The First Book of Swords
The gods decide to
devise a Game of great fun: their colleague Vulcan forges 12 magic
Swords, each with a different power, and scatters them across the world. Play begins in grand and gloriously violent fashion as Swords are
gathered and used to control chance, enhance fortune, and change
destiny. The holder of a Sword wields power undreamed... power to change the world and the holder.
To add to the enjoyment, foolish
mortals are invited to join, risking their puny lives. Demons and
elementals need no invitation. But something had gone wrong in the
forging, and the Game...
Fred Saberhagen
Fred Thomas Saberhagen (1930–2007) was a Chicago-born American science fiction and fantasy fiction author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction stories.
He also wrote a series of vampire novels in which the vampires (including the famous Dracula) are the protagonists, and 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.
Books of Swords
Books of Swords consists of three primary books, and includes three additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Main series Ardneh sequence
