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A review by mysticwarden
Kılıçların Birinci Kitabı, by Fred Saberhagen
4.0
You almost never find Fred Saberhagen's books listed in those top 'blah' fantasy book lists floating around the Internet, which sucks because the man created a really interesting universe with a kickass concept at least two solid decades before everyone and their mother started churning out epic fantasy stories.
I read one of his books when I was in high school and it's stuck with me over the years. I still recall the details from time to time and that's what prompted me to look for more of his work, and boy, there sure is a lot of it!
The Book of Swords saga is set thousands of years in the future where magic runs wild and the gods are once again a force to be reckoned with. A nuclear holocaust that nearly wiped out all of humanity triggered the Change that stopped all forms of complex scientific technology from working. So humanity is basically stuck in the Dark Ages again, but with you know, gods, magic and mythical creatures like dragons and whatnot.
The gods are getting bored with humanity's peace—because I guess there's only so many fun things you can do when you're immortal—so they decide to stir the pot and spice things up a bit by forging 12 magical swords with extraordinary powers, and scattering them all over the world.
The First Book of Swords begins with the forging of the swords and the shitstorm that ensues once the greedy rulers of the New World realize just how much more powerful they can become if they owned even one of the swords.
That's it! It's a pretty simple concept with lots of amazing worldbuilding, cool characters, and the potential to be an awesome saga like the Wheel of Time or the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'll wait until I finish the entire series before I make that judgment.
I read one of his books when I was in high school and it's stuck with me over the years. I still recall the details from time to time and that's what prompted me to look for more of his work, and boy, there sure is a lot of it!
The Book of Swords saga is set thousands of years in the future where magic runs wild and the gods are once again a force to be reckoned with. A nuclear holocaust that nearly wiped out all of humanity triggered the Change that stopped all forms of complex scientific technology from working. So humanity is basically stuck in the Dark Ages again, but with you know, gods, magic and mythical creatures like dragons and whatnot.
The gods are getting bored with humanity's peace—because I guess there's only so many fun things you can do when you're immortal—so they decide to stir the pot and spice things up a bit by forging 12 magical swords with extraordinary powers, and scattering them all over the world.
The First Book of Swords begins with the forging of the swords and the shitstorm that ensues once the greedy rulers of the New World realize just how much more powerful they can become if they owned even one of the swords.
That's it! It's a pretty simple concept with lots of amazing worldbuilding, cool characters, and the potential to be an awesome saga like the Wheel of Time or the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'll wait until I finish the entire series before I make that judgment.