The Book of Swords Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Gardner Dozois - editor (Author), Robin Hobb (Author), Garth Nix (Author),

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New epic fantasy in the grand tradition - including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin!

Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction - and an inspiration for a new generation of writers spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure.

Now, in The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and best-selling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.

Featuring 16 all-new stories:

"The Best Man Wins" by K. J. Parker
"Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb
"The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu
"The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes
"'I Am a Handsome Man,' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott
"The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams
"The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham
"Hrunting" by C. J. Cherryh
"A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix
"When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner
"The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch
"The Colgrid Conundrum" by Rich Larson
"The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear
"Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar
"The Sword Tyraste" by Cecelia Holland
"The Sons of the Dragon" by George R. R. Martin

And an introduction by Gardner Dozois

Readers: Arthur Morey, Julia Whelan, Mark Deakins, Ralph Lister, Kirby Heyborne, Nicholas Guy Smith, Richard Brewer, Steve West, Elliott Hill, Kim Mai Guest, Katherine Mc Ewan, and John Lee

Listening Length

22 hours and 13 minutes
Author

Gardner Dozois - editor, see all
Narrator

Julia Whelan, see all
Audible release date

October 10, 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Random House Audio
ASIN

B0756PZB68
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	22 hours and 13 minutes
Author	Gardner Dozois - editor, Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, George R.R. Martin
Narrator	Julia Whelan, Katharine Lee McEwan, Kim Mai Guest, Elliot Hill, Richard Brewer, Nicholas Guy Smith, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Deakins, Steve West, Ralph Lister
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	October 10, 2017
Publisher	Random House Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0756PZB68
Best Sellers Rank	#19,048 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #42 in Fantasy Anthologies & Short Stories (Audible Books & Originals) #50 in Science Fiction Anthologies & Short Stories #72 in Action & Adventure Short Stories (Books)

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

410 global ratings

5 star		55%
4 star		26%
3 star		13%
2 star		5%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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SDK

Arrived quickly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 22, 2023

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Arrived as described. A little disappointed that it came with a price tag on it for $2 presume it was in a store for that and then resold to me for $11 C’est la vie.

Helpful

thumbs up

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 19, 2023

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Mostly great stories all around, even those taking place in existing worlds accomplish the task of bringing full immersion in limited pages

Helpful

An great variety of sword and sorcery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 10, 2017

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The Book of Swords is an anthology of sixteen “sword and sorcery” (or maybe “epic”) fantasy short stories (novelettes, really) edited by Gardner Dozois. What is “sword and sorcery”? The genre that consists of stories with swords and magic and kingdoms set in an alternative-kind-of-medieval land. That’s pretty much all that the stories of this collection have in common. The book does a terrific job representing the wide variety of styles and types of tales that can be told in that genre. Some are funny. Some are sad. Most of them are violent. Some of the stories are written by hot new writers in the fantasy genre, others are written by seasoned veterans that have been around for decades.

I’ll just cut to the chase – you should buy this book if any of the following applies to you:

1) You liked previous books edited by Gardner Dozois and George RR Martin, books like Rogues, Dangerous Women, and Warriors. Even though Martin did not co-edit this anthology, it has the same style and is of equal (or greater) quality than those collections.

2) You really freaking love fantasy literature and want as much good stuff as possible.

3) You have read Lord of the Rings and Ice and Fire and would like to explore a wider variety of fantasy authors without shelling out big bucks.

4) You couldn’t really get into the Lord of the Rings books because they seemed more like an exercise in language creation, and you couldn’t really get into A Song of Ice and Fire because the style was too “faux-Romantic” for your tastes. But you think you’d like stories about swords and dragons and quests and stuff if they were written in a more straight-forward fashion. You’d like to explore more fantasy authors but you don’t know where to start.

5) You are a fan of any of the authors in the collection.

6) You like complicated, conflicted anti-heroes. And vikings.

If any of the above applies to you, you should buy this book.

The stories do not share a common storyline or universe. They are all independent of one another, so you do not have to read them in any particular order.

For those who might wish to buy this book because it contains a George RR Martin story, be warned that it is another one of Martin’s historical-type stories set in Westeros. If you are thinking of buying this book just to obtain more information of Westeros, don’t bother. Buy a World of Ice and Fire and wait for Fire and Blood. I don’t think very much new information is included that is not already present in World of Ice and Fire. Most of the negative reviews that I’ve seen on amazon or goodreads for the book are because people bought it solely for this Martin story and are disappointed by the lack of new stuff.

37 people found this helpful

Helpful

Greg

Great book with all great stories -except for one.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 25, 2017

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Book of Sword is awesome, even more so for Sword & Sorcery or Heroic fantasy fans. In fact are any of the anthology books that Dozois and Martin have done together not awesome? I loved all the stories except one, but don't let that one rotten apple spoil the whole barrel because these apples are fit for the gods. I'm sincerely hard pressed to name a favorite of the bunch. Book of Swords is a well-deserved a shout-out the masters; Howard, Lieber, and Moorcock and David Gemmell –he needs to be recognized too- whose works are often overshadowed by the big Epics.

Now it's time someone addresses the elephant in the room; George R. R. Martin. Now I am not a GRRM hater. I was an extremely passionate fan of Song of Fire and Ice –the real name of the GoT series- before anyone was talking about of it. But it needs said Sons of the Dragon is not only straight-up BOORRRING, it has no business in this anthology by even a long stretch. It's not a S&S tale. Heck, I'd argue it's not even a complete short-story at all. It's reads like a really long prolog or a high school book history lesson. Regardless of how bad it is, it doesn't follow an adventure of one or two individuals like all the other stories in this book; it details a history of Targaryen rule in Westeros.

All due respect to Mr. Martin, but either no one has cajones to offer him some creative criticism or they just figured anything he does will automatically get praise and sell books.

7 people found this helpful

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miltarygnrl2

I read it all therefore it is good.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 4, 2022

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All but the last story were new to me and entertaining. Will have to read again someday but not every one

Helpful

Clinton Ellingsworth

Worth every penny

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Let me preface this review by stating I consider myself a very picky reader. I prefer meat and depth.

So many times these days I buy an anthology and am left disappointed for one reason or another. Not so with The Book of Swords.

My main fare isn't even swords & sorcery.

Here you will find excellent technical skill with fresh and original ideas. So far I've loved all the characters.

The first story by K.J. Parker is so skillfully written and enthralling that it demands to be finished immediately. I was pleasantly surprised at how he made the craft of blacksmithing sound so beautiful and wove it into the very being of the narrator.

I'm about 25 percent through this book and so it continues. Typically I find one or two gems in a complete anthology that really speak to me, but so far they are all wondrous. The story by Mathew Hughes in the spirit of Jack Vance was as satisfying as reading an original Vance in every way, and discovering it felt like starting Tales of the Dying Earth all over. What loveable settings and characters and creativity. Bravo. I wish I had more!

I can't wait to finish it. Thanks for this one!

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Puffin

Uneven

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

I will take the liberty of offering a score and brief review of each story as follows:

The Best Man Wins - 4/10
-----------------------------------
Well written revenge story, but the ending becomes obvious far too early.

His Father's Sword - 3/10
----------------------------------
I could read this story again (but I don't want to) and still have not the faintest idea what it's about.

The Hidden Girl - 5/10
------------------------------
Slightly weird assassin trope story.

The Sword of Destiny - 6/10
-------------------------------------
An interesting series of events, but I had little sense of characterization.

“I am a Handsome Man,” said Apollo Crow - 8/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Rome with magical beings: an interesting story.

The Triumph of Virtue - 5/10
--------------------------------------
Lots going on, but sadly no magic

The Mocking Tower - 6.5/10
---------------------------------------
There's a message buried somewhere in this story, but I couldn't find it.

Hrunting - 8.5/10
-----------------------
A good story set in the Beowulf universe about a young lad who goes to retrieve a sword.

A Long Cold Trail - 8/10
--------------------------------
Good and entertaining tale about knightly deeds. One of the best stories here.

When I was a highwayman - 6/10
--------------------------------------------
A fairly good story that ended too abruptly for me.

The Smoke of Gold is Glory - 9/10
----------------------------------------------
Without doubt the best story in the book - but they do rely on that sorceress a lot.

The Colgrid Conundrum - 9/10
-----------------------------------------
Another great story, this one about a pair of adventurers.

The King's Evil - 9/10
----------------------------
Good story that failed to make its point clear to me.

Waterfalling - 4/10
------------------------
Too illogical for me - and I found those one-sentence chapters irritating.

The Sword Tyraste - 6.5/10
------------------------------------
A revenge story - nothing out of the ordinary.

The Sons of the Dragon - 4.5/10
-------------------------------------------
Another of GRRM's histories; flat and irrelevant to the main series. The time spent on this could have been far better used finishing "Winds of Winter."

As one can see, the overall quality of the stories is quite indifferent, with the better ones in the latter part of the collection. My usual measure of a good book is that I would read some or all of it again; if it's really good then over and over again. I can't see myself doing so with this. I feel this anthology to be a little overpriced due to the GRRM name at the top; one wonders what price it would command without that and with consideration of the content.

Overall it's worth a read, and like all anthologies, uneven.

7 people found this helpful

Nicholas Smith

Good but mixed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought this, like many I suspect, as it contains a new GRRM tale but read the others as I knew many of the other names. It is definitely worth a read with the tales varying from above average to excellent. The anthology approach is always a mixed bag but this is a good assortment and worth trying them all.

2 people found this helpful

Jamal

But this collection of tales introduced me to so many amazing talented writers that I'm now bound to read and ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

I mainly bought this book to read GRRM's section. But this collection of tales introduced me to so many amazing talented writers that I'm now bound to read and explore their fantasy world.

3 people found this helpful

Steve

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

As it says on the tin

good wee

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

good wee anthology

See all reviews

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