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A review by daveversace
Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy by Ysabeau S. Wilce, K.J. Parker, Elizabeth Bear, Jonathan Strahan, Kate Elliott, Saladin Ahmed, Scott Lynch, Ellen Kushner, Trudi Canavan, Robert V.S. Redick, Ellen Klages, Glen Cook, Jeffrey Ford, Daniel Abraham
4.0
Fearsome Journeys is an anthology of fantasy short stories, most of which are quests or at least quest-adjacent. Though editor Jonathan Strahan intends it to encompass a wide spectrum of modern fantastika, I found the my favourites tended more towards the low-magic grit of Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser's end of the spectrum than elf-strewn high fantasy. It's a solid collection from some excellent fantasy writers.
Military fantasy gets a good look in with Scott Lynch's opener "The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats", which pits a band of highly competent mercenary wizards against an enemy with a battlefield super-weapon, and of course Glen Cook's contribution is another amusing and alarming tale in his long-running Black Company series "Shaggy Dog Bridge: A Black Company Story". Trudi Canavan's hard-edged "Camp Follower" ranges from gritty military fantasy to a high-magic showdown. Kate Elliott shows a bloody political skirmish from the point of view of civilians caught in the middle in "Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine".
Saladin Ahmed's "Amethyst, Shadow and Light" was one of my favourites - a sword and sorcery heist in Fritz Leiber-ish tradition, featuring a rabbit warrior-woman and a barbarian named Zok. No, no, it's really good.
Another favourite was K J Parker's "The Dragonslayer of Merebarton", featuring a retired knight whose social obligations unfortunately include dragonslaying. This one had a light if somewhat weary tone and may have been the pick of the collection. I also enjoyed the amusing "Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl", a screwball comedy about thieves and con artists.
This is a fine cross-section of fantasy fiction that I would recommend to anyone looking to sample the genre.
Military fantasy gets a good look in with Scott Lynch's opener "The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats", which pits a band of highly competent mercenary wizards against an enemy with a battlefield super-weapon, and of course Glen Cook's contribution is another amusing and alarming tale in his long-running Black Company series "Shaggy Dog Bridge: A Black Company Story". Trudi Canavan's hard-edged "Camp Follower" ranges from gritty military fantasy to a high-magic showdown. Kate Elliott shows a bloody political skirmish from the point of view of civilians caught in the middle in "Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine".
Saladin Ahmed's "Amethyst, Shadow and Light" was one of my favourites - a sword and sorcery heist in Fritz Leiber-ish tradition, featuring a rabbit warrior-woman and a barbarian named Zok. No, no, it's really good.
Another favourite was K J Parker's "The Dragonslayer of Merebarton", featuring a retired knight whose social obligations unfortunately include dragonslaying. This one had a light if somewhat weary tone and may have been the pick of the collection. I also enjoyed the amusing "Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl", a screwball comedy about thieves and con artists.
This is a fine cross-section of fantasy fiction that I would recommend to anyone looking to sample the genre.