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| Thieves'
World: First Blood: A Thieves' World Omnibus edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and
Lynn Abbey check out website: www.tor.com
Anthologies come with several guarantees. You can guarantee that there will be several stories, written by several different authors, under one umbrella of a genre. You pretty much know what you're going to get with an anthology, until 'Thieves' World' graced our bookshop shelves! 'Thieves' World' is all of the above with a slight but irrefutably original twist. All of its stories are set within a pre-set place, Sanctuary.
Sanctuary conceived in a time when war ravaged the land and a city on a
caravan route saved its travellers from danger. The reason for its creation has
gone, the war ended centuries ago. But for some, Sanctuary is a place for them
to disappear and find a way of life. Now Sanctuary is home to all manner
of undesirables. Governed by the Emperor's brother to get him 'out-of-the-way',
he has enlisted the help of a very small group of mercenary-military men, known
to inhabitants as the Hell Hounds. Aside from that, regular characters are doing
just fine, even if some of them are coming to an unfortunate end - they are still
just fine where they are! 'Thieves' World: First Blood' combines the
first two 'Thieves' World' anthologies in one volume. Edited by Robert Lynn Aspirin
of the 'Myth Inc.' series and Lynn Abbey author of such flights of fantasy as
'Behind Time' and as editor of other Sanctuary outings. Reprinted together in
an omnibus edition spanning the first sixteen stories of the fold. I
have a love-hate relationship with anthologies. My expectations of them are always
higher than where they actually deliver and I'm always disappointed. Not this
time though! I enjoyed pretty much all the stories with only a couple of exceptions. I fell in love with every character that I met during my journey into Sanctuary's
past and I even came to like and enjoy the writing style of some authors I had
never experienced before. All the characters are seen through the eyes of several
of the authors. You would think that intolerable inconsistencies and problems
with continuity would occur, but it all follows-on quite smoothly, a credit to
its editors. Remembering that this anthology started up over twenty
years ago, I had misplaced trepidation over whether the contents had aged gracefully
over that time. I was more than happily surprised that only a small proportion
left me cold with their aged prose. With any anthology, there will
be stories that you love and those that you love to finish and forget. I particularly
liked 'Goddess' by David Drake, 'The Price Of Doing Business' by Robert Lynn Aspirin,
'The Secret Of The Blue Star' by Marion Zimmer Bradley and 'Shadow's Pawn' by
Andrew Offutt. Those that I didn't like don't need to be mentioned, you'll like
some that I didn't and possibly wonder why I liked the aforementioned. The nature
of the anthology, my friend. Such an untameable beast! 'Thieves' World'
is a fantastic anthology and for those who have never come across it before this
is your chance to start from the beginning. I've certainly become interested in
reading more. For those initiated in the way of life in Sanctuary, why not have
the first two books in one volume and maybe lay to rest the creased copies you
bought first time round! Donna Jones
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2004
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Okay,
pop quiz. What do writers by the name of David Drake, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Joe
Haldeman, Christine DeWees and Andrew J. Offutt all have in common? No? Have I
lost you? Well, I'll tell you. They have all made contributions to one of the
most successful shared-world fantasy epic anthologies in existence. An anthology
starting from scratch - taking you right back to where it all started over twenty
years ago with 'Thieves' World: First Blood'.
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