The Second Book of Lost Swords: Sightblinder's Story

Lost Swords #2

by Fred Saberhagen

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they had forged too well: the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods gone, the Swords are scattered across the land, some held by those of good heart… others by those whose purposes are evil… and one, Sightblinder, held by Arnfinn, a young country boy who knows nothing of the Tale of Swords or of Sightblinder’s power: to make the viewer see that which he most desires—or most fears.

The tale begins innocently enough, as Prince Mark of Tasavalta, accompanied by his nephew Zoltan and doughty Ben of Purkinje, seeks out the castle of the good and mighty wizard Honan-Fu, hoping that Honan-Fu will agree to tutor Mark’s young son Adrian. But as they approach the lakebound keep, soldiers set upon them, and Mark is seized by an enormous griffin, carried off to the castle, and thrown into a hellish prison of enchantment.

Honan-Fu, powerful as he is, has been vanquished by the Ancient One, a being at once reptilian and human who has slipped the bonds of time, armed not only with his personal spells and demons, but with Prince Mark’s captured weapon, the Sword of Force, Shieldbreaker.

It is up to Ben and Zoltan to rescue Mark. But first they must deal with ex-Queen Yambu, and the unlikely assistance she offers; with the innocent Arnfinn, holder of Sightblinder; and with the stunningly beautiful girl Arnfinn loves—the Lady Ninazu, Honan-Fu’s daughter. Not to mention the enigmatic Emperor.

Told with Fred Saberhagen’s enormous gusto and narrative skill, Sightblinder’s Story will delight the readers who made The First Book of Lost Swords: Woundhealer’s Story a fantasy bestseller.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

248 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1987

About the author

Fred Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his ''Beserker'' and Dracula stories.

Saberhagen also wrote a series of a series of post-apocalyptic mytho-magical novels beginning with his popular ''Empire of the East'' and continuing through a long series of ''Swords'' and ''Lost Swords'' novels. Saberhagen died of cancer, in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served in the [[U.S. Air Force]] during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an It was while he was working for Motorola (after his military service) that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. "Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, ''The Golden People''.

From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for the Chemistry articles in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' as well as writing its article on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter.

Reviews

[Charlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sightblinder's Story

This book was very entertaining.I thought the idea behind the sword "Sightblinder"was interesting.And what the heroes did with this knowledge was really well-done.I did have fun reading this book.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as strong as the first. I can't help but feel that perhaps these might be better read as one book rather than separate entities.

[Matthew Reads Junk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I keep reading this series. The writng is pedantic. There's so many interesting possibilities that could be done with the swords and their abilities (and restrictions), yet very little happens. The characters mainly just wander around, say they're "confused by this new and mysterious turn of events"; and eventually have a minor battle at the conclusion of the book.

Same as last book. Probably the same as the next book.

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I remembered. The premise has stuck with me for over twenty years, but upon re-reading, the lack of charter development really hindered my enjoyment of this series.

[J RRO · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best stories in a vastly underrated fantasy series

I’ve read this story several times over the years. Despite remembering broadly how it goes, every time I sit down to read it again I feel compelled to finish it within a day or less. Fast-paced, action-packed, sweet, sorrowful. It will leave you wanting more of each character. Saberhagan is so good at giving you just enough to always want more, but without gimmicks and without ever leaving you unsatisfied or unfulfilled in the story.

[Lee Bartholomew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not entirely cohesive as the other books. Even the Escapism of the Second book of Swords. And what will happen to Arnfinn is no where to be seen at the end. I read it but it's part of a 3 books in 1 series from the old SFBC site. They don't make book club size books like that anymore. Rather miss this those. Hopefully Book 3 of Lost swords will be closer to the actual main story...

[Steve Mahomet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This incarnation of the series falls quite flat. The whole plot just meandered to its conclusion. The whole thing is mostly a rescue of a couple of characters and really I didn’t care about any of it. But, Still continuing on.

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this had been a TV series, this would have been the season that caused the series cancellation. Dull, plodding storyline with little to no depth.

[Onefinemess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts off with probably my least liked plot device EVER – a kidnapping. If you’ve ever talked books with me, you may have heard me swear up and down about how much I hate kidnappings – because they inevitably just waste time. Character is kidnapped, hundreds or pages are wasted on the rescue, plot continues. You always know they will be rescued, so the way is just interminable to me. I know, I’m impatient.

That being said, there are a few times when kidnappings work. There was one in particular in a series I didn’t really like..the Sword of Truth series I think – there was a very effective kidnapping there as a means of actually adding to the plot instead of wasting it.

So all that out of the way, this book was still quite enjoyable and kept me plowing through it. Also, like book one, I appear to have either completely forgotten the story, or never read it. This one tells us how the Ancient One/Wood got here to the future/present more or less, and I’m pretty sure that’s the kind of plot detail I should remember. But I didn’t. So I was able to enjoy the information even more I guess. Still, I wish it was spelled out better – I’m not a big fan of vague.

So yeah, great book – not particularly heavy on characterization (I think I like this school of writing better actually), just the action and the adventure and all that. It fills a vital role as setting up the main series villain and giving you a little back story on him – in book one he was just a shadowy presence, here he becomes an actual character.

THREE AND A HALF STARS

[Patricia Hamill · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Second Book of Lost Swords: Sightblinder's Story, Saberhagen finally gives a name and a face to the Ancient One introduced in the First Book of Lost Swords: Woundhealer's Story to the realm of the Swords.

This story follows Yambu, Zoltan and Ben as they attempt to use Sightblinder, a god forged sword that causes it's bearer to take on the appearance of the most loved (or hated) figures in the imaginations of those who behold him (or her), to save Mark of Tasavalta from a mysterious wizard who has taken him hostage.

They come across a young man, Arfinn, who had planned to bring the Sword to the local wizard (whose castle has just been taken over by the Ancient One) and persuade him to part with it, but Arfinn soon changes his mind and steals it back, leaving Ben, Yambu and Zoltan to attempt a rescue without it.

Also making an appearance is Prince Mark's father, the mysterious Emporer, and Draffut, the Lord of Beasts.

Tragedy and adventure color this story in a web of intrigue as those involved struggle to acheive their disparate goals. All in all, a good story. I recommend reading The First Swords (Book of Swords 1-3) and The First Book of Lost Swords: Woundhealer's Story before taking on this one.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot better than The First Book of Lost Swords: Woundhealer's Story the saga goes back from fairy tales to a more adventure genre, I think this is one of the better "sword" books so far.
Saberhagen must have had some thing with book number 2. All his second series books I did read so far were much better than 1 and 3.
As always in the sword books, some characters are completely absent while others make a comeback and new ones are introduced. The development of the characters is good enough, Ben and Drafut in particular are left with some hangovers to be solved.
This is a great book to read but read then in the sequence. Starting with Empire of the East , then the sword trilogy and after that the books of the lost sword

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, at least this story had more about the sword – a lot more - than the first book of the series. I found the plot pretty unsatisfying though. Some poor village boy is trying to do a good deed for his village, finds himself tangled up with a mad-woman, and dies for it. Not that I would have believed him as the hero , but it was rather sad and disappointing. There was the return of characters from the first book in the series, but they are still mainly wooden with little roundness. So while I was happy to see the sword take a more active role in the story, and Saberhagen does have quite the imagination, the story still lacked spark.

[Jefferson Coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the Sword books in high school. I remember liking them and enjoying having the magic revolve around the weapon rather than a person. In this series I remember liking some books more than others so some of them should probably be rated 4 stars but I don't remember which were the better ones, it has been too many years. This will be the same review for all of the books in the series except for the last two which were published after I left high school and so were not read at the same time.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The titles of these books is misleading because it's not really "Sightblinder's Story". It's just a continuation of the characters from the first trilogy. Even though I enjoyed it, this book annoyed me because Sightblinder is different than in previous books. The idea of the person holding the sword shape-shifting in front of people's eyes almost continuously for no apparent reason is lame.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

see first book of swords for my review of the series. Its been a while so I may blunder but I seem to recall there weren't any exceptions to the awesomeness outside of the fact that the first three were a little slower than the rest.

[Tanglebones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one of Saberhagen's (such a perfect name for this series!) Swords books; this one drags in places, and I don't feel particularly invested in Zoltan, one of the PoV characters. Ben and the Silver Queen are much more interesting characters, and don't get enough screen time.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these swords of power series. Very fun and often intriguing. =)

[Shawn Oetzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are satifying if not overly complicated reads.

[Justin Salisbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather odd fantasy setting, but I really enjoy these books.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I liked the characters in this book. Also in this volume, many people band together to overthrow the bad guy. There was no one hero.

[Christopher M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fight between Shieldbreaker and Sightblinder is what makes this volume three stars rather than two :D

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed the entire series. Classic Fantasy!

[Caerigna Lunalti · Rating 4 out of 5]

They aren't the longest books, but thwy are such enjoyable reads.

[Mj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I was recommended this series, I found these to be a hard read. Just couldn't get into it. Perhaps if I'd read Book 1 first, it might've been easier.

[JR]

It is providing a read
Its ok but doesn't really fit with the other two