Ardneh's Sword

Empire of the East #4

by Fred Saberhagen

It's been a thousand years since the time of Ardneh, the transcendent being that saved humanity from the vicious archdemon Orcus. It was a legendary battle between magic and technology that killed them both, but left behind tales of Ardneh's heroism and newly found hope for humanity. But in the passing years only a few remain that actually believe these legends as truths.

Chance Rolfson comes from a long line of Ardneh's followers, descendants from Rolf, the illustrious warrior who fought in Ardneh's name for humanity many years ago. A young man plagued with vivid nightmares, Chance hopes to clear his head by joining a forest expedition that seeks physical proof of Ardneh's existence. Their goal is to discover the great vault prophesized to hold the savior of humanity's secrets to his own power and wisdom. But the dangers are high in the dark forests, rife with bandits and demons that no magic can stop. And as Chance's dreams become clearer, he soon realizes these are not merely dreams but visions, and he alone holds the key to unlocking Ardneh's greatest gift, known to the followers as Ardneh's Sword.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, High Fantasy

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

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

[Bookwraiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews

Ardneh’s Sword is a “bridge” story linking Fred Saberhagen’s Empire of the East series with his later Swords series. And while avid fans have always recognized the world of Swords as being a future iteration of the Empire lands, this novel cements that fact as an absolute truth, providing a rather seamless transition from one series to the next.

The story opens with a thousand years having passed since Ardneh saved humanity from the arch-demon Orcus. That long ago time seems lost in the shadowy past however. Few people believing the legends of an epic clash between magic and technology. But Chance Rolfson is not one of those doubters; he has always believed the legends, as did his ancestors back to the illustrious warrior Rolf – a man who fought evil in Ardneh’s name.

Even though his faith remains undisturbed, Chance finds himself beset by troubling nightmares. Terrifying images of death and destruction that refuse to leave his mind even when he awakes. In a vain attempt to put these dreams behind him, he joins a wilderness expedition searching for Ardneh’s Vault: A legendary place said to hold the savior’s secrets of wisdom and power that can save humanity!

Naturally, things do not go smoothly on the journey; bandits, demon worshipers, demons and even a mysterious djinni with his own schemes causing untold complications and misery for the band. Soon, legendary entities come to life before Chance’s eyes, and he begins to suspect that his nightmares are, in fact, visions of the destruction of the world and that he might be the only one who can unlock Ardneh’s Sword (The ancient savior’s most powerful weapon!) and save everyone!

If that description sounds like a fairly typical Fred Saberhagen fantasy story, I won’t attempt to disagree with you. I thought exactly that as I pounded my way through this sword and sorcery genre blender. Not that Ardneh’s Sword is a clone of the Swords series (The only Saberhagen novels I’ve ever read), but it definitely has the broken landscape and post-apocalyptic vibes, grey heroes and villains, and moody and gloomy atmosphere of the Book of Swords – at least to me. A similarity that is obviously expected to a certain extent (It is a bridge novel after all) and isn’t necessarily bad, but it certainly suggests that if you didn’t love the Empire or Swords series, then you probably won’t have your opinion of the author’s writing changed by this book.

Even with that cautionary warning, there are certainly things to like about this novel. Naturally, the pure adrenaline rush of a sword and sorcery tale is fun, at times. Plus, Saberhagen adds such a cool post-apocalyptic history to the setting that it will undoubtedly stir your curiosity to learn more about the past and the future of this world and its shadowy denizens. And, lastly, there are a couple really interesting characters like the djinni, who are real scene stealers, instantly turning a casual reader into a concerned follower – at least of your favorite character.

Unfortunately, the positives in Ardneh’s Sword didn’t outweigh the negatives for me, because this novel did a few flaws which really jarred my enjoyment of it. Specifically, the story was a bit too formulaic for my tastes and the ending was far too deus ex machina for me to rate it anything other than “okay.” But I can definitely see others adoring it – if for no other reason than they were able to revisit the world of Empire and Swords, gather up yet another morsel of lore about this post-apocalyptic world, and finally know for certain how these two Saberhagen fantasy series fit together.

Recommended for diehard Saberhagen followers, devoted fanboys (and fangirls) of Empire of the East and the Swords series, or for old school sword and sorcery lovers. All others need not apply.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ page 234 Chapter Twenty-four.

Ardneh's Sword continues the Empire of the East trilogy; one thousand years in the future. Humanity hasn't progressed very far I'll tell ya.

Chance is the descendant of Rolf, who was our main protagonist from the original trilogy. Chance is pubescent and is not vital to the story at all. He spends his time confused, hiding, and trying to make it with Abbigail, a Servant of Ardneh. The baddies do a lot of talking; everyone does. No one knows what's going on, but everyone wants the key to Ardneh's workshop and possibly his sword. The only thing unresolved that still piques my interest is what the heck is Ardneh's sword? Is it a sword?

This story was not written for the likes of me. Off to the discard pile.

I heartily do not recommend this.

P.S. The best thing about this book is the Raymond Swanland cover.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, in a fractional rating system I'd have given this a 3.8. But it's just so nice to see that Fred Saberhagen can still write as well as ever at the age of 76. Ardneh's Sword is a bridge between Saberhagen's Empire of the East and the Swords series, which were always indicated as being connected; Empire being the pre-history of Swords, of course.

Ardneh's Sword doesn't entirely explain the transition, but it is vintage Saberhagen and does shed some more interesting light on the Empire/Swords universe. It also brings back a minor character from Empire of the East, to my great surprise and enjoyment.

Don't expect to find out who or what the Emperor is. I don't know if we'll ever find out. But the book is definitely a must read for any fan of either series, or of Saberhagen.

[Jason Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending of this book was thoroughly satisfying, but it is for those who appreciate science fiction (and I realize, by looking at those of us who liked it, that is a noble and select few). As I have read Saberhagen, it seems that one of his regular themes is that the rehumanization of mankind after the disaster of modernity will not happen without a repaganization. I think that he is probably onto something. We will not learn to worship God until we first learn to worship again. C.S. Lewis said that we will never learn to be good Christians until we first learn to be good Pagans.

[Xander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so I love the Empire of the East trilogy, and I adore the many Books of Swords. Fred Saberhagen has written a number of other awesome things (Holmes/Dracula + Pilgrim + ...). So OF COURSE I was going to read Ardneh's Sword when I heard about it.

But holy crap this book was terrible! The pacing is insanely slow. The book is about 100% longer than any of Saberhagen's other tales in the same universe. Normally I would appreciate getting to hang out with good characters for longer, but some editor clearly phoned it in on this one. The characters are a bit wooden, and there's so much unnecessary fluff in the book that contributes zero to the plot or the ambience.

First up, the djinn. Why was the djinn so evasive? Saberhagen set up a bunch of doubt about the djinn, and then didn't capitalize on it AT ALL! Why not? Why lead us to believe the djinn was a bad guy, and then have essentially no redemption for him/her? There was no resolution there. Totally odd.

And the demons. I'm so pissed about the demons. Demons are one of the coolest parts of the Ardneh/Sword universe. They're creepy and nearly all-powerful and have voices that sound like dry leaves. When they eat you, you apparently live on in some kind of neither-dead-nor-alive agony forever in their guts. But the demons in Ardneh's Sword were whiny little bitches with zero power.

And what's up with Mitra, the little owl that couldn't? Owls were amazing in the Empire of the East trilogy ... what was the point of degrading them so badly in this installment? Mitra could have easily been excised with no loss of story-telling motive.

Draffut kicked some ass like he usually does. So thumbs up there.

The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is that I now know where the gods of the later books came from, and I know why Benambra got rich. But really, I could've written a 30-page short story that had all of these features and a lot more punch. I'm tempted to write that short story, print it, and put it into Ardneh's Sword, so that when I find it on my shelf again 20 years from now, I'll save several days of stewing-in-a-demon's-stomach agony.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I read the other Empire of the East stories, and the Swords books, so wasn't sure how this one would come across. It did alright and turned out my suspicion was correct, it seems to be more of a transition story between the two series. Explaining how we get from one "world" to the other, so to speak. Some parts of the narrative seemed a little disjointed to me, as if in need of an editor or if the writer's mind had wandered some as he was writing it. This didn't really distract me from the story and overall it was an enjoyable read. Saberhagen has always been a favorite of mine.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very much a plausible transition from the Empire of the East to the Swords series. An easy and enjoyable read.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book set 1000 years after the end of Channeling Earth/Empire of the East . . .

Listed on Amazon as "Book 4 of Empire of the East," more accurately a bridge book between that series and the Swords series, a sequel to the former and a prequel to the latter, this book deals with the aftermath of the final conflict of Ardneh and Orcus after about a thousand years, with a descendent Rolf - Chance Rolfson - as primary protagonist and archaeology of Ardneh's remnants being the setting . . . Fascinating premise, well though not always perfectly executed. It is actually a shame in some ways that this book was explicitly not part of the license for the Goodman Games "DCC Empire of the East," but I can see why . . .

[C. J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and engaging read, Ardneh's Sword bridges the gap between two epic series: The Empire of the East, and The Book of Swords, both of which are required reading for Sci-Fi/Fantasy enthusiasts. The book brings us the story of Chance Rolfson, descendent of one of the protoganists of the original "Empire" series, on a quest to find the mysterious object which provides the book's title. In order to reach his goal, Chance will have to deal with a fearsome demon and it's human allies, conflicts and doubts among his friends and allies, and a mysterious djinn with it's own agenda.

Although enjoyable, it is a secondary work, and I would recommend that readers start with the main books in the two series and then move on to this one. That said, fans of Saberhagen should find plenty to enjoy, both in the chance to revisit a familiar world, and to discover something new.

[Brentin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The final book of Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East / Books of Swords serves as a sort of epilogue to the former/prequel to the latter (although you should read this book last, as there are some references to the Books of Swords that wouldn't make sense otherwise). Chance Rolfson, descendant of Rolf, the plucky hero from the Empire series, is accompanying a scholar on a mission to find something called Ardneh's Workshop, said to contain a legendary treasure known as Ardneh's Sword. About 1,000 years have passed since the end of the Empire books, and Ardneh is already enshrined in "scripture", which may have clues that the scholar Jervase hopes will help him find the Workshop. Chance is sent by his parents (members of the royal family) as he is considered to be too full of daydreams and needs some "real world" experience.

The book is a disorganized mess, with long stretches of very little happening, archetype characters who you never really care about, lackluster villains that don't add much to the story, and a head-scratching ending.

I was torn between giving this book two or three stars. If I could have given two and a half I would. This should have been a novella, maybe something that went in to the compilation "Armory of Swords" series or something. The story could be told in about half the number of pages. The only reason anyone should read this book is to "complete" the Empire/Swords series. It's sad, really, that Saberhagen's final published work should end on such a dull note.

SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

"But who made the gods?" Draffut asks in the third Book of Swords. We find out here. "Ardneh's Sword" is a suit that, once put on, transforms the wearer into a god, such as the Greek pantheon we see at the beginning of the Swords series. There's a few dozen suits, and nearly every NPC at the end of the book becomes one.
Draffut briefly appears. He does his cool thing, scaring baddies and beating up demons, but also doesn't add much to the storyline except to have a Draffut cameo.
We meet the Servants of Ardneh, who presumably later go on to form the White Temple from the Swords books.
We also sort of meet Benambra here, who plays a key role in the Second Book of Swords, and is considered the founder of the Blue Temple. Other than a wink and a nod to this, and the greed that characterizes the Blue Temple (One wonders how someone so preoccupied with gold ever became a Servant of Ardneh). His fate at the end of the book is ambiguous, so we never quite learn how he becomes immortal.

Random Thoughts
* Chance, like Rolf and Mark, seems to suddenly be in love with the one female his age he spends more than a few minutes with. At least in this case they knew each other in childhood (although there's some disagreement that occurred between them back then that we never learn the nature of).
* We don't learn anything more about the Emperor.
* There is a djinn, who played a small role during the second Empire of the East book but was never named. He was swallowed by Zapranoth, was presumed dead, but apparently killing a demon brings the people he eats back to life? This seems to be what happened. Anyway, he plays a sort of archetypical "not quite human but wishes he was". At the end he splits into two redheaded kids, based on two real redheaded kids that our heroes rescue. So at the end there are two sets of twins. It's a mess. Also, I wonder if that has anything to do with the Ariane, or if she just happened to have red hair??

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Saberhagen's The Broken Lands on a whim, and I'm very glad I did. It was a fast and punchy swords & sorcery story with a dash of Dying Earth. I tore through the next two books of the trilogy and it now sits as one of my favorites.

I knew that Ardneh's Sword was not quite a continuation of the series, but rather a bridge of sorts between his first trilogy and the Book of Swords. I seemed like the perfect audience for such a story.

What I didn't expect was it to be so bad.

It's been 1,000 years since the events of Ardneh's World, and as often happens myth and reality of the past have become blurred. Chance Rolfson is a direct descendant of Rolf, and he's on an expedition to find artifacts and knowledge from Ardneh's time. During his travels he becomes aware of another, bigger legend: the hidden Ardneh's Sword, some sort of weapon, or device, or *thing*, that many rival forces covet.

The premise is a good one. Although "fact has faded into legend" is hardly unique, it works very well in this setting with its many layers of history all stacked on top of each other haphazardly. In the real world this book was written nearly 40 years after the last, so it makes sense for things to be different in a fuzzy sort of way.

So what's the problem? Well, there's no easy way to say this, but... nothing happens in this book. I don't mean there's a lack of action - though that's a problem too too - but I mean it in almost a literal sense.

Characters faff about in the vague direction of their goals, sometimes stumbling into the plot but mostly not. Plot threads are spun up every so often, but they advance only in fits and starts, and most peter out or are forgotten. Very few setups are paid off, and on the flip side many other plot beats come out of nowhere. The overall impression I had was of a book that was heavily edited or hastily written.

Toward the end of the book Ardneh's Sword itself is revealed with zero fanfare. What the artifact does - and how - is absolutely outrageous, but none of it is explained or setup. Like everything else in the book it just sorts of happens, and we have to deal with it. The protagonist and his love interest shrug, walk away into the sunset, and then it ends.

It's as if Saberhagen forgot how to write. Chapters end abruptly and arbitrarily, and they're absolutely full of sub-chapters which feels clunky and unnecessary. Dialogue is an odd mix of transcription and summary, which makes conversations hard to follow.

Most tragic of all, all the really cool and unique bits of The Broken Lands are missing. Gone are the bizarre and genuinely spooky descriptions of demons, old tech being used in novel ways, truly magical magic and fantastical creatures. The Lord Draffut makes a brief appearance, and he's wonderful, but as my grandfather so frequently told me: a giant dog-bear druid does not a good book make.

I landed on two stars instead of one mostly because it wasn't completely trash, and the ending - though abrupt and hamfisted - intrigued me enough to wonder what on earth goes on in the Book of Swords books. I don't recommend this book to anyone.

[James Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a late addition to the Ardneh Cycle of stories, existing as a bridge between Empire of the East and the The Complete Book of Swords. As such, it serves admirably.

I'm sure Saberhagen was asked over and over and over again, how did the gods come back or arrive or...?

The EotE takes place ___ years after mankind has devastated the Earth and magic has returned, along with monsters and etc.. This book take place 1000 years after that. And I think the Swords Trilogy (and the rest) take place maybe 10,000 (?) years after that.

This book tells you how the gods returned. Kind of. With a hand-waive, mostly. That still leaves the how and the "huh, what?" But it's not a complete mystery, now.

And Draffut makes an appearance, of course. As well as a demon who may be... I'm not sure... maybe Wood, from the original trilogy?

Yeah, definitely NOT the place to start reading Saberhagen, or this series.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it's fine. I couldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't already bonkers for Empire of the East & the Books of Swords. It is a link between the two, but not one that really adds anything to the story (or raises more questions than it addresses) and really doesn't add new characters with any depth to them. I'd rather read about Rolf himself than his rich, spoiled great^40-grandson who has no real feelings or ambition beyond not wanting anyone to punch him in the face. But eh, it's a quick read.

[Justin Alferman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had me on edge for the majority of the novel. Then it just abruptly ends, wrapping up so quickly, without the battle that was somewhat promised. I understand that it sets up the Book of Swords very well, but I expected more. It was just.....fine.

[Jason Thorns · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this to get better but it really didn’t. Just a bridge novel between two of the authors series…and you could tell…

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel to the trilogy Empire of the East tells the story of civilization 100's of years after Ardneh's World.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me almost 3 years to read this book because it was so bad. I had fallen out of regular reading due to work but came back to it and was excited for this, as I had read all the Swords books as well as Empire of the East.

This book is terrible. It is slow, meandering, and doesn't serve any purpose. Nothing happens for a vast majority, and the characters are all so lacking in humanity as to make them hard to remember between sittings because they seem just that unimportant.

I honestly felt like this thing had me gaslighted into believing I'd lost my passion for reading. Luckily the dozens of books I read during my slog through this one proved that wrong, but I only finished this out of a feeling of wanting to triumph over something that seemed to try so hard to hold me back from doing so.

The rest of the books in this world are fantastic, and this one is just not.

[Anastasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed by this book. You're just dumped into the middle of the story - not something I tend to enjoy - although by the end the backstory has been mostly filled-in. The setting is a bit pseudo-medieval/post-apocalyptic, and revolves around lost technology (which is kind of like a form of magic, as the characters think).

It wasn't a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but I felt like it had the potential to be so much more. The writing was quite succinct - each section of the chapters was extremely short. It isn't unusual to have three sections in 2 pages! While a concise style is sometimes great, in this case it just felt too simple, or unfinished.

By the end, I had a very strong desire to go play Fallout 2.

[Vanessa-Lynn Wilkens · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well...that was a difficult book to get through. I ended up reading most of it in a four hour period just to pass the time. Nothing really happened in the book. At no point did I feel like I was looking forward to finding out what would happened in the next chapter. I didn't particularly care for any characters either; however, if I had to chose someone, it would be Zalmoxis (the djinn) because of their ''sassy-ness''. The vocabulary used was fantastic, but looking past that, the book really had nothing to offer. Very disappointing book compared to how enjoyable the first three books of Empire of the East were.

(And don't even get me started on how absolutely lame the ending was)

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this most recent entry in Saberhagen's Empire/Swords universe. "Because Saberhagen" is my usual excuse for auto-5-starring all of his related works, but this particular entry sort of fell flat (for me) right at the end. The ideas and concepts proffered were smart and intriguing, but certain sections of dialog felt incredibly ham-fisted, ostensibly forcing a connection between the two series. It is this readers opinion that this could have been accomplished in a much more subtle fashion.

Still, though. I enjoyed it.

[Joel Flank · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was a fun return by Saberhagen as a sequel to the Empire of the East series, and also a prequel to the Swords series, and it forms a good logical bridge story between the two, linking them more explicitly than they had been before, it suffers from a protaganist who is simply too passive. Too much of the story focused on Chance Rolfson internally agonizing about what he should do about the situation unfolding around him in his quest to find lost antiquities from the Old World, while other forces try to push him into being their pawn.

[Bill Cernansky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel was a big letdown compared to the book it follows, Empire of the East. In every way, it feels inferior. The writing isn't as sharp, the story is needlessly extended (an extra 50 pages at least), and the story is just plain weak in comparison. Although the ending was very interesting and certainly built for a future in this storyline, it's probable that the entire thing could have been written much more effectively as a novella. I suppose hardcore Saberhagen enthusiasts will want to read it, but others might not want to bother.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a cheesy short-story-that-became-a-novel follow-up to the fantastic Empire of the East trilogy. A potato chip of a book that, if you made your way through the original three books, is worth reading just to finish out the story. But it's kind of dumb and has a very disappointing "deus ex machina" ending (quite literally).

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you have any fond memories of Empire of the East then don't read this.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as enjoyable as Empire of the East. I can't quite put my finger on what the issue was, but I didn't connect with any of the characters, and overall the whole thing felt like a rushed effort to connect Empire with the books of the swords.