The First Book of Swords Audiobook By Fred Saberhagen cover art

The First Book of Swords

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The First Book of Swords

By: Fred Saberhagen
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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For a game, the gods have given the world 12 Swords of Power so that they might be amused as the nations battle for their possession. But Vulcan the Smith has had his own little joke: the Swords can kill the gods themselves. What started out as Divine Jest has become all too serious as the gods fight to recover the Swords, and mortals discover that the mantle of power is more delicious and more terrible than anything they could have imagined.

©1983 Fred Saberhagen (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy Sword & Sorcery Quests Funny Witty
Immersive Fantasy World • Compelling Sword Mythology • Engaging Narration • Epic Adventure Storyline • Rich Worldbuilding
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wow. michael's review hit it out of the park! i downloaded it based on his enthusiastic comments.

good introductory book. the god, vulcan, recruits some local humans to help him forge 12 magical swords. each sword has a different magical ability. only george, a local blacksmith, survives, and vulcan gives him the sword, townsaver, for his loss of an arm. george's 2nd son, mark, is born under mysterious circumstances. a tragedy lands townsaver in mark's hands, and he must flee those who desire it.

the first book introduces us to 4 of the swords and some of the people who crave them. the swords are fickle and seem loyal to no one. for instance, townsaver will take control of the bearer and cause him to fight w/o stopping until the threat is no more w/o regard to the bearer's condition. after fighting, some bearers collapse from exhaustion or die from the wounds they received while in beserker mode- all offense.

i liked the unpredictability of the swords learning when they'd work and when they wouldn't. i didn't expect swords switching hands so quickly and easily. it actually adds to the drama. just when you want one person to have a certain sword, the author throws a curveball and may take away a sword or replace it with a different sword.

there's a believable amount of cruelty in the story- what people would do for swords, how far they'd go to attain a sword. there's cruelty on the gods' part for creating a game where people and kingdoms clash for possession and cruelty among people who will go to any length and sink to any level to possess a sword.

the story is fast-paced, and a good opening shot as the first kingdoms go to war over the possession of a sword. the different battle scenes are well-paced and fun to listen to. there's no fluff to lengthen the story, and it will keep your attention. i'd say the length is perfect for what is told.

the characters grow on you, and you find yourself rooting for some and wishing bad things on others.

my only disappointment is that this is the only book in the series available on audile. i'll definitely pick up the others as they become available.

had me from the prologue

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What made the experience of listening to The First Book of Swords the most enjoyable?

It wasn't an overly complex story but a good one. The idea of Roman/Greek gods was very interesting and even more compelling once i heard about the prequel series. The idea of the swords them self is very cool and reminiscent of the old Greek myths which i loved.

What other book might you compare The First Book of Swords to and why?

I feel like it had a very classic feel. Drawing more from ancient myths then Tolkien or other fantasy godfathers.

Which character – as performed by Derek Perkins – was your favorite?

I thought the narration was quite good in general. Variety in characters without being over the top.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The big climax near the end.

Any additional comments?

A really enjoyable start to a series. I have since read the others and felt things dropped off a bit...but this novel was a great introduction to an interesting world.

I really enjoyable fresh take fantasy

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I enjoyed the beginning of this series. the performance by Perkins was very good as usual. I would reccomend this story to anyone who enjoys sword and sorcery fantasy.

good start to a bigger story

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I read the first couple of these books when they came out, and remembered liking them, but never finished the whole series, so I started from the beginning again. I could have skipped it. The series is mainly appropriate for a YA audience, though I don't know if that was the intention. The first three books/performances are perfectly fine. The stories are interesting, though the writing is a bit ingenuous, and the narrator is professional and engaging. The rest though, oy vey. Again, the series is mainly G-rated, which I actually prefer. But when Saberhagen makes forays into PG territory, things get sketchy. It's as if he was told "sex sells", and so felt compelled to put some into the stories, even though it's not his thing. The scenes, even when in-line with the narrative, seem oddly placed, and the writing is awkward and stilted; he seems embarrassed to be discussing it. And there are a couple of places where he simply should have left it out altogether.

Then there's the narrator. First, I can't be sure why they chose a female narrator for books where the cast is o.ver.whelmingly male. And as I mentioned in another review, the reading was.. strange. The narrator was given to odd, inappropriate pauses, weird inflections, and bad pronunciation. There were times she inflected sentences that ended up carrying meanings entirely different from what the intent obviously was from the context, even turning the occasional question into a statement and vice versa. She also had a tendency to change the pronunciation of words - regular words and proper names alike - halfway through a narrative, or from book to book, and definitely different from the first narrator, though I realize that's not uncommon. And the woman can not say the word "tentatively". There are other words that came out with weird pronunciations too, but that one stuck with me because it happened a few times (3 syllables vs 4). I'm finishing the series, because that's what you do, but if someone reads this review, I'd say feel free to give it a miss unless you're fifteen...

Full Series Review: Swords/Lost TL;DR - OK to Skip

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A very good telling of one of my favorite books. the story comes alive with this telling.

This was a blast from my past.

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I initially read this novel (and the rest of Saberhagen's Swords series) as a teenager in the 1990s and could not get enough of it. I was disappointed when I ran out of books to read in this series. Now, a couple decades later, I'm giving them another read, now that I have a bit more to compare the series to in my memory / library.

I want to jump in and praise the character development, but I'm limiting my review to only one book. In the First Book Of Swords, so many characters are introduced that very few are given the audience's eyes and ears for long. It's hard to predict which characters will be important beyond this novel with the exception of Mark. The world itself, however, is the purpose behind book 1. We gain an understanding of some of the factions, regions, existence of magic, and some ominous events. The history and gods in this land are shared with the reader. Even the swords themselves aren't clearly explained beyond the song and the few that appear in this novel. This book is only a taste of what is to come.

Derek Perkins does a fine job of presenting the story to the listener. He sets the tone for the story and conveys the emotions of each scene perfectly. This is my first time listening to a book in this series and I look forward to hearing more of his narration in the remaining books.

A WARNING: I heartily suggest skipping the final appendix in this audiobook. It contains a description of each of the swords as taken from Saberhagen's notes. Within that short section, there are spoilers for future events in the series. Having Saberhagen's own words describing the abilities and properties of each of the swords is a really nice addition to the book, but the spoilers take away from that. I advise listening to that portion after completing the first three novels.

I'll rate this one, "I loved these as a kid and the first book still holds up. Maybe the adventure will truly start in book two."

Worldbuilding and worldbuilding

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Any additional comments?

I first read the original Swords books as a teenager many years ago. I have fond memories of them, particularly the way Saberhagen blends typical fantasy tropes with a science-fiction backstory. I was somewhat reluctant to download these titles, as so many of the books I read in my teens now seem flat and one-dimensional. Not these. The Swords books still feel fresh and new. Not all of the characters are fully developed, but the dialog is crisp, and the pacing is sure. On top of everything else the author's worldbuilding is superb, taking what could be just a run of the mill role-playing game premise and making it come alive and left me wanting more.

Stands the test of time

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I would recommend this book in a paper version or in audible to any fans of high fantasy like lord of the rings or any alternate world fantasy fans

Both the author and the narrator do an amazing job immersing you in the world plus the story is one of my favorites

Additionally anyone who is a fan of dungeons and dragons or role-playing games should give this series a read/listen.

Loved it before and love it being read to me

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I’ve read the complete sword series as a child, but now I’m rediscovering them as an adult. I love the story as I always have, but I think I’d prefer a narrator with a wider voice range for the characters.

Unique story, performer wasn’t my favorite

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I loved it as a child. To listen to it 20+ years later I can't believe how much I forgot. What a joy to revisit it. I plan I re"reading" everyone available....please let this series and the next be available...please please please💛💛💛

I admit my bias

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