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bookswithbets's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
wealhtheow's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of stories about magic and warriors, all previously published elsewhere. I really loved a few of these (by KJ Parker, Tanith Lee, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Naomi Novik, Scott Lynch and Genevieve Valentine), outright disliked a bunch of others, and had few feelings about the others.
SMALL MAGIC by Jay Lake--A low level soldier is loyal to his oath, and that is enough to stop the ice tribes from performing a great magic. Kinda cool idea but told in such a boring, trite way that I could barely get through all 16 pages.
KING RAINJOY'S TEARS by Chris Willrich--A thief and a poet go in search of a king's banished tears, in hopes they can convince him not to start a war. Laboriously fanciful, like if someone without an ear for language put The Last Unicorn and Patricia McKillip in a blender and splashed the ensuing slurry onto a page. ex:
A RICH FULL WEEK by K. J. Parker--A wizard goes on his rounds and comes across a revenant. Fantastic. Great, innovative world building and a story that's part horror, part just...I dunno, interesting?
THE WOMAN IN SCARLET by Tanith Lee--Swords' Men are not just warriors good with swords. They are literally married to their swords, which have souls of their own. Coor is one of the best, yet one day his sword falls in love with another man. DAMN Tanith Lee can write.
FLOTSAM by Bradley P. Beaulieu--Khrentophar is a yeavanni, a type of magical creature that is not fully explained but seems a bit like a mermaid. He and his fellow shamans accidentally drowned a human ship 20 years ago during a ritual, and they have voluntarily served the humans like slaves ever since to make up for it. But then the humans go to war and promise the yeavanni their debt will be paid if they fight beside them. To a people so against the loss of life that they would voluntarily commit themselves to bondage in recompense for it, this is a terrible choice to make. I liked the yeavanni and my puzzling over who and what they were.
A WARRIOR'S DEATH by Aliette de Bodard--Uzume was once a warrior, an honored group in the Ahuatl Empire, until his courage failed him. Now he is called upon to investigate the murder of the God of War's chosen sacrifice. Fascinating world building and a really interesting choice at the end,Uzume can expose the murder for what it was--a trick to splice compassion and respect for life into the God of War--or let the trick stand and watch as his beloved empire transforms into one that does not value what he values, but is able to sustain itself now that everything has been conquered.
A SIEGE Of CRANES by Benjamin Rosenbaum--Marish comes home from hunting to find his village pulverized. He goes searching for who or what destroyed everything he loves, and is rapidly joined by a fellow quester, Kadath-Naan of the Empty City. HOLY SHIT this is a story. Imaginative, the descriptions are incredible, the horror is super horrible, the characters feel totally real within just a few pages. And there are all these wonderful little moments, like Marish being unable to sell his soul for help because the village priest took all the villagers' souls and hid them against this very kind of desperate use, or the power of names, or how the djinns work, that feel so wonderfully fairy-tale like. This was a really powerful tale. I felt utterly transported while I read it, and when I finished the last sentence I felt like I was coming up for air.
FOX BONES. MANY USES. by Alex Dally Macfarlane--Za bears a son who is half Hma, like her, and half Nu, like the idealist she was just attracted enough to at the right time to make a baby. When the Nu Empire comes to the Hma villages to take them as slaves for the silver mines, Za goes on a desperate journey fueled by fox magic. Fascinating world here. I love the glimpses we get of Hma village life.
WHERE VIRTUE LIVES by Saladin Ahmed--A jaded old ghul hunter and a blood thirsty young dervish ally to hunt a monster. I read this back in 2009 and wasn't impressed then--the language is too stilted and self-conscious for me, and the story & characters are too well-worn for me to get excited--I read the novel of this and didn't much like it either, and on reread, was again bored by this.
THE EFFIGY ENGINE: A TALE OF THE RED HATS by Scott Lynch--Opening lines:
STRIFE LINGERS IN MEMORY by Carrie Vaughn--After the Chosen One beats back the goblin hordes, claims his rightful crown, and marries the beautiful and clever wizard's daughter, he has night terrors. Told with dialog a little too on-the-nose and obvious for me, but a worthwhile story.
A SWEET CALLING by Tony Pi--Ao Tienwei seems like a humble candy maker, but when fire elementals threaten his city he reveals that he can animate his sugar creations. Fine.
THE NARCOMANCER by N. K. Jemisin--Cet has sworn to serve the Goddess, and in this case does so by investigating a band of brigands that is somehow using narcomancy. I am super intrigued by the world here, and I'd love to see more of Sister Ginnem, a soldier-turned-sorcerer.
GOLDEN DAUGHTER, STONE WIFE by Benjanun Sriduangkaew-I'm not reading a thing by this bully.
EFFIGY NIGHTS by Yoon Ha Lee--When a beautiful city on the edge of a moon is threatened by a humorless general, they call upon their histories and legends to save them. But what happens when the city runs out of old stories? The style is possibly too flowery for me, although it suits the city its portraying very well. I like the premise of this a lot.
WEARAWAY AND FLAMBEAU by Matthew Hughes--A thief is caught by a wizard who casts a series of horrific spells on him as punishment...but to everyone's surprise that combination of spells instead allows him to basically teleport. This was exceedingly boring (the style is very basic, the characters have little personality, and the plot is just "stealing stuff") and way too long for how basic a tale it was.
AT THE EDGE OF DYING by Mary Robinette Kowal--In a war between kingdoms, the magic of those on the threshold of death is a vital resource. Cool concept, good execution, and I'd like to see more of these characters and world.
VICI by Naomi Novik--A wastral and a scoundrel, Antony is at least brave and clever. He manages to avoid death-by-dragon and get himself a dragon egg, instead. And when she hatches, he makes quite a name for themselves. I loved this. Antony is quite a character, and as usual with Novik, his dragon Vici is a wonderful combination of bloody-minded, poetically inclined, and funny. The story ends just when it ought, before it plays itself out. I would read a hundred more short stories in the Temeraire universe like this.
ABJURE THE REALM by Elizabeth Bear--Various Arthurian and fairy tales woven together. Didn't grab me.
THE WORD Of AZRAEL by Matthew David Surridge--A mercenary gets an incredible sword and goes on a seemingly endless series of barely-sketched-out adventures, all while looking for the Angel of Death. This was 31 pages long and I don't know why. The characters had absolutely no personality. There was no plot.
LADY Of THE GHOST WILLOW by Richard Parks--An investigator is brought in to stop a ghostly visitation from sucking the life from a noble lord. I liked a few moments of this, but the characters lacked personality and the investigation itself was deadly dull. He just talks to three people and then decides who's responsible.
THE SINGING SPEAR by James Enge--The Singing Spear, Morlock the Maker's most infamous creation, has been found and is killing its way across the continent. This was great. Exactly the right length for the story, gives you a good set of hints about personalities, magic systems, and world building, and is an interesting take on a classic plot.
SO DEEP THAT THE BOTTOM COULD NOT BE SEEN by Genevieve Valentine--Annakpok is daughter of the last registered Inuit shaman. When the spellcasters have an international conference about what to do about the environmental and ecological collapse of the world, she's forcibly invited in order to make the conference look diverse. Though Anna is sure she has no magic and no power, still she must do something. I absolutely loved this.
WARRIOR DREAMS by Cinda Williams Chima--A discharged army vet with little purpose left is called upon to defeat a terrifying sea witch. The ties with how vets are treated in reality felt clunky, but I liked the urban fantasy feel.
THE MAGICIAN AND THE MAID AND OTHER STORIES by Christie Yant--Aurora seeks the magician who stole her love away. Super obviously, Miles, the person she thinks is an evil magician who stole her love Emil, is actually just Emil. The writing is fine, but I was bored with this obvious tale.
SMALL MAGIC by Jay Lake--A low level soldier is loyal to his oath, and that is enough to stop the ice tribes from performing a great magic. Kinda cool idea but told in such a boring, trite way that I could barely get through all 16 pages.
KING RAINJOY'S TEARS by Chris Willrich--A thief and a poet go in search of a king's banished tears, in hopes they can convince him not to start a war. Laboriously fanciful, like if someone without an ear for language put The Last Unicorn and Patricia McKillip in a blender and splashed the ensuing slurry onto a page. ex:
"In his tower there twitched a menagerie of personifications: howling griefs, snarling passions, a stormy nature blustering in a crystal dome, a dark night of the soul shrouding the glass of a mirror. In places there lurked experiments that twitched and mewled. Here a flower of innocence sprouted from the forehead of a gargoyle of cynicism. There a phoenix of renewal locked eyes forever with a basilisk of stasis.I actually like the plot just fine, but you can't name characters things like Imago Bone, Persimmon Gaunt, or your evil magician "Spawnsworth" and write in this ridiculously tin-eared fashion and expect me to like the story.
Spawnsworth arrived in this sanctum, teeth grinding, and began assembling the vials of love's betrayal and friendship's gloom, the vials he would form into an instrument of revenge upon Gaunt and Bone."
A RICH FULL WEEK by K. J. Parker--A wizard goes on his rounds and comes across a revenant. Fantastic. Great, innovative world building and a story that's part horror, part just...I dunno, interesting?
THE WOMAN IN SCARLET by Tanith Lee--Swords' Men are not just warriors good with swords. They are literally married to their swords, which have souls of their own. Coor is one of the best, yet one day his sword falls in love with another man. DAMN Tanith Lee can write.
FLOTSAM by Bradley P. Beaulieu--Khrentophar is a yeavanni, a type of magical creature that is not fully explained but seems a bit like a mermaid. He and his fellow shamans accidentally drowned a human ship 20 years ago during a ritual, and they have voluntarily served the humans like slaves ever since to make up for it. But then the humans go to war and promise the yeavanni their debt will be paid if they fight beside them. To a people so against the loss of life that they would voluntarily commit themselves to bondage in recompense for it, this is a terrible choice to make. I liked the yeavanni and my puzzling over who and what they were.
A WARRIOR'S DEATH by Aliette de Bodard--Uzume was once a warrior, an honored group in the Ahuatl Empire, until his courage failed him. Now he is called upon to investigate the murder of the God of War's chosen sacrifice. Fascinating world building and a really interesting choice at the end,
A SIEGE Of CRANES by Benjamin Rosenbaum--Marish comes home from hunting to find his village pulverized. He goes searching for who or what destroyed everything he loves, and is rapidly joined by a fellow quester, Kadath-Naan of the Empty City. HOLY SHIT this is a story. Imaginative, the descriptions are incredible, the horror is super horrible, the characters feel totally real within just a few pages. And there are all these wonderful little moments, like Marish being unable to sell his soul for help because the village priest took all the villagers' souls and hid them against this very kind of desperate use, or the power of names, or how the djinns work, that feel so wonderfully fairy-tale like. This was a really powerful tale. I felt utterly transported while I read it, and when I finished the last sentence I felt like I was coming up for air.
FOX BONES. MANY USES. by Alex Dally Macfarlane--Za bears a son who is half Hma, like her, and half Nu, like the idealist she was just attracted enough to at the right time to make a baby. When the Nu Empire comes to the Hma villages to take them as slaves for the silver mines, Za goes on a desperate journey fueled by fox magic. Fascinating world here. I love the glimpses we get of Hma village life.
WHERE VIRTUE LIVES by Saladin Ahmed--A jaded old ghul hunter and a blood thirsty young dervish ally to hunt a monster. I read this back in 2009 and wasn't impressed then--the language is too stilted and self-conscious for me, and the story & characters are too well-worn for me to get excited--I read the novel of this and didn't much like it either, and on reread, was again bored by this.
THE EFFIGY ENGINE: A TALE OF THE RED HATS by Scott Lynch--Opening lines:
"I took up the study of magic because I wanted to live in the beauty of transfinite mathematical truths," said Rumstandel. He gestured curtly. In the canyon below us, an enemy soldier shuddered, clutched at his throat, and began vomiting live snakes.A band of mercenary wizards at war. As funny and fun as a war story possibly can be. I really like these characters, and I already feel like I know them after just a few pages. I hope Lynch ends up writing more about the Red Caps.
STRIFE LINGERS IN MEMORY by Carrie Vaughn--After the Chosen One beats back the goblin hordes, claims his rightful crown, and marries the beautiful and clever wizard's daughter, he has night terrors. Told with dialog a little too on-the-nose and obvious for me, but a worthwhile story.
A SWEET CALLING by Tony Pi--Ao Tienwei seems like a humble candy maker, but when fire elementals threaten his city he reveals that he can animate his sugar creations. Fine.
THE NARCOMANCER by N. K. Jemisin--Cet has sworn to serve the Goddess, and in this case does so by investigating a band of brigands that is somehow using narcomancy. I am super intrigued by the world here, and I'd love to see more of Sister Ginnem, a soldier-turned-sorcerer.
GOLDEN DAUGHTER, STONE WIFE by Benjanun Sriduangkaew-I'm not reading a thing by this bully.
EFFIGY NIGHTS by Yoon Ha Lee--When a beautiful city on the edge of a moon is threatened by a humorless general, they call upon their histories and legends to save them. But what happens when the city runs out of old stories? The style is possibly too flowery for me, although it suits the city its portraying very well. I like the premise of this a lot.
WEARAWAY AND FLAMBEAU by Matthew Hughes--A thief is caught by a wizard who casts a series of horrific spells on him as punishment...but to everyone's surprise that combination of spells instead allows him to basically teleport. This was exceedingly boring (the style is very basic, the characters have little personality, and the plot is just "stealing stuff") and way too long for how basic a tale it was.
AT THE EDGE OF DYING by Mary Robinette Kowal--In a war between kingdoms, the magic of those on the threshold of death is a vital resource. Cool concept, good execution, and I'd like to see more of these characters and world.
VICI by Naomi Novik--A wastral and a scoundrel, Antony is at least brave and clever. He manages to avoid death-by-dragon and get himself a dragon egg, instead. And when she hatches, he makes quite a name for themselves. I loved this. Antony is quite a character, and as usual with Novik, his dragon Vici is a wonderful combination of bloody-minded, poetically inclined, and funny. The story ends just when it ought, before it plays itself out. I would read a hundred more short stories in the Temeraire universe like this.
ABJURE THE REALM by Elizabeth Bear--Various Arthurian and fairy tales woven together. Didn't grab me.
THE WORD Of AZRAEL by Matthew David Surridge--A mercenary gets an incredible sword and goes on a seemingly endless series of barely-sketched-out adventures, all while looking for the Angel of Death. This was 31 pages long and I don't know why. The characters had absolutely no personality. There was no plot.
LADY Of THE GHOST WILLOW by Richard Parks--An investigator is brought in to stop a ghostly visitation from sucking the life from a noble lord. I liked a few moments of this, but the characters lacked personality and the investigation itself was deadly dull. He just talks to three people and then decides who's responsible.
THE SINGING SPEAR by James Enge--The Singing Spear, Morlock the Maker's most infamous creation, has been found and is killing its way across the continent. This was great. Exactly the right length for the story, gives you a good set of hints about personalities, magic systems, and world building, and is an interesting take on a classic plot.
SO DEEP THAT THE BOTTOM COULD NOT BE SEEN by Genevieve Valentine--Annakpok is daughter of the last registered Inuit shaman. When the spellcasters have an international conference about what to do about the environmental and ecological collapse of the world, she's forcibly invited in order to make the conference look diverse. Though Anna is sure she has no magic and no power, still she must do something. I absolutely loved this.
WARRIOR DREAMS by Cinda Williams Chima--A discharged army vet with little purpose left is called upon to defeat a terrifying sea witch. The ties with how vets are treated in reality felt clunky, but I liked the urban fantasy feel.
THE MAGICIAN AND THE MAID AND OTHER STORIES by Christie Yant--Aurora seeks the magician who stole her love away.
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