Fritz Leiber's Return to Lankhmar

Fritz Leiber was a fantasy writer when that genre existed in people's minds, Jeckyll and Hyde style, as either the Christian allegories of the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams) or the garish pulp of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard. Leiber, no shrinking violet, considered himself the literary equivilent of the former but embraced the visceral stylings of the latter. Indeed, the Lankhmar books, Leiber's penultimate achievement, are a much more enjoyable read when one has seen Leiber's notes and commentary on his contemporaries and predecessors. This is why White Wolf Publishing's new collection of Leiber's Lankhmar tales is such a fine accomplishment. In addition to the stories themselves, a number of Leiber forwards, postscripts, correspondence, and related writings are included in each volume, giving the readers rare and valuable insight into the author of these fantasy favorites. Indeed, the heart of any literary fan must go aflutter at the possibilities when Leiber writes off-hand about his near-attempts to write stories based on the Cthulhu mythos of contemporary and friend H.P. Lovecraft. Those musings, along with the greatest of Leiber's works, "Swords of Lankhmar", and others are included in this third part of White Wolf's reissue. "Return to Lankhmar" is, far and away, the most enjoyable and engaging of White Wolf's Lankhmar compendium, both for the casual scholar and voracious fantasy reader. "Swords of Lankhmar", apart from being Leiber's greatest story, is one of the high watermarks in fantasy literature all together - a mix of action, wit, and self-reference that is sure to win over the hearts of any fans of the genre. A must on anyone's "To Read" fantasy list and a book (indeed the whole series) that should find a home on the shelf of any fan.

Essentially two relatively brief novels with six short stories intermixed between, Leiber continues the adventures of two of the most original characters to grace fantasy fiction, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Though after reading "Ill Met in Lankhmar" and "Lean Times in Lankhmar" Leiber's at times over-worked prose is beginning here to wear thin, he nonetheless retains an ability for vividly worded description and a well-turned phrase that sets his work apart from other fantasy fiction. Ever inventive in plot, Leiber is even able to construct a war between Lankmar's human inhabitants and underworld rats and pull it off, creating the best fable of human and rodent relationships since the "Pied Piper of Hamlin." While I would agree with an earlier reviewer regarding the last two tales included--"The Frost Monstreme" and "Rime Island"--I would have to say that at least four of the included short stories are insubstantial, including "The Sadness of the Executioner" lauded below. Further, there has been better rounded works in fantasy published since Leiber wrote this series. Nonetheless, this belongs on any serious fantasy afficianado's reading list; though, being out of print, one may need to undergo some effort to find it.

Set mostly within Lankhmar - Above and Below - The Swords of Lankhmar is the obvious one here for maximum entertainment value, incorporating lots of great characters, F.L's passion for contact sports, and the Twains' willingness to indulge in such, given opportunity - yet always ready to defend Lankhmar, if coincident with their own interests. This is a book in its own right, with a huge amount of detail and plot for a hair over two hundred pages. A short mid section comprising a half dozen very short stories, leads onto, The Frost Monstreme and Rime Isle ( two parts of a novella, precursor to the fourth volume of the set, Farewell to Lankhmar). Reviews that I have read regarding these last two stories describe them as being below par, and drab. I don't agree with this at all. They are of the same quality as, The Swords of Lankhmar, except Lankhmar isn't much a part of the picture, and the cast of characters aren't as dramatically differentiated: No eight teated rat-queen (Hisvet), white-hot-wire whip wielding mistress ( Samanda), invisible girl-ghoul ( Bonny-bones), bat-carrier albatross, Glipkerio, Skwee, etc. F. L's use of language, and ability to integrate a lot of unlikely themes - not so much the Twains' use of weapons - are the primary factors, which make these stories work so well today. I'm not saying that it's style over content, but without it, they would come across as pulp adventure tales, for which they were geared towards in the first place, and where in-depth character development was inappropriate. So whilst the last two stories are, in essence, as good as the first of the book, with respect to style and construction, they lack colour due to the reduction in location and up-front character dynamics, needing more of the character insight details as used in, The Mouser goes Below (Farewell to Lankhmar ), to compensate.

Full of brilliant characters and bursting with wry humour, "The Swords of Lankmar" (the novel forming half of this volume) is illuminating about the inhabitants of our world whilst being most entertainingly set in Leiber's alternative one. This transcends its genre to be wonderful literature.

Leiber is one of the best writers of this century in or out of the fantasy genre. His stories are amazing poetic works -- as well as brilliant tales. His two heroic but flawed and realistic characters were the first complex and adult protaganists in pulp fiction -- far more interesting to watch while saving the world (or simply their own skins) than the belligerent Conan or self absorbed Elric. That Leiber also includes some other elements rare in fantasy lit is a bonus: realistic combat (based on his own fencing knowledge), a wry but understanding knowledge of religion, comments on metaphysics and philosophy, the nature of true friendship, complicated relationship and sexual situations (including more than of a touch of the fetishistic and kinky), unnerving elements of horror, and especially the more than waiting-to-be-rescued women of his stories. The Swords of Lhankmar is his only novel of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser -- and it is easily the best adult fantasy novel ever written. From it's ironic and violent opening to it's last-minute rescue finish, it is better than anything published in this field since. It is strange, violent, a bit perverse, and very funny. The story The Sadness of the Executioner -- which is in Swords and Ice Magic -- gets my vote as the most elegant peice of fantastic literature ever written. A short, short story that is mostly a prose poem about the nature of mortality, it is surprising, somber and funny, all within a dozen pages. And what of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser themselves? Fafhrd is the surprisingly complex barbarian warrior with a poet's heart and sometimes gullible nature. The Mouser is ever cynical, slightly evil, always self-involved, and too clever by half. The two are unbeatable in battle, but too likely to fall for the right scam or the wrong set of lovely eyes. The argue, brawl, drink, discuss the nature of reality, explore, steal, serve masters good and ill, and swashbuckle their way across the most imaginative stories ever... Read and enjoy.