly as entertainingly tangled as one would expect from the summary as well. Again, maybe this will change as the book series moves on, but as it stand now, judging from this first book, the storyline is very simple. Someone obtains a mysterious powerful sword, one of a set created by gods, and another person wants to collect them in order to have access to more power and lord it over other people. A line is drawn in the sand, they fight each other, people die, and there is a lackluster cliffhanger leading on to the next book.

The narrator does an average job bringing in interest as an audiobook as well. Derek Perkins doesn't have a bad voice for narration, but throughout the book he often keeps the same tones; It is as if he is having a pleasant conversation, but not emphasizing anything. With a few exceptions, characters tend to seem to passively interested even when they should be stressed out.  

The end result for "The First Book of Swords" seems to only be an average one. This audiobook is recommended to fans of very traditional fantasy adventure storylines and listeners who don't mind a slow beginning when it comes to a story that spans many books and features many characters over time.

Great book but extremely short

I remember reading this series in my youth and was excited to see them on Audible. I was not disappointed.

nice

good memories of a good books series and it's writer. I finally have a chance to finish it.

First Book of Swords

Fred Saberhagen's divine sword saga involving Mark, son of Jord, is a fun introduction into the universe he created with Empire of the East. You can enter into this series without reading or listening to prequel since enough lore is provided to follow along. Mark is an unassuming miiler's son whose peaceful existence is ended when bandits and soldiers begin chasing in pursuit of a magical sword he inherited. It's established that his sword is part of a collection of magical blades forged by the smith God Vulcan. There are men and women who lust for power that will stop at nothing to steal Townsaver, Sword of Fury, from Mark. Vulcan ended up making his creations to well since the Swords of Power can also slay the story's gods. Nonetheless these gods are petty and cruel who dispersed the Swords among mortal and monsters as an excuse for sport. Derek Perkins is the perfect voice for bringing Fred Saberhagen's Swords series to life.

Great narration

Love it - would recommend to other fantasy readers , epic tale of gods heroes wizards and dragons

Compelling and thought provoking story

Admittedly, I am more of a hard science fiction enthusiast but when a friend strongly recommended this book I thought I would give it a try. I was not disappointed after the second chapter I was hooked and look forward to reading the series. I especially like how they place this story in relation to our current timeline (no spoilers here).