Thieves' World: Turning Points

From Library Journal
From Mickey Zucker Reichert's opening tale of a jaded child whose desire for solitude is quashed by a group of determined women ("Home Is Where the Hate Is") to Jeff Grubb's story of a fugitive sorcerer with a head filled with words of power ("Apocalypse Noun"), the 11 selections in this shared-world anthology introduce a new generation of readers to the lawless and enticing city of Sanctuary. Shapechangers, wizards, cutpurses, and assassins share the spotlight in stories by Lynn Abbey, Raymond Feist, Andrew Offut, and others. Fans of the original "Thieves' World" series should enjoy this volume, a sequel to Abbey's novel Sanctuary and a harbinger of other volumes to come. A good choice for most fantasy collections. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"Brilliantly conceived." - C. J.Cherryh

"Thieves' World was a signal event in fantasy history for two reasons: The first was turning a lot of talented writers loose in a neutral world. The second was the creation of books that were rightfully hailed by fans and other professionals alike for their unique approach to the storyteller's craft and its rich legacy of first-rate story."-Raymond E. Feist



Book Description
This new volume includes new stories by Raymond E. Feist, Dennis L. McKiernan, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Diana Paxson, Lynn Abbey and others.

Sanctuary: a lawless city governed by evil forces, powerful magic, and political intrigue, where survival is an unexpected bonus. The Age of the Rankan reign of Kadakithis, the occupation of the Beysib, and even the erstwhile Renaissance are all in the past. It is years later and the heroes of the past-Jubal, Tempus, Shadowspawn, and the Stormchildren-are memories, myth, and rumor. Now outsiders rule with an iron hand and a bloody dagger. Molin Torchholder, the secret guardian of the city, is dead, his mantle and staff secretly passed to another. But Sanctuary and its inhabitants carry on. The city has reached a turning point . . . and only the fates know where it will lead.



About the Author
Editor Lynn Abbey is the co-creator of Thieves' World (with Robert Lynn Asprin). She is the author of Sanctuary, an epic novel of Thieves' World, and lives in Leesberg, Florida.



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Mostly satisfying new stories billed as a revival of a 1980s "shared world" fantasy series, edited by the series' cofounder. Abbey was married to fantasy writer Robert Asprin when the two dreamed up Thieves' World at a 1978 science-fiction convention. The dozen anthologies and two novels they created over the next decade took place in a lawless, cynical, pun-filled, sometimes satiric and always-atmospheric pseudo-medieval fantasy realm. Now, not quite two decades after the last in the series, Abbey has resuscitated it with a new novel (Sanctuary, 2002, not reviewed) and this collection. The majority of stories here offer ironic meditations on the difference that several years has made. "Introduction," one of Abbey's two entries, is too heavy with backstory, as she follows the cunning manipulations of a stonemason who is not only infused with the memories of a sorcerer, but also haunted by a god. "Sanctuary never really changes, but even here, life goes on," laments Latilla, an innkeeper's daughter who ends up watching the liberation of a woman who has been trapped in a for crystal 30 years in Diana L. Paxon's "The Prisoner in the Jewel." A cloyingly cute puppy pesters aging thief Jake the Rat in "One to Go" by Raymond E. Fiest, and a mispronounced magic word causes havoc among characters old and new in Andrew Offutt's "Role Model," while an orphan thief with a peculiar linguistic talent finds love among a coven of witches in Mickey Zucker Reichert's "Home is Where the Hate Is." Amusingly "low" fantasy adventure, varied enough to appeal to those who have had their fill of Tolkien and want funnier, nastier stuff.


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