The Broken Sword
A stolen child raised by elves, a changeling raised by humans, and a sword that guarantees they meet.
Anderson’s 1954 novel sets Norse and Celtic myth against each other while Christianity closes in on both. A human child is stolen and raised among elves; the changeling left in his place grows up in his world. Both are given halves of a story that can only end in collision. The elves are not charming, the gods are not kind, and the tone is closer to saga than to Tolkien, whose book it was published alongside.
Recommended by 1 Person
Jo Walton
I read it when I was twelve or thirteen, and it was very influential for me. I really fell into that world, and I really admired it. When I came back to it as an adult, I was almost afraid that it would be ruined, like children’s books sometimes are when your reader experience made them better than they actually are. But when I read it, I thought, ‘No, this book really is doing this.
Interview · March 2026
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.