The Hour of the Dragon
The capstone of the original Conan canon and a template for every usurped-king fantasy since.
Book Entry · Fantasy
Swords and Deviltry
by Fritz Leiber · 1970 · Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, book 1
What is Swords and Deviltry about?
The chronological gateway to Lankhmar: the origins of the barbarian Fafhrd's flight from the Snow Waste and the apprentice magician Mouse's scorching into the Gray Mouser, capped by 'Ill Met in Lankhmar', in which the two meet over a mutual ambush of the Thieves' Guild and pay a price that shadows the rest of the saga. Leiber's swordplay is balletic, his city reeks magnificently, and the banter between his rogues set the tone for every adventuring duo since. Begin here, then read the other six volumes immediately.
Why it matters
'Ill Met in Lankhmar' won both Hugo and Nebula. The series codified sword and sorcery's urban, ironic mode and directly inspired D&D's thieves' guilds and Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork.
Where does it sit in the series?
Leiber's tales of the giant northern barbarian and the small sly thief, swords-for-hire in the fog-bound city of Lankhmar — sword and sorcery with wit, melancholy and the genre's best double act.
In the Guide from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:
- Swords and Deviltry (1970)
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