FANTASTIC!Review of Audiobook. This is a collection of stories from various authors, some well known, some relatively new...at least to me. What sets this book apart and makes it deserving of ten stars (though I'm limited to five) is that every story--EVERY story--was a winner! The plots were captivating, the writing tight, and the characters engaging.I've bought MANY compilations of short stories--horror, adventure, thrillers--and ALL have contained some wheat and some chaff...but Rogues is 100% golden wheat. Set in various times--from hundreds of years ago to modern day--the stories run the gamut from vampire fantasy to cop thrillers to humorous adventure, but all center on a Rogue, sometimes loveable, occasionally despicable, but always memorable.Fronting each story is a bit about the author...and I'm grateful for that. I found myself going back, constantly, to jot down the author's name...so that I could read whatever else they have written.Kudos to the genius who picked the stories...and even more kudos to whoever chose the narrators, each one remarkable. Perfect pitch to their character, expert timing in their delivery, seamless integration of their voice. Each narrator was absolutely, unequivocally remarkable! My only complaint is...I want a ROGUES II!Please, please...Compile a Rogues II! Nobody cares about my opinion, including me, so I'll be snappy. “Tough Times All Over” by Joe Abercrombie is clever stuff. It sets up a Macguffin plot but ends in a satisfying way nonetheless. It's almost a parody in places, but the light tone works. “What Do You Do?” by Gillian Flynn starts strong and ends stronger. The voice is spot on, the details are clever, and the characters are believable. Ambiguous endings are the only valid kind of endings. “The Inn of the Seven Blessings” by Matthew Hughes...huh. I'm familiar enough with this style of fantasy that I should have been prepared for it, but...huh. It's disappointing. “Bent Twig” by Joe R. Lansdale is another story with killer voice. I can dig this country-fried noir, Pulp Fiction in Texas thing. It's got gristle. “Tawny Petticoats” by Michael Swanwick is absurd but convincing in its absurdity. I appreciate that it's a con story that never plays through its promised con. It's a meta-con story, you could say. “Provenance” by David Ball is not a standard 3-act tale, but it works in the short story format. I applaud the research. Also, the painting is the main character, perhaps, and that is fascinating. “The Roaring Twenties” by Carrie Vaughn was okay. Stock urban fantasy plus mythologized version of an iconic era does not worldbuilding make. The story has some clever ideas, and the writing is decent. “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane” by Scott Lynch shouldn't work as well as it does. It's overblown high fantasy with the obligatory steampunk veneer. It works anyway and feels like an Iron Kingdoms story minus darkness. “Bad Brass” by Bradley Denton felt thin compared to Bent Twig. They have a similar tone, but this is the kiddie version. It was good in places, but it lost me in the judgmental, stereotypical portrayals of teenagers and the unconvincing can't-get-over-a-divorce protagonist. “Heavy Metal” by Cherie Priest clunked. There's no character arc, and the setting isn't particularly interesting. A big guy who is big and large casually ghostbusts a lake thing with the power of Jesus. “The Meaning of Love” by Daniel Abraham is satisfying and believable. It's a fantasy without any of the extemporaneous elements that usually slow down fantasy short stories. The plot was beef stew. “A Better Way to Die” by Paul Cornell is a bit long-winded. It hints at a larger world, but the larger world and the characters therein never struck a chord with me. “Ill Seen in Tyre” by Steven Saylor is unconvincing. Maybe his research and characterization are perfect, I'm not sure, but they felt anachronistic. The story doesn't go anywhere. “A Cargo of Ivories” by Garth Nix was aimed at a younger age group, which made it feel strange among handjobs and vigilante violence. I read Nix's days of the week series (I forget what it's called) a while ago. This story didn't have the inventiveness of that series. “Diamonds From Tequila” by Walter Jon Williams seemed interesting, but I wasn't able to finish it because of technical difficulties. Audiobooks are a new thing for me. "The Caravan to Nowhere” by Phyllis Eisenstein: missed this one too. Sorry Phyllis. I'm sure you're a beautiful person. “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives” by Lisa Tuttle. My tolerance for Sherlock Holmes fanfic is low. The story seemed to touch on something truly weird and provide insight into patriarchy, but it backed off and left me feeling unfulfilled. Fool me, seeking fulfillment in stories instead of in binge eating and self-harm. “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back” by Neil Gaiman is classic Gaiman. Neverwhere was a good novel and this is a good story. He has a peculiar insight into everything. “Now Showing” by Connie Willis requires effort at first. It lacked the perceptiveness of quality satire and cyberpunk and tried to replace it with a barrage of references. The plot worked but the characters and setting made it feel off. “The Lightning Tree” by Patrick Rothfuss is the best story in this anthology. I can't even figure out why. It's so easy to believe in. The prose is delicious, smooth and saucey with the occasional touch of fascinating pomp. I can't point to a particularly revolutionary aspect to the story. All the familiar elements of medieval fantasy are present. They simply work in this story. It's a spectacular reconstruction. I think I shifted to commenting on Rothfuss's ouvre as a whole, but the story is emblematic of his greater work. “The Rogue Prince, or, A King’s Brother” by George R.R. Martin is not the ideal finale. This story would work as a blurb in a book about the Song of Ice and Fire setting. It doesn't work as a standalone short story. It's disturbing that GRRM, whose novels in the series deconstruct practically every trope common to medieval fantasy, wrote an imitation of the Silmarillion. It's the same kind of thing. Decent enough, but not the quality I've seen from the rest of his work.
What do You think about Rogues (2014)?
I mostly want to read this because of the story about Bast by Rothfuss.
—artista_55
Terminally long. Some truly great stories. Some good, several meh.
—IamAnn
Came for the Rogue Prince, stayed for the other stories
—JustMeG85
