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A review by aceinit
Tales of the Far West by Matt Forbeck, Jason L. Blair, Dave Gross, Chuck Wendig, T.S. Luikart, Scott Lynch, Will Hindmarch, Eddy Webb, Tessa Gratton, Ari Marmell, Gareth-Michael Skarka, Aaron Rosenberg
2.0
I decided after the profoundly disappointing and enormously frustrating experience that was GRRM’s “Dangerous Women” anthology that I would no longer trudge through collections on the grounds that I needed to give all the contributors a fair shot. Consider Tales of the Far West the first victim of that decision.
The premise was cool enough: a bunch of stories by a bunch of different authors, set in a world that is equal parts American Old West, and traditional Far East. Far West. Get it? Anyway... A series that’s equal parts wuxia and high noon shootouts should be fantastic, right? Throw in some steampunk because, well, steampunk is the Trend of the Moment, so people obviously love it. There’s no way westerns and kung fu and steampunk all at the same time could possibly be uninteresting, right?
I need to stop getting my hopes up in regards to these matters.
I will also admit to starting this one because of Scott Lynch’s inclusion. Andy Lynch’s story (a good 25% of the anthology on its own) is a solid ride. It did not, however, impress me in the way his Gentlemen Bastards novels have, or his incredibly fun Red Hats world. Lynch’s contribution here is good, but not great.
The other four or five stories following that I did read were somewhere between okay and good. But, again, not great. Certainly not memorable or, ultimately, anything I would recommend to a friend. And not enough of an incentive to journey through the remaining 60% or so of the anthology.
The premise was cool enough: a bunch of stories by a bunch of different authors, set in a world that is equal parts American Old West, and traditional Far East. Far West. Get it? Anyway... A series that’s equal parts wuxia and high noon shootouts should be fantastic, right? Throw in some steampunk because, well, steampunk is the Trend of the Moment, so people obviously love it. There’s no way westerns and kung fu and steampunk all at the same time could possibly be uninteresting, right?
I need to stop getting my hopes up in regards to these matters.
I will also admit to starting this one because of Scott Lynch’s inclusion. Andy Lynch’s story (a good 25% of the anthology on its own) is a solid ride. It did not, however, impress me in the way his Gentlemen Bastards novels have, or his incredibly fun Red Hats world. Lynch’s contribution here is good, but not great.
The other four or five stories following that I did read were somewhere between okay and good. But, again, not great. Certainly not memorable or, ultimately, anything I would recommend to a friend. And not enough of an incentive to journey through the remaining 60% or so of the anthology.