The Book of Swords

August 14, 2017
Swords and sorceries abound in this massive anthology, featuring several luminaries of the fantasy genre. A few of these stories stand out, including Ken Liu’s “The Hidden Girl,” in which a girl in mythical China is kidnapped by a sorceress and trained to become a brilliant assassin who walks between worlds. “ ‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott also breaks the mold with a man, or maybe a banished god, who’s bound by a curse to serve but may remain wily enough to choose his own master. Robin Hobb’s “Her Father’s Sword” will take her regular readers back to familiar territory as a young village girl struggles to cope with an attack in the setting of her Farseer novels. Other works, such as Daniel Abraham’s “The Mocking Tower” and Ellen Kushner’s “When I Was a Highwayman” (which takes place in her Riverside setting), feel familiar for a different reason, differentiating themselves very little from general fantasy tropes. The anthology has strengths and weaknesses, but many readers will pick it up just for a new George R.R. Martin short story tied to the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Starred review from August 15, 2017
Dozois, an indefatigable editor (The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection, 2017, etc.), introduces an all-new compendium of 16 original stories, many set in their authors' established fantasy universes.In his extensive and knowledgeable introduction, Dozois explains that the term "sword & sorcery" was coined by fantasy great Fritz Leiber (the Fafhrd/Gray Mouser yarns) and ranges from its birth in the old pre-WWII pulps through Tolkien up to today's doorstoppers and blockbusters. Many of the entries group themselves naturally. K.J. Parker and, less successfully, Cecelia Holland take up the theme of revenge. Other authors expose the moral ambiguities implicit in much of the subgenre's culture (Ken Liu, Ellen Kushner), and a Rich Larson standout features a pair of curiously principled rogues. Of those set in established worlds, Robin Hobb writes of FitzChivalry Farseer and the Red Ship raiders; Matthew Hughes draws inspiration from Jack Vance's renowned Dying Earth scenario; Walter Jon Williams offers a promising sampler of a forthcoming series; Garth Nix's tales of Sir Hereward and the sorcerously animated ventriloquist's dummy, Master Fitz, are justly famous; Elizabeth Bear writes enthrallingly about the Dead Man, formerly an emperor's guard, and his companion mercenary, the Gage, a brass automaton with a human soul, the stars of her latest novel and series; Lavie Tidhar weighs in with one of his guns-and-sorcery tales about Gorel of Goliris; and, disappointingly, George R.R. Martin offers an undramatic, ultraviolent chronicle set in an era well before the current Game of Thrones books. The remainder defy classification. Kate Elliott's fine effort portrays a mysterious exile from the spirit world who challenges the emperor of Rome; Daniel Abraham captivates with his fine knotty tale of a thief, a prince, and a mysterious magic tower; C.J. Cherryh wonders what happened after Beowulf slew the monster Grendel; and a thrill-a-minute yarn from Scott Lynch somewhat resembles a sorcerous Raiders of the Lost Ark. When fine writer and expert editor Dozois beckons, authors deliver--and this surely will be one of the year's essential anthologies.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Winner of 15 Hugo Awards, Gardner Dozois commissioned these original stories from the best writers of modern sword and sorcery, including one by George R. R. Martin set in the Westeros of his Game of Thrones novels. As you would expect from this editor, each story is different, each a gem. Scott Lynch's The Smoke of Gold Is Glory features a ten-thousand-year-old dragon who sits on a volcano strewn with treasure. K. J. Parker's The Best Man Wins provides a detailed description of how swords are made as well as of how a swordsman is made. Ken Liu weaves a tale about The Hidden Girl trained in ancient ways of assassination during the Tang Dynasty in China. Robin Hobb presents a FitzChivalry Farseer tale about a village visited by her take on zombies. With wry humor, Matthew Hughes spins a tale of wizards, demons, the Sword of Destiny, and a minion who prefers being lucky over being smart. More stories by Elizabeth Bear, Garth Nix, Kate Elliott, Walter Jon Williams, Daniel Abraham, C. J. Cherryh, Ellen Kushner, Rich Larson, Lavie Tidhar, and Cecelia Holland round out this fabulous sampler of writers who know the long and short of epic fantasy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2017

Award-winning editor and anthologist Dozois has brought together some of the biggest names in fantasy for his latest anthology inspired by the sword and sorcery (S&S) subgenre. While S&S had its heydey in the 1960s and 1970s with Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" tales, and Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian" stories, it lives on in the feel of much of today's epic fantasies. Standouts here include K.J. Parker's opening story, "The Best Man Wins," and George R.R. Martin's closing piece, "The Sons of the Dragon," set in the early days of the Targaryen kings. In between there are tales heavy on swords and light on sorcery, as well as the reverse, but most share the high adventure quotient that makes S&S such enjoyable fantasy. Elizabeth Bear's "The King's Evil" stars the duo at the center of her newest novel, Stone in the Skull (see review on p. 57). VERDICT With original stories from contributors such as Robin Hobb, Garth Nix, Ken Liu, Ellen Kushner, Bear, Lavie Tidhar, Kate Elliott, and Scott Lynch, this is a great collection for any fantasy fan. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/17.]--MM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017

Fantasy stories from George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, Elizabeth Bear, and more, with editing by 15-time Hugo and 34-time Locus award-winning editor/anthologist Dozois? That's fantastic! The big plum here is a new, fresh-as-blood "Song of Ice and Fire" story.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.