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A review by luana420
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
4.0
The only full-length novel of our boys Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser!
There's not really much of a reason for this to warrant being novel-sized. It's good fun, and certainly among the better F&G stories, but it's not unlike The Simpsons Movie where you're left wondering why this couldn't have been a normal sized episode. Despite that, I'd certainly recommend it as a starter point for someone who wants to get into the characters as it's fairly representative of the Lankhmar vibez and of pretty consistent quality throughout. There's better individual short stories ("Lean Times in Lankhmar" is as yet unsurpassed) but the quality/style of prose can be a bit inconsistent as the short stories are ordered in internal chronology which means that a tale from 1939 can be followed by one from 1964 followed by one from 1952 which can be a bit of tonal whiplash.
This one also has a good bit of bawdiness (and a surprising amount of BDSM shit) without ever fully tipping into unpleasantness like previous collections had. Being skeezy is definitely part of the Lankhmar vibes. Lololol @ Fafhrd deciding he should "come back in two years" after saving a 12 year old girl who afterwards gave him a saucy look. Bruh are you sure "two" is the number you need to add to that? 1968 a different time mang
I think the Caligula-esque whimpering Overlord of Lankhmar and his propensity for seeing serving girls whipped by his tank-like kitchen matron made things click for me in terms of what the F&GM stories really are. I had read someone compare a previous short story with an OG Trek episode, which is close, but they really are garish late 60s/early 70s Technicolor Amicus productions with blaring faux-John Barry scores and heaving bosoms of Page 3 girls splashed with way-too-scarlet fake blood.
Also big lol at the villains' plan being "a society where everyone is Ratatouille" and that is not a metaphor
There's not really much of a reason for this to warrant being novel-sized. It's good fun, and certainly among the better F&G stories, but it's not unlike The Simpsons Movie where you're left wondering why this couldn't have been a normal sized episode. Despite that, I'd certainly recommend it as a starter point for someone who wants to get into the characters as it's fairly representative of the Lankhmar vibez and of pretty consistent quality throughout. There's better individual short stories ("Lean Times in Lankhmar" is as yet unsurpassed) but the quality/style of prose can be a bit inconsistent as the short stories are ordered in internal chronology which means that a tale from 1939 can be followed by one from 1964 followed by one from 1952 which can be a bit of tonal whiplash.
This one also has a good bit of bawdiness (and a surprising amount of BDSM shit) without ever fully tipping into unpleasantness like previous collections had. Being skeezy is definitely part of the Lankhmar vibes. Lololol @ Fafhrd deciding he should "come back in two years" after saving a 12 year old girl who afterwards gave him a saucy look. Bruh are you sure "two" is the number you need to add to that? 1968 a different time mang
I think the Caligula-esque whimpering Overlord of Lankhmar and his propensity for seeing serving girls whipped by his tank-like kitchen matron made things click for me in terms of what the F&GM stories really are. I had read someone compare a previous short story with an OG Trek episode, which is close, but they really are garish late 60s/early 70s Technicolor Amicus productions with blaring faux-John Barry scores and heaving bosoms of Page 3 girls splashed with way-too-scarlet fake blood.
Also big lol at the villains' plan being "a society where everyone is Ratatouille" and that is not a metaphor