The Second Book of Lankhmar (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #5-7)

Masterworks of Fantasy Volume 24 The Second Book of LankhmarВ contains two brief novels as well as eleven short stories. The first of the two novels, and the more famous, is The Sword of Lankhmar. The best fable of human/rodent relationships since the "Pied Piper of Hamlin," Leiber creates an below-ground and ratty reflection of Lankhmar Above when a potion given to the Mouser to aid in the investigation of a plague of rats instead shrinks our hero to rodent size. While this might appear a notable advantage for prying into the affairs of ratdom, a serious problem -- and high jinks -- ensue when the Mouser becomes besotted by an alluring human/rat hybrid. Unfortunately, four of the eight short stories that form Swords and Ice Magic are among the series' weakest, "Beauty and the Beasts" and "The Bait" being particularly insubstantial, though the ephemeral quality of these tales is offset somewhat by the more consequential character of "The Frost Monstreme" and "Rime Island," preludes to the three short stories included in the final collection, The Knight and Knave of Swords. Together, these five tales represent a departure from Lankhmar and the duo's earlier adventures, representing not only a change of locality but tone and organization as well. After their legendary adventures in the northern wastes and beyond, Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior, and the Gray Mouser, master thief, novice wizard and expert swordsman, are back home in Lankhmar again, and looking for an easy time. But Lankhmar is under attack from a strange horde of invaders, including a two-headed dragon and an army of miniature wanderers ... Once those threats are seen off, a quest to the farthest reaches of Nehwon is in prospect. And then, in the last book of their adventures, Fafhrd goes sailing through the clouds, and the Mouser takes to the seas, before we finally bid a fond, if sad, farewell to Lankhmar. THE SECOND BOOK OF LANKHMAR includes the last three volumes of the hugely enjoyable series. Witty, gripping and urbane, Fritz Leiber?s Lankhmar books are among the best loved of all modern fantasies