The broken sword.

Deserves its acclaim as a fantasy masterpiece. I love Anderson’s maximalist language and narration style, it makes the story fittingly feel like an Anglo-Saxon epic. The fantasy elements are wide and wild co-mingling many mythologies and many tropes from ancient epics. My biggest hesitation comes from the melodrama that the writing descends to at some points but overall it’s a well-paced, action-packed story that deserves more readers.