The Broken Sword was written around the same time as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and the Fellowship of the Ring, and is a foundational heroic fantasy novel, but unfortunately hasn't reached the same level of mainstream success as those novels despite being very on par in quality.

The Broken Sword blends together elements of Celtic and Norse mythology with a dash of historical fiction to create a novel that clearly influenced later writers like David Gemmell. There's larger-than-life heroes and villains, unexplained magic, mythological weapons, and tons of monologued poetry. It's not the easiest read, but it's evocative and lyrical and deserves more attention.

The first half of the novel is the stronger bit, in my opinion - the ending feels a bit rushed and descends into a pretty one-note tale of battles and slaughter that isn't as rich as the more heroic and romantic earlier acts - but this one is definitely worth a read if you're interested in heroic fantasy or sword and sorcery. It feels quite a bit like reading a myth, much like The Lord of the Rings in some ways but decidedly its own thing in tone.