At first, I was really into the premise of the novel, which features a young man named Skafloc being stolen from his family in the night by elves and replaced with a changeling. In fact, The Broken Sword is even referred to as the “first great American epic fantasy.” Seeing as it had such high praise, my expectations for The Broken Sword were high.

I picked up The Broken Sword because I read several articles that called it as good as or even better than its contemporary, The Lord of the Rings. This edition contains the author’s original text.

Along with such notables as Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Poul Anderson is considered one of the masters of speculative fiction. And only the mighty sword Tyrfing, broken by Thor and presented to Skafloc in infancy, can turn the tide in a terrible clashing of faerie folk that will ultimately determine the fate of the old gods. It is their destiny to finally meet on the field of battle-the man-elf and his dark twin, the monster-when the long-simmering war between elves and trolls finally erupts with a devastating fury. A pawn in a witch’s vengeance, the creature Valgard will never know love, and consumed by rage, he will commit a murderous act of unspeakable vileness. Meanwhile, the being who supplanted him as Orm’s son grows up angry and embittered by the humanity he has been denied. Stolen by elves and replaced by a changeling, Skafloc is raised to manhood unaware of his true heritage and treasured for his ability to handle the iron that the elven dare not touch. In his greed for land and power, Orm the Strong slays the family of a Saxon witch-and for his sins, the Northman must pay with his newborn son. Published the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, Poul Anderson’s novel The Broken Sword draws on similar Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sources. This acclaimed fantasy classic of men, elves, and gods is at once breathtakingly exciting and heartbreakingly tragic. Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Dark Fantasyīuy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository Published by Open Road Media on December 30th 2014

Poul anderson's the broken sword