The Broken Sword

By: Poul Anderson

Narrated by: 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.

A fantastical amalgamation of mythologies.

This was a very fun listen. Characters were interesting and well motivated. The story was engaging to the end. The narration was okay, towards the end he seemed to have forgotten the voice of some of the characters but overall it got the job done. I'd love to hear more stories from this world!

Sigmund Freud would have loved this book

Overall, my review title rings true, but there is more to the book and it is still enjoyable and worth a read. Its not too deep or lengthy but still an enjoyable time if you can get past some of the incestuous relationships. The adventure is enjoyable and Skaflock is likeable enough but still a gruff main character. The side characters aren't dumb or unlikable either. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Content tags: Murder, violence, gore, dismemberment, death, warfare, unknowing incest, willing pseudo-incest (adoptive), non-graphic references to sexual assault, and slavery.

Spoilers below







Adventure and Death
The adventure itself is fun and engaging, you get a view from a protagonist and antagonist (but less). The combat is gory and brutal at times. Such as descriptions of weapons being stuck in body parts and death (but it never lingers for long).


Incest and Pseudo-Incest
Skaflock goes on a grand adventure filled with danger and incestuous/psuedo-incestuous relationships.
They almost have a star wars thing going on with Luke and Leia except no one stops them before they have sex multiple times, and a foster mother has no qualms in lusting after (and possibly reciprocated) and being jealous of her foster son's partner (which I don't think is in star wars). Its weird and almost never acknowledges the taboo until half way for Skaflock and his sister but never between his adoptive mother and him. It's not the worst in the world for sure but still gross. I understand way back in the olden days they didn't really understand why that was bad so it's probably semi-realistic but still uncomfortable to the modern reader. They eventually find out and only half the of the incestuous union wants to break it off. Except she is pregnant and he murders he new husband and threatens to murder her too, and she is later forced to try to go back to Skaflock by Odin under threat of her kidnapped child Odin himself (technically she made a deal unknowingly).

Sex and Sexual Violence
There is mention of consensual and non consensual sex but it's not graphic unlike the descriptions of battle. Example: "The army helped themselves to the women of Alfheim" or "they prayed to their God before I got my hands on them but no help came". Sex is described in a similar manner such as "They both made merry", "Their flesh was soft and salty tasting", or "He didn't enjoy their slimy flesh but did what he had to". Not terribly graphic but still present. There is another section where the women of a certain group after seeing their army lost and decided to throw the gates open to be raped and enslaved (with the idea that they would avenge their people through subterfuge and they would not be able to do that if they died so big coin toss on whether that's really weird or smart, but it does come up that is just standard elf protocol during capture). I found it a little callous and downplaying of the suffering they would endure (although one person suggested suicide instead of that, which touches on it briefly).

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.