Not as entertaining as I remember. The overall language is a bit much especially in the first two stories; it bogs the narrative down. ( )

Three stories which supply much-craved "prequel" background to the Fafhrd & Gray Mouser saga. The first & the last of these are true gems, far the two best Leiber stories I've read. ( )

This book has four stories in it:
"Induction"
"The Snow Women"
"The Unholy Grail"
"Ill Met in Lankhmar"

I had read "Ill Met in Lankhmar" before, and felt lukewarm about it. There's another novella I wanted to read in this called "The Snow Women". I read that, and was captured by it, I just loved it. So I kept reading all the way through. Turns out that the stories before "Ill Met" provide a context that I didn't know I was missing. I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading "Ill Met in Lankhmar" too.

This book introduces the characters of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. "Induction" is just a page long. "The Snow Women" is about the Conan-esque 18 year old Fafhrd, who lives in the wild north and longs for civilization. "The Unholy Grail" is about the Gray Mouser, who has been trained by a wizard who gave him his name. In "Ill Met in Lankhmar" the two meet for the first time.

There are seven books in this Sword and Sorcery series. Haven't read any of the others yet.

This series figures prominently in the history of Sword and Sorcery, as covered in Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery by Brian Murphy.

Swords and Deviltry is the first book in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy series.

Although I didn’t really know anything about this series before I started reading it, I somehow went into it with misconceptions. I’m not sure if it was due to comments I’d unconsciously absorbed from other people talking about it over the years, or if it was purely based on the title of the series, but I was expecting some sort of entertaining relationship between whoever “Fahfrd” and “the Gray Mouser” were. Buddies, reluctant comrades, something along those lines. I was hoping for witty dialogue and humor, and the type of characters that you love just because they’re so much fun to read about. That’s not what I found in this book, at least not in my opinion. Maybe the series has more of that in the later books.

Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are both youths (I don’t think we were given their ages) who grew up separately in different types of environments, each facing some sort of adversity before traveling to the big city which is where they meet. This book is made up of three stories. The first story tells Fafhrd’s story, the second tells the Gray Mouser’s story, and the third tells of their meeting and an adventure they have together. So I definitely don’t recommend that anybody read this book in hopes of a story with lots of witty banter, because the characters don’t even meet until you’re about two-thirds in. Even after they met, I didn’t find it particularly witty or humorous.

It's a really short book and there isn’t much world-building. I was especially left with questions about the place where Fafhrd grew up. Since it’s a series, I’m sure things get fleshed out more in later books. There is some character development, yet I never felt like I had a strong understanding of the characters and I definitely didn’t develop an attachment to them. Some of their decisions irritated me.

I hated that Fafhrd waited until Vellix was dead before jumping into the fight near the end of his story. There was some indication that he was being held back magically, but it wasn’t clear. I was pretty sure the author intended it to really be magic since he didn’t seem like that subtle of a writer, but I was never quite sure if all the stuff Fafhrd attributed to the snow women, especially the things that affected his own actions, was actually magic or just the influence of his own strong beliefs and fears in their capabilities. In some cases, it seemed like it could just as easily be an excuse for Fafhrd to do what he wanted to do deep down. I also hated that the Gray Mouser jumped off the deep end so easily instead of honoring what his mentor would have wanted for him. He didn’t seem to even wrestle with his conscience. Also, while I’m safely within spoiler tags, I’ll add that I disliked that both girls were killed brutally at the end, apparently just to serve as a catalyst for the future adventures of the main characters. On the other hand, I didn’t care for the girls, so I didn’t even feel any emotional impact when they were killed.

I didn't think it was a terrible book, but it was easy to put down and it never grew on me as I’d hoped it might. In fact, I was probably the most interested in the first story and the least interested by the third. It’s possible the series might improve as the main characters get to know each other better and go on more adventures, but I didn’t care enough to want to stick around for that, so I don’t plan to read further. ( )

So boring. SO. BORING. Nothing at all like the splendid horror by Leiber I've read in the past. ( )