The Book of Swords Series is a series of science fiction fantasy novels by American Fred Saberhagen, published from 1983 to 1995. The story revolves around the Twelve Swords of Power, which were forged by the gods and given to humanity, and how various characters acquire and use them. The series spans several decades and features dozens of characters.

Works

The Book of Swords

  1. The First Book of Swords (1983)
  2. The Second Book of Swords (1983)
  3. The Third Book of Swords (1984)<br>Omnibus: The Complete Book of Swords (1985)

Books of Lost Swords

  1. Woundhealer's Story (1986)
  2. Sightblinder's Story (1987)
  3. Stonecutter's Story (1988)<br>Omnibus: The Lost Swords: The First Triad (1988)
  4. Farslayer's Story (1989)
  5. Coinspinner's Story (1989)
  6. Mindsword's Story (1990)<br>Omnibus: The Lost Swords: The Second Triad (1990)
  7. Wayfinder's Story (1992)
  8. Shieldbreaker's Story (1994)<br>Omnibus: The Lost Swords: Endgame (1994)

Short stories

  1. An Armory of Swords (1995), an anthology of eight stories in the Swords universe by eight authors, including "Blind Man's Blade" by Saberhagen.

The Book of Swords series is also linked to the Empire of the East series, which is set in the same universe and presents the backstory to the series. The first three works in the Empire of the East series predate the Book of Swords series (The Broken Lands (1968), The Black Mountains (1971), and Changeling Earth (1973), also titled Ardneh's World), with the fourth Empire of the East book, Ardneh's Sword (2006), returning to the universe long after the Book of Swords series was complete.

Composition

Saberhagen wrote the first books in the series in the 1980s with the intention of developing them into a video game. Although some preliminary code and art was developed, the project was deemed technologically infeasible.

Premise

The Book of Swords series blends science fiction and fantasy, combining fantastical settings with logic-puzzle plots based on science fiction. An intelligent supercomputer, ARDNEH (which was formerly part of an American nuclear response system), initiated a physical change to the structure of the world. Unintentionally combined with a similar system on the other side of the world, this change negated the effects of atomic weaponry and most other forms of high technology, and introduced side effects, such as the creation of magic, gods, and demons. ARDNEH then continued to stabilize and sustain humanity through the ensuing Dark Ages. ARDNEH was destroyed millennia before the events of the series, as chronicled in Saberhagen's Empire of the East series. By the time the events recorded in The Books of the Swords occur, ARDNEH has passed into legend, worshiped as a benevolent god.

The gods of the Swords universe are based on various deities, most from the Greco-Roman and Hindu pantheons. They are elements of human hope and imagination that were made real approximately one thousand years after the destruction of ARDNEH, when a group of humans donned Mark VII suits created by ARDNEH and a djinn as a possible defense against demons.

In a retrospective of Saberhagen's works, Joan Spicci Saberhagen says the series "proved very popular among readers".

Novelist Dan Wells credits Saberhagen with inspiring his own writing and praises the series' combination of the "stunning imagination" of fantasy with the "logical" plotting of science fiction. Despite noting that the worldbuilding is sometimes underdeveloped, Wells praises the series' "addictive brilliance" in building and then resolving the swords as interlocking "logistical puzzle[s]".

</references>

  • Official site
  • Bibliography on SciFan