The Broken Sword

De: Poul Anderson

Narrado por: Noah Michael Levine

This acclaimed fantasy classic of men, elves, and gods is at once breathtakingly exciting and heartbreakingly tragic.

Poul Anderson's novel The Broken Sword draws on similar Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sources as The Fellowship of the Ring. In his greed for land and power, Orm the Strong slays the family of a Saxon witch-and for his sins, the Northman must pay with his newborn son. Stolen by elves and replaced by a changeling, Skafloc is raised to manhood unaware of his true heritage and treasured for his ability to handle the iron that the elven dare not touch. Meanwhile, the being who supplanted him as Orm's son grows up angry and embittered by the humanity he has been denied. A pawn in a witch's vengeance, the creature Valgard will never know love, and consumed by rage, he will commit a murderous act of unspeakable vileness.

It is their destiny to finally meet on the field of battle - the man-elf and his dark twin, the monster - when the long-simmering war between elves and trolls finally erupts with a devastating fury. And only the mighty sword Tyrfing, broken by Thor and presented to Skafloc in infancy, can turn the tide in a terrible clashing of faerie folk that will ultimately determine the fate of the old gods.

©1954 Poul Anderson; Introduction copyright 2014 by Michael Dirda (P)2022 Tantor

Great, underrated story

This is a fantastic, and very underrated fantasy book. The story and descriptions are all amazing as are the battles. Though I think there were some rather bizarre aspects to book, especially some of the relationships that I feel were better handled in the Children of Hurin. Great book regardless.

decent

Pulpy, shallow, but fun! If I had read this in my early teens I would have loved it. As is I'd only recommend to hard-core fans of pulpy Conan or Norse style novels.