Shieldbreaker's Story

The Last Book of Lost Swords

De: Fred Saberhagen

Narrado por: Cynthia Barrett

Long ago, the gods forged 12 Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life for greedy mortals to scramble over. Too late, the gods learned that they had forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, ages later, the Swords are back in human hands, as powerful as ever. Vilkata the Dark King returns from exile seeking revenge on those who defeated him. His first goal is the vault in which his enemy Prince Mark has placed the remaining Swords; with these in hand, none can oppose his rule. Only one untested warrior stands in his way: 14-year-old Prince Stephen, with Shieldbreaker in hand.

©1994 Fred Saberhagen (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Not as bad as some reviewers say

In my opinion, of course.

The inclusion of obvious science fiction elements is somewhat out of left field, but is almost certainly something the author intended from the start. It’s not the only work with similar events (the Shannara books leap to mind, as do (from a somewhat different direction) the Pern novels), but the fact that the sf element had been so thoroughly submerged in the previous installments does make it harder to accept.

We at least get the semblance of some answers here, as well. Not always satisfying ones, but answers nonetheless.

Some characters’ stories receive unsatisfactory endings. One fairly major character from the Lost Swords series is killed off; from the perspective of this story it makes sense, but it’s not a particularly emotionally satisfying end. Others characters (admittedly absent or nearly so since the initial trilogy) are written off in absentia, not even appearing on screen at all. Carl gets more attention, care, and emotionally satisfying parts than the preceding.

Still, not having reread these for decades, and digesting them now mostly slowly (I reread the non-lost trilogy seven years ago; the first two lost books a few years back, the third through eighth of those in the past year or so), this honestly for the most part isn’t all that different from the earlier lost books. Less emotional depth, a bit plot heavy, but not a hideous departure.

Narration Needs Better Editing.

Great book and finale to Fred Saberhagen's Books of Swords. Cynthia Barrett performs well, but there's a point in the middle of the book where you can hear her clearing her throat.

Would much prefer the narration of Derek Perkins from the First, Second, and Third Books of Swords.

By far the worst book in the series…

All of the build up over the series just to finish with this let down. I wish I had stopped at the last book. I’ve never written a audible review before, but this deserved it…

HORRIBLE ENDING TO SERIES

I loved this series as a kid. wasn't nearly as good as I remember but this as the final book of the series was awful. The ending was forced. the culmination of this 11 book series the final battle was a paragraph quickly trying to tie everything up to the desired end. Bad just bad. if I could give it zero stars I would