Facebook Twitter Pinterest
  • RRP: £8.99
  • You Save: £0.41 (5%)
FREE Delivery in the UK on orders with at least £10 of books.
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Quantity:1
The Broken Sword (Fantasy... has been added to your Basket
+ £2.80 UK delivery
Used: Good | Details
Sold by World of Books Ltd
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Expedited shipping available on this book. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

The Broken Sword (Fantasy Masterworks 32) Paperback – 3 Apr 2008

by
Poul Anderson (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Poul Anderson Page
search results for this author
Poul Anderson (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 27 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
New from Used from
Kindle Edition
"Please retry"
£4.49
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
— £1.59
Paperback
"Please retry"
£8.58
£3.13 £2.12
Audio CD, Audiobook
"Please retry"
£25.46
£22.65 £16.95
Want it delivered to France - Mainland by Monday, 11 Apr.? Order within 13 hrs 42 mins and choose Priority Delivery at checkout. Details
Note: This item is eligible for click and collect. Details
Pick up your parcel at a time and place that suits you.
  • Choose from over 13,000 locations across the UK
  • Prime members get unlimited deliveries at no additional cost
How to order to an Amazon Pickup Location?
  1. Find your preferred location and add it to your address book
  2. Dispatch to this address when you check out
Learn more
£8.58 FREE Delivery in the UK on orders with at least £10 of books. Only 3 left in stock (more on the way). Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Earn a £20 digital Amazon.co.uk Gift Card when you get the aqua Classic card. Get an initial credit line of £250-£1,200 and build your credit rating. Representative 32.9% APR (variable). 18+, subject to status, terms and conditions. Issued by NewDay Ltd. Learn more.

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)

Frequently Bought Together

  • The Broken Sword (Fantasy Masterworks 32)
  • +
  • The First Book of Lankhmar (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
  • +
  • Tales Of The Dying Earth (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
Total price: £32.56
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. The First Book of Lankhmar (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
    Fritz Leiber
    3.8 out of 5 stars 13
    Paperback
    £12.99 Amazon Prime
  2. Three Hearts & Three Lions (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
    Poul Anderson
    4.3 out of 5 stars 18
    Paperback
  3. Tales Of The Dying Earth (FANTASY MASTERWORKS)
    Jack Vance
    4.2 out of 5 stars 32
    Paperback
    £10.99 Amazon Prime
  4. Elric: The Fortress of the Pearl (Moorcocks Multiverse)
    Michael Moorcock
    3.4 out of 5 stars 5
    Paperback
    £7.99 Amazon Prime
  5. The Eye Of The World: Book 1 of the Wheel of Time
    Robert Jordan
    4.2 out of 5 stars 393
    Paperback
    £6.99 Amazon Prime
  6. Shadow and Claw: The First Half of the Book of the New Sun
    Gene Wolfe
    4.7 out of 5 stars 42
    Paperback
    £12.71 Amazon Prime
Next

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone

To get the free app, enter your e-mail address or mobile phone number.

Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (3 April 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0575082720
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575082724
  • Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 1.6 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 138,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)

Product Description

Book Description

'The first great modern American fantasy' Baird Searles

About the Author

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was born in Pennsylvania of Scandinavian stock. He started publishing science fiction in 1947 and became one the great figures in the genre, serving as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America, winning many Hugo and Nebula awards, and also winning the Gandalf (Grand Master) Award.

Inside This Book

(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
There was a man called Orm the Strong, a son of Ketil Asmundsson who was a great landsman in the north of Jutland. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
5 star
19
4 star
4
3 star
3
2 star
0
1 star
1
See all 27 customer reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsfounding father
By Mr. A. I. Harrison on 27 Feb. 2009
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I have to admit that though I have read more fantasy novels than can possibly be good for a grown man, this was my first read of this classic written at the same time of LOTR's.

It has made me re-evaluate some of my beliefs such as GRR Martin, Erikson and a few others invented the 'darker' and gorier branch of fantasy! They didn't Anderson did.

Having now read it I see why so many authors credit Anderson as an inspiration to them. Back in the 1950's this book must both have been groundbreaking and quite shocking. If Tolkien is the Beatles then Anderson is the Rolling Stones! more raw, edgy and dangerous but perhaps not as widely celebrated.

Anyway the book! First off it is relatively short (275 pages) and yet soo much is crammed in. Anderson tells you the story as though he is an ancient nordic story teller with his audience sat round the fire with a horn of meade. True saga style. The quicker the reader grasps this the better as there will be no riding behind the eyes of the heroes or pages of motives and feelings. In fact you could even argue there are no heroes just competeing factions.

Anderson sets the action in our world as man and the 'White Christ' is starting to sweep the land of faerie from the world. Despite this the war which makes for the bulk of the story is between the Trolls and the Elves. Into this war is dragged a human hero who must contend with the meddling of the God's, the fate weaving of the norn's, frost giants, falling in love and discovering who he is and where he came from!

Anderson manages to weave together actual history, faerie legend, nordic culture, the Gods and a sweeping story of envy, lust, violence, vengeance and love and I repeat all in about 275 pages!
Given the historical importance and clear conduit to modern fantasy status as well as the fact it is a mini masterpiece it had to be a 5 star rating.
Comment 18 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsMost highly, highly recommended
By Lark TOP 1000 REVIEWER on 16 Mar. 2010
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I highly recommend all of Poul Anderson's books, especially Three Hearts & Three Lions (Fantasy Masterworks), this is the second of his books I've read and I'm currently reading Midsummer Tempest (Orbit Books) and I have Twilight World (science fiction) in my to be read pile. Anderson can not disappoint.

This book has especially strong character development, hero or villain you really do become engrossed by each and there is a very strong plot, the pace is excellent and the book never dips. As a tribute to norse and anglo-celtic mythology and storytelling its absolutely wonderful. I also think that Anderson is among a precious few who has been able to really convey the cruel and threatening nature of faerie beings such as elves and trolls or the existence of a faerie realm in tandem with our own.

The story is that of an epic, featuring both the faerie realm and human realm, it is in some ways a tragedy with the curse of a witch working itself out on the protagonists, it is also the tale of a changling and an epic struggle between elves and trolls with implications for the human realm. All the elements of very good fantasy are here, magic, heroes, villains, magical weapons, mythical beasts and creatures.Read more ›
Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent treatment of Norse and English myth
By A Customer on 13 Nov. 2001
Format: Paperback
If it wasn't for the fact that this book was published the same year as The Lord of the Rings, Anderson could be called one of the more succesful and original of myth-inspired fantasy authors in Tolkien's line. But though Anderson draws on some of the same sources, mainly Norse, Celtic, English and Scots mythology, he treats his subject matter quite diferrently from what Tolkien does. Anderson's England on the borderline between historical and mythological time is much more colourful, raw, unpolished, violent -- and more true to the tone and spirit of the Norse sagas, than Tolkien's more civil (and consciously Christian -- or at the very least profoundly moral) Middle-earth.
While many other authors in this line imports (more or less digested) elements of myths into their plot, Anderson seems to import his plot into the mythology. He uses the saga style very dextrously to present his complex and fascinating story of a human kidnapped by the elf-lord and his changeling replacement.
This book has many strong points to make it stand out: the very style-conscious and succesfully saga-terse language; its original depiction of the amoral elfs contrasted with heathen and Christian humans; its almost supernaturally powerful love story. But which are appreciated most will depend on the eye of the reader.
Comment 18 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsA Fantasy Masterwork worthy of the name
By S. Flaherty VINE VOICE on 18 Feb. 2003
Format: Paperback
And there haven't been too many of them recently, the standards been slipping. This one, as has been said by others, was written in 1954 and then revised in the 70s by Poul Anderson. I first picked up a (revised) copy around 10 years ago after I'd been looking for a copy, on and off, for around 10 years (and then just happened to see it in a second hand book shop - isn't that typical)
A word on the revision. This is the original and it's the first time I've read this version and, comparing it to the version I read 10 years ago, I have to say there's not too much difference. In the revision, Anderson changed one plot element (he has a witch calling up Odin instead of Satan) but otherwise left the plot intact, changing only the style to be less frantic. Whilst it's true that the original reads better, Anderson had the best of motives in the revision - he, like a lot of authors, was dissatisfied with his earlier work and admitted in the introduction that his current style (as of 1970) was more 'Three Hearts and Three Lions' (an excellent book by the same author, due for re-release in the Masterworks series and worth getting, I'd give it 4 stars.) The point I'm trying to make here is that the revision a) wasn't too bad or very extensive and b) was done for the best of reasons, because the author (wrongly) felt his early work was bad and could be improved - i.e. aesthethic reasons.
So it's an exaggeration to say that the revision 'ruined' the book, it didn't. I've only just read the original and whilst I can say it's better, there's not an enormous difference. A lot of people quote Moorcock here, who hated the revision - but I'm amazed he dares talk, considering the revision he did of 'Gloriana' for POLITICAL reasons.Read more ›
Comment 21 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsI loved the fact that I knew how it was going to end, but had to keep...

I've not read much fantasy - Tolkien mostly - unless you count Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or the Laxdæla saga, so I can't critique this book amongst its peers as a work of... Read more

Published 7 months ago by A. Nichol
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great story, marvelous plot, great story telling.

Published 11 months ago by Tony
3.0 out of 5 starsA classic, but really hasn't aged well. The ...

A classic, but really hasn't aged well.
The language, and story have dated badly over the last 50+ years. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Marshalsea
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A classic of the fantasy genre

Published 19 months ago by CH
5.0 out of 5 starsTop Notch!

The Broken Sword has the honour of being the first Poul Anderson book I have ever read and I am now thankful to the person who recommended it to me. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Markie
4.0 out of 5 starsElves and Trolls and Changelings, Oh My!

Poul Anderson's fantasy has the stark, fatalistic tone of Norse mythology. Its monsters are terrifying and seemingly undefeatable. Read more

Published on 31 Mar. 2014 by John M. Ford
5.0 out of 5 starsDark Age Fantasy

This is the original version of a story the author later re-wrote. Many including me think that this older version was better. Read more

Published on 8 Mar. 2014 by GwydionM
5.0 out of 5 starsOh those elfish, eldritch eyes

This, The Saga of Skafloc Elf's-Foster - a changeling - is absolutely captivating and well worth reading again. Read more

Published on 4 Mar. 2014 by Billy Tim Jones
4.0 out of 5 starsCLASSIC FANTASY

With many a 'quoth' and a 'thusly' Poul Anderson retells the pre-Christian stories of faerie in Europe. Read more

Published on 28 Dec. 2013 by Anna Stephens
4.0 out of 5 starsAnderson was first!

You can see where the ideas came from for later books of this genre.
Poul Andersons beautifully crafted tale was the first of them.

Published on 8 Nov. 2013 by gumdrop

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Look for similar items by category

Feedback