Broken Sword (Fantasy Masterworks) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Not the best of the saga-like fantasies, this one's nevertheless quite unique in its odd melding of fantasy and the scientific justification presented to make the tale seem real. The elves, a cold and clever race, not truly malevolent but quite indifferent to men, are a race apart (along with their enemies the trolls and the goblins & other faerie folk). They are unable to withstand sunlight or the touch of iron and are yet rich in alternative, albeit medieval technologies. They use unheard of alloys of silver for their tools & weaponry and "frictionless" ships to ply the seas. Here is the story of a mortal taken into this world as a babe, replaced in his cradle by a changeling infant, half troll, half elf, but conjured into the image of the child he has replaced, and of how these two grow to manhood in their respective worlds -- the human to serve the needs of the elves by handling the iron they cannot touch themselves and the changeling to come to revile and betray the mortal family he was raised to believe were his kin. Both are betrayed by the worlds in which they are raised and lost for that -- the human for the inhuman heritage he has been raised with; the changeling for his longing for humanness and his hatred for those who have what he cannot attain. The plot is set in motion by the curse of a witch, herself the victim of the harshly brutal behavior of the stolen babe's father, and pivots on the interplay of the magical beings of faerie and the gods who toy with them. All are players and yet pieces, too, on a great chessboard which none knows the extent of -- and the stakes are the very existence of the magical beings and the gods themselves. Into this world the human hero, Scafloc, is thrust, a preening and overconfident hero among the elves who finds his fate and his end through a forbidden love and, in so doing, brings into the world the greatest evil, even as he strives to save those who have raised him. Not a happy tale by any stretch yet headlong and well-told as far as it goes. It is rich in the lore and feel of Norse saga literature and well worth reading, though the end's a bit predictable and does not move us quite as it should. Better than average among fantasies, unique but not quite among the greats.

By the way, there are a whole slew of good books out there for those into vikings and historical adventure these days, including a brand new one by Jeff Janoda called SAGA: A NOVEL OF MEDIEVAL ICELAND which details the events surrounding one of the most intriguing episodes in Eyrbyggja Saga (among the most renowned of the original Norse sagas). It tells the story of a great feud between two chieftains over a little piece of forested land in an Iceland in which wood was as precious as gold and elves and spirits haunted the minds of men.

Other good ones include Cecelia Holland's very modern and psychological TWO RAVENS, a glimpse into the hot-house environment of an Icelandic farm, and Jane Smiley's THE GREENLANDERS which tells of the final days of the the Norse settlement in Greenland as the cold and Eskimos closed in around the settlers. And if you still have any patience and want more, perhaps you'd want to try my own small effort, THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA, which I wrote to be the saga I'd always wished had been written and preserved (but, apparently, never was) about the Norse excursions to the New World which was to become our own North America.

SWM
Eric Brighteyes: The Works of H. Rider Haggard
Styrbiorn the Strong
The King of Vinland's Saga
Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland

Poul Anderson really was one of the greatest authors of speculative fiction. Many great authors can write swashbuckling heroic fantasy, or hard science fiction, but not many can write both with equal facility. Anderson was one of the few who could, possessing a degree in physics and a great depth of knowledge of Nordic mythology and ancient languages. "The Broken Sword" is one of his pure fantasy stories (and also one of his earlier novels), and draws heavily from northern and western European myth and legend. Anderson takes an interesting approach, postulating that the mythical creatures and deities of all cultures really existed, and sometimes interacted with each other. Thus, in this story, you see elves, trolls, dwarves, and other creatures from Nordic mythology, including some of the Norse gods, the Sidhe from Irish mythology, and even a lonely satyr from Graeco/Roman mythology -- a survivor of the supernatural creatures that followed Roman colonists into Britain centuries earlier. Even Christianity is present, acknowledged as a new and growing faith that is slowly, but inexorably driving out the others (the book is set in the era when Danish Viking armies were settling large parts of northern England during Anglo-Saxon times).

What's fantastic about the book is how well Anderson evokes the myths of that era. All the essential elements of Nordic epic myths are present: the human hero, of special origin, almost superhumanly mighty a warrior, and like virtually all such heroes, fated to meet a tragic and early end; elves, dwarves, giants, trolls and gods, often at war with each other, or at best, an uneasy and fragile peace; powerful curses which work slowly and subtly, but inexorably to bring about their ends; characters motivated by hatred and revenge, whose grievances are not wholly unjustified; even Odin, travelling secretly (and sometimes appearing openly) in the world of men, and manipulating people and events, just as he did in the Norse myths. It's all here, especially the grim and tragic mood that pervades Norse mythology, for the epic tales of Nordic mythology were nearly always tragic. It's amazing how well Anderson captures the spirit of the epic material from which he drew his inspiration. This is one of his most unique and interesting stories.

Poul Anderson here tells a wonderful tale, full of magic, adventure and peril. It blazes forth at a blistering pace, yet still manages to include sufficient characterization. For me, however, the most beautiful aspect of this book is the language. Yes, the tone is dark, and there are many battles with graphic descriptions, yet I am surprised that more people haven't mentioned the majestic, epic quality to the prose: at once high and lofty, it is yet restrained and noble, often with the feeling of poetry one finds in the Old English sagas. This description, for example:

"He went over hills, the reborn year around him. It had rained in the morning and the ground was muddy, pools and rivulets glittering in the sunbeams. The grass grew strongly, a cool light green to the edge of sight; and the trees were budding forth, a frail tint of new life across their boughs, the vanguard of summer."

Essentially, I feel that Anderson has channeled all of the best qualities of the tone and feel of Tolkien's prose, yet his story is entirely his own. This reads as if an ancient bard is relating a classic tale from long ago, in a time when magic was still real. And it features lots of Vikings, gods, trolls and elves, while at times the din of Odin's hounds and chariot can be heard as he leads the hunt through the cold skies. If you like this kind of subject matter, and a somewhat archaic tone to the prose does not bother you, you can hardly fail to enjoy this.