The Third Book of Swords
core novel 1984 Empire of the East / Swords
Record
| First published | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.88 (2,882 ratings, collected 2026-11-02) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780812553031 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
The gods have been undone by their own scheming and now face destruction, with humans caught up as their pawns. Jord, the smith who lost his right arm while forging the Swords, works as a courier for rebels fighting the Silver Queen Yambu and her ally, the Dark King Vilkata. While delivering two Swords to the House of Courtenay he is badly wounded and collapses at a safe house kept by Ben and Barbara, whose cover is now blown. The Dark King has seized the Mindsword, one of the most powerful Swords, which pushes the rebels toward an uneasy alliance with the Silver Queen.
Where it sits
- Universe: Empire of the East / Swords
- Series: Books of Swords core; position 3 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Fred Saberhagen
Notes
- From the series record (Books of Swords): Three novels in which twelve god-forged Swords of Power are scattered among mortals, thousands of years after the Empire of the East.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Books of Swords: position 3 of 3: previous The Second Book of Swords (1983)
- Internal chronology, within Empire of the East / Swords: position 8 of 15: previous Changeling Earth (1973) · next Stonecutter's Story (1988)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Books of Swords
- Fred Saberhagen's official site
- AbeBooks listing (Tor, 1984)
- Fred Saberhagen's site: 3rd Book of Swords
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