Imric's fleet raids a troll town:
"Though war was still not declared, such forays and tests of strength were growing common on either side." (p. 36)
Does that sound familiar to us now? There are powers that do not want to break a ceasefire but cannot make peace either. War and life become synonymous.
This novel has a complex metaphysics. How do beings from all the mythologies coexist with each other and with the new god Whom elves etc cannot name? Alfheim is not just one of the Nine Worlds in the Tree but is also coterminous with the human world, Midgard.
Imric's elves defeat:
"...a group of exiled gods, grown thin and shrunken and mad in their loneliness but wielding fearsome powers even so." (pp. 36-37)
Who are these gods, neither Aesir nor Olympians? Maybe they are some that we have never heard of.
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman remains the most appropriate parallel text for Poul Anderson's fantasies that I know of. All gods exist as long as they are believed in. They begin and end in the Dreaming and linger in a Dream Country after their worship ceases.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And defeated powers can test ceasefires to see how far they can go provoking the victors.
I thought those exiled "gods" were the Olympians.
You chose one of the better cover illustrations I've seen for any of Anderson's books. Makes me wonder if it was for either the 1954 or 1971 versions.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I checked, the illustration you chose belongs to the 1971 Ballantine Books edition of THE BROKEN SWORD. I hoped it was for the 1954 version!
Ad astra! Sean
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