The Book of Swords

By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, George R.R. Martin

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Katharine Lee McEwan, Kim Mai Guest, Elliot Hill, Richard Brewer, Nicholas Guy Smith, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Deakins, Steve West, Ralph Lister

Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition - including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin!

Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction - and an inspiration for a new generation of writers spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure.

Now, in The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and best-selling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.

Featuring 16 all-new stories:

• "The Best Man Wins" by K. J. Parker
• "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb
• "The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu
• "The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes
• "'I Am a Handsome Man,' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott
• "The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams
• "The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham
• "Hrunting" by C. J. Cherryh
• "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix
• "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner
• "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch
• "The Colgrid Conundrum" by Rich Larson
• "The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear
• "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar
• "The Sword Tyraste" by Cecelia Holland
• "The Sons of the Dragon" by George R. R. Martin

And an introduction by Gardner Dozois

Readers: Arthur Morey, Julia Whelan, Mark Deakins, Ralph Lister, Kirby Heyborne, Nicholas Guy Smith, Richard Brewer, Steve West, Elliott Hill, Kim Mai Guest, Katherine Mc Ewan, and John Lee

©2017 George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, and Garth Nix (P)2017 Random House Audio

a mixed bag

This collection has a lot to offer I'm a big fan of Garth Nix Robin Hobb and GRRM. I'd never heard of some of the authors included but now I'm interested in searching down other novels. some of the stories were so tough to get through and blended together.

Great compilation! Great stories.

Some performances better than others. Almost all the stories were top notch. Great stories by some of the best authors in their genre.

Solid, but not amazing anthology

One of the things I like about Gardner and GRRM anthologies is that they both tell you about the author and give you a list of their previous Works before presenting their novelas. That is especially useful in the audiobook version of Book of Swords as it's divided into 260 - 5 minute chapters. So if you want to skip ahead to Scott Lynch in the chapter hundred 50-ish range you just keep clicking forward until you hear an author description chapter. it's jarring because of the change of narrator. I have to mention that almost all of the narrator's here are very good. that is rare.

There are a number of very solid stories in this book. Robin Hobb, the aforementioned Scott Lynch. George RR Martin throws a chapter from the Blood of the Dragon series he's been working on forever. it's a fine elaboration on the chapters from the History of Westeros. the Riverside story in this book is an odd one, but apt.

I would say if anything this book suffers from a number of notable absences. There's no Brandon Sanderson or Joe Abercrombie. There's no Patrick Rothfuss or Jim Butcher. I would have liked to have heard the words "Would you like to destroy some evil today?" or have taken a journey with a certain dozen and a certain father of swords with a certain crack nut narrating the tail.

One of the best reasons to pick up an anthology like this is to discover or get into somebody who has a great series that you might not have heard of or have been hesitant to try. So I'm writing this in direct response to anyone who would buy big giant book filled with stories by dozens of authors to only read one and review it based on that one story.. don't publish reviews.

S&S At it's best.

Excellent variety, inventive writing, along with polished voicing, time and imagination flew for the length of the book.

Dozen or so short stories made good breaks and range, my favorite was the ancient story teller about hunting a dragons gold.

awesome.

It's only good because of the Game of thrones short story. lol. jk. some books were pretty good.

while all the stories are good...

...one alone makes this whole book worth it.

The Smoke of Gold is Glory is truly the best of the bunch. It played out like a movie in my head.

Too Much Fantasy

I am a true fan of the medieval so I was initially excited by the titles and the prospects for a good read. That quickly changed and I had to stop listening when it became apparent that this was a work truly dedicated to pure fantasy, much of which just baffled me and my thinking.

the variety of stories kept my interest.

not all the stories kindled my interest. the readers were all very good. I won't name names.

Few memorable novellas

The best thing I can do is address some of the other reviews, to provide a better idea of the contents.

It was said there’s no Table of Contents and the narrators aren’t identified:
It appears the editors took this comment to heart because there is now a nice Table of Contents clearly identifying the 16 novellas and further separating the author intros so that you can skip them if you’re that impatient to move forward. At the very end, you are provided the title, author, and narrator of each entry.

It was said there is inappropriate content:
There are two entries using the F bomb (and only 1 over-using it). There are zero described sex acts; everything is fade to black or obliquely mentioned. There are two entries with themes of abusing women (again, discussed but not detailed). As for violence, it’s about what you’d expect from something titled Book of Swords.

It was said this cared most about diversity:
By my count, there were 4 of 16 (25%) with a FMC and 2 of 16 (12.5%) with LGBTQ representation.
If you are that fragile flower that needs 100% of your fantasy to feature straight, white, males,
then by all means pass on this.

As for me, my biggest issue is that so many of these were forgettable. Sure, there were swords and stabby stabby parts, but were there characters I’ll be able to name or worlds/magic systems I’ll be able to describe a week from now? Not really. There were a few solid entries and I now have a few authors to look up (a primary benefit of anthologies, in my opinion). This was an acceptable 2-for-1 credit purchase.

Still on the fence? Here’s a quick blow by blow:
1. ⭐️ Best Man Wins by KJ Parker - contrarian and pithy, like Bronn lecturing on swords and war … without the fooox.
2. Her Father’s Sword by Robin Hobb - skip this if you don’t like the GrimDark genre or couldn’t handle Theon’s arc- FMC with lots of plundering and a brutal Darwin aesthetic. Guessing this was the “inappropriate content” entry that turned another off. Seems to be from the author’s Farseer universe.
3. ⭐️ Hidden Girl by Ken Liu - his stories tend to be more cerebral, but the shorter length makes it go down easier as the question posed is: should killers have a conscience? FMC. Ode to Arya?

*** random thought and probably way off base: it feels a little like the authors were assigned to pick a GoT character and write a tribute story, but not using the GoT universe

4. ⭐️ The Sword of Destiny by Matt Hughes - feels like classic 80s fare with Faustian bargains and Sphinx-style riddles. Tyrion would be tickled.
5.⭐️ I am a Handsome Man, Said Apollo Crow by Kate Elliot - Brienne would approve of this slick story. Steve West’s narration elevates things.
6. The Triumph of Virtue by Walter Jon Williams - Bland. Feeling Gendry’s ultimately pointless arc.
7. ⭐️The Mocking Tower by Daniel Abraham - Feeling Qarth and strange magics and indirect lessons
8. Hrunting by CJ Cherryh- A Beowulf tribute giving 13th Warrior vibes that never quite hooked me. Channeling “what is dead may never die!”
9. ⭐️ A Long Cold Trail by Garth Nix - lighter tale of sorcerer’s puppets and godlettes, felt Sam Tarly YA
10. When I was a Highwayman by Ellen Kushner - not sure if it was the robo-narration of Kirby Heyburn or the dwelling on domestic squabbles but this went over like Renly and Margaery’s honeymoon.
MM references.
11. ⭐️ The Smoke of Gold is Glory by Scott Lynch - did he just say “well placed buttocks”? This was cheeky and felt like a pirate treasure hunting adventure. It was fun enough that I may finally bite on the author’s much longer Lies of Lock Lamora.
12. The Colgrid Conundrum by Rich Larson - went off script and from swords to steampunk, with furnaces, masks, and potions. The number of F bombs and abuse themes also dimmed my enjoyment.
13. The King’s Evil by Elizabeth Bear. FMC. … zzz… what? Where was I? Must have dozed off.
Too much feelings, not enough action.
14. Water falling by Lavie Tidhar - “The job was simple: find a man, then kill him.” Another one that goes off script. Was there a sword at all? This was instead a Weird Western tale of gunslinging, addiction, and chained-gods. Very gritty.
15. The Sword Tyraste by Cecelia Holland - Steve West at his shouty, chew the scenery best,
but I still won’t remember much except it was a revenge tale.
16. The Sons of the Dragon by George RR Martin, narrated by Ralph Lister - a nice supplement between seasons of House of the Dragon, but it’s mostly a recitation of who beget who, and who beheaded who.

stupendous

I just love being able to hear more information and Histories on the series as George RR Martin writes thank you very much.