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Swords Against Death

The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

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About this listen

 Neil Gaiman Presents: the second book in Fritz Leiber's classic sword-and-sorcery series.

In Swords Against Death, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser journey from the ancient city of Lankhmar, searching for a little adventure and debauchery to ease their broken hearts. When a stranger challenges them to find and fight Death on the Bleak Shore, they battle demonic birds, living mountains, and evil monks on the way to their heroic fate.

The late Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser launched the sword-and-sorcery genre, and were the inspiration for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by Neil Gaiman.

Epic edge: download more tales of Lankhmar.©1995 The Estate of Fritz Leiber (P)2008 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Sword & Sorcery Fiction Heartfelt Adventure Magic Sorcery

Critic reviews

"The two of them are the finest and most wonderful team in the history of sword and sorcery." (Neil Gaiman)
"Fritz Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are virtually a genre unto themselves. Urbane, idiosyncratic, comic, erotic and human, spiked with believable action and the eerie creations of a master fantasist!" (William Gibson)
All stars
Most relevant
The tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are up there with Lord of the Rings.

MUST READ!

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loved every minute of this book.
who would believe how long ago they were written?
they certainly hold their own against today's fantasy writers.
I wish he were still around to write more takes about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

fantasy at its best.

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I recall reading this the late 70s and early 80s when good fantasy fiction was a rare commodity. My friend and I immediately took to the books and I especially liked the city of Lankhmar and its many faces described brilliantly by the author. Many years on and many other books later the stories suffer by comparison with the other fiction I have since read (Hobbs, Abercrombie, Martin, Pratchett) which is a little unfair since many of these authors will have been influenced by Leiber and improved on what he started.



It's not that the stories are bad (they are far from it: imaginative, funny, scary, intriguing and memorable for the most part), I just find there to be far too many dull moments where nothing of import happens. I guess these fill in the gaps in the characters' development (e.g. the trip at the beginning of the book to the ends of the world and back) but it's a bad sign when you find yourself writing down your weekly shopping list while supposedly listening to the story. Given there is only nine hours or so of listening, the tight fisted git in me is a trifle narked at losing an hour or so of this time to nothing very interesting at all.



The narrator is good and I think the voices he uses are perfect for the characters. I would recommend the book as a filler if you like fantasy and find you have some credits spare that need to be used up, or you can't think of any other book to read but want a good fantasy book. As I say, they are good but just lack the consistency to be brilliant.

Good but not brilliant

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