The Broken Lands
Author: Fred Saberhagen
Year: 1968
Abstract:
Rolf returns from the fields one day to find his family dead and his home in ruins. Wanting only to kill those
responsible, he flees toward the castle that houses the Satrap Ekuman. But he runs into a kind man named Mewick and
soon finds himself among the Free Folk searching for the one symbol of power that might break the tyrant's yoke, the
Elephant.
| Advanced Mind | |
| Exploration/Quest |  |
| Military/Fighting | |
| Horror | |
| Magic | |
| Advanced Technology | |
| Time Travel/Alternate History | |
| Science | |
| Aliens/Beasties | |
| Contemporality |
Other books in this series: Empire of the East
The Black Mountains [1971]
Changeling Earth [1973]
tyranist's Review
What captivated me the first time I read this book and then again when I re-read it this time is the wonderful way
our technology weaves into the fantasy of the novel. To have lost what we have and then discover it again would be
a very difficult thing to write well, but I think that Saberhagen pulls it off. The novel is on the darker edge of
fantasy and exhibits much of the grit that most fantasy authors skip, but it lends a harsh reality to the book that
is lacking in others.
The hero Rolf is one of the better common man heroes I've read in a while. He does not suddenly become infallible and
never performs beyond what could be expected. He is literally a common man and not just some hidden giant. This is
probably one of the reasons that the book speaks so well to me. I can identify with Rolf where I can't with others.