I must confess, I had heard of neither Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, nor Fritz Leiber, before I picked up this book. Apparently, he won numerous awards, and is considered by many to have invented the phrase "Sword & Sorcery" as a sub-genre of fantasy.

I wasn't particularly impressed.

This is a collection of three short stories. In the first, The Snow Women, we meet Fafhrd for the first time, as he is struggling to break free of his rural life and experience civilization. I really struggled to into this story, though. The language is INCREDIBLY outdated and obtuse, for a book published in 1970, and Fafhrd's use of it is even more so. I'm aware that Fafhrd's over-the-top way of speaking was meant to be humourous, but I just found it frustrating, annoying, and distracting.

The second story, The Unholy Grail, introduces Mouse, he who is to become the Gray Mouser, and Fafhrd's eventual companion. I'll admit I rather enjoyed this story; by this time, I was used to the writing style (sort of) and antiquated language, so I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride a bit more.

In the third, Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser come together. I decided that I STILL don't like Fafhrd. His way of speaking is anything but funny. Still, it was a good story, and I chuckled more than once at the antics.

Aside from the outdated language, this author has (or had - he's dead now) a very strange writing style, commonly using a weird "Object, subject, verb" sentence construction ("The ball, he kicked"), reminiscent of Yoda. I guess it would've been amusing, if it didn't happen quite so often.

Even had I been alive in 1970 (when this book was first published), I would've struggled with this book. I understand that lots of people consider it a classic of modern fantasy literature, but it's not my cup of tea. Maybe it just went right over my head.