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Poul Anderson
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The Broken Sword Paperback – January 1, 2002

by Poul Anderson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,094 ratings
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Thor has broken the sword Tyrfing so that it cannot strike at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds together earth, heaven and hell. But now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves in their war against the trolls, and only Scafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade Bolverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Scafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling who has taken his place in the world of men.
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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Gollancz Paperbacks
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    5.08 x 0.91 x 7.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0575074256
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0575074255
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gollancz Paperbacks; New Ed edition (January 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0575074256
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0575074255
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 0.91 x 7.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,094 ratings

About the author

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Poul Anderson

Poul Anderson

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"Poul Anderson (1926-2001) grew up bilingual in a Danish American family. After discovering science fiction fandom and earning a physics degree at the University of Minnesota, he found writing science fiction more satisfactory. Admired for his ""hard"" science fiction, mysteries, historical novels, and ""fantasy with rivets,"" he also excelled in humor. He was the guest of honor at the 1959 World Science Fiction Convention and at many similar events, including the 1998 Contact Japan 3 and the 1999 Strannik Conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Besides winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, he has received the Gandalf, Seiun, and Strannik, or ""Wanderer,"" Awards. A founder of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, he became a Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

In 1952 he met Karen Kruse; they married in Berkeley, California, where their daughter, Astrid, was born, and they later lived in Orinda, California. Astrid and her husband, science fiction author Greg Bear, now live with their family outside Seattle."

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,094 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dianna
5.0 out of 5 stars A wordsmith for the ages
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2022
Verified Purchase
I loved, loved, loved this book!

Poal Anderson tops my list of most favorite authors. I greatly admire Ray Bradbury and Edgar Allen Poe simply because of their word crafting magic. I think Anderson tops them. (Tolkien could have taken a few hints from succinctly and breathlessly describing such mundane things as scenery instead of droning on and on. Of course Anderson was writing well after Tolkien broke the boundaries of suspension of disbelief about elves, trolls, and other fantastical beings.)

Anderson's background lends itself to the seamless weaving of Norse gods, myths, and folklore into this sad epic. I wish he had followed up with another book based on the adventures of the baby taken by Odin and the lives of some the other characters portrayed in The Broken Sword.

But his word craft in this epic. Read closely the words of the skalds. If you ever have been in archery, you know that arrows in flight "whisper" and "sigh". Anyone who's been in a deep canyon knows the feeling that the rocks seem to be about to " tumble down" on you. Read of the elves' sword dance to hear the actual sounds of swords meeting.

The book also engendered a lively discussion with my husband regarding chain mail. He's an old Ren faire veteran who worked in both sites of the California events in his wild and crazy younger years. Older and wiser, he still teaches sword fighting classes. (And has discovered he's not quite as limber and lithe as he once was.)

Yes, this a wonderful book well worth your read.
7 people found this helpful
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TowerKnight
4.0 out of 5 stars An underrated Fantasy Classic
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2019
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Back in 1954, Poul Anderson released his novel The Broken Sword. Not many have heard of it because a little book came out that year took all the spotlight… Some book called The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
And I admit, I didn’t know about The Broken Sword until a year ago. (Was slightly embarrassed, especially since I’d enjoyed a well-worn copy of the Poul Anderson short story collection The Armies of Elfland in my youth. And I’ve been aware of Anderson’s popular novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, of which I still need to read.) I found out about it after reading an excerpt of Richard K. Morgan’s novel The Steel Remains that included a quote from Sword:

‘I think you look on death as your friend,’ she murmured. ‘It is a strange friend for a young man to have.’ ‘The only faithful friend in all the world,’ he said bitterly. ‘Death is the only one sure to be at your side.’

I was immediately intrigued, and after reading the synopsis, reading the excerpt, I thought I’d have a go. Though before I go on, this book isn’t as kid friendly as LOTR. Sure LOTR isn’t “children’s literature”, but unlike that Hobbit tale, Sword takes a grittier tone.

That’s to be expected, especially since our protagonist’s father Orm the Strong (No relation to the character King Orm from Aquaman.) is a Viking: and savage he is, raiding the coasts and surrounding lands… Unknown to Orm, one family he decides to slay is the family of a witch. The witch escapes, and puts a curse on Orm that would take his firstborn son away from the world of men.

Before Orm’s child Skafloc is christened, he’s kidnapped by the Elf Earl Imric, and replaced with a troll made to look exactly like Skafloc. Thus, Imric raises the boy…And I won’t spoil the rest.

The characters are what truly makes this Fantasy standout, at least in 1954. The characters do good things, and yet at the same time they’re just as capable of bad deeds as well. The elves are just as bad as the trolls at times, and the trolls are just as heroic in certain scenes. Nowadays, you can find shelves of books with characters like this, but it’s nice to read a book before that was mainstream Fantasy. Best part about Anderson is that he didn’t try to emulate Tolkien’s opus—he did his own thing.

Looking at the setting, I have to say I’ve never seen anything like it. Being a story about Vikings, Elves and Trolls, one would assume the book would only be based on Norse myth and legend. He also included Celtic, Greek, Irish, and Asian myth just to name a few. I’ve read books where authors attempt to stuff everything from everywhere in a novel and seeing them fail miserably in making their tale into a coherent narrative. Anderson makes it work, and makes it look effortless. (I’ll be studying this book for years to come from a writer’s perspective.)

The plot fires off at a steady clip. It may be a sixty five year old book, it still had plenty of twists I didn’t see coming, except for a few scenes—and unfortunately the ending. The ending feels like one I’ve read far too many times in other books, and in particular the Epic Fantasy subgenre. Is it a horrible ending? Not really. Just a little bit anticlimactic.

Overall, I give the book 4 stars.

Anderson was a writer decades ahead of his time. The Broken Sword should appeal to fans of Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion novels, Viking sagas, and Lord of the Rings. (GoT fans as well, and fans of Dungeons & Dragon novels.)
40 people found this helpful
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Dr. Geek
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good - bridge between myth and fantasy
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2019
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After having finished Three Hearts & Three Lions by the same author, I had somewhat low expectations for this one.

I’ve been reading fantasy since the 70’s but have always felt I had some gaps in the genre, one such being Poul Anderson. I’m slowly filling those gaps.

While Three Hearts & Three Lions was interesting to read in part due to how it inspired Gygax et al in their creation of Dungeons & Dragons, it was rather weak in terms of plot and characters.

The Broken Sword, was entertaining independent of its historical influence (though many connections are apparent, particularly a certain albino sorcerer with a cursed black blade).

Though the plot is predictable in the way a Greek tragedy is, the story and characters along the way were fun (not surprisingly for the time, the female characters are one dimensional for the most part). The use of deities and myths from multiple pantheons was a highlight for me - Tyr, Odin, Lugh, characters from faerie, etc. all intertwined foreshadows more modern storytelling like American Gods.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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MR W
5.0 out of 5 stars A Surprise
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2023
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I found about this book, because apparently Michael Moorcock was a big fan of it. It was an influence on his creation of Elric’s sword. I’ve never read Moorcock but this book is fantastic. It seems ahead of its time. The action is brutal and realistic, it never goes bogged down in unnecessary exposition and endless descriptions.
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Dan Gray
3.0 out of 5 stars Good buuy
Reviewed in Canada on May 10, 2017
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I really like Poul Anderson and have most of his books. The only thing I can say about "Broken Sword" is that is too short.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Bastante bueno
Reviewed in Spain on November 25, 2018
Verified Purchase
Aunque muy clásico en algunos aspectos, la historia es bastante interesante, y la narración de la acción está muy bien.
Una fantasía que recuerda mucho a la de Tolkien en algunos tramos (este libro se publicó el mismo año que la comunidad del anillo). Indispensable si se quiere conocer la raíz de la fantasía actual.
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Niki K
3.0 out of 5 stars Inconsistent
Reviewed in India on April 25, 2017
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The book started promisingly enough but later it just got mired in a bog of needless descriptions. No wonder it's not better known because from midway till almost the end, the writing is not as tight and you start skipping those parts.
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Timo
5.0 out of 5 stars Spannend
Reviewed in Germany on April 6, 2017
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Eine sehr spannende Geschichte, ohne viel Umschreibungen der Umwelt, wie in anderen Geschichten üblich. Gut und schnell zu lesen. Und absolut spannend!
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