by Fritz Leiber Edition: Mass Market Paperback
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Wow....Just, WOW!!, May 22, 2007
Disguised as pulp fiction, here is an intricately simple Sistine Chapel of fantasy fiction, each chapter an enjoyable stand-alone tale and yet a statement of literary symbolistic skill and an intrinsic part of the larger book and plot as a whole, all at the same time! What's more, you'll see the two reoccuring heroes Fafhrd and/or the Grey Mouser undergo character change and development in every single tale; no matter how he uses them, Leiber never fails at making these two personalities grow and flourish. The authors characterization is more amusing and perhaps even keener than that of the others in the triumvorate of fantasy of which he is a part (Tolkien, Howard, and Leiber), and is even reminescent of Brian Jaques and perhaps even Charles Dickens. Token run-on sentences are an aquired taste, but much appreciated when you get to know them, and Leiber famously switches styles like a mad maniac; the result is a rolicking journey describing its moods and settings with grammatical choices as well as poetic and sleezy descriptions. Here you will find the influence of modernism on fantasy, while finding the source of inspiration for what we have come to know as sword and sorcery. Imagine a young and reckless Conan as a sort of medieval rock star who's hanging out with a sorceror thief played by Johnny Depp in an episode of the Twilight Zone that's set in Tomothy Leary's 1960s Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and you'll be getting a glimpse as to what awaits you in the world of Nehwon. " name=review> It's a shame that in order to find non-formulaic fantasy, you mostly have to do your searching at the very beginnings of the genre. Fritz Leiber doesn't need a three book deal to tell a great story, and in fact being a master storyteller seems to have been nothing more than a trivial feat to his ever pranking genius. Disguised as pulp fiction, here is an intricately simple Sistine Chapel of fantasy fiction, each chapter an enjoyable stand-alone tale and yet a statement of literary symbolistic skill and an intrinsic part of the larger book and plot as a whole, all at the same time! What's more, you'll see the two reoccuring heroes Fafhrd and/or the Grey Mouser undergo character change and development in every single tale; no matter how he uses them, Leiber never fails at making these two personalities grow and flourish. The authors characterization is more amusing and perhaps even keener than that of the others in the triumvorate of fantasy of which he is a part (Tolkien, Howard, and Leiber), and is even reminescent of Brian Jaques and perhaps even Charles Dickens. Token run-on sentences are an aquired taste, but much appreciated when you get to know them, and Leiber famously switches styles like a mad maniac; the result is a rolicking journey describing its moods and settings with grammatical choices as well as poetic and sleezy descriptions. Here you will find the influence of modernism on fantasy, while finding the source of inspiration for what we have come to know as sword and sorcery. Imagine a young and reckless Conan as a sort of medieval rock star who's hanging out with a sorceror thief played by Johnny Depp in an episode of the Twilight Zone that's set in Tomothy Leary's 1960s Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and you'll be getting a glimpse as to what awaits you in the world of Nehwon.
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