Kaplan
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Poul Anderson: The Broken Sword, 1954.
'I hear hoofbeats,' she whispered. 'I hear hoofs galloping out on the edge of the world. It is Time, riding forth, and snow falls from his horse's mane and lightning crashes from its hoofs, and when Time has ridden by like a wind in the night there are only withered leaves left, blowing in the gale of his passage. He rides nearer, I hear worlds crashing to ruin in his path.'
Released in the same year as Lord of the Rings. Anderson is inspired by the same sagas and mythologies as Tolkien, but he stays closer to the origins and his creation is much darker than Middle-earth. Grounded in history, it begins in my neck of the woods with vikings sailing from Denmark to England in the time of King Alfred and the Danelaw. Soon the borders to the - usually unseen - lands of faerie are crossed and human fates are interweaved with those of elves, dwarves, trolls, the Norse gods and giants. Grim, tragic and truly epic (especially for a mere 230 pages), this was beautifully written and highly recommended.
A note on this edition: In 1971 Anderson released a slightly reworked edition, toning down some of the violence. Mine is from the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks imprint which has the original 1954 text. If you get this one, skip the foreword for later as it goes heavy on spoilers (I always do this, just in case).
'I hear hoofbeats,' she whispered. 'I hear hoofs galloping out on the edge of the world. It is Time, riding forth, and snow falls from his horse's mane and lightning crashes from its hoofs, and when Time has ridden by like a wind in the night there are only withered leaves left, blowing in the gale of his passage. He rides nearer, I hear worlds crashing to ruin in his path.'
Released in the same year as Lord of the Rings. Anderson is inspired by the same sagas and mythologies as Tolkien, but he stays closer to the origins and his creation is much darker than Middle-earth. Grounded in history, it begins in my neck of the woods with vikings sailing from Denmark to England in the time of King Alfred and the Danelaw. Soon the borders to the - usually unseen - lands of faerie are crossed and human fates are interweaved with those of elves, dwarves, trolls, the Norse gods and giants. Grim, tragic and truly epic (especially for a mere 230 pages), this was beautifully written and highly recommended.
A note on this edition: In 1971 Anderson released a slightly reworked edition, toning down some of the violence. Mine is from the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks imprint which has the original 1954 text. If you get this one, skip the foreword for later as it goes heavy on spoilers (I always do this, just in case).
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