Swords in the Mist

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #3

by Frtiz Leiber

Lean times in Lankhmar force brothers-in-arms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to part ways. Only after a joust of wits and swords do the friends join together again, stealing the ship the Black Treasurer and sailing round and through The Claws. Fighting sea kings, curses and seven-eyed wizards, the pair set out on their heroic wanderings through the wilds of Nehwon.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Short Stories, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1968

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be my favorite "Swords" volume. This--in spite of the fact that it is designated #3 in the series--is as good a place for new readers to begin their journey through the marvelous kingdom of Lankhmar.

Two of the short stories develop familiar fantasy and horror themes--a malevolent meteorological phenomenon ("The Cloud of Hate") and a temporary entrance to an undersea kingdom ("When the Sea Kings Away")--with such precisely-imagined detail that they become startlingly original.

"Lean Times in Lankhmar" is quintessential Leiber, featuring a memorable evocation of the city's "Street of the Gods," and a superb narrative exposition in which details that first appear merely descriptive all contribute to an exciting--and hilarious--denouement.

Finishing off the collection is the original Fafhrd and Mouser novelette--written by Leiber and his original collaborator Fischer in 1936--"Adept's Gambit," which is witty, sexy, exciting, and filled with the enthusiasm of youth.

[Kristina]

On this episode of ‘What’s Going On With That Cover?’

Sure, the octopus is scary, but He-Man needs to watch out, his loincloth is creeping up on him from behind.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tried reading some Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser years ago but just wasn't ready for it then I guess. This collection absolutely blew my socks off. Insanely fun stories all around.

Lean Times in Lankhmar: my fave by far. He has so much fun just describing Lankhmar. The pair have fallen on hard times and split up, Fafhrd working for the only priest of a minor god in the city's religious district, the Gray Mouser working for an extortionist bruiser looking for a payoff from said priest. Hilarity abounds.

The Cloud of Hate: Badass.

The Adept's Gambit: Fafhrd falls prey to pig-trickery, every girl he tries to get with turns into a sow on him at the crucial moment. The Gray Mouser suffers a similar problem. The predicament is hilarious and the setting––no longer the fictional Lankhmar, we've passed to ancient Tyre––is described in loving detail. Ningauble of the Seven Eyes is fun, but the adept stuff gets a bit boring and loses the energy of the rest of the story.

When the Sea-King's Away: fun story about exploring the ocean floor.

Their Mistress, The Sea and The Wrong Branch: not really complete stories in themselves so much as just ruminations that serve to connect the book together.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fritz Leiber invented the sub genre of Sword and Sorcery fantasy. Though some might credit Robert E. Howard and his Conan, Leiber’s heroes, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, beat out the famous barbarian in complexity, longevity, and in the consistently high quality of the prose used to describe their adventures. And besides, Leiber actually coined the name “Sword and Sorcery.”

This collection of Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales includes both one of their most classic adventures in Lean Times in Lankhmar, and the earliest story of the two that Leiber penned, Adept’s Gambit. This third installment of the collected stories of these brother rogues continues their truly excellent tales of adventure. Every fan of fantasy should at some point encounter this dynamic duo of heroic fantasy.

The Cloud of Hate
”We go our own way, choosing our own adventures, and our own follies. Better freedom and a chilly road than a warm hearth and servitude.”
A nefarious, animated mist winds through the alleys of Lankhmar, spreading death and recruiting dangerous slaves to serve its ends by intoxicating them with hate. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser must first resist its intoxicating lure, and then battle it and its minions.
4 ⭐️

Lean Times in Lankhmar
Hard times in Lankhmar saw a falling out between our heroes, each going their separate ways. Mouser became lieutenant for Lankhmar’s most notorious extortionist, while Fafhrd, inexplicably, became acolyte to the most inauspicious godlet on the Street of Gods, Issek of the Jug. Fafhrd’s devotion to and service of this minor god of peace, using his skald training and Northern sensibilities to compose songs that retooled the god’s humble story as more glorious and heroic, soon elevate the god’s profile (and coffers). And this brought Fafhrd and the Mouser into conflict, as Mouser, now chief lieutenant to Lankhmar’s top extortionist, is expected to shake down the operation, and cripple its new acolyte. As the heroes are pitted against each other, it will take a “miracle,” the intervention of the god himself, to sort it out.
5 ⭐️

Their Mistress, the Sea
To recover from Fafhrd’s adventure as an ascetic acolyte and avatar of Issek of the Jug, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser take to the sea on The Black Treasurer to go pirating. A kind of interlude.
3 1/2 ⭐️

When the Sea-Kings Away
A confusing fever dream of a story. Fafhrd is lured by a siren call to leave The Black Treasurer and descend through an impossible air tube to sea bottom. Gray Mouser follows to rescue him. Strange women, strange battles, and strange events ensue.
2 1/2 ⭐️

The Wrong Branch
”It is rumored that those two swordsmen and blood brothers, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, have adventured not only in the world of Nehwon, with its great Empire of Lankhmar, but also in many other worlds, and times, and dimensions, arriving at these through certain secret doors, far inside the mazy caverns of Ningauble of the Seven Eyes, whose great cave, in this sense, exists simultaneously in many worlds and times.”
This is a short, transitional tale, which sets up the next story in which our heroes adventure not in Nehwon, but in the ancient Mediterranean world of Earth.
3 ⭐️

Adept’s Gambit
This is the earliest Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tale, originally published in Fritz Leiber’s first book, Night’s Dark Agents (1947).
”Material related to them has, on the whole, been scanted by annalists, since they were heroes too disreputable for classic myth, too cryptically independent ever to let themselves be tied to a folk, too shifty and improbable in their adventuring to please the historians, too often involved with a riff-raft of dubious demons, unfrocked sorcerers, and discredited deities — a veritable underworld of the supernatural.”
In this novella length tale, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are cruelly cursed —when they try to be intimate, their paramours turn into either a huge sow or a slimy snail. Their complex quest to lift the curse leads them first to the Gossiper of the Gods, Ningauble, then through many lands to collect necessary items, and finally to an accursed lost city and a mist wreathed castle to battle a strange, hermaphrodite-like adept. Bawdy humor, adventure, and eldritch magic mingle in this tale that is a bit overlong.
3 1/2 ⭐️

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Swords in the Mist (1968) is Fritz Leiber’s third collection of stories about Fafhrd, the big northern barbarian, and the Gray Mouser, his small wily companion who has a predilection for thievery and black magic. The tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser originally appeared in pulp magazines, short novels, and story collections between 1939-1988. Swords in the Mist contains:

* "The Cloud of Hate" (1963) — This is a short eerie metaphor in which hate becomes a mist that reaches out in tendrils throughout Lankhmar to find corruptible souls to use for evil deeds.
* "Lean Times in Lankhmar" (1959) — In this novelette, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser part ways and find themselves at odds when Fafhrd becomes an acolyte and the Mouser is hired to extract money from Fafhrd’s cult. Humorous and cynical, this story makes fun of Lankhmar’s polytheism and makes the seediness, decadence, and corruption of the city come alive. The ending is hilarious.
* "Their Mistress, the Sea" (original publication) — This story makes a nice bridge between “Lean Times in Lankhmar” and “When the Sea-King’s Away” but it’s entertaining in its own right.
* "When the Sea-King's Away" (1960) — This is a fun fantastical story with a great setting (under the sea!) in which Fafhrd has a sword fight with an octopus.
* "The Wrong Branch" (original publication) — This is a bridge between the previous story and the following novella:
* “Adept's Gambit” (1947) — Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser arrive in our world (Macedonia) in this novella. There are some funny parts here — Fafhrd kissing pigs and analyzing Socrates, but mostly I found this story dull. The sorcerer Ningauble of the Seven Eyes has sent the boys on a near-impossible quest, but the exciting parts are quickly skipped over and too much of the story is spent with an unpleasant character’s excruciatingly long autobiography.

I love Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser because they’re intelligent rogues. They look like a big dumb barbarian and a sneaky little street urchin, and they love nothing more than drinking, fighting, and wenching, yet they’ve got big vocabularies, make glorious similes and metaphors, and enjoy philosophizing. When they’re doing these things, they’re irresistible, especially in the audiobook versions narrated by Jonathan Davis (Audible Frontiers).

However, half of Swords in the Mist consists of a novella that was not as fun as I’ve come to expect from Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories (perhaps this is partly because it doesn’t take place in Lankhmar). I would suggest that, unless you consider yourself a completist, you find “Lean Times in Lankhmar” and “When the Sea-King’s Away” and skip the rest of Swords in the Mist.

[Skallagrimsen]

For my money, the best Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories are collected in Swords Against Death and Swords In the Mist. These, together with "Ill Met In Lankhmar," "Scylla's Daughter," and "The Sadness of the Executioner" showcase the best blend of action, horror, humor and pathos. My least favorite are the later stories. When the narrative epicenter gravitates from Lankhmar to Rime Island, the series seems to lose something of its strange and vital essence.

[Karl]

This hardcover is copy 40 of 300 produced and is signed by:

Fritz Leiber (1910 - 1992; facsimile signature)
Tim Powers (Introduction)
(Artwork) by Grant Griffin

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of three short stories (one very short) and one novella. There are two other "short stories" that were written specifically for this collection as continuity linkages to support the forceful attempt to present all the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories in in-world chronological order. I still really wish they hadn't. I'd much rather read them in writing order. Readers can tolerate shifts in chronology, they really can. It doesn't seem like Leiber and/or the publisher trusted their readers in this.

In case you can't tell, I've been having a hard time with this series so far.

The first stories were great! The very first and shortest was, eh, good, kind of a throwaway, but the next two really shone. Lean Times in Lankhmar in particular was a fascinating twist on the usual presentation of these two characters and their most iconic setting. Between that and the extended description of a strange water-walled tunnel leading down into the Sea King's realm, I felt like I was finally warming up to these adventures.

Then came Adept's Gambit.

The stories I liked were published in 1959-1960, presumably written roughly the same years. Adept's Gambit was published in 1947 (and a brief investigation found that an earlier draft was written by 1936, packaged elsewhere with the response from H.P. Lovecraft who reviewed the manuscript (Adept's Gambit: The Original Version). During those 20+ years Leiber's skill as an author evolved. In the written-later presented-first stories, there is a mastery of alternative approaches to storytelling, an excellence of craft, peak skill on display. In Adept's Gambit ... not so much.

Taking up half the book, this story is stuffed with lousy adverbs. It has the writer chewing up every scene like a hammy actor. The core story has nothing to do with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, they're mainly just a vehicle through which to present the main event. Worst of all, it includes a contender for Worst Dialogue Tag Ever with this gem:

"Slay the bats or send them slithering and I’ll come, but not before,” he dogmatized.

Fafhrd dogmatized those words. He really did. Because that is an action that produces word sounds. This is going to live in my brain forevermore, alongside its closest competitor from the opening page to Memoirs of a wizardess.

This is all in addition to the conceit that the pair of swordsmen would just happen to sometimes wander tunnels into various realities, all realities really, and their memories would realign to match the new reality, so that in this novella it was perfectly okay that they were in our real Earth history and geography, with the Roman Empire and Greek and Norse gods and so much more that was changed in later stories. This is a major retconning shoehorned in along with the "chronological" presentation of stories, when again giving them out in writing order would not have required any such awkward narrative gymnastics.

This book showed me the good stuff. The rest of them had better be more of that, and not backpedal in time and quality ever again, else I don't know how I'll cope.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swords in the Mist: Uneven volume, but “Lean Times in Lankhmar” is good
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature
This is the third collection of stories in Fritz Leiber’s FAFHRD AND THE GRAY MOUSER series, and the quality is quite varied. “Lean Times in Lankhmar” (1959) and “When the Sea-King’s Away” (1960) are good, swashbuckling fun, and “The Cloud of Hate” (1963) is short but creepily effective. However, “Their Mistress, the Sea” (1968) and “The Wrong Branch” (1968) are just short connective stories of little consequence. Finally, “Adept’s Gambit” (1947), is an odd fish that doesn’t really fit with the rest of the series, a novella in which Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are placed in our ancient world and sent on a long quest by Ningauble of the Seven Eyes.

The highlight is definitely “Lean Times in Lankhmar,” in which Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser part ways to settle down and give up their adventuring. Fafhrd becomes an ascetic, giving up fighting, drink, and women to become an acolyte to an addled priest of the minor god Issek of the Jug. The Gray Mouser throws in his fate with Pulg, a shakedown artist and criminal who targets other religions. Of course things start to get complicated when Pulg decides to target Fafhrd’s cult, which has been gaining in popularity thanks to his oratory and singing skills. The two former companions struggle to reconcile the situation, as the Mouser using various stratagems to lure Fafhrd away from his new life while still keeping his suspicious boss in check. The story reaches a climax as Fafhrd wakes up from a massive drinking session after being fooled by the Mouser, only to unwittingly strengthen the legend of Issek of the Jug…

“When the Sea-King’s Away” is a rollicking underwater adventure that reads like a part of the Pirates of the Carribean movies, as Fafhrd this time is lured below the ocean by mysterious air pockets under water, which lead him to the lair of the Sea King, where the Mouser has to go after him as he cannot resist the urge to participate in an adventure, no matter how dubious. The two bravos must battle various monsters including a sword-wielding giant octopus. It’s a nice contrast to “The Bazaar of the Bizarre,” in which Fafhrd had to bail out the Mouser from trouble. Their loyalty to each other is every bit what is now called a “bromance.”

Meanwhile, “Adept’s Gambit” is just plain strange, and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the series. It starts out promising, as the two rogues are lounging in a tavern with wenches on their laps and mugs of beer in hand, but when Fafhrd tries to kiss his girl, she turns into a pig. The Mouser is amused until the same thing happens, but his girl becomes a giant snail! So they appeal to Ningauble of the Seven Eyes for help, but he is very reluctant and tells them it’s no more than they deserve for their roguish ways. After much cajoling, he finally agrees to help them only if they complete an imposing list of near-impossible quests.

From all the reviews I read of this story, it’s overlong and skips the most promising parts of the plot, and tells their tale as a second-hand narrative. Add that to the fact that they are not in Newhon but instead in our ancient world, and I really wasn’t too enthusiastic to go any further, so I didn’t finish it. It strikes me as an early experiment before Leiber had really decided the right direction for these characters, and it doesn’t mesh well in the overall story arc.

In the end, only “Lean Times in Lankhmar” and “When the Sea-King’s Away” are worth reading in this collection, and “Adept’s Gambit” remains an oddity. It actually was initially submitted to H.P. Lovecraft for authorial advice, and the initial draft was uncovered and published in hardcover by Arcane Wisdom Press in 2014. It contains many references to “the Elder Gods,” and also includes the advice and notes of Lovecraft to Leiber, but this would only be of interest to hardcore enthusiasts. I’ve heard that the fourth volume, Swords Against Wizardry, is a return to form with a number of classic stories, so I’m moving on to that next!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swords in the Mist is the third book in Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series. They're a pair of good-hearted rogues, fearless friends who have swashbuckling adventures and exciting escapades from their home city of Lankhmar on the world of Nehwon. This book collects six stories, two of which (Their Mistress the Sea and The Wrong Branch) are short vignettes original to this title that serve as linkages. My three favorites (The Cloud of Hate, When the Sea-King's Away, and especially Lean Times in Lankhmar) were originally published in Fantastic Stories magazine, which was edited by the sadly neglected Cele Goldsmith, in 1963, '60, and '59 respectively. The book concludes with Adept's Gambit, a novella reprinted from Night's Black Agents, which was Leiber's first book, published in 1947 by Arkham House. (Goldsmith reprinted that one in Fantastic, too, with a terrific Ed Emshwiller cover in 1964.) Adept's Gambit is set on Earth rather than on Nehwon, and doesn't share the same pace and humor as the later stories, though it does have an interesting chess theme. Lean Times in Lankhmar sees the pair split up during a particularly difficult period, but you know they just have to patch things up and get together again. Leiber was at the top of his game in the '50s and '60s, and these early fantasies demonstrate that with no room for doubt.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

And here we're really starting to get into Peak Lankhmar; although of the four major stories in the book (plus a couple of interstitial linking pieces), only one of them ("The Cloud of Hate") actually has Fafhrd & Mouser adventuring together in Lanhkmar. Another ("Lean Times in Lankhmar" takes place in the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokes, but during a time when (for various reasons) they had temporarily parted company; the other two ("When the Sea-King's Away" and "Adept's Gambit") take place after they're reunited, but have fled Lankhmar for more salubrious climes. (In point of fact, "Adept's Gambit" sends them from Nehwon to a wholly-implausible place called "Earth", more specifically an epic journey across the ancient Near East beginning in Tyre; although conveniently, when one leaves (via caverns & passageways in the lair of Ningauble of the Seven Eyes) one realm and journeys to another, one's language and memories are altered to fit one's destination.)

"Adept's Gambit" is one of the earlier-written stories, dating from 1947; the remainder are all from circa 1960 (although the bridging pieces come from 1968 or so when, I believe, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser's many adventures were being collected in book form for the first time).

As always, the stories (and ditto our heroes) are by turns playful, sardonic, witty and melancholic; and Leiber's prose is an unalloyed joy to read.

[Commodore Tiberius Q. Handsome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fritz Leiber invented the term "sword and sorcery", and he was the finest author the genre has ever had. In fact he was, in my opinion, the finest author of fantasy period. I rank him above Tolkien, Howard and Moorcock, never mind Martin or Jordan. I've read him described as a "master prose stylist", and the description is apt indeed. Fritz Leiber was, simply, a terrific, extremely talented writer with a true love of language and a prodigious, playful, incredibly unique style. The odd, absurd, weird, and terrifying, he was a maestro of storytelling, a humorist, and a weaver of weird tales and action-packed adventures. He was the best, period, and anyone with any interest at all in fantasy who neglects Leiber is cheating himself.

[Fantasy boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser is still One of the influential S&S fantasy books of all time. I've finished SItM last month .I was exhilarated and frenzied about how Fritz Leiber managed the sophisticated writing with original stories that represents to readers.
When I was reading SItM as It's a banquet of literatures within S&S fantasy vibe. the scenes in SItM as vivid as previous two collections SAD, SOD, also easily visualizing the stories's back ground . The duo are always fun and entertaining, furthermore didn't proffer me any infinitesimally unpleasant experiences of reading SItM . I am always surprised that F&G Stories would have such throbbing- adventures with graphic scenes. I don't need to procure the meanings of contexts, nevertheless readers naturally comprehend the deep theories of the stories. It's not common that a few authors are capable of innovating a original secondary world with characters have senses of humor in spite of Fritz Leiber did it!

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection consists of three short stories, two short chapters that mostly serve to bridge different stories to one another, and then one longer tale where Fafhrd and the Mouser are thrust into our own world's history. Lean Times in Lankhmar is among the best of Leiber's works, but the rest I liked rather less, and I also felt that there was little need to try connect them together in such a way - a good short story stands on its own.

Adept's Gambit was quite good as well, though, apart from a many-chapter expository dump towards the end that went largely unneeded.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars. Third in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, this book (actually a series of connected short stories) continues the excellence of the preceding two novels. I look at these stories as the fantasy equivalent of comfort food. They are always entertaining, take place in exotic locations with great characters and and friendship of the Fafhrd and the Mouser is the glue that brings the stories together. A fun, fast read.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing with these adventures, and having a great time. Fafhrd, the northern barbarian prone to flights of poetry and spirituality, and the Gray Mouser, the wily city-dwelling rogue with an acquisitive mind and a tendency toward extravagance, continue to galavant about and, well, honestly, piss a lot of people off.

Yeah, that seems to be a theme this time. It probably was in the last book as well, but my girlfriend and i really noticed it here (I've been reading these aloud to her during our evening recreations, which definitely adds to the good time). Wizards, prophets, racketeers, women -- it's not that our two friends have become unlikeable; they just are always getting into pickles, jams and fixes of all sorts and can't help themselves.

the last story in swords in the mist is really long, so there aren't many of them in here. it gives me great pleasure to say a little something about all of them.

"The Cloud of hate":
Short and sweet is this one, full of atmosphere. It's a mysterious little bit of darkness that prepares for what's to come. It fits in with Leiber's idea that a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of something together can create something tangible, good or bad. Here, it's something really bad: a disembodied force of malevolence and hatred that gathers disciples/slaves to itself and has them murder the people who aren't hateful enough to feed its needs. It's rather easily dispatched in the end, but I like this story a lot, mostly because of how Leiber describes the different denizens of Lankhmar, including Fafhrd and the mouser, reacting to this hate-fogg and its attempts to get into their minds. The reasons it isn't at all successful with Fafhrd and the mouser brought a grin to my fface.

"lean Times in Lankhmar":
I've re-read this story several times, independently of the other Fafhrd and mouser works, because it's always been one of my favourites. Why? Because it's bloody hilarious, tha'ts why. In the end, too, it contains one of the greatest distillations of truth about these two: they really do need each other. I love how this one starts out with the two of them not really being "buddies" any longer, having fallen out over something really stupid that neither of them can really remember, but might as well be something as dumb as the correct speling of Fafhrd's name. This is just so true to life. This paticular book as a whole is full of insights, in my view, about how men in particular tend to think about themselves, each other, women, and the environment they have to contend with. Yeah, it's not always nice; there is room to argue "...but we're not all like...", but if you've spent enough time among certain male types, or are one of them yourself, a lot of this stuff will chime a familiar chord with you, make no mistake. Anyway, "Lean Times...." features a great character: a racketeer of religions named Pulg, whom I really wish we had seen more of later, because he's awesome. Also, Mouser's plan to wrest fafhrd from the clutches of religion? Get him drunk! Oh the drinking. I haven't mentioned this before, but there is a lot of drinking in these books. It may strike you as pathological, in fact. Those who know a litlle about leiber may recognise this as a thing with him. The man had a lot of trouble with alcoholism and sometimes this is reflected in his characters. But look: I think here it really is harmless fun, and the image of Fafhrd thrashing around Lankhmar, shaved bald, naked, and with a bed strapped to his back, bellowing "WHERE IS THE JUG?!?!?!" is priceless. So Fafhrd ultimately needs Mouser to keep him from turning into a religious nut; Mouser needss Fafhrd to prevent him from becoming a greedy S.O.B. Nice.

"Their Mistress, The Sea":
you can tell some o these linking pieces were written later, so that all these could be compiled into book form. Most of them detail a lengthy passage of time in miniature, without dialogue and putting forward some interesting ideas or notions for the reader to ponder about character, setting and the like. After the last story, fafhrd and Mouser are on the run from Lankhmar once again, with a cask full of brandy they (at first) dare not touch, a couple of bad tempers, and their nutty old friend Ourph the mingol. I'm kind of glad the intimations of rape don't come from our heroes, and the offending old Mingol is put ashore as soon as possible. I know the sexual politics of these stories can be a bit dicey at times, but in general I thik they're good-natured. In this case it's maybe a bit too much, as mouser and Fafhrd just kind of shrug of the Mingol's intentions as the harmless whims of a silly old men, and the women in question, it's suggested, might even be ok with the idea. Well, all I can say is that I think it's still in the best interests of a modern reader to bear with this kind of stuff from time to time and accept that if you Get to know Leiber through his writing and understand that his intentions are always good. Now, the sea finally manages to lull and calm our heroes, and the tale leads right into ...

"When the Sea-King's Away":
This one feels like a sailor's opium dream. I've never been on a sea voyage of any kind (only sailed on lake Ontario a few times), but this reminds me of tales of the strange mirages and fancies men at sea supposedly used to experience after a long duration of travel under the sun and stars, with huge expanses of water stretching as far as the eye can see, and craggy, desolate shores oly occasionally breaking the monotony. Maybe "monotony" isn't really the right word, though, for it seems this is exactly what's needed to mend the bonds between our two travellers. But what's this? Fafhrd getting a whim about girls under the sea waiting for their attention? Uh-oh. Of course he would. I can almost hear Mouser's sigh of annoyance in my head right now. The crazy thing is that Fafhrd seems to be right! But to get to their errant sea-maidens, the twosome are going to have to battle undead mariners and a huge octopus bearing eight swords!!! And then there'll be the Sea-King's wrath to contend with after they've proved themselves and shared in satiety with these mermaid brides. Did it all really happen? I dunno! What do you think?

"The Wrong Branch":
probably the most interesting linking piece of all of them, and a little longer than most. It would almost be inconsequential except for the awesome revelation for Fafhrd and mouser fans. Yes, this little story basically opens up everything, and tells that there are actually possibilities for hundreds more adventures, in just as many worlds, dimensions, times and places. Now I'm going to say that comic book/television/movie/whatever "universes" have been built on a lot less than this, and you can argue with me if you want, but where are all the fafhrd and mouser fan-fiction writers? Leiber is basically opening the door for you all here and saying, "c'mon, have at it, give it your best shot!" For a fan, this is pretty cool.

"The Adept's Gambit":
The longest Fafhrd and Mouser story yet, and, I think, one of the first written, and it's a really strange one. Suddenly we are thrust into a place where all the names and geography should be familiar to historically minded persons. We're not in Lankhmar anymore, or even the constructed world off nehwon, but in ... late-period Phoenicia? Yes, this story takes place in the world we know, probably around 300 BC I would guess, or a little earlier. Alright, I'm not quite sure about the history; honestly Leiber just seems to be throwing names, personages and peoples at you left and right, and it seems a bit willy-nilly, but I think he's largely got the cosmopolitan and diverse nature of the eastern Mediterranean regions and Fertile Crescent right here. I'm no expert though, and I decided that despite the sometimes awkward need to name everything (the philosopher from jerusalem met up with the Greek gambler and they both fought over a Carthaginian girl wearing a tyrean dress ... it's a bit like that), I was just going to roll with it. And I think for a number of reasons, this tale turns out to be rather rich and rewarding. It's interesting, too, because a lot of fantasy literature ends up reading a bit like this anyway, with authors insisting on giving names to places and things and getting sometimes very pedantic about them, as if it's all somehow real. So I wonder if in fact leiber was taking the piss a bit here. It feels in the opening two chapters especially that something has taken over Leiber's mind; maybe it's the booze? The results are hilarious and weird in the extreme. At times i was almost reminded of Gogol, of all people, and some of his tales set in Ukraine. Things eventually do level out and we get a rolling, leisurely tale full of aforementioned character-type insights and lots and lots of double entendres. If double entendres just make you wince and groan, you might not like it. I couldn't stop tittering, though, and then feeling like a slightly naughty twelve-year-old. We also get an awesome "story within the story", which could be a great horror tale in its own right, and it's told from a female perspective! We get to spend time with ningauble of the Seven Eyes, one of the wizard patrons introduced in the previous book (Swords Against Death), and he's an uter delight. The ending, too, has got to be one of the best, and suggests our heroes will soon be returning to Lankhmar after their incalculable sojourn in our, and possibly other (?), worlds. Great stuff.

You can tell that leiber put a lot of heart into these stories. I find them inescapable, charming, witty, sometimes uproariously funny. The horror elements push my buttons, too. You should read this, if it sounds at all appealing. There's still some great stuff to come, and I think as an over-all package Swords in the Mist turns out to be one of the best in the series. Next: Swords and Wizardry, and I can't wait.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fafhrd cupped his big hands over the brazier and whistled the gay tune sifting from the remotely twinkling palace. The Mouser, now re-oiling the blade of Scalpel against the mist, observed, “For one beset by taints and danger-hums, you’re very jolly.”

“I like it here,” the Northerner asserted. “A fig for courts and beds and inside fires! The edge of life is keener in the street—as on the mountaintop. Is not imagined wine sweeter than wine?” (“Ho!” the Mouser laughed, most sardonically.) “And is not a crust of bread tastier to one an-hungered than larks’ tongues to an epicure? Adversity makes the keenest appetite, the clearest vision.”

“There spoke the ape who could not reach the apple,” the Mouser told him. “If a door to paradise opened in that wall there, you’d dive through.”

“Only because I’ve never been to paradise,” Fafhrd swept on. “Is it not sweeter now to hear the music of Innesgay’s betrothal from afar than mingle with the feasters, jig with them, be cramped and blinkered by their social rituals?”

“There’s many a one in Lankhmar gnawn fleshless with envy by those sounds tonight,” the Mouser said darkly. “I am not gnawn so much as those stupid ones. I am more intelligently jealous. Still, the answer to your question: no!”

“Sweeter by far tonight to be Glipkerio’s watchman than his pampered guest,” Fafhrd insisted, caught up by his own poetry and hardly hearing the Mouser.

“You mean we serve Glipkerio free?” the latter demanded loudly. “Aye, there’s the bitter core of all freedom: no pay!”

Fafhrd laughed, came to himself, and said almost abashedly, “Still, there is something in the keenness and the watchman part. We’re watchmen not for pay, but solely for the watching’s sake! Indoors and warm and comforted, a man is blind. Out here we see the city and the stars, we hear the rustle and the tramp of life, we crouch like hunters in a stony blind, straining our senses for—”

“Please, Fafhrd, no more danger signs,” the Mouser protested. “Next you’ll be telling me there’s a monster a-drool and a-stalk in the streets, all slavering for Innesgay and her betrothal-maids, no doubt. And perchance a sword-garnished princeling or two, for appetizer.”

Fafhrd gazed at him soberly and said, peering around through the thickening mist, “When I am quite sure of that, I’ll let you know.”


4 1/4 stars

[Bokeshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I should like this more than I acctually do: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are fantastic characters, Leiber's prose is witty and sparkling, and sword & sorcery is one of my favorite genres. Yet, most of the time while reading this series, I'm bored out of my gourd. What gives?

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

8+ Heerlijke ouderwetse 'Sword & Sorcery' die zichzelf niet al te serieus neemt, zoals de helden zichzelf niet al te serieus nemen. Wat opvalt bij deze verhalen is het beeldrijke, ongeremde taalgebruik. De zinnen zijn lang, vol vergelijkingen, maar (en dit kan een euvel zijn van de vertaling) soms wat lastig te volgen door de verwarde zinsstructuur. De terzijdes, vaak humoristisch, deden me glimlachen. Het plezier spatte ervan af in elk geval en ik vermoed dat een schrijver als Tais Teng (en ook Jaap Boekestein) niet alleen veel van Vance geleerd hebben, maar ook van Leiber. Neem een passage als: 'Er verluidt onder de wijze ratten die de stadse aarde ondertunnelen en onder de veelwetende katten die door de schaduwen van de steden sluipen en onder de schrandere vleren die door de stadse nacht klapwieken en onder de alwijze zatten die door de luchtloze ruimte scheren, dat die twee zwaardvechters en bloedbroeders, Fafhrd en de Grijze Muizer, niet slechts geavonturierd hebben in de wereld van Remmin met zijn grootse rijk Lankhmar, maar ook in vele andere tijden en dimensiën ...' Ook vreemde omgevingen, zoals de zeebodem onder een soort grote luchtbel, worden zo prachtig weergegeven en krijgen een aangenaam gevoel van 'vreemdheid'. Dit valt onder de 'weird fiction' en de invloed van Lovecraft is zeker merkbaar, met name in het laatste verhaal 'Het Adeptengambiet'. Dat was het eerste verhaal dat Leiber schreef over deze hoofdpersonen en hij heeft het daadwerkelijk voorgelegd aan Lovecraft zelf. Met name aan het slot zijn er gruwelen die zo uit Lovecraft hadden kunnen komen. Dit verhaal speelt zich af op onze aarde, omdat Leiber destijds nog niet het goede idee had gehad zijn personages in een fantasiewereld rond te laten lopen. Het is volgens veel recensies het minste verhaal van deze bundel - en ik vond dat ook, maar dat wil niet zeggen dat het slecht is, de opbouw is alleen niet zo strak als die van eerdere verhalen. Zo wordt een groot deel gevuld met een verhaal van een bijfiguur dat wellicht een stuk korter had gekund (het voelde als een apart kort verhaal met Lovecraftaanse elementen). Veel beter was 'Magere tijden in Lankhmar' waarin de hoofdpersonen elk een andere kant zijn opgegaan. Fafhrd helpt de priester van een nieuwe godheid, terwijl de Grijze Muizer in dienst staat van een afperser. Als ze weer met elkaar in contact komen ontstaan er allerlei capriolen, want ze willen hun taak uitvoeren, maar blijven natuurlijk vrienden ... Het openingsverhaal 'De wolk van haat' is overigens lekker gruwelijk en spannend. Natuurlijk moet je als moderne lezer wel bedenken dat deze verhalen in een andere tijd geschreven zijn - heel vrouwvriendelijk is het bijvoorbeeld niet, want dames zijn er alleen in bijrollen en dienen het genot van de hoofdpersonen. Als je daar doorheen kunt kijken, is deze bundel alleen al voor het proza de moeite waard, voor wie houdt van dit soort fantasievolle verhalen, waarin moreel niet helemaal zuiver op de graat zijnde protagonisten die het vooral moeten hebben van hun zwaardkunsten in hun queeste naar geldelijk gewin en lieftallige dames het moeten opnemen tegen goden, tovenaars, demonen, afpersers en een octopus met acht zwaarden. Jazeker.

[ExtraGravy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid entry in the series, especially "lean times"

[York · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just didn't do it for me...too many wandering thoughts and discussions...scant storytelling....

[Paul Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd previously heard that Leiber's powers are best suited for the short story and that he's not particularly good at longer narratives. Now I have read with my own eyes and I can bear the witness. But really, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first story, "The Cloud of Hate," might be the greatest evidence I've yet seen for how Leiber was a crucial innovator of D&D. His stories were cited by Gary Gaigax as a major influence, and later on he wrote up modules and made other contributions to the early game. Every barbarian carries the DNA of Fafhrd, while every rogue shows some kinship to the Gray Mouser. This story reads like a one-shot where the players didn't want anything with significant stakes, instead wanting to just kill something, and it works quite well.

"Lean Times in Lankhmar" is easily the best story in this collection and probably my favorite Leiber story I've read so far. It's tightly plotted, very character-centric, and brings all of Leiber's best skills to the fore--lots of drama, lots of wit and uproarious humor, and narrative stagecraft. The story offers some legitimate insight into how institutional religions relate to each other, while also taking a careful look at how not every friendship can endure every stress. The opening paragraphs read like vintage Terry Pratchett (even though the story was originally published in 1959, nearly thirty years before Pratchett started publishing the Discworld books). The climax is hilarious and exciting. It's a rollicking good time, the epitome of what a pulp story can be.

The next three stories are mediocre. "When the Sea-King's Away" (1960) was a story Leiber had written in which Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser trespass the home of a sea god. The stories on either end, "Their Mistress, the Sea" and "The Wrong Branch" were both written in 1968 to explain how the rogues got from Lankhmar out to the sea, and then from the sea-king's domain to a world that is essentially our own ancient history, only there is magic present. I found the flanking stories thin, though harmless; the middle story was totally incomprehensible to me, and I never could tell how one paragraph related to the next in terms of relating events.

The final story, "The Adept's Gambit," is my proof that Leiber should have stuck to short fiction. This story accounts for a full 50% of the book, and it is painfully dull. I read this book on my kindle while walking to/from campus, usually about 3% each way, and it took me weeks to finish because I was never drawn into the story. I would start reading as I left home, and within a block or two I'd be struck by a thought for class and would find that much more interesting than the story itself, so that I would only read a page or two each day.

But what's actually wrong with the story itself? After all, it starts out remarkably strong, with a verve and energy rarely seen--our heroes are out philandering when suddenly the woman they're with transforms into a pig. It's wild and weird, like a scene out of One Hundred Years of Solitude. After that start, however, the story loses all steam. The character go to Place A, where they're told to go to Place B, and they need to complete Task C, etc. And none of it adds up. There's so much hinting rather than actually saying anything, and lots of subterfuge that just doesn't make much sense. Then, after a somewhat interesting battle with a seeming-near-immortal, we get a long, long, long speech in which a character exposits about her past and how her brother became obsessed with power and all that. Now, normally I like a good nested story, but here is lacked style and thrill, and just made me desperate for it to end.

I already have at least one--maybe two?--more collections of these stories on my kindle, and so I'm sure I'll try those eventually. After all, the man who wrote "Lean Times in Lankhmar" deserves another try from me. But man, barring that story and "The Cloud of Hate," this particular collection did not work for me at all, and I'm just glad to be done with it.

[Vlad]

Our heroes are separated by own volition in the pursuit of dubious solo careers which puts their friendship at test, rejoined afterwards in a journey through time and space to a world more familiar to us, yet mysteries and good humour do not cease.

[Algernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

[7/10] The adventures of the lovable rascals continue in the same vein set in the previous volumes. The reason I rate this slightly lower than the first two Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books is probably a feeling of "too much of a good thing" - like discovering a new brand of chocolate cookies and eating them until you get sick. It is maybe a good idea not to read the Lankhmar stories one after another, and to spread them over a longer period. Otherwise, they tend to become repetitive and formulaic.

I think the fact that most of the volume is taken by a single longish novela may have drawn down my rating. Adept's Gambit was interesting, had a few very funny moments - like the interview vith the seven eyed warlock or the heroes magical troubles with girlfriends - but I felt it went on for too long.

the opening story is The Cloud of Hate : good at setting the atmosphere and reaquainting the reader with the duo and with the city of Lankhmar. It also includes a very funny dialogue about leaving free or serving a master, concluding that adventuring for fun has only one drawback : no paycheck.

Their Mistress the Sea is just a bridge between two classic adventures, but is contains some of the better / lyrical passages from Leiber : an ode to the sea.

When The Sea-King's Away is another typical Fafhrd & Gray Mouser romp : including an ancient myth, humorous banter between friends, a witch, a couple of voluptuous women and some supernatural adversaries to be subdued at swordpoint.

My favorite piece in this collection is Lean Times in Lankhmar : a hilarious satire of religion and prophets, written in the irreverent and flowery prose that will soon tempt me to pick the next book in the series.

Here's a quote that I think illustates both the narrative style of Leiber and the character of the heroes:

"The Mouser sighed. The moment had come, he knew, as it always did, when outward circumstances and inner urges commanded an act, when curiosity and fascination tipped the scale of caution, when the lure of a vision and an adventure became so great and deep-hooking that he must respond to it or have his inmost self-respect eaten away."

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Classic from Fritz Leiber. A Must-Read for All Fantasy fans.

A full half of the book is one story, ADAPT'S GAMBIT & it is a bit of an odd bird. It's an odd early story from 1948. The first published I think. It's set on Earth, not Nehwon, some years after Alexander the Great. The prose style is obviously of a younger writer and early in the tale there are quite a few clumsy sentences with odd verbiage. The prose style smooths out a bit as it progresses but the story structure is not as well built as an older Leiber would achieve later in life. Yet, his imagination is bursting in full glory with ideas not to be missed popping full tilt one after another like a kettle of popcorn.

The other stories are delightful and marvelous and are high marks of 20th century Fantasy fiction. Timeless little bundles of joy.

Read this as I was taking a wee break from Peter V. Brett's THE WARDED MAN. And oh, what a delightful respite this book is to Brett's long-winded tale.

[Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book,3rd in the 7 book series about Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser.I really liked this book,but I also have a big liking for the 2 main characters.They will do anything for each other,they stand together and fight anyone.One is a hulking barbarian from the north and the other smaller yet light on his feet thief.They depend on the skills the other has and he does not.
And that is just the surface.
This is by far a sword and sorcery,every few pages there's some kind of fight and when there's not in short order they will come across magic.Not magic-type but sorcery evil-doers.
And yes some people may think magic and sorcery are the same but I like to think sorcery is greater and has a evil connotation.

[James Enge · Rating 4 out of 5]

In summary: This late-60s collection includes what many consider to be the two best stories about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, as well as the earliest complete story about the Mighty Twain. As such it’s essential reading for the sword-and-sorcery enthusiast. For the details, see the full review on my blog.

[Café de Tinta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro buen montón de aventuras de nuestros amigos! En breve reseña en el blog.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite volume so far. Lots of humor and sword & sorcery strangeness. I also liked the mutiverse stuff. It could have been a weird inclusion, but Leiber pulled it off pretty seamlessly.

[Alejandro Orradre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continúa mi enamoramiento con esta saga de relatos, a cada cual más emocionante y que realmente sí que tienen un hilo conductor: hay una evolución soterrada entre relatos.

La última historia, dividida en nueve partes, es una gozada.