|
|
|
Thieves' World: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
nce Ranke ruled a great empire and numbered among its possessions the world's most dangerous city, Sanctuary, den of thieves, whores, swordsmen, sorcerers, fanatics and gods. Here dwelt legends: the magician and shape-changer Enas Yorl; the ex-gladiator Jubal; the star-browed magician/swordsman Lythande; the minstrel Cappen Varra; and the master thief Shadowspawn.
But almost 40 years have passed since Sanctuary's dark heyday. The legends are dead or missing, the bloodthirsty Dyareela cult is shattered, the Rankan empire has retreated, and the Irrune tribe rules Sanctuary in the anthology Enemies of Fortune, which presents 13 new stories (including the "introduction") about fantasy's most famous shared world: Thieves' World.
Penned by 13 writers, these tales of Sanctuary's new generation are loosely woven around a mysterious cargo ship. In "Widowmaker," a pirate ship pursues the Fortunate across 800 years. In "Pricks and Afflictions," an impenetrable box from the wrecked Fortunate brings grief to a necromancer. In "Good Neighbors," a young man betrays his foster family for a dragon-decorated wand from the wreck. "Dark of the Moon" unleashes a lethal marine curse on Sanctuary. In "Legacies," the Fortunate's dead wizard returns to life.
Some stories ignore the wreck, pursuing other developments. In "Introduction," a stonemason with magical memories of Sanctuary's past leads a dangerous double life as advisor to the city's new ruler, the Irrune chieftain Arizak. The injured ruler also figures in "Consequences," as the healer Pel finds himself entangled in the heirs' treacheries. A third story-thread concerns the resurgent Dyareela cult. An orphan who barely survived the original cult must outwit a new worshipper in "Deadly Ritual," while the warrior woman Kadasah stalks cultists in "Gathering Strength," and a lowly minstrel portends a dreadful new future for Dyareela's faithful in "The Man From Shemhaza."
Fantasy's famous shared world
Launched in 1978, Thieves' World is sometimes erroneously hailed as "the first shared-world fantasy." Such labeling ignores older shared-world fantasy series like Conan, Tarzan and the Cthulhu mythos. It also overlooks the shared-world fantasy anthology Mugby Junction (1866), edited by Charles Dickens. But Thieves' World is a "first": Its creators, writer/editors Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin, fashioned the first fantasy world deliberately designed for other authors to write about.
After an absence of 13 years, Thieves' World returned in 2002 under the guidance of co-creator Lynn Abbey, who relaunched the series with her novel Sanctuary and the anthology Turning Points. Their sequel, the anthology Enemies of Fortune (2004), joins old series hands like C.J. Cherryh, Andrew Offutt, Diana L. Paxson and Robin Wayne Bailey with new participants like Jane Fancher, Jeff Grubb, Mickey Zucker Reichert and Selina Rosen. Some contributors are more successful than others, and success isn't determined by experience: Grubb's "Malediction" and Paxson/Gray's collaboration "The Ghost in the Phoenix" are among the best stories, while Offutt's idiosyncratic prose makes "Dark of the Moon" a rough read. Bestseller Dennis L. McKiernan's "Pricks and Afflictions" may infuriate any reader with a speech impediment, for its main character lisps even in his thoughts.
Thieves' World's new generation lacks the old's many larger-than-life criminals, warriors, magicians and deities. The new incarnation focuses more on artisans, shopkeepers, orphans and other less-powerful characters, a few of whom, in Enemies of Fortune, never become more than victims of circumstance. A creepy necromancer, a middle-class family and a few Irrune nobles suggest how Sanctuary's other half might live, but Enemies of Fortune will disappoint old-time fans desiring grand heroes, villains and exploits.
Newcomers face other problems. Lynn Abbey's "Introduction," intended to orient readers new to Thieves' World, overburdens them with the names and nicknames of just about every cult, gang, ethnicity and empire ever to pass through Sanctuary. Shared-world novices who survive the "Introduction" may find themselves baffled by the loosely related stories, which don't read like chapters, don't always behave like traditional climax-resolution stories and never quite cohere. It takes a strong concept or master narrative to weave braided stories into whole cloth. The shipwreck concept is too weak to make Enemies of Fortune whole.
Readers new to Thieves' World will find far more pleasure in Enemies of Fortune if they first read its prequels: Lynn Abbey's novel Sanctuary and its sequel, the anthology Turning Points. — Cynthia
Also in this issue: Gaudeamus, by John Barnes
|
 |
|
| Home |
Copyright © 1998-2006, Science Fiction Weekly (TM). All rights reserved. Reproduction in any medium strictly prohibited. Maintained by scifiweekly@scifi.com. |
