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Lost Swords #1
Woundhealer's Story
Prince Mark of Tasavalta embarks on a perilous journey to find the Sword Woundhealer to cure his son of a terminal disease...but an evil wizard has other plans.
281 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1986
41 people are currently reading
1335 people want to read
About the author
Fred Saberhagen
335 books494 followersFred 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
November 3, 2010
I have just finished this, the first book in what was, or is, a trilogy. Unlike most trilogies however, I have no need to immediately track down book two in this series, it could very well stand alone.
It was a decent, quick read, there was a 'mystery' element that I was able to 'solve' before it was revealed to the audience, however, just barely did I meet the reveal, which means that the writer hid his cards well, because I am usually able to sniff these things out quicker than other people.
The characters were cool, I felt that they came off kind of like caricatures, however, after just looking up the meaning of that word 'caricature' it is not quite appropriate, let me instead say that the characters seemed to only be chalk outlines of a human being, it would be as if, one were only given their personality test results. I never felt that I or the author for that matter cared much for any of the characters in particular. Now it was alluded by some of the history of the land that perhaps this book came out of a world that was already developed and so perhaps the emotional attachment to the characters had happened in a previous book, so I will not be so harsh.
The backdrop and setting were interesting enough, but it was thee plot, the story that really kept this book's pages flowing like water through my hands, or kept me reading it quickly. I recently finished Dracula and I fought for each of those pages that I read, this was much smoother and easier than I anticipated.
It was a good, for a fantasy book, they are my guilty pleasures, and so I am harsh with them in the afterglow, as if I can make up for the evident flaws in my personality by speaking disdainfully of this genre. So it was a good read, for sure, had intriguing characteristics and if time ever presents itself I would not be adverse to reading more fo this particular series. So the three stars are really from self loathing, if I were more honest it would be somewhere above three but below four, it was good, just not epic.
It was a decent, quick read, there was a 'mystery' element that I was able to 'solve' before it was revealed to the audience, however, just barely did I meet the reveal, which means that the writer hid his cards well, because I am usually able to sniff these things out quicker than other people.
The characters were cool, I felt that they came off kind of like caricatures, however, after just looking up the meaning of that word 'caricature' it is not quite appropriate, let me instead say that the characters seemed to only be chalk outlines of a human being, it would be as if, one were only given their personality test results. I never felt that I or the author for that matter cared much for any of the characters in particular. Now it was alluded by some of the history of the land that perhaps this book came out of a world that was already developed and so perhaps the emotional attachment to the characters had happened in a previous book, so I will not be so harsh.
The backdrop and setting were interesting enough, but it was thee plot, the story that really kept this book's pages flowing like water through my hands, or kept me reading it quickly. I recently finished Dracula and I fought for each of those pages that I read, this was much smoother and easier than I anticipated.
It was a good, for a fantasy book, they are my guilty pleasures, and so I am harsh with them in the afterglow, as if I can make up for the evident flaws in my personality by speaking disdainfully of this genre. So it was a good read, for sure, had intriguing characteristics and if time ever presents itself I would not be adverse to reading more fo this particular series. So the three stars are really from self loathing, if I were more honest it would be somewhere above three but below four, it was good, just not epic.
November 12, 2025
This was a middling story with decent writing. This mostly felt like an unfocused afterword/prologue to the previous series and introduction to the new one.
November 17, 2012
The First Book of Lost Swords picks up several years after the Third Book of Swords leaves off.
Mark, Ben and Barbara are still featured but tend to play a secondary role to Mark's nephew, Zoltan, and a mysterious old wizard who pops up in the strangest places to aid Zoltan in his travels. A new nemesis, The Master, is introduced and old enemies are reinvented. The storyline, as the title infers, revolves around Woundhealer, a sword with the power to heal and to transform a person's heart, but Shieldbreaker, Dragonslicer and Farslayer also play an important role.
Mark and Kristin's son, Adrian, suffers from blindness and seizures so Mark takes him. Ben, and a small escort of soldiers to a Temple rumored to possess Woundhealer (The Sword of Love) only to find it has been stolen only a short time before they arrive. Meanwhile, Zoltan is lured away from his home by a mysterious girl and captured by an old enemy. Through the aid of an odd wizard, Zoltan finds himself propelled into a quest to aid his Uncle Mark and Cousin Adrian and eventually finds himself in posession of another of the lost swords, Dragonslicer (the Sword of Heroes).
Some of the things I like most about this story are the interesting and magical characters, the quirky godforged swords, and of course the unexpected plot twists which I have left out of this review. However, I recommend reading the three Book of Swords volumes first. This story doesn't go much into the history of the featured characters or the swords and will be much more enjoyable if you go into it with a basic understanding of both.
Mark, Ben and Barbara are still featured but tend to play a secondary role to Mark's nephew, Zoltan, and a mysterious old wizard who pops up in the strangest places to aid Zoltan in his travels. A new nemesis, The Master, is introduced and old enemies are reinvented. The storyline, as the title infers, revolves around Woundhealer, a sword with the power to heal and to transform a person's heart, but Shieldbreaker, Dragonslicer and Farslayer also play an important role.
Mark and Kristin's son, Adrian, suffers from blindness and seizures so Mark takes him. Ben, and a small escort of soldiers to a Temple rumored to possess Woundhealer (The Sword of Love) only to find it has been stolen only a short time before they arrive. Meanwhile, Zoltan is lured away from his home by a mysterious girl and captured by an old enemy. Through the aid of an odd wizard, Zoltan finds himself propelled into a quest to aid his Uncle Mark and Cousin Adrian and eventually finds himself in posession of another of the lost swords, Dragonslicer (the Sword of Heroes).
Some of the things I like most about this story are the interesting and magical characters, the quirky godforged swords, and of course the unexpected plot twists which I have left out of this review. However, I recommend reading the three Book of Swords volumes first. This story doesn't go much into the history of the featured characters or the swords and will be much more enjoyable if you go into it with a basic understanding of both.
November 22, 2013
This is one of the classics of fantasy It's the story of twelve magical swords. In a world of magic, of gods and demons, Vulcan, smith of the gods creates twelve swords of unimaginable power. Power so great that they overcame the gods themselves. Now nations and would be kings fight over control of the swords, and powers and age-old demons vie for control of the world.
This story if from what I would like to call the Golden Age of Fantasy. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. There are one or two lovable rogues to round out the cast. It has little in common with the oversexed, conflicted, morally ambiguous adventures of today's fantasy works. Those can be fun and enjoyable, but this novel is a much more uncomplicated but no less suspenseful book
May 23, 2025
Attempted to re-read the entire series via audiobook. They switched performers between the original trilogy and the Lost Swords series, and I just could not stand the new performer. Unfortunate. Looks like I'll have to re-live my childhood the old-fashioned way.
December 18, 2021
The ideas within the story are very interesting and I liked the multiple story lines. The trouble is that you do not get good closure with some of the pieces. Like coming almost to the end and then jumping to another piece. The book just left me wanting more, not in the sense that I want to read the series though. More along the lines that there should be more in the one book before I would even consider another book.
April 10, 2023
Great story for 200 pages. I love the deeper dive into the magical swords in this series.
August 29, 2023
Old school fantasy can be hit or miss, but this really hit. Classic sword and sorcery without the need for modern complications or grittiness. Just 'here's the world, here's what's happening, good luck.' And I loved it.
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May 8, 2015There are twelve swords that were forged by the gods. They are swords of both made for the annihilation of your enemy and the healing of your allies. This is the story of the sword Woundhealer. even though it is not a sword that can be used offensively it is still sought after by many. The book begins by telling us about the son of prince mark that has an illness mental illness that makes him have a variety of different problems; such as blindness, the inability to move on his own, and has a sickness that is almost like autism. Prince Mark sets out on a quest to get the woundhealer and cure his son adrian of all the problems that he has. when he gets to where the sword had been hidden he finds out that it has been taken by one of his old enemies, the baron amitor who still has comand over his reptilian army. The prince's nephew Zoltan goes missing along the way and find himself far from his home in tasavalta. After a series of events he is given the sword Dragonslicer and tries to get back with the main group of soldiers and his uncle prince mark.
This is a great book by Fred Saberhagen. It is full of action and suspense. I just started the series and this book made me want to read the rest of the books in the series, and the series before the lost swords. The theme of the book is that even though it will be harder to do the right thing than to do nothing at all it will pay of in the end. It also has the theme that the good will prevail over the bad. i would recommend these books to people that like science fiction. I would how ever not recommend it for people that don’t read science fiction. It would seem to far out there for those people.
November 19, 2012
You know, I don’t think I ever actually read this book before. I think my childish young self must have assumed that a story about a sword that heals couldn’t be that interesting. At least that’s the only reason I can think of for skipping the first book in a series. Hmm, no wait, as I recall now our local library was only spotty in what it had, so I just read what I could get. That’s probably a better answer.
I love that this book was so fast moving. Written in 1986 at a whopping 278 pages it’s a cool breeze compared to modern sci-fi/fantasy epics. Again, I enjoy these hulking behemoths, but sometimes a speedy wyvern is nice.
It’s a simple enough plot – King’s son is some kind of invalid, so King goes out hunting for the one possibly available method of healing him – chaos & intrigue ensues! We also get the beginning of what will eventually be an 8 book (bite-sized book!) epic in the way of the behind the scenes manipulations of the “Ancient One”. Side note: I forget how the main villain got from where he was in the earlier books (The Empire of the East trilogy) to here. Hopefully that will be mentioned in one of these books – maybe another one I couldn’t find at my childhood library!
Simple plot aside, great fun, easy to read & keeps you going – but nothing spectacular to move you or make you say “awesome” out loud.
THREE AND A HALF STARS
I love that this book was so fast moving. Written in 1986 at a whopping 278 pages it’s a cool breeze compared to modern sci-fi/fantasy epics. Again, I enjoy these hulking behemoths, but sometimes a speedy wyvern is nice.
It’s a simple enough plot – King’s son is some kind of invalid, so King goes out hunting for the one possibly available method of healing him – chaos & intrigue ensues! We also get the beginning of what will eventually be an 8 book (bite-sized book!) epic in the way of the behind the scenes manipulations of the “Ancient One”. Side note: I forget how the main villain got from where he was in the earlier books (The Empire of the East trilogy) to here. Hopefully that will be mentioned in one of these books – maybe another one I couldn’t find at my childhood library!
Simple plot aside, great fun, easy to read & keeps you going – but nothing spectacular to move you or make you say “awesome” out loud.
THREE AND A HALF STARS
September 10, 2017
I'm going to come right out and say that I did not finish it.
First of all, while this is the first book in a series, there is a previous series that is 100% necessary to understand the world of this series. The author makes no attempt to explain anything to those, like me, who picked books up on a whim. There was clearly some manner of war that you get in snapshots, but nothing concrete to fill in what you missed in the previous trilogy. The book also doesn't mention anywhere that there is a previous series.
Secondly, I can't actually get into the series because the characters have names that are all over the place. Every time I read a name that is just so foreign in comparison to the other names, it breaks me out of the story and I simply can't enjoy it. I would understand if these characters were from different regions, but there's a kid named Zoltan surrounded by people named Elinor and Mark and Ben and Adrian and Kristin. It makes no sense.
Definitely do not read this unless you have read all the necessary prerequisites. Otherwise, you will get about as far as I did - about 90 pages in.
First of all, while this is the first book in a series, there is a previous series that is 100% necessary to understand the world of this series. The author makes no attempt to explain anything to those, like me, who picked books up on a whim. There was clearly some manner of war that you get in snapshots, but nothing concrete to fill in what you missed in the previous trilogy. The book also doesn't mention anywhere that there is a previous series.
Secondly, I can't actually get into the series because the characters have names that are all over the place. Every time I read a name that is just so foreign in comparison to the other names, it breaks me out of the story and I simply can't enjoy it. I would understand if these characters were from different regions, but there's a kid named Zoltan surrounded by people named Elinor and Mark and Ben and Adrian and Kristin. It makes no sense.
Definitely do not read this unless you have read all the necessary prerequisites. Otherwise, you will get about as far as I did - about 90 pages in.
October 27, 2015
Was a big Sabrehagen fan in high school and then he kind of faded away and doesn't get mentioned much anymore.
Shame, as he is a solid writer.
Found this at a library sale and wasn't until I started reading that I realized this is the first book of his second Swords trilogy.
Surprisingly, it's a good read and stands on it's own.
When he references the other books, he gives you enough info so you never feel lost.
Some bits of info he dropped got me interested in tracking down the other Swords books.
This book is split between two stories: One the Prince of the land on a quest to find the magic sword that will cure his ailing son and the other involves a younger member of the royal family getting swept up by magical forces and being nudged along, as he tries to just get home.
Both are interesting and obviously connect by the end of the book, but I liked the younger princes story more, as it featured a lot of wizards and magical creatures.
Fun, old school fantasy.
Shame, as he is a solid writer.
Found this at a library sale and wasn't until I started reading that I realized this is the first book of his second Swords trilogy.
Surprisingly, it's a good read and stands on it's own.
When he references the other books, he gives you enough info so you never feel lost.
Some bits of info he dropped got me interested in tracking down the other Swords books.
This book is split between two stories: One the Prince of the land on a quest to find the magic sword that will cure his ailing son and the other involves a younger member of the royal family getting swept up by magical forces and being nudged along, as he tries to just get home.
Both are interesting and obviously connect by the end of the book, but I liked the younger princes story more, as it featured a lot of wizards and magical creatures.
Fun, old school fantasy.
June 17, 2008
I read this book after a good 12-15 year break from reading the original Book of Swords series. I honestly don't recall a whole lot about that series other than I seemed to like it. It was quirky in its plot, but wide in scope, and the idea behind all these unique magic swords kept me engaged.
Since this is the first book in a new series, and it's well written, there's not a whole lot you need to know about the original series and aren't missing a whole lot if you haven't read any of those books.
Well plotted, decently well written, and with characters that you know you're going to see more of later, it's a fun romp in a unique fantasy world but is lacking in those qualities that would catapult it to a 'favorites' or a four star rating.
Worth your time to read, even if you aren't going to be amazed by it.
Since this is the first book in a new series, and it's well written, there's not a whole lot you need to know about the original series and aren't missing a whole lot if you haven't read any of those books.
Well plotted, decently well written, and with characters that you know you're going to see more of later, it's a fun romp in a unique fantasy world but is lacking in those qualities that would catapult it to a 'favorites' or a four star rating.
Worth your time to read, even if you aren't going to be amazed by it.
October 2, 2013
I wish I'd reread the earlier books before I got into this. Saberhagen isn't kind to new and returning readers in this series and I had some Wikipedia sessions trying to remember what I was missing. That said, this is a short, sweet continuation of an interesting, if somewhat puzzling, series. It's definitely more in the Glen Cook camp of fantasy than the Tolkien. In particular, there's a kind stylistic similarity to the Instrumentalities of Night series. Not really a lot of meat on this one, so we'll see what the further books hold.
February 1, 2016
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.
December 1, 2010
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.
June 24, 2013
A nice return to the world, with new villains, new adventures, and lots of swords. Feels like a very direct continuation. On the downside, the "zoltar" sections are slow and the ending is all kinds of deus ex machina (or Mary Sue or something).
November 3, 2015
Don't you just love it when a writer packs so much shit on a character's head that you are convinced you will witness a masterful denouement; then you just get hit with a Deux Ex Machina!
Please, no, no, no! Refrain, I beg thee!
Please, no, no, no! Refrain, I beg thee!
April 10, 2008
Very interesting, kind of dark.
Wish I read more of the series.
Wish I read more of the series.
March 14, 2010
It's a solid continuation of the series. I have a feeling that this book is mostly set up for the rest of the Lost Sword series which is about seven books long.
July 7, 2010
It was good but not very engaging. I may pick up the rest of the series when I have nothing much else to read.
June 18, 2014
This is a rather odd fantasy setting, but I really enjoy these books.
August 4, 2011
Liked this a lot. Especially like the tie-in of different mythologies.
December 12, 2011
This is an interesting series about swords that are magical. This book raised interesting questions about whether one can heal someone with a developmental disability.
August 11, 2012
Pretty solid story taking the "magic swords" concept and making it actually interesting. The style is old and pulp-inspired, however, so it may be a long time before I read any more from this series.
September 9, 2013
Love books by Fred Saberhagen
November 22, 2013
Pretty standard and a fairly predictable ending, but OK still. They better go pick up Farslayer, which I'm sure they didn't, though...
April 16, 2014
This is the 1st I've read of any of Saberhagens' series and I very much enjoyed it. I like the fact that they can be read stand-alone, but I did just start the 2nd book in this group today.
September 30, 2015
Well done first book to the second series. Good read for all ages. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
September 3, 2014
The story in this book isn't very well thought out or very interesting, but the idea of the swords is pretty cool.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews