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mipedtor's review
3.0
Esta recopilación de relatos en homenaje a [a:J. R. R. Tolkien|18995316|J. R. R. Tolkien|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] adolece del mismo problema que suelen tener otros libros similares. La calidad de los relatos es irregular, el estilo de cada uno de los autores también. Y, en muchos de ellos, es difícil poder interpretar dónde se oculta el homenaje del autor a la figura del homenajeado. En este caso, podemos encontrar elementos de fantasía, los temas de la corrupción, objetos mágicos, la lucha entre el bien y el mal o el destino de las personas.
Hay relatos muy interesantes como "El puente del troll" (de [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]), "Reave el Justo" (de [a:Stephen R. Donaldson|12980|Stephen R. Donaldson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425823085p2/12980.jpg]), "En la estación de engalanar los pozos" (de [a:John Brunner|23113|John Brunner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336955014p2/23113.jpg]), "Fe" (de [a:Poul Anderson|32278|Poul Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1218818842p2/32278.jpg] y [a:Karen Anderson|1289330|Karen Anderson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]) o "Una larga vigilia en el tiempo" (de [a:Robert Silverberg|4338|Robert Silverberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366300348p2/4338.jpg]), que tocan temas diferentes y con enfoques variados. Fantasía, terror e incluso ciencia ficción muy bien escritos y que mantienen al lector atado a las páginas. Pero a mitad del libro el nivel de los relatos baja estrepitosamente. O al menos, no ofrecen la frescura y originalidad de los primeros.
No recomendaría este libro a los amantes de Tolkien porque creo que no encontrarán lo que esperan. En cambio, está bien para bucear en estilos e historias cortas diferentes. Yo lo he leído porque pertenece a la colección de libros que estoy leyendo de Terry Pratchett y estoy siguiendo el orden de publicación de su obra. Pero creo que de otra manera, no habría caído entre mis lecturas.
Hay relatos muy interesantes como "El puente del troll" (de [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]), "Reave el Justo" (de [a:Stephen R. Donaldson|12980|Stephen R. Donaldson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1425823085p2/12980.jpg]), "En la estación de engalanar los pozos" (de [a:John Brunner|23113|John Brunner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1336955014p2/23113.jpg]), "Fe" (de [a:Poul Anderson|32278|Poul Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1218818842p2/32278.jpg] y [a:Karen Anderson|1289330|Karen Anderson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png]) o "Una larga vigilia en el tiempo" (de [a:Robert Silverberg|4338|Robert Silverberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366300348p2/4338.jpg]), que tocan temas diferentes y con enfoques variados. Fantasía, terror e incluso ciencia ficción muy bien escritos y que mantienen al lector atado a las páginas. Pero a mitad del libro el nivel de los relatos baja estrepitosamente. O al menos, no ofrecen la frescura y originalidad de los primeros.
No recomendaría este libro a los amantes de Tolkien porque creo que no encontrarán lo que esperan. En cambio, está bien para bucear en estilos e historias cortas diferentes. Yo lo he leído porque pertenece a la colección de libros que estoy leyendo de Terry Pratchett y estoy siguiendo el orden de publicación de su obra. Pero creo que de otra manera, no habría caído entre mis lecturas.
heliopteryx's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not a big fantasy reader, so I'm supremely unqualified to say anything about this anthology as it relates to Tolkien. It just looks like a collection of mostly fantasy to me. A couple are more sci fi-like and some are more magical realism-like.
- Reave the Just by Stephen R. Donaldson :thumbsdown: (great concept, but I hated the execution)
- Troll Bridge by Terry Pratchett :thumbsup:
- A Long Night's Vigil at the Temple by Robert Silverberg
- The Dragon of Tollin by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (horrifying!)
- Faith by Poul and Karen Anderson
- In the Season of the Dressing of Wells by John Brunner
- The Fellowship of the Dragon by Patricia A. McKillip
- The Decoy Duck by Harry Turtledove
- Nine Threads of Gold by Andre Norton
- The Conjure Man by Charles de Lint
- The Halfling House by Dennis L. McKiernan
- Silver or Gold by Emma Bull
- Up the Side of the Air by Karen Haber
- The Naga by Peter S. Beagle
- Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies by Mike Resnick
- Winter's King by Jane Yolen
- Gotterdammerung by Barry N. Maltzberg (a very minimalist subversion of fantasy tropes)
- Down the River Road by Gregory Benford
- Death and the Lady by Judith Tarr
Overall, some of these stories definitely felt like a waste of time, but I thoroughly enjoyed enough of them that I don't regret reading this. Some more detail about the best stories:
In the Season of the Dressing of Wells is set in the aftermath of WWI, as a traumatized veteran struggles to adjust to small town life, and stumbles upon an ancient tradition.
The Conjure Man is a lovely tale about the power of stories. Reave the Just is also about the power of stories, but it wasn't fun to read due to the incredibly painful caricatures the characters all were. The Conjure Man, like most of these stories, is short enough the characters don't need to do much more than convey the story, but it did so in such a nice way, that makes you imagine that once there used to be magic and adventure, and perhaps there still is if you know where to look.
Silver or Gold is about a young apprentice witch. I don't know exactly why, but the journey she goes on was so nice to read, it kind of makes me want to check out the author's other work.
Down the River Road is a bizarre vaguely sci fi story of a tube-shaped world completely unlike reality, yet never in ways that are explained. I saw the ending coming a long way off, yet I think it might be better that way.
Death and the Lady is a good contrast to some of the more stuffy traditional gender roles stories in this collection. It takes place in a small French village depleted of men due to warfare and the Black Death. They receive a mysterious guest.
Some more detail about the worst stories:
Reave the Just tries to be about the power of ideas. But it does so through the most overexaggerated, stereotypical characters. It just wasn't fun to read aboutthe tragic, helpless widow trapped and raped by the big evil lord, whose rescuer is the village idiot.
The Halfling House was fun at first, but it kind of overstayed its welcome. It was definitely trying too hard with terribly un-funny humor.
Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies was also trying too hard with the humor, but at least it was short. I will never get back the time I wasted reading this. The pop cultural references have aged horribly. The most charitable thing I can say is this story is about the way corporations milk the value out of everything.
In the Season of the Dressing of Wells is set in the aftermath of WWI, as a traumatized veteran struggles to adjust to small town life, and stumbles upon an ancient tradition.
The Conjure Man is a lovely tale about the power of stories. Reave the Just is also about the power of stories, but it wasn't fun to read due to the incredibly painful caricatures the characters all were. The Conjure Man, like most of these stories, is short enough the characters don't need to do much more than convey the story, but it did so in such a nice way, that makes you imagine that once there used to be magic and adventure, and perhaps there still is if you know where to look.
Silver or Gold is about a young apprentice witch. I don't know exactly why, but the journey she goes on was so nice to read, it kind of makes me want to check out the author's other work.
Down the River Road is a bizarre vaguely sci fi story of a tube-shaped world completely unlike reality, yet never in ways that are explained. I saw the ending coming a long way off, yet I think it might be better that way.
Death and the Lady is a good contrast to some of the more stuffy traditional gender roles stories in this collection. It takes place in a small French village depleted of men due to warfare and the Black Death. They receive a mysterious guest.
Some more detail about the worst stories:
Reave the Just tries to be about the power of ideas. But it does so through the most overexaggerated, stereotypical characters. It just wasn't fun to read about
The Halfling House was fun at first, but it kind of overstayed its welcome. It was definitely trying too hard with terribly un-funny humor.
Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies was also trying too hard with the humor, but at least it was short. I will never get back the time I wasted reading this. The pop cultural references have aged horribly. The most charitable thing I can say is this story is about the way corporations milk the value out of everything.
mayajoelle's review against another edition
3.0
Well. Some of the stories are very good, some are okay, and some are awful.
worth reading: "Troll Bridge" (some profanity), "Faith" (death/violence), "The Fellowship of the Dragon," "Nine Threads of Gold," "The Conjure Man," "Silver or Gold," "Up the Side of the Air," "Winter's King" (mature content), "Death and the Lady" (some mature content)
read with caution: "Reave the Just" (sexual content), "In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells" (sexual content, violence, strange religious content), "The Halfling House"
skip: "A Long Night's Vigil at the Temple," "The Dragon of Tollin," "The Decoy Duck" (sexual content), "The Naga," "Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies," "Down the River Road" (seriously. do not read this one. ever.)
Would *not* hand to a child who enjoyed LOTR. Maybe worth it for a teen or adult who can weed through the awful bits. Not really in honor of Tolkien (except a few of the "worth reading" stories); frankly, I think he'd be horrified by most of it.
Thoughts on my favorite stories in the collection:
- The Fellowship of the Dragon: I really enjoyed this one, especially how most of the characters were women. Realized later it's by McKillip (I love her The Forgotten Beasts of Eld). I would've loved for it to be longer.
- Death and the Lady: This reminded me of Tam Lin. I liked it.
- Silver or Gold: Ahhhh, my favorite story in this book, possibly ever. The characters are memorable and I love the slow, soft romance. Plus the magic system! And the worldbuilding!
---
read 12/22/2017
reread 4/1/2019
worth reading: "Troll Bridge" (some profanity), "Faith" (death/violence), "The Fellowship of the Dragon," "Nine Threads of Gold," "The Conjure Man," "Silver or Gold," "Up the Side of the Air," "Winter's King" (mature content), "Death and the Lady" (some mature content)
read with caution: "Reave the Just" (sexual content), "In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells" (sexual content, violence, strange religious content), "The Halfling House"
skip: "A Long Night's Vigil at the Temple," "The Dragon of Tollin," "The Decoy Duck" (sexual content), "The Naga," "Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies," "Down the River Road" (seriously. do not read this one. ever.)
Would *not* hand to a child who enjoyed LOTR. Maybe worth it for a teen or adult who can weed through the awful bits. Not really in honor of Tolkien (except a few of the "worth reading" stories); frankly, I think he'd be horrified by most of it.
Thoughts on my favorite stories in the collection:
- The Fellowship of the Dragon: I really enjoyed this one, especially how most of the characters were women. Realized later it's by McKillip (I love her The Forgotten Beasts of Eld). I would've loved for it to be longer.
- Death and the Lady: This reminded me of Tam Lin. I liked it.
- Silver or Gold: Ahhhh, my favorite story in this book, possibly ever. The characters are memorable and I love the slow, soft romance. Plus the magic system! And the worldbuilding!
---
read 12/22/2017
reread 4/1/2019
osboma's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
skhola's review against another edition
3.0
Took me nearly two years to finish this! As with most anthologies, I liked a few of the stories better and the ones I didn't like really slowed me down. My favourites were by Terry Pratchett, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Patricia A McKillip, Emma Bull, and Judith Tarr.
lamusadelils's review
4.0
Confieso que temía que estas fueran historias sobre elfos guerreros o reyes con espadas o joyas poderosas y disputadas a muerte.
Sin embargo, la mayoría son muy buenas y originales aunque llenas de elementos de fantasía. Todas tienen alguna referencia a Tolkien, pero no son tan obvias como lo que mencioné al principio. Las que lo son, lo son en broma.
Troll bridge, de Terry Pratchet, es una de las historias cortas mas graciosas que he leído. Charles de Lint (bless him) me sorprendió con algo que se acerca mas al realismo mágico que a la fantasía con The Conjure Man, que es tan hermosa como cursi. Hay otros nombres familiares, como Harry Turtledove, Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, Dennis L. McKiernan o Peter S. Beagle.
Sin embargo, la mayoría son muy buenas y originales aunque llenas de elementos de fantasía. Todas tienen alguna referencia a Tolkien, pero no son tan obvias como lo que mencioné al principio. Las que lo son, lo son en broma.
Troll bridge, de Terry Pratchet, es una de las historias cortas mas graciosas que he leído. Charles de Lint (bless him) me sorprendió con algo que se acerca mas al realismo mágico que a la fantasía con The Conjure Man, que es tan hermosa como cursi. Hay otros nombres familiares, como Harry Turtledove, Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, Dennis L. McKiernan o Peter S. Beagle.
meys_kingdom's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I just love this book!!
nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/156276.html[return][return]I was very pleasantly surprised. Nineteen short stories by various fantasy authors, all more or less in the Tolkien vein; two or three clunkers (Dennis McKiernan, Mike Resnick), but the average being very good and several excellent - Stephen Donaldson, Gregory Benford, and a particularly impressive foray by John Brunner, who eschewed the fantasy setting chosen by most of the others and wrote a piece set in England in 1921. I had read the Terry Pratchett piece somewhere else ("She's always going on about billy goats. I have no knowledge whatsoever about billy goats") but I am surprised not to have encountered any of the others before - this collection was published in 1992 for the centenary of Tolkien's birth. Perhaps that just shows how little fantasy I read as compared to sf.
easolinas's review against another edition
4.0
J.R.R. Tolkien is the man who made the fantasy genre what it is today, so if you're gonna make an anthology honoring him, it better be GOOD. And for the most part, "After the King" succeeds wildly at that -- it has stories from some of the greats of fantasy/SF literature, with only a couple duds here and there.
Among the best are stories by Patricia McKillip, Charles de Lint, Peter S. Beagle, Andre Norton, Jane Yolen, Emma Bull and Terry Pratchett -- they spin out stories that are poetic and spellbinding, funny and haunting, evocative and magical. Their stories honor Tolkien by making brilliant use of language and fantastical worlds.
There are also some lesser but still wonderful stories by Harry Turtledove, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Karen Haber, Poul and Karen Anderson, Robert Silverberg and Judith Tarr. While not as gloriously memorable as the best stories, they are still really good stories, ranging from a delightfully cute story about a wizard with a new assistant to a rather uncomfortable SF story about the origins of a religion.
But despite those stories, there are also some duds -- Stephen R. Donaldson ("Reave the Just"... or "Reave the Supremely Uninteresting"), Gregory Benford and Barry N. Malzberg all seem to have totally missed out on the charm, magic and language.
The absolute worst: Dennis McKiernan's "Halfling House," which is basically devoted to McKiernan's Pysks and ripoff-hobbit Warrows, while also making fun of Tolkien's original hobbits. There's a strange plot about a TARDIS-like inn for tiny magical creatures, and a demonic opium den, and an incoherent ending where SOMETHING happens... it's just a mess.
Quick warning: do not buy this collection just because it says that the stories are "in honor" of Tolkien, because most of these stories bear no resemblance to Tolkien's work. There are some stories that remind you of Tolkien because of the exquisite language and the sense of wonder and mystery, but the settings and stories are very different.
Some are contemporary stories; some take place in the generic medieval settings, and some take place in specific medieval settings (complete with Viking names). Some are comedic, some tragic, some a combination of both. Several were thought-provoking and introspective. Some of them are pure fantasy, no fantasy, mildly fantasy-like, or bordering on sci-fi.
No, this collection should be read for the all-star lineup of fantasy writers that it includes -- some of these people are giants of the genre, and they know how to pay homage without copying Tolkien's trappings. I just wish that Neil Gaiman was in this.
"After the King" mostly lives up to its name -- we have a huge collection of excellent stories from wonderful authors, marred only by a few unmagical duds.
Among the best are stories by Patricia McKillip, Charles de Lint, Peter S. Beagle, Andre Norton, Jane Yolen, Emma Bull and Terry Pratchett -- they spin out stories that are poetic and spellbinding, funny and haunting, evocative and magical. Their stories honor Tolkien by making brilliant use of language and fantastical worlds.
There are also some lesser but still wonderful stories by Harry Turtledove, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Karen Haber, Poul and Karen Anderson, Robert Silverberg and Judith Tarr. While not as gloriously memorable as the best stories, they are still really good stories, ranging from a delightfully cute story about a wizard with a new assistant to a rather uncomfortable SF story about the origins of a religion.
But despite those stories, there are also some duds -- Stephen R. Donaldson ("Reave the Just"... or "Reave the Supremely Uninteresting"), Gregory Benford and Barry N. Malzberg all seem to have totally missed out on the charm, magic and language.
The absolute worst: Dennis McKiernan's "Halfling House," which is basically devoted to McKiernan's Pysks and ripoff-hobbit Warrows, while also making fun of Tolkien's original hobbits. There's a strange plot about a TARDIS-like inn for tiny magical creatures, and a demonic opium den, and an incoherent ending where SOMETHING happens... it's just a mess.
Quick warning: do not buy this collection just because it says that the stories are "in honor" of Tolkien, because most of these stories bear no resemblance to Tolkien's work. There are some stories that remind you of Tolkien because of the exquisite language and the sense of wonder and mystery, but the settings and stories are very different.
Some are contemporary stories; some take place in the generic medieval settings, and some take place in specific medieval settings (complete with Viking names). Some are comedic, some tragic, some a combination of both. Several were thought-provoking and introspective. Some of them are pure fantasy, no fantasy, mildly fantasy-like, or bordering on sci-fi.
No, this collection should be read for the all-star lineup of fantasy writers that it includes -- some of these people are giants of the genre, and they know how to pay homage without copying Tolkien's trappings. I just wish that Neil Gaiman was in this.
"After the King" mostly lives up to its name -- we have a huge collection of excellent stories from wonderful authors, marred only by a few unmagical duds.