Most fantasy literature is pure escapism -- light, easy, black and white. Thieves' World instead features surprisingly complex characters (for a fantasy tale) with uncertain motivations. It's low, gritty, and not concerned with the matters of elves and men. As a mosaic novel (or linear anthology, or what-have-you), a TW book is a grab-bag of authors and stories. In this, the third volume of the 12-book series, there's a novella-length opener that seems to subvert the low-fantasy setting by introducing non-humans and intelligent monsters. It felt out of place -- even in a fantasy world where, yes, there are sorcerers who cast spells, an erudite troll's sudden appearance can, ahem, break the spell. Worse, the climax of that story (a large carnival that's destroyed and in which men are killed) is never mentioned again by anyone in the rest of the book. Beyond this blemish, the rest of the volume is made up of stories by what looks like the core group of authors responsible for the rest of the run of the series; some new characters pop up and some old ones continue their arcs. One other complaint is Janet Morris's pet character, Tempus, a man who evidently doesn't belong in this world and desperately wants out (I think -- he is referred to as both having come through a dimensional gate and as having been born in the TW world). She overwrites everything, too. I suspect neither of them are going anywhere, though.Another nugget worth mentioning. In the first book of the series, Joe Haldeman had a story which featured his bartender character One-Thumb, and killed him off. This was evidently outside the spirit of cooperation among the TW writers, as editor Bob Asprin noted in the postscript of that book that it was a bit of a shock. Through the second book, many characters wondered about One-Thumb and where he might be; one shapeshifter character actually appeared as One-Thumb for some reason. Now, at the outset of the third book, One-Thumb is back (but Joe Haldeman is not), and Hakiem The Storyteller, who will buy a tale so as to spin it for profit later, calls One-Thumb's story stupid. That struck me as editorial voice, both bitchy and a little funny.All in all, let's say 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
I picked this book up eagerly looking for more of the thuggery & skulduggery I've come to slaveringly expect from Thieves' World books. I was bored and disappointed by the cavalcade of all-new characters who took up the first 75 pages with their seemingly endless touchy-feely horseshit in Vonda McIntyre's tiresome opening story. It's like I'm suddenly reading "Elfquest" or something. Since this is a collection of short stories like the other Thieves' World books, there's a chance it'll still pull it out and get great like the first two books in the series, but that first story really killed my interest and I've had to put the book down for now. Seriously, are these characters going to be here forever? I sure hope not.Update: I had nothing to fear. After picking up the book again and pounding through the rest of that first story the rest of the crew got back to their old tricks and started cheating and stabbing each other like they're supposed to. In fact, in case you're thinking of reading the collection, I think you could even skip the first story and not suffer much continuity confusion - that story is so out of left-field it doesn't even connect with the others in any real way so you can just leave it out.
What do You think about Shadows Of Sanctuary (1985)?
Shadows of Sanctuary contained the finest writing of the first three volumes of the Thieves World series. It also contained the two worst stories of the collection. Poor writing coupled with little or no editing took what could have been an outstanding collection of short stories and made it average.One cannot help but notice the stature of the writers selected for the volumes declining. The likes of Mercedes Lackey, Theodore Sturgeon and Joe Haldeman have given way to the likes of Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, and the hapless Janet Morris.
—Brian Schwartz
