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Originally Posted by hobnail
I tried to read Fafrd and the Grey Mouser but couldn't get interested in it; I think that's the only sword and sorcery book I've read (and didn't finish).
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The Fafhrd and Gray Mouser collections are put together following internal chronology rather than original publication order. They start with two later written stories featuring the characters individually (The Snow Women and The Unholy Grail) that I didn't enjoy as much as the earlier written stories where the two are already a pair.
The real magic of the series is the two as a pair, the city where they live(Lankhmar) and the sorcerous 'advisers' (Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face) who often get them into trouble.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Elric show that sword and sorcery doesn't have to be about amoral, barborous lunkheads.
I first read Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser as a comics adaptation featuring gorgeous artwork by Mike Mignola. Sadly there isn't a legal digital edition available, or I'd recommend those as a way to get a feel for the stories.
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So given my limited exposure, which is also from seeing lots of Frazetta book covers, my impression is that with sword and sorcery the sword guy is the good guy and the sorcery/sorcerer is the bad "guy". I was also thinking that in fiction sorcerers are generally bad guys but wizards can go either way.
I could imagine that I might be more likely to enjoy a book if the sword guy had a wizard, magician, healer, etc. as a side kick. (Like a dnd game.)
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Using your D&D language, magic users are almost always NPCs in sword and sorcery stories, but not always evil. Take the first Conan movie, for instance (the only one worth watching). There is a good wizard (Mako) and a bad one (James Earl Jones). They just don't wander around on adventures. If the protagonist had a wizard sidekick, it most likely wouldn't be sword and sorcery any longer.