The Swordbearer

As the sword had been lost for ages, so had the title and author of this book been lost to me. After exhausting every Tolkien and CS Lewis book I could find, I was lucky to have purchased a new release of THE SWORDBEARER almost 20 years ago. I'm looking forward to reading this work again through adult eyes, as I can still remember the excitement it created as a thirteen year old. I'll make sure to keep this copy in a safe place, so my sons may have the same experience in a few years. I can't wait to catch up on Cook's other books.

At the start of this book, one can get the impression that this is going to be a typical 'great-hearted boy warrior finds powerful magic sword and exacts glorious revenge/justice upon those who fiendishly slew his family' sort of story. It is not.Before too long, the plotline begins to skew wildly around. In typical Glen Cook fashion, the story is gritty with believable characters that are not all good or bad. The pace and the writing is crisp and to the point. Finally, the story itself is fascinating and sometimes disturbing, but it always draws the reader along only to leave him hanging a bit at the end.Cook is an excellent author, and one of the most underrated fantasy writers out there. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes the rougher side of fantasy.

In a world where day to day lives are destroyed by ancient magics come from dead cities, alongs comes a crippled boy wielding the Sword of Heroes to avenge his family. But, who is right? Who is wrong? What dark purpose drives the sword and the cruel dwarf that follows the Bearer? I first picked this book up at a Flea Market almost 20 years ago. It was a hardcover the size of most paperbacks of the time and I loved it! It is a classic tale of sword and sorcery written at a time when the classics were virtually unknown themselves. I always wondered when Mr. Cook would continue the story. I still wonder.

This book is a unique, older novel that at first may appear cliched, but when you realize when it was written, you come to see how this work was done pre-Brooks and the Sword of Shannara, and a number of other "intelligent sword" works. This is a very satisfying read - while not challenging you thinking of how the world works, there are few books I would rather re-read more with a glass of Coke and a hammock than this one.

"The Swordbearer" was the first book I ever read written by Glen Cook and I enjoyed it so much I afterwards read all his works I could get my hands on (though not so easy to do in Japan until recently). It is very easy to identify with the main character of the book Garion, and the world swirls so much with powerful magical artifacts, buried sorcery, intriguing characters , roving battles,duels its hard to imagine that all of it fit in one book.The tone of the book is also good; not the cotton candy world of some inferior SF, but you feel a gritty substance to it, the light and the dark--I don't know how to express this well.Anyway I definitely recommend this for those who want a good substantial fantasy read.