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You define life or it defines you.
In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.
Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell tohelp alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends.
Unfettered is the result: an anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
Twenty-three tales comprise this incredible collection, and as the title suggests, the writers were free to contribute whatever they wished.
Here is the table of contents:
- Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss
- Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered
- Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
- How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
- Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
- The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
- The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
- The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
- Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
- Dogs by Daniel Abraham
- The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
- Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
- Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
- Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
- In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
- River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
- The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
- The Duel by Lev Grossman
- Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
- The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life’s hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right, but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.
After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?
In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.
Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell tohelp alleviate those bills—and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends.
Unfettered is the result: an anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
Twenty-three tales comprise this incredible collection, and as the title suggests, the writers were free to contribute whatever they wished.
Here is the table of contents:
- Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss
- Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered
- Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
- How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
- Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
- The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
- The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
- The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
- Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
- Dogs by Daniel Abraham
- The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
- Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
- Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
- Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
- In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
- River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
- The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
- The Duel by Lev Grossman
- Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
- The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life’s hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right, but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.
After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?
518 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 21, 2013
About the author
Shawn Speakman
26 books715 followersShawn Speakman grew up in the beautiful wilds of Washington State near a volcano and surrounded by old-growth forests filled with magic. After moving to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, he befriended New York Times best-selling fantasy author Terry Brooks and became his webmaster, leading to an enchanted life surrounded by words.
He was a manager at one of the largest Barnes & Noble Booksellers in the country for many years and now owns the online bookstore The Signed Page, manages the websites for several authors, and is a freelance writer for Random House.
He also contributed the annotations for The Annotated Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, published in 2012.
Shawn is a cancer survivor, knows angel fire east, and lives in Seattle, Washington.
He was a manager at one of the largest Barnes & Noble Booksellers in the country for many years and now owns the online bookstore The Signed Page, manages the websites for several authors, and is a freelance writer for Random House.
He also contributed the annotations for The Annotated Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, published in 2012.
Shawn is a cancer survivor, knows angel fire east, and lives in Seattle, Washington.
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December 27, 2014Over the last couple weeks, people have been asking me about this anthology, where my first-ever short story published.
But I can't write an honest review of it yet, as I haven't had a chance to read it all the way through.
I can say that what I've read so far, I've really liked.
In addition to that, I did write the introduction to the book, and since that explains what the anthology is all about, I'm going to put that up here so people can see it.
* * *
Can I be honest here? I don't read forewords.
Can I be painfully honest? I don't even know what forwards are for.
Am I supposed to somehow convince you to buy this book? Are you even now standing in a bookstore, reading this, your gut roiling with indecision?
That doesn't seem to make sense to me. For one thing, you can see the folks in this anthology. You've read their names on the cover. It couldn't be more impressive if it included Lord Krishna and Optimus Prime. If those names didn't convince you, what could I possibly say that might tip you over the edge?
I mean, it is true that owning this book will make you roughly 38% more attractive. Its mere presence on your shelf boosts your metabolism, too. And there's the fact that touching it on a daily basis is proven to cure scrofula and reverse baldness.
Seriously, what do you expect? I'm *in* the book. And I'm a professional liar. You can't trust my opinion on this matter. Of course I'd like you to buy it.
Maybe you've already bought this book, and now I'm supposed to somehow reassure you, make it clear you've spent your money wisely. Is that the point of a foreword? Am I just trying to help you stave off the chilly hand of buyer's remorse?
It seems to me that in both those cases, you'd be better served just reading the book rather than looking here for answers. I mean, honestly. We're 200 words in at this point. If you'd just skipped this foreword you'd already be on the second page of one of the stories….
Well fine. If you're here, I guess you want something else. And given that I don’t know what I'm supposed to write in a foreword, I'm just going to tell you a story.
Back in 2007, my first book was published. Also in 2007 my mom died of cancer.
In 2007, I also met Shawn Speakman. I found out that he'd had cancer in the past and beaten it. My thoughts at the time were an odd mingling of confused ("What? You can do that?") and thrilled. ("Yeah! Take that, goddamn cancer!")
When he contacted me in 2011 and told me that he'd gotten a new cancer. It's hard to describe how I felt. "Pissed off" sums it up fairly well. But there was also a sense of unfairness to it all. Nobody should have to deal with that shit twice.
When I asked for details, I was glad to hear that it was very treatable. Very beatable. I think I said something like, "Damn. That's really awful…. but congrats on getting a really good cancer."
Those of you who have had personal brushes with cancer will understand this statement. The rest of you... probably not so much.
But there was bad news. Shawn couldn't get health insurance because he'd had cancer before. That meant his treatment was probably going to bankrupt him.
When he told me about his plans for an anthology to raise money for his bills, I said I'd be happy to give him a story. It was a no-brainer for me, as it allowed me to, if not spit directly into cancer's eye, then at least to glare at it angrily from across the room.
The fact that other authors have joined this anthology in such numbers shows what good folks sci-fi and fantasy authors are. I have a grudge against cancer. It was an easy choice for me. But a lot of them are merely doing this to help out a friend in a tight spot.
And by buying this book, you've helped too. Thanks for that. You're a good person.
Alright, I've wasted enough of your time here. On to the stories.
Pat Rothfuss, May 2013
* * *
If you'd like to order a copy of unfettered, you can order one directly from Shawn over here.
(There are also links to e-book options on his site)
Or you can order a copy from The Tinker's Packs where I'll sign it, and money will go to Shawn *and* Worldbuilders too...
Later space coyboys...
pat
June 27, 2013
Yes, I have a story in this anthology so my rating comes from all stories except "The Jester" - I'll leave it to others to say how well I did on that particular piece. I am going to provide the brief intro to my piece, though, in the hopes that finding out what my story is about will help others take a look.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The characters of Royce and Hadrian came to me during my self-imposed ten-year hiatus from writing. After crafting twelve novels and spending a decade getting nowhere, I had determined that publication was hopeless, and I had vowed never to write creatively again. But they kept invading my mind, and as hard as I tried to silence them, I finally gave in, on one condition: that I would write a book that I wanted to read and forgo any thoughts of publication. What a fun time I had bringing these two rogues to life. My wife decided to circumvent my plans and got the books published, and hence Riyria was born.
The six books of The Riyria Revelations were released by Orbit in three two-book omnibus volumes, and while I thought that would be the end of Royce and Hadrian, readers clamored for more. Because I didn’t want to “tack on” to a carefully choreographed ending, The Riyria Chronicles were born to explore adventures that occurred during the twelve years the pair were together before Revelations began.
The short story I’ve provided is a Chronicles tale. It takes place after the events of The Rose and the Thorn and before those of Theft of Swords. Even so, it’s a stand-alone story and no prior experience with any of my books is required to enjoy it to its fullest.
Crafting a work for Unfettered was quite a daunting experience. I wanted to help Shawn and his cause, but how could I not be intimidated by the esteem of the authors I’d be sharing the pages with? Like Riyria, I hope that I rose to the challenge, and that you’ll be entertained by “The Jester,” a story of adventure, bonds of friendship, and a recognition that the choices we make dictates the future we find.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to also provide the first paragraph to "The Jester" as that is sometimes a good way to get people interested in a story.
Hadrian discovered that the most fascinating thing about plummeting in total darkness wasn’t the odd sense of euphoria instilled from the free fall or the abject terror derived from anticipating sudden death, but that he had the opportunity to contemplate both. The drop was that far.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfettered is the brain-child of Terry Brooks who wanted to find a way to help out Shawn Speakman...his website designer who racked up $200,000 in uninsured medical expenses while fighting Hodgkin’s cancer. Terry donated a short story, and other fatnasy authors followed suit. No one is taking an compensation from their stories, all money will go paying off Shawn's bills, and if there is any left over...he'll start a fund to help other authors as well.
The line up for this project is legend. It includes:
Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, R.A. Salvatore, Tad Williams, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Peter V. Brett, Robert V.S. Redick, Peter Orullian, Todd Lockwood, Carrie Vaughn, Blake Charlton, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, David Anthony Durham, Jennifer Bosworth, Lev Grossman, Michael J. Sullivan, Eldon Thompson, and Shawn Speakman.
In addition to donating a Royce and Hadrian short story, I also helped Shawn with formatting the ebook. This gave me a sneak peek at all the stories and while they are all good, I told myself before I started reading that I would choose 10 as my favorites. Here is the list (presented in order of where they appear in the book)
* Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
* Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
* Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
* Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
* The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
* Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
* All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
* Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
* Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
* The Duel by Lev Grossman
---------------------------- Update 6/21/2013 -------------------------
So yesterday I completed my proofing of the ebook version of Unfettered and the book is now back in the hands of Shawn for posting. I must say there is a wide variety of stories in here and I think you'd be hard pressed not to find something that tickles your fancy.
One thing that I found most remarkable, is even books that were part of a franchise that I haven't read I still found them extremely enjoyable and engaging.
Still debating the ethics of giving a rating as I have a story in this volume, but if I were to rate it, the marks would be high indeed.
---------------------------- Update 6/27/2013 -------------------------
The following would be considered "spoiler material" please don't read this portion until after you finish the story.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The characters of Royce and Hadrian came to me during my self-imposed ten-year hiatus from writing. After crafting twelve novels and spending a decade getting nowhere, I had determined that publication was hopeless, and I had vowed never to write creatively again. But they kept invading my mind, and as hard as I tried to silence them, I finally gave in, on one condition: that I would write a book that I wanted to read and forgo any thoughts of publication. What a fun time I had bringing these two rogues to life. My wife decided to circumvent my plans and got the books published, and hence Riyria was born.
The six books of The Riyria Revelations were released by Orbit in three two-book omnibus volumes, and while I thought that would be the end of Royce and Hadrian, readers clamored for more. Because I didn’t want to “tack on” to a carefully choreographed ending, The Riyria Chronicles were born to explore adventures that occurred during the twelve years the pair were together before Revelations began.
The short story I’ve provided is a Chronicles tale. It takes place after the events of The Rose and the Thorn and before those of Theft of Swords. Even so, it’s a stand-alone story and no prior experience with any of my books is required to enjoy it to its fullest.
Crafting a work for Unfettered was quite a daunting experience. I wanted to help Shawn and his cause, but how could I not be intimidated by the esteem of the authors I’d be sharing the pages with? Like Riyria, I hope that I rose to the challenge, and that you’ll be entertained by “The Jester,” a story of adventure, bonds of friendship, and a recognition that the choices we make dictates the future we find.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to also provide the first paragraph to "The Jester" as that is sometimes a good way to get people interested in a story.
Hadrian discovered that the most fascinating thing about plummeting in total darkness wasn’t the odd sense of euphoria instilled from the free fall or the abject terror derived from anticipating sudden death, but that he had the opportunity to contemplate both. The drop was that far.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfettered is the brain-child of Terry Brooks who wanted to find a way to help out Shawn Speakman...his website designer who racked up $200,000 in uninsured medical expenses while fighting Hodgkin’s cancer. Terry donated a short story, and other fatnasy authors followed suit. No one is taking an compensation from their stories, all money will go paying off Shawn's bills, and if there is any left over...he'll start a fund to help other authors as well.
The line up for this project is legend. It includes:
Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, R.A. Salvatore, Tad Williams, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Abraham, Peter V. Brett, Robert V.S. Redick, Peter Orullian, Todd Lockwood, Carrie Vaughn, Blake Charlton, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, David Anthony Durham, Jennifer Bosworth, Lev Grossman, Michael J. Sullivan, Eldon Thompson, and Shawn Speakman.
In addition to donating a Royce and Hadrian short story, I also helped Shawn with formatting the ebook. This gave me a sneak peek at all the stories and while they are all good, I told myself before I started reading that I would choose 10 as my favorites. Here is the list (presented in order of where they appear in the book)
* Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
* Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
* Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
* Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
* The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
* Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
* All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
* Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
* Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
* The Duel by Lev Grossman
---------------------------- Update 6/21/2013 -------------------------
So yesterday I completed my proofing of the ebook version of Unfettered and the book is now back in the hands of Shawn for posting. I must say there is a wide variety of stories in here and I think you'd be hard pressed not to find something that tickles your fancy.
One thing that I found most remarkable, is even books that were part of a franchise that I haven't read I still found them extremely enjoyable and engaging.
Still debating the ethics of giving a rating as I have a story in this volume, but if I were to rate it, the marks would be high indeed.
---------------------------- Update 6/27/2013 -------------------------
The following would be considered "spoiler material" please don't read this portion until after you finish the story.
June 24, 2013
I admit it.
I'm biased.
I think Unfettered is more badass than Patrick Rothfuss's beard.
That said, I am a fantasy fan first. I always will be. And I am perhaps even more judgmental of projects that I am working on than those I'm not. So when I say Unfettered is a solid fantasy anthology and deserves to be read, I mean it.
There are several short stories in here that should be nominated for Hugo Awards. No joke. And the rest are solid entries. There are two I'd love to see grown into full length novels one day. And I'm even happy with my own short story, something I don't say too often about my own work.
If you love fantasy and love what these writers do, Unfettered is a great place for you. You will read stories from some of your favorite writers; you will read and hopefully fall in love with some new writers! That's the point. To be a great sampling and promote reading of the fantastic.
I hope you love Unfettered as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Thank you to you all. And I'm happy to give a HUGE thank you to my writers. Without you, this wouldn't have happened.
Cheers!
S.
I'm biased.
I think Unfettered is more badass than Patrick Rothfuss's beard.
That said, I am a fantasy fan first. I always will be. And I am perhaps even more judgmental of projects that I am working on than those I'm not. So when I say Unfettered is a solid fantasy anthology and deserves to be read, I mean it.
There are several short stories in here that should be nominated for Hugo Awards. No joke. And the rest are solid entries. There are two I'd love to see grown into full length novels one day. And I'm even happy with my own short story, something I don't say too often about my own work.
If you love fantasy and love what these writers do, Unfettered is a great place for you. You will read stories from some of your favorite writers; you will read and hopefully fall in love with some new writers! That's the point. To be a great sampling and promote reading of the fantastic.
I hope you love Unfettered as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Thank you to you all. And I'm happy to give a HUGE thank you to my writers. Without you, this wouldn't have happened.
Cheers!
S.
April 27, 2017
This was a rather enjoyable anthology. I read some stories, skimmed others and skipped some. I might go back and read/re-read some of these in the future, but for now, here are individual ratings of the ones I did read.
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks: 3 stars
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss: 2 stars
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams: 2 stars
The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey: 4 stars
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett: 3 stars
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence: 4 stars
River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson: 5 stars
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan: 4 stars
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks: 4 stars
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks: 3 stars
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss: 2 stars
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams: 2 stars
The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey: 4 stars
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett: 3 stars
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence: 4 stars
River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson: 5 stars
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan: 4 stars
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks: 4 stars
Want to read
October 9, 2012Well I've yet to read any of the stories except mine ... but mine's off the hook :D go buy this!
http://grimoakpress.com/2012/08/unfet...
Apparently the leather-bound + signed by all the author copies went in a hurry but you can still snag a fine trade edition.
I expect some of those other guys are ok too...
http://grimoakpress.com/2012/08/unfet...
Apparently the leather-bound + signed by all the author copies went in a hurry but you can still snag a fine trade edition.
I expect some of those other guys are ok too...
July 28, 2013
I've started reading this short story collection, and so far I'm definitely enjoying it. I'll keep updating my review as I progress through it.
- Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks => I really enjoyed this story, it's very well written and I liked the combination of the two worlds, with how each fantastical adventure was preceded by a hit on the head. It made for an interesting story, where you could view it as all in the kid's imagination, or that it was real. The whole brain cancer (or whatever it was) angle was also really interesting, if this was the precursor of one of his series, I may have to check it out. 5/5 stars
- How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss => I absolutely love Rothuss' Kingkiller series, and while this short story is really interesting, on it's own I didn't love it. The story telling format was incredibly unique, and I love how it is probably a story/song Kvothe's world. However, I wish there had been more meat on the bones, I want to know more about the woman and the anthropomorphic Holly Tree, but in this story format that was impossible. Still, it stuck with me, and I really enjoyed it, I just feel like Old Holly isn't an accurate representation of Rothfuss' writing for a new reader. 4.5/5 stars
- The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams => This was a really fun little story, but I kind of felt like a lot of possibly cool moments were skipped over, and instead the book focused solely on entertaining conversations. Still, the idea of the short story was very fun and enjoyable (if unbelievable and goofy). Who would expect a story about a whole traveling group of monsters lead by an old knight and an old dragon, going across the country scamming villages? 4/5 stars
- Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn => I loved this short story, and it's from one of the few authors that I haven't read in this collection. If the story had a little more world building to explain the magic system and what the characters are doing (and why they are immediately killed if they interact too directly with the real world they took themselves slightly out of) it would be perfect. Still, I really enjoyed the world and the story, and the writing was superb. It's incredibly original, and really grabbed my attention. My only other problem with it is that while I really liked the ending, I wish that it was a little longer, as it felt a bit abrupt. I'll be sure to check out this author's other books. 5/5 stars
- The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey => This was a good short story, that accurately represents the origin of the author's main series (except there isn't any kinky sex). It's well written, and very visual, but I wish there was a little more to the story. It almost felt to me like this was a small part of a larger story, that the reader is being dropped into a day of. 4/5 stars
- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett => This was an amazing short story, that really makes me wish it was the start of a full book (which I guess it kind of is as the author said in the intro that a lot of the Daylight War features Briar, but it will probably be when he's older). It has that excellent feel of the other Demon Cycle Books (especially the first), and is a heart-wrenching tale, with very interesting and developed characters and even a new demon fighting/evading technique (unless it was in the other books and I'm forgetting it). I love the child character and the family, and it's horrible how the rest of the town treats the half-blood Briar. The ending was horrifying but very well written, however I must have skipped over an important part of the plot, as I was confused when Briar realizes what happened, and had to re-read it, but it was worth it (when I saw what the cause of the fire was). This story really makes me want to read The Daylight War immediately, which is currently sitting on my shelf, I think that sill be what I read when I'm done with Unfettered. 5/5 stars
- The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian => Wow, I absolutely loved this short story, which is really a Novelette. It is so well written, that it had me tearing up multiple times throughout. I loved the two sides of the story, where the teacher has to deal with his apparent failure by fixing his most precious instrument and healing his own past, while the student leaves to go fight a war to defend his homeland with the music he'd learn to save the world re-purposed to destroy his enemies on the battlefield. Both parts are excellent, with the music theory, instrument crafting, and general soul of the teacher half being really interesting and heartfelt, while the musical warfare of the student is an awesome and horrifying look into the power of music in this world. I'm really not sure which part I liked more, but both of them are great for completely different reasons. Then the way it ends is also just absolutely perfect, I don't want to spoil it at all, so I'll just say that I loved it. It's been a while since I read Orullian's debut, so I can't remember if any of the characters in this story were featured in the book, but I will say that this story seems very different from the epic debut that reminded me of Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time. This story was so good that it makes we wish I could read the second book right now, and I would say that this story by itself is worth the price of admission for Unfettered. Honestly, this may be my favorite short story that I've ever read. 5/5 stars
- The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore => Man this story was bad, and so out of place, I have no idea what it's doing in a Fantasy Anthology. It's written very simplistically, and the story is incredibly cliche and predictable. Then, after of course the main character looses the game for the team, the text shifts to italic and everyone (except for his father) turns into Zombies who promptly eat the kid alive. I couldn't figure out if this was supposed to have actually happend, or if this was just how the kid felt after his failure (which makes a lot more sense to me). Still, even if you're going to do a Zombie twist to try to fit the story into a Fantasy anthology like Unfettered, it just wasn't written well at all. To me, this story feels like it was written by a depressed emo/goth kid setting his heart down on the page after losing the game and gaining the perceived hatred of his peers and father. I don't know what Salvatore was thinking when he sent this story in, because it never should have left the junk folder on his computer, and that's coming from a big Salvatore fan. 1/5 stars
- Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood => This was a good short story, but the main parts of it were kind of confusing. The reader gets thrown into a conflict that has been going on for awhile, and you don't get to learn much about it, other then that a bunch of evil dark dragons and monsters are attacking and killing human cities. The main character here is an apprentice memory keeper, assigned to learn and hold all of the history of their civilization. He's sent out to gather special berries for magical tattooing, and along the way he get's lost and encounters a confusing little magical girl that kind of helps him (there's also a lot of things here which would probably be significant if you'd read his books, but for me was just kind of goofy). Later in the story, there is a lot of prophecy and future telling, where I assume that for Lockwood's full fantasy series, the main character is the reincarnated character from this short story. I enjoyed the story, but I kind of felt like it would have worked much better if I had read any of his books. 4/5 stars
- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton => This was an excellent story, which was very original and interesting. It's basically a post-apocalyptic story, where a large group of scientists created their own heaven, and after the people left on Earth attacked them, they released nano-machines that sterilized most of the humans left alive. The story takes place years later, and now the people that ascended into the man-made heaven are reincarnated back on Earth when they want to experience the real world again. Since female humans are so rare in this world, and most of the men are pretty desperate, when a person finds a reincarnated baby girl, their lives become attached to the girl, and if she dies the father dies as well. However, having a daughter is a huge social benefit, as the few adult women want to raise a daughter of their own, and will become a partner to the father for the chance, so when the main character Lopez finds a glowing reincarnated baby on his property, he takes it in and ties his life to her's. The story that follows is very heartfelt, as the daughter grows up but is diagnosed with Leukemia, and most of the medication that would have cured it isn't available anymore. I almost absolutely loved this story, but it was just so depressing, I wish there was at least a little bit of hope to be found here, or if the reader could have learned more about what happened, or something else. Still, it's an excellent short story. 5/5 stars
- Dogs by Daniel Abraham => This is another story that I disliked and felt really out of place in the anthology, but at least it had much better writing than The Coach with Big Teeth. First off, I know that this anthology is called Unfettered, but every author is a Fantasy author, and almost all of the stories are fantasy stories, so when a story takes place completely in the real world without any fantasy, it's weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Even goofier, is that in Daniel Abraham's introduction, he talks about how this is a horror story, and it just flat out isn't. This is a story about a guy recovering from a vicious attack by a roving pack of feral dogs, where he tries to live in a world where everything has changed for him. While there is a lot of stuff about how we're living with predators, and how 1 in 5 dogs bite, how crazy an idea it is (I disagree with a lot of the assumptions the author makes). The whole attack and the main character's recovery of it bears much more resemblance to a gang rape than a dog attack, and I'm not sure why the author went this route. If he wanted to talk about rape, the main character should have been raped, but for it being a dog attack it just didn't really make sense (maybe he was just trying to go about it in a round about manner, but I didn't care for it). I found a lot of problems with the story itself as well, mainly with how the main character opens the door for his little dog after he's back home, relegating the tiny house doggy (if it could fit into his friend's jacket it must be really small) to the dangerous outside world almost guarantee's its death by being run over, eating by larger predators, or starvation. It's even weirder with how he has no remorse over it, and his other reactions when he still goes to the pound to look at the dogs. If he couldn't handle having a dog after being attacked, he should have re-homed the dog, instead of just letting it free in the urban jungle. This part just really bothered me. I thought it was also goofy how if he was so scared of being attacked again, why didn't he carry a can of mace, a knife, a baton, a gun, something to defend himself. He just seems so completely helpless, and they also don't talk at all about his family or who the guy was before the attack, the character just wasn't developed enough. Then to end as it did, I get what the author was going for, where it's saying that this character will have to live with the anxiety for the rest of his life, but it's just an odd abrupt ending. I simply did not like this story, and I would give it an even lower score, but honestly the actual writing was good, even though the story was bad. 2/5 stars
- The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne => I really enjoyed this story, it works very well as a back-story for the character if you already loved the Iron Druid series, or as an exciting standalone adventure re-imagining of King Arthur's hunt for the Holy Grail. This story has humor, action, and an intelligent/interesting new look at a historical fantasy tale. Personally, I haven't read any of Kevin Hearne's books, though I do have some sitting on my bookshelf, and reading this short story really made we want to jump into his full books. My only real problem with this short story, is that I felt like it could have possibly been longer, mainly when the Iron Druid comes to the castle and meets with the the Pict Necromancer. To me, it almost seemed like the set-up for a bigger story, but since it had to be shorter, instead of playing the long game, the Druid immediately confronted the main villain. This whole scene was very cool, the action throughout the story was excellent and exciting, but I just thought there would be a little more to it. Still, I really loved this story, and I think I'll have to move his books up on my to-read list. 5/5 stars.
- Select Mode by Mark Lawrence => I really thought this was a great little story that amazingly shrunk the entire essence/concept of the Prince of Thorns book down into a very condensed short story. It has the post-apocalyptic world with misunderstood technological remnants from the builders, Jorg's unique personality and impulsive gritty violence combined with his tortured history, all wrapped around in Lawrence's excellent writing. I will say though, that the author introduction was very odd, as while the title of the Anthology is Unfettered, and some authors wrote completely random stories that didn't fit in with everything else, Lawrence on the other hand was asked by Speakman to create a story set in his broken empire, a Jorg story, which seems very limited/fettered. Still, for the story itself, I immensely enjoyed it, and I think that it should be a great story for readers new to Jorg and Mark Lawrence, along with being awesome for people that have already enjoyed the adventures of our Prince/King/Emperor of Thorns. However, it does feel fragmented, as the reader doesn't get to see how they were captured, or what they were doing before hand. This just feels like a tiny little vignette into the day of the life of Jorg. Still, I loved this tiny little short story, and it makes me look forward even more-so to the release of Emperor of Thorns. 5/5 stars
- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham => I really enjoyed this short, simple, and heartfelt story. There isn't a whole lot to it, and it's a bit childish/unbelievable (This story's world is absolutely filled with highly intelligent cat ghosts), but I loved it for what it was. I think that this story would make an amazing picture book for children, it's very visual and original, and I think it would be perfect if it was fully illustrated. If I compare it to my favorite stories in this Anthology, it doesn't quite compare, but it's just a well written quick little story with a lot of heart. 4.5/5 stars
- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth => For me this is the most forgettable short story in Unfettered. There's nothing really bad about this story (although the reasoning of the main character is really goofy), it's just that I would keep thinking about what this story was, and it would always take awhile for anything to come to mind. There isn't too much to the story, it's just a quick origin for two characters in the author's series. I wasn't sure what was up with the cloud that followed her (if it was real or not) and what was up with the brain control the random guy apparently had. The writing was fine, but there wasn't enough about the characters for me to dig in, and ultimately I just didn't really care for the story. It's highly possible that this short story would be awesome for people that are fans of the author's books and already know the characters/world, but for me it was nothing special. 3/5 stars
- Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick => Ugh, this story was an absolute mess. It's just all over the place, and I have no idea what the author was trying to do here. None of it makes any sense, it first appears that the main character is a prince and his city is under attack, but then after his treasonous guard captain talks to him in full eloquent sentences through morse code, the story changes and he's apparently hallucinating, then he's still in the castle but now he's a musician and his Dad is talking about him and he seems like he's in a mental institution, but then it randomly shifts to a confusing flashback, and then an even more random/abrupt jump forward where apparently he has been reincarnated? This is just so bad, and I found myself skimming hoping that the story would be shorter and I could finish it and move on to something better. I just didn't like this story at all, and I really think it's a poorly/over-written confusing mess of a story. 1/5 stars
- Unbowed by Eldon Thompson => I really loved this short story, and since I haven’t read anything by the author before, I’m definitely going to have to check out his books. This story feels like the beginning of an excellent book, but it still has an appropriate and fitting end. I kind of wished that things had went down differently, but what did happen was very powerful, and provided a great character building experience for the main character. There’s just so many awesome things about this book to talk about, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that I loved the characters and the writing is excellent. Unbowed is definitely one of the best stories in the Unfettered Anthology, and I can’t wait to read the author’s other books, especially if this is a good example of his other work. 5/5 stars
- In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik => This short story is kind of goofy and confusing, as it’s essentially an alternate universe futuristic sci-fi version of the Temerarie books. For a while, I couldn’t figure out if they were the same dragons but they survived until space travel/colonization existed, or what as everyone has the same names as the books. Also, the sci-fi stuff didn’t seem really believable, and I found it to be very difficult to visualize in my mind. I also thought it was weird with how the story just ends, when it really just seems like the beginning of a story. The writing itself is fine, I just wasn’t very impressed with the story. I almost wonder if people that haven’t read any of the Temerarie books might enjoy this story more, as I really just felt like this was fan-fiction, not a short story written by the same author that created the original books. The story isn’t necessarily bad; I just didn’t really enjoy it. 3/5 stars
- River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson => I’ve read every Wheel of Time book except for the last one, so I had a little trepidation that there might be some spoilers, but there really weren’t any. I enjoyed this short story, and surprisingly the main character which is kind of evil. I really enjoyed how it gave another look at the other side, with how this character had his own prophecy to fulfill and he had a whole group adventuring with him as well. However, I kind of wish that there had been more here to sink my teeth into. First off, in the big battle of the short story, it cuts away and comes back at the end, which was a letdown. Then, I felt like there should have been more before it finishes, and it instead just ends up feeling like a rough draft of the first/second chapter of a character’s story in the final WoT book. I’d love to see it expanded, and what is here I really enjoyed, but it wasn’t anything amazing, and I was left slightly disappointed. 4/5 stars
-- To Be Continued in the Comments section --
- Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks => I really enjoyed this story, it's very well written and I liked the combination of the two worlds, with how each fantastical adventure was preceded by a hit on the head. It made for an interesting story, where you could view it as all in the kid's imagination, or that it was real. The whole brain cancer (or whatever it was) angle was also really interesting, if this was the precursor of one of his series, I may have to check it out. 5/5 stars
- How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss => I absolutely love Rothuss' Kingkiller series, and while this short story is really interesting, on it's own I didn't love it. The story telling format was incredibly unique, and I love how it is probably a story/song Kvothe's world. However, I wish there had been more meat on the bones, I want to know more about the woman and the anthropomorphic Holly Tree, but in this story format that was impossible. Still, it stuck with me, and I really enjoyed it, I just feel like Old Holly isn't an accurate representation of Rothfuss' writing for a new reader. 4.5/5 stars
- The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams => This was a really fun little story, but I kind of felt like a lot of possibly cool moments were skipped over, and instead the book focused solely on entertaining conversations. Still, the idea of the short story was very fun and enjoyable (if unbelievable and goofy). Who would expect a story about a whole traveling group of monsters lead by an old knight and an old dragon, going across the country scamming villages? 4/5 stars
- Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn => I loved this short story, and it's from one of the few authors that I haven't read in this collection. If the story had a little more world building to explain the magic system and what the characters are doing (and why they are immediately killed if they interact too directly with the real world they took themselves slightly out of) it would be perfect. Still, I really enjoyed the world and the story, and the writing was superb. It's incredibly original, and really grabbed my attention. My only other problem with it is that while I really liked the ending, I wish that it was a little longer, as it felt a bit abrupt. I'll be sure to check out this author's other books. 5/5 stars
- The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey => This was a good short story, that accurately represents the origin of the author's main series (except there isn't any kinky sex). It's well written, and very visual, but I wish there was a little more to the story. It almost felt to me like this was a small part of a larger story, that the reader is being dropped into a day of. 4/5 stars
- Mudboy by Peter V. Brett => This was an amazing short story, that really makes me wish it was the start of a full book (which I guess it kind of is as the author said in the intro that a lot of the Daylight War features Briar, but it will probably be when he's older). It has that excellent feel of the other Demon Cycle Books (especially the first), and is a heart-wrenching tale, with very interesting and developed characters and even a new demon fighting/evading technique (unless it was in the other books and I'm forgetting it). I love the child character and the family, and it's horrible how the rest of the town treats the half-blood Briar. The ending was horrifying but very well written, however I must have skipped over an important part of the plot, as I was confused when Briar realizes what happened, and had to re-read it, but it was worth it (when I saw what the cause of the fire was). This story really makes me want to read The Daylight War immediately, which is currently sitting on my shelf, I think that sill be what I read when I'm done with Unfettered. 5/5 stars
- The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian => Wow, I absolutely loved this short story, which is really a Novelette. It is so well written, that it had me tearing up multiple times throughout. I loved the two sides of the story, where the teacher has to deal with his apparent failure by fixing his most precious instrument and healing his own past, while the student leaves to go fight a war to defend his homeland with the music he'd learn to save the world re-purposed to destroy his enemies on the battlefield. Both parts are excellent, with the music theory, instrument crafting, and general soul of the teacher half being really interesting and heartfelt, while the musical warfare of the student is an awesome and horrifying look into the power of music in this world. I'm really not sure which part I liked more, but both of them are great for completely different reasons. Then the way it ends is also just absolutely perfect, I don't want to spoil it at all, so I'll just say that I loved it. It's been a while since I read Orullian's debut, so I can't remember if any of the characters in this story were featured in the book, but I will say that this story seems very different from the epic debut that reminded me of Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time. This story was so good that it makes we wish I could read the second book right now, and I would say that this story by itself is worth the price of admission for Unfettered. Honestly, this may be my favorite short story that I've ever read. 5/5 stars
- The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore => Man this story was bad, and so out of place, I have no idea what it's doing in a Fantasy Anthology. It's written very simplistically, and the story is incredibly cliche and predictable. Then, after of course the main character looses the game for the team, the text shifts to italic and everyone (except for his father) turns into Zombies who promptly eat the kid alive. I couldn't figure out if this was supposed to have actually happend, or if this was just how the kid felt after his failure (which makes a lot more sense to me). Still, even if you're going to do a Zombie twist to try to fit the story into a Fantasy anthology like Unfettered, it just wasn't written well at all. To me, this story feels like it was written by a depressed emo/goth kid setting his heart down on the page after losing the game and gaining the perceived hatred of his peers and father. I don't know what Salvatore was thinking when he sent this story in, because it never should have left the junk folder on his computer, and that's coming from a big Salvatore fan. 1/5 stars
- Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood => This was a good short story, but the main parts of it were kind of confusing. The reader gets thrown into a conflict that has been going on for awhile, and you don't get to learn much about it, other then that a bunch of evil dark dragons and monsters are attacking and killing human cities. The main character here is an apprentice memory keeper, assigned to learn and hold all of the history of their civilization. He's sent out to gather special berries for magical tattooing, and along the way he get's lost and encounters a confusing little magical girl that kind of helps him (there's also a lot of things here which would probably be significant if you'd read his books, but for me was just kind of goofy). Later in the story, there is a lot of prophecy and future telling, where I assume that for Lockwood's full fantasy series, the main character is the reincarnated character from this short story. I enjoyed the story, but I kind of felt like it would have worked much better if I had read any of his books. 4/5 stars
- Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton => This was an excellent story, which was very original and interesting. It's basically a post-apocalyptic story, where a large group of scientists created their own heaven, and after the people left on Earth attacked them, they released nano-machines that sterilized most of the humans left alive. The story takes place years later, and now the people that ascended into the man-made heaven are reincarnated back on Earth when they want to experience the real world again. Since female humans are so rare in this world, and most of the men are pretty desperate, when a person finds a reincarnated baby girl, their lives become attached to the girl, and if she dies the father dies as well. However, having a daughter is a huge social benefit, as the few adult women want to raise a daughter of their own, and will become a partner to the father for the chance, so when the main character Lopez finds a glowing reincarnated baby on his property, he takes it in and ties his life to her's. The story that follows is very heartfelt, as the daughter grows up but is diagnosed with Leukemia, and most of the medication that would have cured it isn't available anymore. I almost absolutely loved this story, but it was just so depressing, I wish there was at least a little bit of hope to be found here, or if the reader could have learned more about what happened, or something else. Still, it's an excellent short story. 5/5 stars
- Dogs by Daniel Abraham => This is another story that I disliked and felt really out of place in the anthology, but at least it had much better writing than The Coach with Big Teeth. First off, I know that this anthology is called Unfettered, but every author is a Fantasy author, and almost all of the stories are fantasy stories, so when a story takes place completely in the real world without any fantasy, it's weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Even goofier, is that in Daniel Abraham's introduction, he talks about how this is a horror story, and it just flat out isn't. This is a story about a guy recovering from a vicious attack by a roving pack of feral dogs, where he tries to live in a world where everything has changed for him. While there is a lot of stuff about how we're living with predators, and how 1 in 5 dogs bite, how crazy an idea it is (I disagree with a lot of the assumptions the author makes). The whole attack and the main character's recovery of it bears much more resemblance to a gang rape than a dog attack, and I'm not sure why the author went this route. If he wanted to talk about rape, the main character should have been raped, but for it being a dog attack it just didn't really make sense (maybe he was just trying to go about it in a round about manner, but I didn't care for it). I found a lot of problems with the story itself as well, mainly with how the main character opens the door for his little dog after he's back home, relegating the tiny house doggy (if it could fit into his friend's jacket it must be really small) to the dangerous outside world almost guarantee's its death by being run over, eating by larger predators, or starvation. It's even weirder with how he has no remorse over it, and his other reactions when he still goes to the pound to look at the dogs. If he couldn't handle having a dog after being attacked, he should have re-homed the dog, instead of just letting it free in the urban jungle. This part just really bothered me. I thought it was also goofy how if he was so scared of being attacked again, why didn't he carry a can of mace, a knife, a baton, a gun, something to defend himself. He just seems so completely helpless, and they also don't talk at all about his family or who the guy was before the attack, the character just wasn't developed enough. Then to end as it did, I get what the author was going for, where it's saying that this character will have to live with the anxiety for the rest of his life, but it's just an odd abrupt ending. I simply did not like this story, and I would give it an even lower score, but honestly the actual writing was good, even though the story was bad. 2/5 stars
- The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne => I really enjoyed this story, it works very well as a back-story for the character if you already loved the Iron Druid series, or as an exciting standalone adventure re-imagining of King Arthur's hunt for the Holy Grail. This story has humor, action, and an intelligent/interesting new look at a historical fantasy tale. Personally, I haven't read any of Kevin Hearne's books, though I do have some sitting on my bookshelf, and reading this short story really made we want to jump into his full books. My only real problem with this short story, is that I felt like it could have possibly been longer, mainly when the Iron Druid comes to the castle and meets with the the Pict Necromancer. To me, it almost seemed like the set-up for a bigger story, but since it had to be shorter, instead of playing the long game, the Druid immediately confronted the main villain. This whole scene was very cool, the action throughout the story was excellent and exciting, but I just thought there would be a little more to it. Still, I really loved this story, and I think I'll have to move his books up on my to-read list. 5/5 stars.
- Select Mode by Mark Lawrence => I really thought this was a great little story that amazingly shrunk the entire essence/concept of the Prince of Thorns book down into a very condensed short story. It has the post-apocalyptic world with misunderstood technological remnants from the builders, Jorg's unique personality and impulsive gritty violence combined with his tortured history, all wrapped around in Lawrence's excellent writing. I will say though, that the author introduction was very odd, as while the title of the Anthology is Unfettered, and some authors wrote completely random stories that didn't fit in with everything else, Lawrence on the other hand was asked by Speakman to create a story set in his broken empire, a Jorg story, which seems very limited/fettered. Still, for the story itself, I immensely enjoyed it, and I think that it should be a great story for readers new to Jorg and Mark Lawrence, along with being awesome for people that have already enjoyed the adventures of our Prince/King/Emperor of Thorns. However, it does feel fragmented, as the reader doesn't get to see how they were captured, or what they were doing before hand. This just feels like a tiny little vignette into the day of the life of Jorg. Still, I loved this tiny little short story, and it makes me look forward even more-so to the release of Emperor of Thorns. 5/5 stars
- All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham => I really enjoyed this short, simple, and heartfelt story. There isn't a whole lot to it, and it's a bit childish/unbelievable (This story's world is absolutely filled with highly intelligent cat ghosts), but I loved it for what it was. I think that this story would make an amazing picture book for children, it's very visual and original, and I think it would be perfect if it was fully illustrated. If I compare it to my favorite stories in this Anthology, it doesn't quite compare, but it's just a well written quick little story with a lot of heart. 4.5/5 stars
- Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth => For me this is the most forgettable short story in Unfettered. There's nothing really bad about this story (although the reasoning of the main character is really goofy), it's just that I would keep thinking about what this story was, and it would always take awhile for anything to come to mind. There isn't too much to the story, it's just a quick origin for two characters in the author's series. I wasn't sure what was up with the cloud that followed her (if it was real or not) and what was up with the brain control the random guy apparently had. The writing was fine, but there wasn't enough about the characters for me to dig in, and ultimately I just didn't really care for the story. It's highly possible that this short story would be awesome for people that are fans of the author's books and already know the characters/world, but for me it was nothing special. 3/5 stars
- Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick => Ugh, this story was an absolute mess. It's just all over the place, and I have no idea what the author was trying to do here. None of it makes any sense, it first appears that the main character is a prince and his city is under attack, but then after his treasonous guard captain talks to him in full eloquent sentences through morse code, the story changes and he's apparently hallucinating, then he's still in the castle but now he's a musician and his Dad is talking about him and he seems like he's in a mental institution, but then it randomly shifts to a confusing flashback, and then an even more random/abrupt jump forward where apparently he has been reincarnated? This is just so bad, and I found myself skimming hoping that the story would be shorter and I could finish it and move on to something better. I just didn't like this story at all, and I really think it's a poorly/over-written confusing mess of a story. 1/5 stars
- Unbowed by Eldon Thompson => I really loved this short story, and since I haven’t read anything by the author before, I’m definitely going to have to check out his books. This story feels like the beginning of an excellent book, but it still has an appropriate and fitting end. I kind of wished that things had went down differently, but what did happen was very powerful, and provided a great character building experience for the main character. There’s just so many awesome things about this book to talk about, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that I loved the characters and the writing is excellent. Unbowed is definitely one of the best stories in the Unfettered Anthology, and I can’t wait to read the author’s other books, especially if this is a good example of his other work. 5/5 stars
- In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik => This short story is kind of goofy and confusing, as it’s essentially an alternate universe futuristic sci-fi version of the Temerarie books. For a while, I couldn’t figure out if they were the same dragons but they survived until space travel/colonization existed, or what as everyone has the same names as the books. Also, the sci-fi stuff didn’t seem really believable, and I found it to be very difficult to visualize in my mind. I also thought it was weird with how the story just ends, when it really just seems like the beginning of a story. The writing itself is fine, I just wasn’t very impressed with the story. I almost wonder if people that haven’t read any of the Temerarie books might enjoy this story more, as I really just felt like this was fan-fiction, not a short story written by the same author that created the original books. The story isn’t necessarily bad; I just didn’t really enjoy it. 3/5 stars
- River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson => I’ve read every Wheel of Time book except for the last one, so I had a little trepidation that there might be some spoilers, but there really weren’t any. I enjoyed this short story, and surprisingly the main character which is kind of evil. I really enjoyed how it gave another look at the other side, with how this character had his own prophecy to fulfill and he had a whole group adventuring with him as well. However, I kind of wish that there had been more here to sink my teeth into. First off, in the big battle of the short story, it cuts away and comes back at the end, which was a letdown. Then, I felt like there should have been more before it finishes, and it instead just ends up feeling like a rough draft of the first/second chapter of a character’s story in the final WoT book. I’d love to see it expanded, and what is here I really enjoyed, but it wasn’t anything amazing, and I was left slightly disappointed. 4/5 stars
-- To Be Continued in the Comments section --
March 15, 2015
★
Meta: ISFDB, edited by Shawn Speakman
Dozois praised this anthology to be one of the year's best. The author list is impressing as well, any hard core fan of Brooks, Rothfuss, Williams etc. would probably order it instantly. Especially knowing that it is a kind of charity where authors donated stories to help the editor out of financial debts imposed by his medical situation, treating cancer. This alone is a curiosity for my cultural background: Here in Germany, everyone has health insurance, no one would have to face those dangers. I don't know if Mr Speakman's solution to the problem is very common in U.S. (or people go bankrupt). But I simply don't find myself into this donation system. But what I understand completely is the cancer background of several of those stories: My father had cancer for over a year, and he passed away last September.
So, there is some part that I do understand und some part of the context that I don't. I don't want to praise each and every story alone because of the charity effect. If you care for it, you'll buy it anyways, right? What I'll do, is to disregard the charity effect. Meaning: If I think that a story doesn't work for me, I won't give it more stars only because it was donated for a good cause. Does that sound fair?
You'll find the reviews below. I had high expections because there are many authors involved that I really like. I never crossed an anthology that frustrated me so much after a couple of stories that I wanted to toss it aside. Summing up, I think that the anthology as a project of fiction failed: Out of 24 stories, I only can recommend works of three authors, none achieved my best mark of 5 stars. What makes it really a failure are the loads of bad stories in it - 6 got only 1 star (meaning "I didn't like it") and one even zero stars (meaning "I hated it"). Only one (Nocturne) tried getting out of standard narrative structures and risk a literary experiment. The overall topic was a bit vague and the stories didn't find new answers.
My favourite ★★★★ stories were
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
The Unfettered Knight and The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman
Zero, ★ for me were
The Duel by Lev Grossman
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
Nocturne by Robert V.S. Reddick
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
Contents (from isfdb):
★★★★ for Foreword (Unfettered) • essay by Patrick Rothfuss • absolutely amusing
Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered • essay by Shawn Speakman • how the editor got the contributions
★ for Imaginary Friends • (1991) • novelette by Terry Brooks • precursor to Brooks' Woid and Void series. Blending reality and fantasy. A heartwarming story about overcoming cancer and the inner battle for survival. Predictable, dull plot, shallow characters, pretty dated fantasy, a waste of time.
★ for How Old Holly Came To Be • shortstory by Patrick Rothfuss • love poem between a holly tree and a lady
★★ for The Old Scale Game • shortstory by Tad Williams • 10th century English retired knight and dragon hatch a scheme to fake a fight, con is expanding. Nothing new - plotline similar to Dragonheart. Lighthearted, shallow read.
★★1/2 for Game of Chance • (2013) • shortfiction by Carrie Vaughn • Magician gang try to change history to create a better world. Main protagonist stumbles into their ranks but doesn't share their vision. She concentrates on small things instead.
★1/2 for The Martyr of the Roses • 2013• shortstory by Jacqueline Carey • precursor to Kushiel's series set in an alternate Russia. I don't know anything about Kushiel, so this story imposed only confusion upon me - all those locations, names might have meaning for fans. Topic is decadent against barbaric civilization: Two friends from different background witness a miracle. Not self-contained. Too much fluff for too few stuff.
★★★1/2 for Mudboy • shortstory by Peter V. Brett • The world Briarpatch is growing up is full of demons. The young boy does not only have to evade those fiends but also his elder brothers and sisters. And he needs to pee all the time but has to hold back. Good characterization, great setting, dark atmosphere, nice tension arc. The Warded Man has been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while but I'll come back for it now sooner than later.
★★★★ for The Sound of Broken Absolutes • novella by Peter Orullian • Musician student destroys his teacher's instrument and goes to war. Those two POVs confront us with difficult choices - how to use education and rebuild facing the loss of a loved one. Very good character development, great setting, interesting magic system, lots of music. It remembered me a bit of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son". The interleaving of the two stories is emotionally involving with its mourning and grief.
★ for The Coach With Big Teeth • sports shortstory by R. A. Salvatore • Salvatore introduces and motivates this story very well with his personal background. But my sport is soccer; I know a bit of basketball, boxing, etc. But nothing about baseball. This story throws loads of technical terms at me, that could be Kisuaheli cursing - I simply can't follow. Other sport stories do it better. Overbearing coach doesn't accepts young and timid baseballer's failure. Cliche, Predictable but horrifying end.
★★★ for Keeper of Memory • novelette by Todd Lockwood • Lockwood is widely known as an artist, e.g. his cover illustration for this anthology or for Natural History of Dragons. I know a couple of additional works from him, but I wouldn't count him to my favourite artists. He didn't publish much fiction yet - one story besides of this and there is his debut novel "The Summer Dragon" currently edited at DAW books. The last days of a country under siege, fighting dragons. Only a group of scholars preserve the history of their people. One encounters in a dream-like sequence a maybe-future featuring main protagonist Maia from his debut novel. Somewhat rough dialogues, but interesting setting. I'll watch for the author's novel, appearing in 2016?
★★★ for Heaven in a Wild Flower • SF novelette by Blake Charlton • men built a technological heaven from where they incarnate or turn back. Natural born children are seldom, baby girls even more. When someone picks up an incarnated baby, his life is bound to the child. This is a father-daughter story with quite predictable ending. SF background remains mysterious. Plotline is emotionally very involving, but story and action-wise a bit tenacious or even boring. Strong characters. The basic philosophical questions, i.e. difference between natural and reincarnated death, is handled very weakly. I'll come back to this author and will dive a bit into his novel.
★ for Dogs • novelette by Daniel Abraham • I hate horror stories. This one is no exception predictable. A man is attacked by a pack of dogs and has to rebuild his life. But all dogs - even his own - could be time bombs. Confused, unexplained motivations and setting. But pacing is good.
★★★ for The Chapel Perilous • novelette by Kevin Hearne • very entertaining retake of 6th century Sir Gawain's quest for the grail - this time with a druid as knight, a necromantic pict laying waste to the Fisher King's empire. In fact, the grail's legend is founded in celtic mythology and this is a loosely derived but excellently told story. The frame story starts with the same druid in contemporary U.S. telling his intelligent dog and his apprentice this story. This modern, "cool" language gives the epic quest a funny side note which I liked. And there is this sidekick horse AppleJack which is wise in its own way, always holding back the druid's cockiness. I'll put Hearne's series start Hounded on my tbr shelf - this is Atticus's origin story and how he came to his cold iron amulet and the silver charms on his necklace as well as his inspiration to teach languages to animals (like to his dog Oberon).
★★ for Select Mode • shortstory by Mark Lawrence • Set in the Broken Empire featuring Jorg and The Nuban shortly before the start of Prince of Thorns. Religious fanatics catch some mercenaries and force them to undertake a ritual to see if they are worthy to be inducted into the group. Offers nothing in terms of character building, just a small bit of world building. It is intended for those who want a short introduction to a day in life of Jorg. You won't get out much if you know his series already. Given that, it was ok.No, I'm not a Lawrence fanboy, sorry about that.
★★★ for All the Girls Love Michael Stein • ghost story by David Anthony Durham • When cats die, they don't leave the world. No, they change from selfish creatures to caring ghost felines. Problem is that they can't interact and the living cats simply don't care. Michael Stein is such a dead cat and a girl misses him. Heartwarming, easy read without much depth.
★★ for Strange Rain • shortstory by Jennifer Bosworth • prequel to Struck which is about lightnings that change your life. In this case it is the life of conjoined twins where one suffers from the separation and the other starts to develop a life of his own. Nice character study, some weirdness, but not too interesting.
★ for Nocturne • novelette by Robert V. S. Redick • fever dreams of a Romanian 19th century male turning into a weird story • a challenge: non-linear narration, perspective changes, some strong visualizations. I usually like such stories but I couldn't connect to this one - it was a struggle to even understand the setting: It could have been anything starting from fantasy or SF in a different world to a weird fairy tale. In the end, I was too confused to appreciate the effort and the story dragged on and on.
★★★★ for Unbowed • novelette by Eldon Thompson • The owner of a Ninja school is accused of being part of an assassin gang. His son sets out to rescue him. Interesting father-son and romance relation spiced with lots of fighting scenes and Ninja action. At the end, the protagonist from Asahiel series faces some tough morale questions. Page turner, good world building, fine tension arc. I'm going to take a look at Thompson's series.
★★ for In Favour With Their Stars • shortstory by Naomi Novik • Boring remake of Temeraire, this time in space. You'll get nothing new if you read some Temeraire novel; if you didn't you'll be probable confused. Same structure, same characters, same simplicity, only the SF setting is not very convincing.
★★ for River of Souls • shortstory by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson • This is a cut scene from the final novel of Wheel of Time, featuring Demandred trying to unite Shara. I've read the series but don't think that I missed anything with this story. Hardcore fans might rush to it, you might consider it as a bonus DVD. I'd rather have read a real standalone story by Sanderson.
★★★ for The Jester • novelette by Michael J. Sullivan • Riyria protagonists on a treasure hunt with hints from a jester. Reads like a RPG adventure. A bit predictable. Narration structure with its dialogued retrospectives was different than most of the other plain stories in this anthology. If you like this novelette, you might want to read the series.
zero stars for The Duel • shortstory by Lev Grossman • a 21st century boy fights magically enhanced a barbarian army's champion, citing Tolkien and Matrix. Scenery could have been taken from a Narnia movie. No tension arc or character insight, sloppy, colloquial language, just a filthy highschool wanking fantasy. Is this a joke or what? I can't believe that I endured it.
★ for Walker and the Shade of Allanon • shortstory by Terry Brooks • something from Shannara. Just a dialogue between some druid and a ghost without context, character development or plot.
★★★★ for The Unfettered Knight and The Twilight Dragon • two novelettes by Shawn Speakman • Urban Fantasy set in the Annwn Cycle where two different protagonists - one from the otherworld Annwn and the other a bishop try to resolve conflicts imposed by invading creatures - Lazarus (the one from the Bible) as a vampire, the other a dragon. I really liked the take on Lazarus resurrected and turned to a Vampire searching the secret Vatican archives for a means to end his life, because simple wooden dowels won't do it for him. The world building involving catholic church and its mysteries is very nice. No narrative experiments here, just a plain structured story. Speakman builds a very good tension arc including enough action, twists, interesting dialogues and a maybe too long epilogue.
Meta: ISFDB, edited by Shawn Speakman
Dozois praised this anthology to be one of the year's best. The author list is impressing as well, any hard core fan of Brooks, Rothfuss, Williams etc. would probably order it instantly. Especially knowing that it is a kind of charity where authors donated stories to help the editor out of financial debts imposed by his medical situation, treating cancer. This alone is a curiosity for my cultural background: Here in Germany, everyone has health insurance, no one would have to face those dangers. I don't know if Mr Speakman's solution to the problem is very common in U.S. (or people go bankrupt). But I simply don't find myself into this donation system. But what I understand completely is the cancer background of several of those stories: My father had cancer for over a year, and he passed away last September.
So, there is some part that I do understand und some part of the context that I don't. I don't want to praise each and every story alone because of the charity effect. If you care for it, you'll buy it anyways, right? What I'll do, is to disregard the charity effect. Meaning: If I think that a story doesn't work for me, I won't give it more stars only because it was donated for a good cause. Does that sound fair?
You'll find the reviews below. I had high expections because there are many authors involved that I really like. I never crossed an anthology that frustrated me so much after a couple of stories that I wanted to toss it aside. Summing up, I think that the anthology as a project of fiction failed: Out of 24 stories, I only can recommend works of three authors, none achieved my best mark of 5 stars. What makes it really a failure are the loads of bad stories in it - 6 got only 1 star (meaning "I didn't like it") and one even zero stars (meaning "I hated it"). Only one (Nocturne) tried getting out of standard narrative structures and risk a literary experiment. The overall topic was a bit vague and the stories didn't find new answers.
My favourite ★★★★ stories were
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
The Unfettered Knight and The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman
Zero, ★ for me were
The Duel by Lev Grossman
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
Nocturne by Robert V.S. Reddick
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
Contents (from isfdb):
★★★★ for Foreword (Unfettered) • essay by Patrick Rothfuss • absolutely amusing
Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered • essay by Shawn Speakman • how the editor got the contributions
★ for Imaginary Friends • (1991) • novelette by Terry Brooks • precursor to Brooks' Woid and Void series. Blending reality and fantasy. A heartwarming story about overcoming cancer and the inner battle for survival. Predictable, dull plot, shallow characters, pretty dated fantasy, a waste of time.
★ for How Old Holly Came To Be • shortstory by Patrick Rothfuss • love poem between a holly tree and a lady
★★ for The Old Scale Game • shortstory by Tad Williams • 10th century English retired knight and dragon hatch a scheme to fake a fight, con is expanding. Nothing new - plotline similar to Dragonheart. Lighthearted, shallow read.
★★1/2 for Game of Chance • (2013) • shortfiction by Carrie Vaughn • Magician gang try to change history to create a better world. Main protagonist stumbles into their ranks but doesn't share their vision. She concentrates on small things instead.
★1/2 for The Martyr of the Roses • 2013• shortstory by Jacqueline Carey • precursor to Kushiel's series set in an alternate Russia. I don't know anything about Kushiel, so this story imposed only confusion upon me - all those locations, names might have meaning for fans. Topic is decadent against barbaric civilization: Two friends from different background witness a miracle. Not self-contained. Too much fluff for too few stuff.
★★★1/2 for Mudboy • shortstory by Peter V. Brett • The world Briarpatch is growing up is full of demons. The young boy does not only have to evade those fiends but also his elder brothers and sisters. And he needs to pee all the time but has to hold back. Good characterization, great setting, dark atmosphere, nice tension arc. The Warded Man has been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while but I'll come back for it now sooner than later.
★★★★ for The Sound of Broken Absolutes • novella by Peter Orullian • Musician student destroys his teacher's instrument and goes to war. Those two POVs confront us with difficult choices - how to use education and rebuild facing the loss of a loved one. Very good character development, great setting, interesting magic system, lots of music. It remembered me a bit of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son". The interleaving of the two stories is emotionally involving with its mourning and grief.
★ for The Coach With Big Teeth • sports shortstory by R. A. Salvatore • Salvatore introduces and motivates this story very well with his personal background. But my sport is soccer; I know a bit of basketball, boxing, etc. But nothing about baseball. This story throws loads of technical terms at me, that could be Kisuaheli cursing - I simply can't follow. Other sport stories do it better. Overbearing coach doesn't accepts young and timid baseballer's failure. Cliche, Predictable but horrifying end.
★★★ for Keeper of Memory • novelette by Todd Lockwood • Lockwood is widely known as an artist, e.g. his cover illustration for this anthology or for Natural History of Dragons. I know a couple of additional works from him, but I wouldn't count him to my favourite artists. He didn't publish much fiction yet - one story besides of this and there is his debut novel "The Summer Dragon" currently edited at DAW books. The last days of a country under siege, fighting dragons. Only a group of scholars preserve the history of their people. One encounters in a dream-like sequence a maybe-future featuring main protagonist Maia from his debut novel. Somewhat rough dialogues, but interesting setting. I'll watch for the author's novel, appearing in 2016?
★★★ for Heaven in a Wild Flower • SF novelette by Blake Charlton • men built a technological heaven from where they incarnate or turn back. Natural born children are seldom, baby girls even more. When someone picks up an incarnated baby, his life is bound to the child. This is a father-daughter story with quite predictable ending. SF background remains mysterious. Plotline is emotionally very involving, but story and action-wise a bit tenacious or even boring. Strong characters. The basic philosophical questions, i.e. difference between natural and reincarnated death, is handled very weakly. I'll come back to this author and will dive a bit into his novel.
★ for Dogs • novelette by Daniel Abraham • I hate horror stories. This one is no exception predictable. A man is attacked by a pack of dogs and has to rebuild his life. But all dogs - even his own - could be time bombs. Confused, unexplained motivations and setting. But pacing is good.
★★★ for The Chapel Perilous • novelette by Kevin Hearne • very entertaining retake of 6th century Sir Gawain's quest for the grail - this time with a druid as knight, a necromantic pict laying waste to the Fisher King's empire. In fact, the grail's legend is founded in celtic mythology and this is a loosely derived but excellently told story. The frame story starts with the same druid in contemporary U.S. telling his intelligent dog and his apprentice this story. This modern, "cool" language gives the epic quest a funny side note which I liked. And there is this sidekick horse AppleJack which is wise in its own way, always holding back the druid's cockiness. I'll put Hearne's series start Hounded on my tbr shelf - this is Atticus's origin story and how he came to his cold iron amulet and the silver charms on his necklace as well as his inspiration to teach languages to animals (like to his dog Oberon).
★★ for Select Mode • shortstory by Mark Lawrence • Set in the Broken Empire featuring Jorg and The Nuban shortly before the start of Prince of Thorns. Religious fanatics catch some mercenaries and force them to undertake a ritual to see if they are worthy to be inducted into the group. Offers nothing in terms of character building, just a small bit of world building. It is intended for those who want a short introduction to a day in life of Jorg. You won't get out much if you know his series already. Given that, it was ok.No, I'm not a Lawrence fanboy, sorry about that.
★★★ for All the Girls Love Michael Stein • ghost story by David Anthony Durham • When cats die, they don't leave the world. No, they change from selfish creatures to caring ghost felines. Problem is that they can't interact and the living cats simply don't care. Michael Stein is such a dead cat and a girl misses him. Heartwarming, easy read without much depth.
★★ for Strange Rain • shortstory by Jennifer Bosworth • prequel to Struck which is about lightnings that change your life. In this case it is the life of conjoined twins where one suffers from the separation and the other starts to develop a life of his own. Nice character study, some weirdness, but not too interesting.
★ for Nocturne • novelette by Robert V. S. Redick • fever dreams of a Romanian 19th century male turning into a weird story • a challenge: non-linear narration, perspective changes, some strong visualizations. I usually like such stories but I couldn't connect to this one - it was a struggle to even understand the setting: It could have been anything starting from fantasy or SF in a different world to a weird fairy tale. In the end, I was too confused to appreciate the effort and the story dragged on and on.
★★★★ for Unbowed • novelette by Eldon Thompson • The owner of a Ninja school is accused of being part of an assassin gang. His son sets out to rescue him. Interesting father-son and romance relation spiced with lots of fighting scenes and Ninja action. At the end, the protagonist from Asahiel series faces some tough morale questions. Page turner, good world building, fine tension arc. I'm going to take a look at Thompson's series.
★★ for In Favour With Their Stars • shortstory by Naomi Novik • Boring remake of Temeraire, this time in space. You'll get nothing new if you read some Temeraire novel; if you didn't you'll be probable confused. Same structure, same characters, same simplicity, only the SF setting is not very convincing.
★★ for River of Souls • shortstory by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson • This is a cut scene from the final novel of Wheel of Time, featuring Demandred trying to unite Shara. I've read the series but don't think that I missed anything with this story. Hardcore fans might rush to it, you might consider it as a bonus DVD. I'd rather have read a real standalone story by Sanderson.
★★★ for The Jester • novelette by Michael J. Sullivan • Riyria protagonists on a treasure hunt with hints from a jester. Reads like a RPG adventure. A bit predictable. Narration structure with its dialogued retrospectives was different than most of the other plain stories in this anthology. If you like this novelette, you might want to read the series.
zero stars for The Duel • shortstory by Lev Grossman • a 21st century boy fights magically enhanced a barbarian army's champion, citing Tolkien and Matrix. Scenery could have been taken from a Narnia movie. No tension arc or character insight, sloppy, colloquial language, just a filthy highschool wanking fantasy. Is this a joke or what? I can't believe that I endured it.
★ for Walker and the Shade of Allanon • shortstory by Terry Brooks • something from Shannara. Just a dialogue between some druid and a ghost without context, character development or plot.
★★★★ for The Unfettered Knight and The Twilight Dragon • two novelettes by Shawn Speakman • Urban Fantasy set in the Annwn Cycle where two different protagonists - one from the otherworld Annwn and the other a bishop try to resolve conflicts imposed by invading creatures - Lazarus (the one from the Bible) as a vampire, the other a dragon. I really liked the take on Lazarus resurrected and turned to a Vampire searching the secret Vatican archives for a means to end his life, because simple wooden dowels won't do it for him. The world building involving catholic church and its mysteries is very nice. No narrative experiments here, just a plain structured story. Speakman builds a very good tension arc including enough action, twists, interesting dialogues and a maybe too long epilogue.
August 17, 2014
This is an Anthology put together by Shawn Speakman in order to help to pay off his medical bills which came after getting cancer for the second time. Due to being a cancer survivor before he was unable to get insurance and is now very much in need of financial help. All of the stories were donated by various authors and there were no restraints put on what they could include and write about.
It's hard to rate the book as a whole because there are such a mix of authors, stories, lengths and genres, but I have settled on 4*s as that was what I rated the majority of stories, however, I have reviewed and given a small synopsis for each novella in the collection.
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
I just read my first ever Terry Brooks story and I liked it an awful lot. A tale of elves and magic in an everyday world which revolves around our main character Jack, 13 years old, who is battling a disease. An enchanting and action-packed story which I enjoyed thoroughly 5*s and I look forward to picking up some of his longer works in future!
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
After reading the Rothfuss story I feel a little saddened as it was written in what seemed to me almost to be a sad lament of poetry or a chant of a mournful memory. The story is about a Lady, and an Old Holly tree. it's written in an odd way, but the tempo is engaging and whilst it's sad it's also, in places, chirpy. It certainly makes you think, about what I don't know... 4*s as I like it, but don't understand it.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
Another first with Tad Williams story and I must say another good one. I loved the idea of a dragon-slayer and a dragon who were both elderly and wanted to work a con together for once, straight away it was interesting and fun and the writing style was pleasant too. I found it slightly predictable, but a fun read all the same so a 4* rating for this story too (so far so good!)
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
I just read carrie Vaughn's story and again this is another first time reading her work. It was certainly a different story with a peculiar viewpoint and a strange kind of appeal about a young woman who lives outside of time and history and who works to change it with small everyday changes. I'd have to say 3*s as it was good, but a little bit too odd for my liking.
The Martyr Of The Roses by Jacqueline Carey
A Jacqueline Carey story next which was again new to me. I didn't like this as much as I would have liked because although the idea was solid and the story was interesting there just wasn't enough of a connection for me. It's a story of a journey to a shrine which takes a bittersweet turn in the form of a young boy. 2*s it was ok.
Mudboy by Peter V Brett
Just read the Peter V Brett story and it was wonderful to be back in the Demon Cycle world even looking at a different character's POV. I really enjoyed the tale of Briar and i hope that we shall see more of him in the future because although his story is a sad one it's also a good one to learn both to show the brutality of their world and to show the dangers of being selfish. 5*s
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
This story is one of the longer stories included within the anthology and I must say that whilst initially I was confused, having never read anything before by this author and not really knowing their style, I soon found myself enjoying the storyline and the world.
The world is very heavily based around music with being the magical element of the world. There is a song, a song called Suffering, which can be played which will kill an enemy. There is a war, suffering is necessary, but it exacts a price and that’s what our main character has to learn.
On the whole a very interesting concept and a peculiar but believable world. I would certainly recommend this story and I would like to check out more from this writer now :) 4.5*s
The Coach With Big Teeth by R A Salvatore
This was a rather weird story in my eyes as it was basically told in brief in the intro, then retold in depth in the story, then finished off with some weird fantastical elements.
This is the story of a young boy who is not the best at Baseball and gets on the wrong side of his coach. Quickly this leads to him being left out of the game, and finally, when the game takes a turn, it leads to some very grizzly ends indeed.
I don’t really understand Baseball and I just didn’t enjoy the story layout here, it all felt a bit like a commentary or a disjointed story so only 1* from me… I just didn’t like it unfortunately.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
This is a story about dragons. I like Dragons. This story was, therefore, good! And I don’t just mean because of the dragons :) There was a good bit of backstory which had been developed to add context, the main character was interesting and had a good adventure, and on the whole it was a nice storyline.
I am certainly interested in finding out more about this author as I liked the pacing and fluid tones of the writing and I felt immersed within the story…4*s, would be better with more about the actual Dragons ;)
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
This story took a little while to get into and I wasn’t sure if I was going to find it interesting or not but once I grasped the general idea of the world (a big division which means some people are in a new heaven and have been reincarnated) I liked the characters and although the world seemed a little bit crazy, it was interesting.
I would be interested in learning more about this world but I believe it’s a standalone novella and not part of a bigger world. It was a beautiful short story, but maybe a little bit of a cop-out ending…3*s
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
This was a horror story which is not what I enjoy. I did not actually finish this at all as I really wasn’t enjoying it so I don’t have a rating other than ‘Not for Me’.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
This was a peculiar story about Druids and magics of an old and intriguing time. I was interested in this story but I felt that this wasn’t explained enough to make me truly comprehend the world in the short amount of words. I did like what I read but felt that it was a part of a bigger story so I don’t know what that entails. 2.5*s
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
This is a companion novella from Lawrence’s Broken Empire world so I was intrigued by this, having read Prince of Thorns earlier this year. I did like seeing a little snippet more of the characters from that series, although I had expected it to be a lot longer than it actually was, it was very short.
I felt that the story had a few interesting points to add a bit to the story, but on the whole it wasn’t a massive load of info more than I already knew. 3*s
All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
This is a charming little story about a ghost cat. I really liked this story actually and I was very happy that it was included as it was a warm and sweet tale compared to many of the others which were darker or more brutal. This was a light, fun and enjoyable read from start to finish and certainly one I enjoyed more than many others 4.5*s
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
Iris and Ivan were born as conjoined twins and separated at birth which leads to a close bond throughout their lives. However, Ivan wants to be free and do his own things without Iris which causes much hurt and many problems within their relationship. I really liked the writing of this and how easy and approachable the story felt even though it’s a novella exploring two characters from a larger series. I am certainly interested in checking out more works by Bosworth now. 4*s
Nocturne by Robert V S Redick
This story was weird. Not weird but WEIRD. It was a very peculiar, jumbled, crazy and mad journey inside the head of a madman and I certainly can’t claim that I understood it at all. I was very enchanted with the lyrical writing style which was a very nice part, but as for the story itself it was just too confusing and mad to really capture and keep my attention and therefore I didn’t rate it too high, 2*s
Unbowed by Eldon Thomson
Kylac is a character from another series by the author which is called the Legend of Asahiel trilogy and is now a series which I am very interested to look into picking up. I had never heard of the author or of the series, but after reading this wonderful short story about Kylac and Brie as youngsters, I know that the wiring style is just what I love and it seems like the story must continue in a very interesting way too. Certainly one of the most enjoyable in the anthology so far! 4.5*s
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik
This is a story about humans, dragons and new planets and worlds…a good combination you would think so immediately I was interested in reading this. Whilst I did enjoy the fast-pacing and the imagery of the story I felt that there certainly could have been more development of characters and world building which would have made me connect more with the story rather than just read it and find it pleasant. On the whole it was okay but not massively original and exciting so a 3* rating.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
This is a deleted scene from book 14 of Wheel of Time and as I have yet to get to Wheel of Time book 14 (I’m only on book 6 at the moment) I decided to skip this for now and come back to it once I have read all the WoT books. I am looking forward to it however as I really enjoy the WoT books so hopefully I won’t forget about this! [No rating yet]
The Jester by Michael J Sullivan
I really enjoyed this story and having just bought the first book in the Riyria Revelations a week ago, I am now certain that I will enjoy reading about these comical and entertaining characters. I had never read any of Sullivan’s work until now but I am confident that I will enjoy the characters of Hadrian and Royce as just this small but exciting story certainly endeared them to me and I am looking forward to seeing the backstories and trouble for these two in their other adventures :) 5*s
The Duel by Lev Grossman
This is a small novella which is to do with some characters from what I believe is Grossman’s Magician series. I hadn’t yet read this series, but after reading this which I thoroughly enjoyed and found very humorous and enjoyable, I am very excited to buy it and read it soon. This is a great short story about a duel and I am now very interested to see more from this world and these characters as all the hinting and mystery you see in this story has made me curious! 5*s
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
This was a bit of an odd little tale, one of the shortest within the anthology and yet it still managed to get my attention. I have certainly decided I need to get some of Terry Brook’s books to read as I just enjoy his style, and I am sure I will like his other works.
This story is a conversation between a Druid and a Shade (dead). I found it to be a good read with a lot of thought-provoking conversation and I think it would certainly have worked well as part of a larger story or world (maybe it is I don’t know for sure) so I would give it 3.5*s. It would have been better if it was a little more fleshed out and longer.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
This was one of the longer stories, of course due to being written by Speakman himself who organised the whole anthology. I hadn’t read any of his work prior to this but I found myself enjoying his writing style and the story he’d crafted even so. It’s a tale about the Heliwr who is basically someone that can travel between the real and fey worlds to ensure peace is kept and there is no discovery in the real world of the Fey existence.
I immediately liked the idea and the world cross over, and I thought that the religious implications and time period were very interesting too. I do enjoy the comparison of beliefs with mystical fantasy and I think it made for a good novella.
I would certainly be interested in reading more work by Speakman (which is good as I have some of his books on my Kindle) and I am sure I will do so soon.
Also, a story with Vampires that I enjoyed is a feat indeed, 4*s
The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman
This us another story set in the same two worlds as the one before. I really loved the inclusion of the Dragon as I felt like it was appropriate to the time period, the speech was very believable (as far as believing in a Dragon can be) and I just enjoyed the narrative which had a very interesting twist!
On the whole a shorter but just as fun novella, 4*s also
Overall I really enjoyed this anthology and a lot of the stories were very impressive and exciting or made me want to read more by that author. I am sure I will go on to pick up longer works by some, but if you have read any of these authors and enjoyed their works I would 100% recommend this collection.
I think that if you support any of these authors than supporting what they believe is a good cause by purchasing this yourself is a brilliant idea.
Plus, out of all 24 stories I rated 13 of them as 4*s or above, which is pretty awesome!
It's hard to rate the book as a whole because there are such a mix of authors, stories, lengths and genres, but I have settled on 4*s as that was what I rated the majority of stories, however, I have reviewed and given a small synopsis for each novella in the collection.
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
I just read my first ever Terry Brooks story and I liked it an awful lot. A tale of elves and magic in an everyday world which revolves around our main character Jack, 13 years old, who is battling a disease. An enchanting and action-packed story which I enjoyed thoroughly 5*s and I look forward to picking up some of his longer works in future!
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
After reading the Rothfuss story I feel a little saddened as it was written in what seemed to me almost to be a sad lament of poetry or a chant of a mournful memory. The story is about a Lady, and an Old Holly tree. it's written in an odd way, but the tempo is engaging and whilst it's sad it's also, in places, chirpy. It certainly makes you think, about what I don't know... 4*s as I like it, but don't understand it.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
Another first with Tad Williams story and I must say another good one. I loved the idea of a dragon-slayer and a dragon who were both elderly and wanted to work a con together for once, straight away it was interesting and fun and the writing style was pleasant too. I found it slightly predictable, but a fun read all the same so a 4* rating for this story too (so far so good!)
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
I just read carrie Vaughn's story and again this is another first time reading her work. It was certainly a different story with a peculiar viewpoint and a strange kind of appeal about a young woman who lives outside of time and history and who works to change it with small everyday changes. I'd have to say 3*s as it was good, but a little bit too odd for my liking.
The Martyr Of The Roses by Jacqueline Carey
A Jacqueline Carey story next which was again new to me. I didn't like this as much as I would have liked because although the idea was solid and the story was interesting there just wasn't enough of a connection for me. It's a story of a journey to a shrine which takes a bittersweet turn in the form of a young boy. 2*s it was ok.
Mudboy by Peter V Brett
Just read the Peter V Brett story and it was wonderful to be back in the Demon Cycle world even looking at a different character's POV. I really enjoyed the tale of Briar and i hope that we shall see more of him in the future because although his story is a sad one it's also a good one to learn both to show the brutality of their world and to show the dangers of being selfish. 5*s
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
This story is one of the longer stories included within the anthology and I must say that whilst initially I was confused, having never read anything before by this author and not really knowing their style, I soon found myself enjoying the storyline and the world.
The world is very heavily based around music with being the magical element of the world. There is a song, a song called Suffering, which can be played which will kill an enemy. There is a war, suffering is necessary, but it exacts a price and that’s what our main character has to learn.
On the whole a very interesting concept and a peculiar but believable world. I would certainly recommend this story and I would like to check out more from this writer now :) 4.5*s
The Coach With Big Teeth by R A Salvatore
This was a rather weird story in my eyes as it was basically told in brief in the intro, then retold in depth in the story, then finished off with some weird fantastical elements.
This is the story of a young boy who is not the best at Baseball and gets on the wrong side of his coach. Quickly this leads to him being left out of the game, and finally, when the game takes a turn, it leads to some very grizzly ends indeed.
I don’t really understand Baseball and I just didn’t enjoy the story layout here, it all felt a bit like a commentary or a disjointed story so only 1* from me… I just didn’t like it unfortunately.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
This is a story about dragons. I like Dragons. This story was, therefore, good! And I don’t just mean because of the dragons :) There was a good bit of backstory which had been developed to add context, the main character was interesting and had a good adventure, and on the whole it was a nice storyline.
I am certainly interested in finding out more about this author as I liked the pacing and fluid tones of the writing and I felt immersed within the story…4*s, would be better with more about the actual Dragons ;)
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
This story took a little while to get into and I wasn’t sure if I was going to find it interesting or not but once I grasped the general idea of the world (a big division which means some people are in a new heaven and have been reincarnated) I liked the characters and although the world seemed a little bit crazy, it was interesting.
I would be interested in learning more about this world but I believe it’s a standalone novella and not part of a bigger world. It was a beautiful short story, but maybe a little bit of a cop-out ending…3*s
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
This was a horror story which is not what I enjoy. I did not actually finish this at all as I really wasn’t enjoying it so I don’t have a rating other than ‘Not for Me’.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
This was a peculiar story about Druids and magics of an old and intriguing time. I was interested in this story but I felt that this wasn’t explained enough to make me truly comprehend the world in the short amount of words. I did like what I read but felt that it was a part of a bigger story so I don’t know what that entails. 2.5*s
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
This is a companion novella from Lawrence’s Broken Empire world so I was intrigued by this, having read Prince of Thorns earlier this year. I did like seeing a little snippet more of the characters from that series, although I had expected it to be a lot longer than it actually was, it was very short.
I felt that the story had a few interesting points to add a bit to the story, but on the whole it wasn’t a massive load of info more than I already knew. 3*s
All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
This is a charming little story about a ghost cat. I really liked this story actually and I was very happy that it was included as it was a warm and sweet tale compared to many of the others which were darker or more brutal. This was a light, fun and enjoyable read from start to finish and certainly one I enjoyed more than many others 4.5*s
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
Iris and Ivan were born as conjoined twins and separated at birth which leads to a close bond throughout their lives. However, Ivan wants to be free and do his own things without Iris which causes much hurt and many problems within their relationship. I really liked the writing of this and how easy and approachable the story felt even though it’s a novella exploring two characters from a larger series. I am certainly interested in checking out more works by Bosworth now. 4*s
Nocturne by Robert V S Redick
This story was weird. Not weird but WEIRD. It was a very peculiar, jumbled, crazy and mad journey inside the head of a madman and I certainly can’t claim that I understood it at all. I was very enchanted with the lyrical writing style which was a very nice part, but as for the story itself it was just too confusing and mad to really capture and keep my attention and therefore I didn’t rate it too high, 2*s
Unbowed by Eldon Thomson
Kylac is a character from another series by the author which is called the Legend of Asahiel trilogy and is now a series which I am very interested to look into picking up. I had never heard of the author or of the series, but after reading this wonderful short story about Kylac and Brie as youngsters, I know that the wiring style is just what I love and it seems like the story must continue in a very interesting way too. Certainly one of the most enjoyable in the anthology so far! 4.5*s
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik
This is a story about humans, dragons and new planets and worlds…a good combination you would think so immediately I was interested in reading this. Whilst I did enjoy the fast-pacing and the imagery of the story I felt that there certainly could have been more development of characters and world building which would have made me connect more with the story rather than just read it and find it pleasant. On the whole it was okay but not massively original and exciting so a 3* rating.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
This is a deleted scene from book 14 of Wheel of Time and as I have yet to get to Wheel of Time book 14 (I’m only on book 6 at the moment) I decided to skip this for now and come back to it once I have read all the WoT books. I am looking forward to it however as I really enjoy the WoT books so hopefully I won’t forget about this! [No rating yet]
The Jester by Michael J Sullivan
I really enjoyed this story and having just bought the first book in the Riyria Revelations a week ago, I am now certain that I will enjoy reading about these comical and entertaining characters. I had never read any of Sullivan’s work until now but I am confident that I will enjoy the characters of Hadrian and Royce as just this small but exciting story certainly endeared them to me and I am looking forward to seeing the backstories and trouble for these two in their other adventures :) 5*s
The Duel by Lev Grossman
This is a small novella which is to do with some characters from what I believe is Grossman’s Magician series. I hadn’t yet read this series, but after reading this which I thoroughly enjoyed and found very humorous and enjoyable, I am very excited to buy it and read it soon. This is a great short story about a duel and I am now very interested to see more from this world and these characters as all the hinting and mystery you see in this story has made me curious! 5*s
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
This was a bit of an odd little tale, one of the shortest within the anthology and yet it still managed to get my attention. I have certainly decided I need to get some of Terry Brook’s books to read as I just enjoy his style, and I am sure I will like his other works.
This story is a conversation between a Druid and a Shade (dead). I found it to be a good read with a lot of thought-provoking conversation and I think it would certainly have worked well as part of a larger story or world (maybe it is I don’t know for sure) so I would give it 3.5*s. It would have been better if it was a little more fleshed out and longer.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
This was one of the longer stories, of course due to being written by Speakman himself who organised the whole anthology. I hadn’t read any of his work prior to this but I found myself enjoying his writing style and the story he’d crafted even so. It’s a tale about the Heliwr who is basically someone that can travel between the real and fey worlds to ensure peace is kept and there is no discovery in the real world of the Fey existence.
I immediately liked the idea and the world cross over, and I thought that the religious implications and time period were very interesting too. I do enjoy the comparison of beliefs with mystical fantasy and I think it made for a good novella.
I would certainly be interested in reading more work by Speakman (which is good as I have some of his books on my Kindle) and I am sure I will do so soon.
Also, a story with Vampires that I enjoyed is a feat indeed, 4*s
The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman
This us another story set in the same two worlds as the one before. I really loved the inclusion of the Dragon as I felt like it was appropriate to the time period, the speech was very believable (as far as believing in a Dragon can be) and I just enjoyed the narrative which had a very interesting twist!
On the whole a shorter but just as fun novella, 4*s also
Overall I really enjoyed this anthology and a lot of the stories were very impressive and exciting or made me want to read more by that author. I am sure I will go on to pick up longer works by some, but if you have read any of these authors and enjoyed their works I would 100% recommend this collection.
I think that if you support any of these authors than supporting what they believe is a good cause by purchasing this yourself is a brilliant idea.
Plus, out of all 24 stories I rated 13 of them as 4*s or above, which is pretty awesome!
July 6, 2013
The editor of this Anthology, Shawn Speakman, was diagnosed with cancer in 2011. Because he had no health insurance, Terry Brooks offered to give him a short story to help defray the medical costs. He also told Shawn that he should ask other authors to contribute to as well. This book is what came of that.
Most of the stories are very good, with a few that are outstanding, and only 1 or 2 were duds. Here is a list of the stories, and what I thought about them.
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks - A fairly good story about a boy with cancer who meets an elf. The boy goes into the forest with him to slay a dragon, but no one believes him. 3 stars.
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss - Suprisingly, this was one of the duds in the book. Rothfuss is one of my favorite authors, but this is a weird poem. It felt like he was going for a Norse mythology style. This story didn't work for me. 2 stars.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams - I am not a Tad Williams fan, but this is a great story. The story of a Knight and a Dragon pulling a "pool shark" scam. 4 stars.
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn - One of the best in the book. This is a story about a group of people that control history by stepping outside of it. 5 stars.
Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey - Jacqueline Carey is another author that I am not a big fan of, but this is also a very good story. A political "game of houses" type of story, involving the son of someone important, and a young visitor from another country. 4 stars.
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett - I have never read anything else by this author, but I really enjoyed this story. It is the story of the youngest child in the family, who is constantly getting picked on by his siblings. 4 stars.
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian - This was my favorite in the anthology. Good enough where I plan on finding more to read by this author. It is a story of a war, in a world where music is magic. 5 stars.
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore - A fairly good non fantasy story about being a boy on a baseball team when you are not a very good athlete. 3 stars.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood - A very good story about a boy fleeing a city that is being overrun by invaders. A fun story with a great twist. 4 stars.
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton - This is a very good story set in a world where children are almost never born. Most children materialize on earth, and belong to the one who picks them up. If the child is a girl, the father is permanently linked to the girl. If she dies, he dies. 4 stars.
Dogs by Daniel Abraham - More of a suspense story. A man is attacked by a pack of dogs and almost killed. This is a story about how his life changes after that. 3 stars.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne - The story of a very old Druid telling the tale of how the grail legend came to be, and how he was involved in it. 3 stars.
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence - A good story about men being led to a trial that is essentially a death sentence. 4 stars.
All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham - Another great story. This is about a cat who dies and comes back as a ghost. The only catch is no one can see him. 5 stars.
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth - This is also a good story. It is about a pair of conjoined twins who are separated at birth. Then they get a little older and the boy doesn't want to hang with his sister anymore. 4 stars.
Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick - I am not a big Redick fan. I find his writing tedious. This was an ok story though. 2 stars.
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson - An excellent story. This is another author that I have never read before that I will be looking for more books by. The story about what is basically a ninja school. 5 stars.
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik - A cool sci-fi fantasy twist story. 4 stars.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - I am a Wheel of Time fanatic, so this is the reason I bought this anthology. This is a deleted scene from A Memory of Light. It will only make sense if you have read the Wheel of Time, but I loved it. 5 stars.
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan - A very cool blend of fantasy and a heist story. Two professional thieves are hired to steel something from a dwarf. 5 stars.
The Duel by Lev Grossman - A cool story with a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court feel to it. 4 stars.
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks - This is also a deleted scene. A story about a man confronting a ghost for answers to questions. 3 stars.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman - Not a bad story, but I didn't like it. It involves vampires, and vampire storys are hard to pull off without sounding cheesy. He also mixes it with Catholic theology. I found it slightly cheesy and a bit bizarre. 3 stars.
So in summary, I enjoyed this book, and the only story I disliked was the Rothfuss story, and that was surprising. It is a great way to find new authors, and help someone with crushing medical debt at the same time. I highly recommend this book.
Most of the stories are very good, with a few that are outstanding, and only 1 or 2 were duds. Here is a list of the stories, and what I thought about them.
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks - A fairly good story about a boy with cancer who meets an elf. The boy goes into the forest with him to slay a dragon, but no one believes him. 3 stars.
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss - Suprisingly, this was one of the duds in the book. Rothfuss is one of my favorite authors, but this is a weird poem. It felt like he was going for a Norse mythology style. This story didn't work for me. 2 stars.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams - I am not a Tad Williams fan, but this is a great story. The story of a Knight and a Dragon pulling a "pool shark" scam. 4 stars.
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn - One of the best in the book. This is a story about a group of people that control history by stepping outside of it. 5 stars.
Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey - Jacqueline Carey is another author that I am not a big fan of, but this is also a very good story. A political "game of houses" type of story, involving the son of someone important, and a young visitor from another country. 4 stars.
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett - I have never read anything else by this author, but I really enjoyed this story. It is the story of the youngest child in the family, who is constantly getting picked on by his siblings. 4 stars.
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian - This was my favorite in the anthology. Good enough where I plan on finding more to read by this author. It is a story of a war, in a world where music is magic. 5 stars.
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore - A fairly good non fantasy story about being a boy on a baseball team when you are not a very good athlete. 3 stars.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood - A very good story about a boy fleeing a city that is being overrun by invaders. A fun story with a great twist. 4 stars.
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton - This is a very good story set in a world where children are almost never born. Most children materialize on earth, and belong to the one who picks them up. If the child is a girl, the father is permanently linked to the girl. If she dies, he dies. 4 stars.
Dogs by Daniel Abraham - More of a suspense story. A man is attacked by a pack of dogs and almost killed. This is a story about how his life changes after that. 3 stars.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne - The story of a very old Druid telling the tale of how the grail legend came to be, and how he was involved in it. 3 stars.
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence - A good story about men being led to a trial that is essentially a death sentence. 4 stars.
All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham - Another great story. This is about a cat who dies and comes back as a ghost. The only catch is no one can see him. 5 stars.
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth - This is also a good story. It is about a pair of conjoined twins who are separated at birth. Then they get a little older and the boy doesn't want to hang with his sister anymore. 4 stars.
Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick - I am not a big Redick fan. I find his writing tedious. This was an ok story though. 2 stars.
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson - An excellent story. This is another author that I have never read before that I will be looking for more books by. The story about what is basically a ninja school. 5 stars.
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik - A cool sci-fi fantasy twist story. 4 stars.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - I am a Wheel of Time fanatic, so this is the reason I bought this anthology. This is a deleted scene from A Memory of Light. It will only make sense if you have read the Wheel of Time, but I loved it. 5 stars.
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan - A very cool blend of fantasy and a heist story. Two professional thieves are hired to steel something from a dwarf. 5 stars.
The Duel by Lev Grossman - A cool story with a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court feel to it. 4 stars.
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks - This is also a deleted scene. A story about a man confronting a ghost for answers to questions. 3 stars.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman - Not a bad story, but I didn't like it. It involves vampires, and vampire storys are hard to pull off without sounding cheesy. He also mixes it with Catholic theology. I found it slightly cheesy and a bit bizarre. 3 stars.
So in summary, I enjoyed this book, and the only story I disliked was the Rothfuss story, and that was surprising. It is a great way to find new authors, and help someone with crushing medical debt at the same time. I highly recommend this book.
June 28, 2013
What a wonderful anthology! I have fallen off on reading collections lately, but I am such a total Kevin Hearne fangirl that I started looking for this one as soon as he mentioned it on Facebook. I bought it as soon as I heard of its release, and womanfully resisted skipping straight to the Iron Druid story.
I truly enjoyed most of the stories included. I did just stop reading the baseball story when I realized that it was horror, and skipped over "Dogs" for the same reason. Terry Brooks' piece did nothing for me, but that probably had more to do with the fact that I haven't read anything of the novels that seem to be vital to having it truly make sense. I haven't read any of The Wheel of Time, either, but the Sanderson/Jordan contribution was a good enough story that it stood on its own. I will definitely be seeking out more of some authors' works, like Speakman and O'Roullian. Getting leads on more good reading is always exciting!
All in all, the book is more than worth its cover price. There is absolutely no question of it being worth the time spent reading it.
I truly enjoyed most of the stories included. I did just stop reading the baseball story when I realized that it was horror, and skipped over "Dogs" for the same reason. Terry Brooks' piece did nothing for me, but that probably had more to do with the fact that I haven't read anything of the novels that seem to be vital to having it truly make sense. I haven't read any of The Wheel of Time, either, but the Sanderson/Jordan contribution was a good enough story that it stood on its own. I will definitely be seeking out more of some authors' works, like Speakman and O'Roullian. Getting leads on more good reading is always exciting!
All in all, the book is more than worth its cover price. There is absolutely no question of it being worth the time spent reading it.
July 24, 2014
All in all, I found the quality of the stories I read to be excellent and would definitely highly recommend this anthology. The stories I read from this collection are:
'Imaginary Friends' by Terry Brooks
This story about a boy defeating a mythical manifestation of his own cancer functions not only as a good opening story, introducing the anthology and hinting at the kind of material it features, but also as a nod to the purpose behind it, as the stories in this anthology were all donated by the authors to aid editor and fellow writer Shawn Speakman in paying off his cancer treatments.
'How Old Holly Came To Be' by Patrick Rothfuss
The most disappointing story of those I read. Fans of his existing work will likely be equally disappointed, as this very brief 1,700 word story adds little, if any, substance to the Four Corners world. It functions more as a nursery rhyme or song, or possibly a chant, with a lot of repetition of "that was good" and "that was bad" and some vague generalities in between these repeated choruses.
'The Old Scale Game' by Tad Williams
A really fun tale that turned on its head the idea of the Knight Errant slaying the evil dragon, and sees them working together to con the local populace instead. A similar tone to Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold.
'The Sound of Broken Absolutes' by Peter Orullian
A very interesting look at a world where music is literally magical. This was probably the best story in the collection, and that is saying something considering how much I enjoyed almost everything I read. It also surprised me a bit, as it was from an author I was not familiar with, and not one of the authors and/or series I was already a fan of.
'Mudboy' by Peter V. Brett
This is another author I had never previously read, but it definitely makes me interested in reading his Demon Cycle series, which starts with The Warded Man. This story reminded me a lot of Brandon Sanderson's short story 'Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell,' from Dangerous Women.
'The Chapel Perilous' by Kevin Hearne
This was an interesting short story about Atticus's quest for the holy grail in 537 AD, before it was either holy or a grail -- it was "Dagda’s Cauldron, one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, which could feed an army and never empty" in the story -- as told by Atticus around a campfire to Granuaile and Oberon.
'Select Mode' by Mark Lawrence
A third author I had never read before and now want to read more by -- if nothing else, this anthology has certainly helped me find new fantasy authors to read. I really enjoyed how the arch -- a relic of the Builders -- that Jorg and the Nuban are forced to "be judged by" is misunderstood by the Select, and how Lawrence named the story to help clarify that misunderstanding for the reader.
'The Duel' by Lev Grossman
I liked this short story, about Eliot, King of Fillory, fending off an invasion by challenging their champion to a duel, although some of Grossman's language choices -- "scary looking mofo" or "for the lulz" -- seemed too colloquial and very out of place for a story set in the magical realm of Fillory.
'The Unfettered Knight' by Shawn Speakman
I couldn't very well read this anthology without reading the author for whom it was intended to help. Fortunately, his story, an urban fantasy about a modern day knight roaming the Vatican's catacombs in search of a dangerous vampire, was on par with the quality of the other stories. It is yet another story that leads me to want to read further about his world, in this case that would start with the Annwn Cycle's first book, The Dark Thorn.
'Imaginary Friends' by Terry Brooks
This story about a boy defeating a mythical manifestation of his own cancer functions not only as a good opening story, introducing the anthology and hinting at the kind of material it features, but also as a nod to the purpose behind it, as the stories in this anthology were all donated by the authors to aid editor and fellow writer Shawn Speakman in paying off his cancer treatments.
'How Old Holly Came To Be' by Patrick Rothfuss
The most disappointing story of those I read. Fans of his existing work will likely be equally disappointed, as this very brief 1,700 word story adds little, if any, substance to the Four Corners world. It functions more as a nursery rhyme or song, or possibly a chant, with a lot of repetition of "that was good" and "that was bad" and some vague generalities in between these repeated choruses.
'The Old Scale Game' by Tad Williams
A really fun tale that turned on its head the idea of the Knight Errant slaying the evil dragon, and sees them working together to con the local populace instead. A similar tone to Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold.
'The Sound of Broken Absolutes' by Peter Orullian
A very interesting look at a world where music is literally magical. This was probably the best story in the collection, and that is saying something considering how much I enjoyed almost everything I read. It also surprised me a bit, as it was from an author I was not familiar with, and not one of the authors and/or series I was already a fan of.
'Mudboy' by Peter V. Brett
This is another author I had never previously read, but it definitely makes me interested in reading his Demon Cycle series, which starts with The Warded Man. This story reminded me a lot of Brandon Sanderson's short story 'Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell,' from Dangerous Women.
'The Chapel Perilous' by Kevin Hearne
This was an interesting short story about Atticus's quest for the holy grail in 537 AD, before it was either holy or a grail -- it was "Dagda’s Cauldron, one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, which could feed an army and never empty" in the story -- as told by Atticus around a campfire to Granuaile and Oberon.
'Select Mode' by Mark Lawrence
A third author I had never read before and now want to read more by -- if nothing else, this anthology has certainly helped me find new fantasy authors to read. I really enjoyed how the arch -- a relic of the Builders -- that Jorg and the Nuban are forced to "be judged by" is misunderstood by the Select, and how Lawrence named the story to help clarify that misunderstanding for the reader.
'The Duel' by Lev Grossman
I liked this short story, about Eliot, King of Fillory, fending off an invasion by challenging their champion to a duel, although some of Grossman's language choices -- "scary looking mofo" or "for the lulz" -- seemed too colloquial and very out of place for a story set in the magical realm of Fillory.
'The Unfettered Knight' by Shawn Speakman
I couldn't very well read this anthology without reading the author for whom it was intended to help. Fortunately, his story, an urban fantasy about a modern day knight roaming the Vatican's catacombs in search of a dangerous vampire, was on par with the quality of the other stories. It is yet another story that leads me to want to read further about his world, in this case that would start with the Annwn Cycle's first book, The Dark Thorn.
July 12, 2013
I'm assuredly not the only person who bought this anthology just for the Wheel of Time story, "River of Souls". I've had this release on my calendar ever since Brandon Sanderson revealed that this story would be in it, and having spent fourteen-plus Wheel of Time books wondering about the mysterious country off the edge of the map, it was worth it just for a glimpse of the fabled Shara.
Having satisfied my curiosity by jumping straight to the Wheel of Time entry, I then backtracked and read the entire book start-to-finish. Reading any anthology of different authors front-to-back is a mixed bag, but I'm happy to say there was nothing in here I really disliked, and quite a few that I loved.
Patrick Rothfuss's story was the other main selling point for me, and while it's a bit left of the center, I can't say I was let down. It reads more like a song or a children's rhyme than a narrative, but Rothfuss is a master craftsman of words and always, always worth reading.
Because this is fantasy, nearly all of these stories are tiny offshoots of larger universes, but the fact that I haven't read most of these authors' trilogies or series didn't blunt my enjoyment. There is a range of tone here, from the slightly silly dragon-comedy of "The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams to Todd Lockwood's very haunting "Keeper of Memory". "Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton feels like magical realism in a beautiful, surreal way, and "The Unfettered Knight" (by the book's own editor, Shawn Speakman) is a clever Dan Brown-esque mashup of Celtic myth, Catholicism, and vampires.
My favorite entry in the entire thing is by an author I have never heard of, Peter Orullian. "The Sound of Broken Absolutes" is a novella about a magic system based on music theory, with notes that can heal a broken body and a song that will tear a man apart. The writing is spectacular, rich with grief and regret, and I was completely absorbed and haunted by it.
I didn't hate any of the stories, but a couple were slightly frustrating. "The Chapel Perilous" had a little too much -- for lack of a better word -- smug-hero-coolness for me, and Lev Grossman's "The Duel" is written so informally and with so much slang that it feels like a high school kid watched a great fantasy movie and then tried to describe it to you. The Naomi Novik story was bewildering because I actually have read some of her Temeraire series, and this dragons-on-Mars sci-fi story apparently has nothing at all to do with it except for sharing character names (odd). Even the weaker stories are worthwhile, though... I didn't get to the end of any of them and wish for my time back or anything.
I would recommend the entire book based solely on the Orullian story, though.
Having satisfied my curiosity by jumping straight to the Wheel of Time entry, I then backtracked and read the entire book start-to-finish. Reading any anthology of different authors front-to-back is a mixed bag, but I'm happy to say there was nothing in here I really disliked, and quite a few that I loved.
Patrick Rothfuss's story was the other main selling point for me, and while it's a bit left of the center, I can't say I was let down. It reads more like a song or a children's rhyme than a narrative, but Rothfuss is a master craftsman of words and always, always worth reading.
Because this is fantasy, nearly all of these stories are tiny offshoots of larger universes, but the fact that I haven't read most of these authors' trilogies or series didn't blunt my enjoyment. There is a range of tone here, from the slightly silly dragon-comedy of "The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams to Todd Lockwood's very haunting "Keeper of Memory". "Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton feels like magical realism in a beautiful, surreal way, and "The Unfettered Knight" (by the book's own editor, Shawn Speakman) is a clever Dan Brown-esque mashup of Celtic myth, Catholicism, and vampires.
My favorite entry in the entire thing is by an author I have never heard of, Peter Orullian. "The Sound of Broken Absolutes" is a novella about a magic system based on music theory, with notes that can heal a broken body and a song that will tear a man apart. The writing is spectacular, rich with grief and regret, and I was completely absorbed and haunted by it.
I didn't hate any of the stories, but a couple were slightly frustrating. "The Chapel Perilous" had a little too much -- for lack of a better word -- smug-hero-coolness for me, and Lev Grossman's "The Duel" is written so informally and with so much slang that it feels like a high school kid watched a great fantasy movie and then tried to describe it to you. The Naomi Novik story was bewildering because I actually have read some of her Temeraire series, and this dragons-on-Mars sci-fi story apparently has nothing at all to do with it except for sharing character names (odd). Even the weaker stories are worthwhile, though... I didn't get to the end of any of them and wish for my time back or anything.
I would recommend the entire book based solely on the Orullian story, though.
June 26, 2013
Perhaps the best anthology of fantasy stories I've read. Some better than others, but no real duds.
As an added bonus, several authors contributed tales related to their greater corpus, which for one reason or another haven't or couldn't previously be published. The reader gets a sampler of the the best current fantasy writers unfettered by commercial, logical or continuity demands.
Patrick Rothfuss is correct: the introductory remarks--his, Shawn's and the authors--are largely a waste of time.
A very good read.
As an added bonus, several authors contributed tales related to their greater corpus, which for one reason or another haven't or couldn't previously be published. The reader gets a sampler of the the best current fantasy writers unfettered by commercial, logical or continuity demands.
Patrick Rothfuss is correct: the introductory remarks--his, Shawn's and the authors--are largely a waste of time.
A very good read.
January 28, 2020
This collection was selected as the group read in one of my groups, as we like to try to do a collection to start off the year. Kind of easing into things, you know. Lots of little stories, generally a lot of discussion going on... nothing too crazy. But the last two years have been a bust for me. I did actually finish last year's selection, but it was not enjoyable.
This year... I'm abandoning ship. It's not that the stories aren't good, or the writing is crap... It's just that I really have lost interest. Quite early in the collection, and mid-story, even. Never a good sign. I left it on my Currently Reading shelf for a long time after I last put it down, hoping that it would call to me... but in 22 days, it hasn't.
This collection was written to raise money for Shawn Speakman's medical bills, and I think that's awesome. It's really a great thing that he was in a position to know people who have audiences and who were willing to put out additional content that those audiences might enjoy and thus buy this collection to read. (Let's also just chat, for a moment, about the ridiculous bullshit medical system we have in the US that makes such measures necessary in order to not bankrupt oneself trying to get healthcare. Because that's not healthcare, it's profiting off of illness, off of the backs of the very people that its supposed to serve. We really need to do better. We pay into a system that doesn't benefit us. Why continue doing something that clearly isn't working?)
Anyway, as the authors in this collection were doing it for a good cause, Speakman was unwilling to dictate what type of stories they should submit. And so, this comes out as a very mixed bag of stories, with no real rhyme or reason to their being collected here, except as an act of generosity.
Apparently, quite a few of the stories are tie-ins to their particular author's larger body of work, and as I have not read many of the authors in this book, it really didn't do much for me. I appreciate tie-in short stories when they are solid enough to stand alone, or when I have benefit of the context of the larger work. And it was hit or miss in that aspect for me.
My favorite story of those that I read was "The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams. I really enjoyed that, and it was definitely story enough on its own without my having to have ever read Williams before to enjoy it. My least favorite by far was "How Old Holly Came To Be" by Patrick Rothfuss, though I only read 6 stories, and was on the 7th when I just... lost interest.
It goes that way sometimes. Such is life.
This year... I'm abandoning ship. It's not that the stories aren't good, or the writing is crap... It's just that I really have lost interest. Quite early in the collection, and mid-story, even. Never a good sign. I left it on my Currently Reading shelf for a long time after I last put it down, hoping that it would call to me... but in 22 days, it hasn't.
This collection was written to raise money for Shawn Speakman's medical bills, and I think that's awesome. It's really a great thing that he was in a position to know people who have audiences and who were willing to put out additional content that those audiences might enjoy and thus buy this collection to read. (Let's also just chat, for a moment, about the ridiculous bullshit medical system we have in the US that makes such measures necessary in order to not bankrupt oneself trying to get healthcare. Because that's not healthcare, it's profiting off of illness, off of the backs of the very people that its supposed to serve. We really need to do better. We pay into a system that doesn't benefit us. Why continue doing something that clearly isn't working?)
Anyway, as the authors in this collection were doing it for a good cause, Speakman was unwilling to dictate what type of stories they should submit. And so, this comes out as a very mixed bag of stories, with no real rhyme or reason to their being collected here, except as an act of generosity.
Apparently, quite a few of the stories are tie-ins to their particular author's larger body of work, and as I have not read many of the authors in this book, it really didn't do much for me. I appreciate tie-in short stories when they are solid enough to stand alone, or when I have benefit of the context of the larger work. And it was hit or miss in that aspect for me.
My favorite story of those that I read was "The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams. I really enjoyed that, and it was definitely story enough on its own without my having to have ever read Williams before to enjoy it. My least favorite by far was "How Old Holly Came To Be" by Patrick Rothfuss, though I only read 6 stories, and was on the 7th when I just... lost interest.
It goes that way sometimes. Such is life.
June 1, 2017
Searching for some references related to Wheel of Time universe, I came across upon this anthology and I have found to be a very admirably initiative in creating it - around 20 well-known writers contributed with a story to help the editor, Shawn Speakman, to cover his expenses related to cancer treatment.
However, with the tales themselves, it is another story... Half of them are built upon a tragic disease, or a death, or something alike. Maybe it's just me, but, given the circumstances this anthology was edited, wouldn't have been more appropriate to create some optimistic stories, full of magic and miracles? To lift up the spirit?
Well, the stories in question above are really depressing and I skimmed through them, some I have entirely skipped. Others are part of a bigger epic opera which I have not read and for this reason they felt somehow out of place.
Still, I really enjoyed a few:
> "River of Souls" By R. Jordan & B. Sanderson - brings some light upon the time spent by Demandred in Shara (not sufficient however... I don't think I will ever get enough of WoT world :D);
> "Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett - a Demon Cycle tale;
> "How Old Holly Came To Be" by P. Rothfuss - a story with a really strange writing style and in which the capital letters make all the difference - I don't want to spoil it; if you'll read it, you'll get what I mean.
> "The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan - one of Hadrian & Royce's adventures, part of Riyria Chronicles, but can be read as standalone at any point.
Another part which I very much liked and found to be very interesting was that, before each tale, the respective author wrote a few words about how that particular story emerged and in which circumstances.
All in all, I think it is worth reading, at least for the particular elements that had lead to its apparition and to catch a glimpse on the authors minds & souls.
However, with the tales themselves, it is another story... Half of them are built upon a tragic disease, or a death, or something alike. Maybe it's just me, but, given the circumstances this anthology was edited, wouldn't have been more appropriate to create some optimistic stories, full of magic and miracles? To lift up the spirit?
Well, the stories in question above are really depressing and I skimmed through them, some I have entirely skipped. Others are part of a bigger epic opera which I have not read and for this reason they felt somehow out of place.
Still, I really enjoyed a few:
> "River of Souls" By R. Jordan & B. Sanderson - brings some light upon the time spent by Demandred in Shara (not sufficient however... I don't think I will ever get enough of WoT world :D);
> "Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett - a Demon Cycle tale;
> "How Old Holly Came To Be" by P. Rothfuss - a story with a really strange writing style and in which the capital letters make all the difference - I don't want to spoil it; if you'll read it, you'll get what I mean.
> "The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan - one of Hadrian & Royce's adventures, part of Riyria Chronicles, but can be read as standalone at any point.
Another part which I very much liked and found to be very interesting was that, before each tale, the respective author wrote a few words about how that particular story emerged and in which circumstances.
All in all, I think it is worth reading, at least for the particular elements that had lead to its apparition and to catch a glimpse on the authors minds & souls.
July 5, 2013
I'm of mixed opinions. I'd buy the book just to help out Shawn, so the money is well spent.
Many stories were great (Tad Williams, Peter Brett, Todd Lockwood, Kevin Hearne, Eldon Thompson, Michael Sullivan, and Shawn Speakman).
Two I had high hopes for but wasn't impressed (Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson). Both lacked enough substance for me.
A few more weren't even fantasy (!!!) for whatever reason, so those sucked (RA Salvatore, Daniel Abraham, David Durham). I was also really unimpressed with Robert Reddick.
Some were written in a way that seemed to expect you to have already written the authors previous works. Many intros were like this. (Jacqueline.Carey,somewhat with Peter Orullian, Mark Lawrence). Kevin Hearne and Brandon Sanderson also would fall into this but I had read their books.
The remaining stories just weren't anything special for me, but weren't horrible either.
Many stories were great (Tad Williams, Peter Brett, Todd Lockwood, Kevin Hearne, Eldon Thompson, Michael Sullivan, and Shawn Speakman).
Two I had high hopes for but wasn't impressed (Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson). Both lacked enough substance for me.
A few more weren't even fantasy (!!!) for whatever reason, so those sucked (RA Salvatore, Daniel Abraham, David Durham). I was also really unimpressed with Robert Reddick.
Some were written in a way that seemed to expect you to have already written the authors previous works. Many intros were like this. (Jacqueline.Carey,somewhat with Peter Orullian, Mark Lawrence). Kevin Hearne and Brandon Sanderson also would fall into this but I had read their books.
The remaining stories just weren't anything special for me, but weren't horrible either.
June 30, 2013
Originally posted on The ArchedDoorway
Normally in my reviews I’ll take a step back, and try to remove all bias. They’re formulaic: a description, the good, the bad, something else good, a general summary, and the release date of the novel, or the sequel, if there is one. That’s not something I did here. Be warned, this is a long one.
Unfettered is a fantasy anthology, containing stories from many of the biggest names in fantasy out there right now. It’s a wonderful amalgamation of talent, put together by and for the editor, Shawn Speakman. The anthology was put together in order to help Speakman’s medical debt after a fight with cancer back in 2011. The stories in this anthology are exactly what the title says — unfettered. They’re all unique; some take place in familiar worlds, while others are a step away into a different fancy of the authors.
I’ve met a bunch of the authors in the anthology, and for many of those I haven’t yet had a chance to meet, I’ve read their books, talked to them online, or heard things about them… and it’s one thing to know them and to think of them as being good people, but it’s another entirely, to realize just how caring, and how close the SF/Fantasy community is. If anything can show it, it’s this anthology — the 20 or so authors coming together to support one of their own in a time of need. It really is amazing, and it made this anthology all that much better. To me, it kind of served as an affirmation of the good that is out there.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to write this review — so, I’ve decided I will start at the beginning, and just have a few sentences for each of the stories. For some of them, I could write full reviews on, but I think it will be best this way.
Anyways, without further ado, the stories:
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks:
This is an older story by Brooks, first published back in 1990, and served as a prototype of sorts for his Word and the Void series. It was an interesting read, and very different for me, as I’d only read his Shannara books previously. It’s an enjoyable read of self-discovery and overcoming challenges.
How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss:
First off, don’t go into this story expecting a story from the Kingkiller Chronicles world; it isn’t. I’m not entirely sure on my feelings about this story, it’s very different and interesting. It’s written in a very rhythmic and almost simplistic way… I found it to be poetic, and rather sad.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
This story was a bit of a fun twist on the old “Knight vs Dragon” story. In this one, the knight and the dragon work together to con the kingdom. I found it to be a cute read, well written and very enjoyable.
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
This was the first story of Vaughn’s that I’ve read, and I think it to be a good introduction to her writing. Her story contained a dynamic world, backstory, and characters — it felt to be that this was part of a novel, not just a short story.
The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
This one was another first for me, having never read her Kushiel series or anything else by her before. However, The Martyr of the Roses serves as a precursor to the Kushiel series, and serves as an interesting introduction to the world, though I did find myself feeling a bit lost at times.
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
Brett’s story is probably amongst the top three stories I was looking forward to reading most in this anthology. Set in the Demon Cycle world, it’s the story of what would have been one of the main characters in the series. It was similar to that of Arlen, Rojer, and a few of the other characters in that it’s an encounter with the corelings. It was quite good, well written; and helps as a tie-over while waiting for book 4. (Plus, it included bacon!)
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
Instead of being a short story, this one was more of a novelette, or a novella. Set in the same universe as The Vault of Heaven, it had an interesting magic system based on music. There’s a lot of raw emotion in this story; frustration, anger, regret, grief and mourning. This story is written in response to the question: What would you write if you thought your friend was going to die?
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
I expected something very different when I saw that Salvatore had a story in the anthology, after all, I’ve read almost all of the Drizzt Do’urden novels, and yet, this was very different. This story was probably the hardest for me to get through, as it was a baseball story, following a young timid baseball player.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
Lockwood’s story is another that I was really looking forward to. I grew up recognizing his art; seeing it on many of my favourite novels, and admiring his talent. So when I heard that he was going to step into writing, I had an immense curiosity as to if he could write as well as he could draw, and well.. I really enjoyed this story, it was interesting and well-written. I think Lockwood is a promising writer, and I look forward to reading more of his writing.
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
I was really uncertain about this story at first, quite frankly I found it odd, and I wasn’t sure if that was in a good way or not. However, after a few short pages I found myself loving it. It has an interesting concept; the story was beautiful, and so very sad.
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
I was kind of at odds with this story; as with Salvatore’s story, it wasn’t really fantasy. However, after rereading it, I find that it was a good read, it’s a horror story more than anything, and quite well-written.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
This story was a retelling of The Holy Grail story, only, it was very different. The changes to the story, featuring Attricus O’Sullivan (from The Iron Druid Chronicles) as Gawain, and as the finder of the Grail. It was certainly interesting, and not a bad read at all.
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
This is a Jorg story from The Broken Empire novels, I found it to be a good read, and it certainly doesn’t require you to have read the series in order to understand what’s going on. Though, it does serve as a good introduction to Lawrence’s writing, and the series in general.
All The Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
I don’t really have any words for this one other than “cute”. I heard Durham read this story back in November at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto. It follows Michael Stein, the ghost of a dead cat who won’t let death get in the way of him caring for the girl he loves, and was his companion in life.
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
This is the origin story for Iris and Ivan from Bosworth’s Struck. It can be read without reading the novel. The story was interesting, though I think it may be easier to appreciate the story already knowing the characters.
Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
Redick’s story is another that took me a little while to get into before I enjoyed; however, after reading a bit of it I found it to be an engaging story. I don’t know if I’d say that it’s a great introduction to his writing, though, that could just be me.
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
I haven’t read the Thompson’s Legend of Asahiel series yet, but this story serves as an introduction to Kylac Kronus. The series, and Thompson’s writing seem to be interesting and quite good, after reading the story I find myself looking forward to reading the series.
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik
Set in the Temeraire-universe, fans of Novik’s novels, and readers who haven’t yet picked them up will enjoy this story. I believe it serves as an intriguing introduction to her world, and writing. I’ve only read the first novel so far, but this story reminded me of how much I do enjoy her writing.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
… Can I skip this one, please…? This story was extremely bittersweet. As a longtime Wheel of Time fan, I had reconciled that A Memory of Light would be it, then shortly after, I heard about this short story. So, there’s a lot of the same feelings, the knowledge that after so many years: this is it. River of Souls is a deleted scene from AMOL, featuring Bao and his time in Shara. Though, readers who haven’t read the series or AMOL should be wary of some minor spoilers.
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
The Jester is a standalone story that takes place after The Rose and the Thorn and before Theft of Swords; it features an adventure that Royce and Hadrian go on. This was quite possibly one of my favourite stories in the anthology, I found it to be a quite enjoyable read, and simply put, I love his writing.
The Duel by Lev Grossman
Set in the same world of his Magicians trilogy, fans of his writing and the series should enjoy this story. This was my first time reading a story by Grossman, and while he’s undoubtedly a talented writer, I couldn’t quite get into his story. Though, I intend on rereading it.
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
The penultimate story in this anthology, it’s probably more along the lines of what I went into his first story expecting: a Shannara story. This story is exactly what the title says it is — a discussion between Walker Boh and the shade of Allanon. I enjoyed reading the interactions between the two. This story is a short deleted scene from one of the Shannara novels. Though, readers who have no yet read the Shannara series may find themselves lost. I’m not entirely sure.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
Yet another bittersweet moment, though, that was mainly due to it being the final story in the anthology. This story is set in Speakman’s The Dark Thorn world, though, many years before the events of the novel. At first I was a bit put-off, as in the introduction he mentioned that it contains both vampires and urban fantasy — two things I tend to avoid, yet, I’m glad that I stuck through it, as it definitely was an enjoyable read and quite interesting.
Well, that’s my two-pence on each of the stories. I tried to keep it brief for each of them, not wanting to give anything away, while still sharing a bit of my opinion on each — I hope I succeeded in doing so.
I implore you to go out and get a copy of the anthology and support Shawn Speakman. He’s a deserving guy, and can really use the help. Plus, it IS filled with fantastic stories from some of the masters of fantasy, you’ll get a bunch of great reads, and snippets from authors you might not yet be familiar with.
Normally in my reviews I’ll take a step back, and try to remove all bias. They’re formulaic: a description, the good, the bad, something else good, a general summary, and the release date of the novel, or the sequel, if there is one. That’s not something I did here. Be warned, this is a long one.
Unfettered is a fantasy anthology, containing stories from many of the biggest names in fantasy out there right now. It’s a wonderful amalgamation of talent, put together by and for the editor, Shawn Speakman. The anthology was put together in order to help Speakman’s medical debt after a fight with cancer back in 2011. The stories in this anthology are exactly what the title says — unfettered. They’re all unique; some take place in familiar worlds, while others are a step away into a different fancy of the authors.
I’ve met a bunch of the authors in the anthology, and for many of those I haven’t yet had a chance to meet, I’ve read their books, talked to them online, or heard things about them… and it’s one thing to know them and to think of them as being good people, but it’s another entirely, to realize just how caring, and how close the SF/Fantasy community is. If anything can show it, it’s this anthology — the 20 or so authors coming together to support one of their own in a time of need. It really is amazing, and it made this anthology all that much better. To me, it kind of served as an affirmation of the good that is out there.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to write this review — so, I’ve decided I will start at the beginning, and just have a few sentences for each of the stories. For some of them, I could write full reviews on, but I think it will be best this way.
Anyways, without further ado, the stories:
Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks:
This is an older story by Brooks, first published back in 1990, and served as a prototype of sorts for his Word and the Void series. It was an interesting read, and very different for me, as I’d only read his Shannara books previously. It’s an enjoyable read of self-discovery and overcoming challenges.
How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss:
First off, don’t go into this story expecting a story from the Kingkiller Chronicles world; it isn’t. I’m not entirely sure on my feelings about this story, it’s very different and interesting. It’s written in a very rhythmic and almost simplistic way… I found it to be poetic, and rather sad.
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
This story was a bit of a fun twist on the old “Knight vs Dragon” story. In this one, the knight and the dragon work together to con the kingdom. I found it to be a cute read, well written and very enjoyable.
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
This was the first story of Vaughn’s that I’ve read, and I think it to be a good introduction to her writing. Her story contained a dynamic world, backstory, and characters — it felt to be that this was part of a novel, not just a short story.
The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
This one was another first for me, having never read her Kushiel series or anything else by her before. However, The Martyr of the Roses serves as a precursor to the Kushiel series, and serves as an interesting introduction to the world, though I did find myself feeling a bit lost at times.
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
Brett’s story is probably amongst the top three stories I was looking forward to reading most in this anthology. Set in the Demon Cycle world, it’s the story of what would have been one of the main characters in the series. It was similar to that of Arlen, Rojer, and a few of the other characters in that it’s an encounter with the corelings. It was quite good, well written; and helps as a tie-over while waiting for book 4. (Plus, it included bacon!)
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
Instead of being a short story, this one was more of a novelette, or a novella. Set in the same universe as The Vault of Heaven, it had an interesting magic system based on music. There’s a lot of raw emotion in this story; frustration, anger, regret, grief and mourning. This story is written in response to the question: What would you write if you thought your friend was going to die?
The Coach With Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
I expected something very different when I saw that Salvatore had a story in the anthology, after all, I’ve read almost all of the Drizzt Do’urden novels, and yet, this was very different. This story was probably the hardest for me to get through, as it was a baseball story, following a young timid baseball player.
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
Lockwood’s story is another that I was really looking forward to. I grew up recognizing his art; seeing it on many of my favourite novels, and admiring his talent. So when I heard that he was going to step into writing, I had an immense curiosity as to if he could write as well as he could draw, and well.. I really enjoyed this story, it was interesting and well-written. I think Lockwood is a promising writer, and I look forward to reading more of his writing.
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
I was really uncertain about this story at first, quite frankly I found it odd, and I wasn’t sure if that was in a good way or not. However, after a few short pages I found myself loving it. It has an interesting concept; the story was beautiful, and so very sad.
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
I was kind of at odds with this story; as with Salvatore’s story, it wasn’t really fantasy. However, after rereading it, I find that it was a good read, it’s a horror story more than anything, and quite well-written.
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
This story was a retelling of The Holy Grail story, only, it was very different. The changes to the story, featuring Attricus O’Sullivan (from The Iron Druid Chronicles) as Gawain, and as the finder of the Grail. It was certainly interesting, and not a bad read at all.
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
This is a Jorg story from The Broken Empire novels, I found it to be a good read, and it certainly doesn’t require you to have read the series in order to understand what’s going on. Though, it does serve as a good introduction to Lawrence’s writing, and the series in general.
All The Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
I don’t really have any words for this one other than “cute”. I heard Durham read this story back in November at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto. It follows Michael Stein, the ghost of a dead cat who won’t let death get in the way of him caring for the girl he loves, and was his companion in life.
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
This is the origin story for Iris and Ivan from Bosworth’s Struck. It can be read without reading the novel. The story was interesting, though I think it may be easier to appreciate the story already knowing the characters.
Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
Redick’s story is another that took me a little while to get into before I enjoyed; however, after reading a bit of it I found it to be an engaging story. I don’t know if I’d say that it’s a great introduction to his writing, though, that could just be me.
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
I haven’t read the Thompson’s Legend of Asahiel series yet, but this story serves as an introduction to Kylac Kronus. The series, and Thompson’s writing seem to be interesting and quite good, after reading the story I find myself looking forward to reading the series.
In Favour With Their Stars by Naomi Novik
Set in the Temeraire-universe, fans of Novik’s novels, and readers who haven’t yet picked them up will enjoy this story. I believe it serves as an intriguing introduction to her world, and writing. I’ve only read the first novel so far, but this story reminded me of how much I do enjoy her writing.
River of Souls by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
… Can I skip this one, please…? This story was extremely bittersweet. As a longtime Wheel of Time fan, I had reconciled that A Memory of Light would be it, then shortly after, I heard about this short story. So, there’s a lot of the same feelings, the knowledge that after so many years: this is it. River of Souls is a deleted scene from AMOL, featuring Bao and his time in Shara. Though, readers who haven’t read the series or AMOL should be wary of some minor spoilers.
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
The Jester is a standalone story that takes place after The Rose and the Thorn and before Theft of Swords; it features an adventure that Royce and Hadrian go on. This was quite possibly one of my favourite stories in the anthology, I found it to be a quite enjoyable read, and simply put, I love his writing.
The Duel by Lev Grossman
Set in the same world of his Magicians trilogy, fans of his writing and the series should enjoy this story. This was my first time reading a story by Grossman, and while he’s undoubtedly a talented writer, I couldn’t quite get into his story. Though, I intend on rereading it.
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
The penultimate story in this anthology, it’s probably more along the lines of what I went into his first story expecting: a Shannara story. This story is exactly what the title says it is — a discussion between Walker Boh and the shade of Allanon. I enjoyed reading the interactions between the two. This story is a short deleted scene from one of the Shannara novels. Though, readers who have no yet read the Shannara series may find themselves lost. I’m not entirely sure.
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
Yet another bittersweet moment, though, that was mainly due to it being the final story in the anthology. This story is set in Speakman’s The Dark Thorn world, though, many years before the events of the novel. At first I was a bit put-off, as in the introduction he mentioned that it contains both vampires and urban fantasy — two things I tend to avoid, yet, I’m glad that I stuck through it, as it definitely was an enjoyable read and quite interesting.
Well, that’s my two-pence on each of the stories. I tried to keep it brief for each of them, not wanting to give anything away, while still sharing a bit of my opinion on each — I hope I succeeded in doing so.
I implore you to go out and get a copy of the anthology and support Shawn Speakman. He’s a deserving guy, and can really use the help. Plus, it IS filled with fantastic stories from some of the masters of fantasy, you’ll get a bunch of great reads, and snippets from authors you might not yet be familiar with.
January 12, 2015
Shawn Speakman delivers a powerful and wonderful anthology. This is a must read for any fantasy fan. Go now and get yourself a copy. This is the TLDR ( too long didn't read) version of the review.
Now for those interested in the why's and why not's then reader further.
Imaginary Friends - Terry Brooks
A master of fantasy writing, Terry Brooks gives us this wonderful story of magic in the real world. Told through the eyes of a child that experiences a fantastic world of elves and dragons. Do you ever remember recreating fantastic worlds when you were a kid? But what happens when those imaginary worlds are actually right there in your neighborhood, just hidden from the grown ups but accessible to you? This is the setting of this wonderful story. It transported me back to my childhood and I truly enjoyed the ride.
How old Holly Came To Be - Patrick Rothfuss
A chant or rhythmic prose that reads like a poem by Patrick Rothfuss. Although this type of writing has never been my cup of tea, the underlying story is one of wonderment, love, good and evil but ultimately of beauty. Definitely a different side I have not seen from Patrick Rothfuss. Completely different from his highly successful series and books, The Name of the Wind and Wiseman's Fears
The Old Scale Game - Tad Williams
Funny! Highly entertaining. Tad Williams writes a great story about a Knight and a Dragon in cahoots to scam people out of their money. Reminiscent of the movie Dragonheart but what happens when other fairy creatures figure out what these 2 are pulling off? Then things get quite interesting and funnier. Brilliant! If you liked this story then you should also check out his short story anthology A Stark and Wormy Knight
Game of Chance - Carrie Vaughn
Refreshing! The story of these people that can be called very well masters of the world. They have magical abilities that allows them to influence the world. Their agenda to stir the motivations of these political figures. But what is the price of using these abilities? How far can they push before they are drawn back into the real world they are trying to influence? These and other questions are answered throughout the story brilliantly told by not the most powerful of all the masters of the world.
Mudboy - Peter V Brett
Demons in a world where humans fend off as best as I can to keep them at bay. A child learns from his father how to battle them. His mother teaches him how to cure the wounds they give. Briar is young but already exposed to the evil of this world, to the demons that surrounds us. A terrific story that begins brilliantly and ends perfectly. This story was intended to be part of his book, The Daylight War. An emotional story that has made me a new fan of Peter V Brett
The Sound of Broken Absolutes - Peter Orullian
Mr. Orullian writing is both fantastic and musical. How can you not love a fantasy where the magic system is rooted in music? Well I guess if you don't like music. But lets assume you do... Then you must read this story. A man that lost his family do to war, leaves his training incomplete and joins the war. He uses his voice and knowledge of music to exact justice. Or is it revenge? There are always consequences to all the choices we make and he is not immune to that. I liked this story so much that I went and bought a copy of The Unremembered. This is a must read story in this anthology. Musical and Excellent!
The Coach With Big Teeth - R.A. Salvatore
The story of a kid that is not one of the jocks. He is there at the baseball field, on the right field where statistically nothing will ever be hit at. And if there is a slight chance of that happening, the good coach will switch you out immediately to avoid anything bad happening. After all we all want to win, right? How can you turn this story into something supernatural? Well read this story from R.A Salvatore and you can find out. Perhaps, you were a kid just like the one in this story once and it might just resonate with you. A well done supernatural horror story.
Keeper of Memory - Todd Lockwood
Perhaps you know Mr. Lockwood for his awesome artistic skills on the many fantasy books his art is shown. Terry Brooks and Shawn Speakman works sport some of Todd's magnificent work. This time though we have Todd's writing and let me tell you it is nothing short of awesome. Dragons, magic and a terrific shocking ending. Can the Keeper of Memories survive his fate? I am not gonna give you any other details, this is the kind of story you have to read to have a really good appreciation for it. Like a painting, no matter how much you want to describe it, you need to see it for yourself to be able to relate to it. Read this story if nothing else in this book. Absolutely Outstanding!
Heaven in a Wild Flower - Blake Charlton
This story is both an incredible tale of love, magic and wonderment. It almost made me cry. I said almost. Touching and so real. I think unless you are Dexter (Showtime series), you will be moved by this story. You don't know who Dexter is? Ok, go fix that. But seriously now, it is an emotional story that will touch your heart. What would happen if you decide to intertwine your life essence with that of a child? Would you do it willingly, not knowing what will happen in the future? What if your chances are slim? Does love conquers all? Read this wonderful story from Blake Charlton and find out.
Dogs - Daniel Abraham
An interesting story with deep psychological undertones. What does happen to the mind of a person when they have been attacked by dogs? This is the question Daniel Abraham explores in this tale of loss and fear. It is about the human condition, of the things we take for granted - of how safe that walk to work might or might not be. Mr. Abraham shares the construction of this wonderful story with us. This is both a great story and a rare opportunity to get behind the mind of an author.
The Chapel Perilous - Kevin Hearne
Who doesn't like a story about a lost powerful item? The Holy Grail of eternal food? The chalice that doesn't stop feeding people? Mr. Hearne writes about it in a celtic, druid type setting. Our protagonist a powerful druid infused with nature's own magic. Our antagonist is no other than a Pict with dark powers. This story is both adventurous, funny and full of that good old fantasy we all like. Thumbs up for a well written story. I read this one in one sitting as I needed to know if in the end good prevails or not.
Select Mode - Mark Lawrence
Select Mode is a short story in Mark Lawrence's trilogy world The Broken Empire. If you have not read him already, please do yourself a humongous favor and pick up Prince of Thorns. The short story could be read without previous knowledge of the series and I have to say Mr. Lawrence pulled it flawlessly. The story begins in a grim situation for our protagonist. He is a prisoner and only The Arch can judge him to be Select or not. The situation for Jorg is difficult and chances are he is not gonna live to see it through. His hate for his captors is quite obvious and his skills as a fighter even at his young age are quite apparent. There is no sugar coating in the action and the descriptions of Jorg and his Nuban acquaintance. The story is gritty and real. But what will happen when they are finally in the presence of The Ark? The answer is told in this excellent story. Brilliant, Grim and Gritty - just how i like my stories. Perfectly executed. A must read!
All the Girls Love Michael Stein - David Anthony Durham
A cat story that is unlike any you have ever read. Dead cats that can see people and other dead cats. But what about people that can see dead cats? But even better, what about people that can also hear dead cats talking? Well this story is all that but not in a spooky creepy kind of way. This is a children story about love for those pets that have departed us and those that are with us. This is a story I will read to my young children. I can describe it in just one word, Beautiful.
Strange Rain - Jennifer Bosworth
This story serves as a prequel to the events before Struck and her short story Prophet. What are the origins of the followers of Rance Ridley Prophet - Iris and Ivan? Well this is their story before they were supercharged with powers. I have always liked background stories, like this one. Where we get to learn more about those characters that are in epic adventures but we can't get enough of them. I enjoyed the way the author develops them throughout the story. Good solid writing that I found most enjoyable.
Unbowed - Eldon Thompson
The story of the origins of Kylac one of the characters in Eldon Thompson's The Legend of Asahiel trilogy. Kylac will get his own spin-off series according to the foreword by Thompson. The story is full of good action and a strong plot. This story is so good that without hesitation, I went and bought the trilogy. I really cannot wait to read this upcoming spin-off series on Kylac. The character is believable and the ending was impressive. The story is 40 pages long and I read it in one sitting. That is quite an achievement for me, to be able to read that many pages uninterrupted. The story was that good. All I have to say is, Thanks Mr. Thompson this story is fabulous.
In Favour with their Stars - Naomi Novik
I am sure that with the adequate background into Naomi Novik's Temeraire this story would be even more fun that it is. But it stands on its own and delivers good fantastic fun. Again I read the story in one sitting but ran out of funds to start buying the books in her series! I blame Eldon Thompson for that. But do not despair, this story was so good that I will be buying the whole series to read, perhaps for Xmas. I don't want to spoil the details, but there are Dragons in it. Lovely!
The Jester - Michael J. Sullivan
A story of friendship, adventure and where fate is decided by the choices we make. Powerful story-telling and clever use of characters makes the story even better. This is one of those stories I wish I could spoil to you. Just because I enjoyed the internal conflict of the characters - I felt I was there with them in the story itself. Although, in retrospect that would have been extremely hazardous to my health. Anyways, please read this story and try to picture yourself in their shoes. I think you will enjoy it more that way.
The Duel - Lev Grossman
Oh boy did I laugh reading this story. Mr Grossman story is both hilarious and epic. The way I imagine this story is from the perspective of a 20th century man that now is King in a fairy tale world. And although I have not read Mr. Grossman Magician series, I can tell you that it must be very good. This is a story as the title says... about a duel. And what a duel! Action packed sequences and funny sketches is all I pictured in my mind. Elliot our protagonist, has a unique personality that I can relate to. He feels all too human, all too real. Our hero Elliot , King of the Fillorians, figures out that the best way to stop an all out war that will just end up crushing his enemies in a way that is not even funny is to just duel their best warrior. Elliot is the protagonist and the King of basically every possible fairy monster you can pull out of D&D manual. Get the picture? The bad guys are just screwed... Or so he thinks. Do you want to know who wins? His adversary is nothing short of outstanding himself. Modeled after GRRM's Strong Belwas but with the super powers all too necessary in a fairy world, this man is by no means a walk in the park.
The Unfettered Knight - Shawn Speakman
Now to end this review we have the short story from Shawn Speakman. I own Shawn's The Dark Thorn and it is just an amazing novel. The novel is of the caliber of great authors like Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan and Raymond Feist to mention a few. What? You have not read The Dark Thorn? Fix that, promptly. Save some money and buy it. Because the story of Richard Mcallister needs to be read by as many people as humanly possible. So why this intro about The Dark Thorn? Because our protagonist in The Unfettered Knight is an important figure in The Dark Thorn and pivotal on what will happen with Richard Mcallister. Charles Ardall's responsibility is, in a nutshell, to keep our world and that of the Tuatha (fairy tale creatures) separated and in harmony. Easy right? NO! Because no other than a vampire has crossed into our world through a portal under the Vatican itself! Ok, no more spoilers. And no this is not one of those "glowy vampires". This is one of those hardcore, rip-your-heart-out type of vampire. This is the fight of good vs evil. Druidic Powers vs Vampires! Zompires vs Humans! You don't know what a Zompire is? Read the story! I did not know either and well it was more than a bit of fun. Can our champion defeat what could be the most powerful undead in this world? Shawn delivers an exquisite exposition of magic and creepy vampire lore with a twist that you will not expect. Mix that with his already great take in fairy tales and you are up for a great ride.
I want to finish this review with an uplifting note. I met Terry Brooks recently in Connecticut at the Mark Twain House. It was a special occasion for me as I could speak to him one on one at a reception before the event. The question came up then, "How is Shawn doing?" and Terry plainly said: "He is doing great!" Based on the quality of the work that you find in his anthology Unfettered, his short story and that of the authors he chose to have in it, I have to say Terry must be right on the money. Now Shawn get to write, I am waiting for the sequel to The Dark Thorn.
Note:
At the time of this review I have not read: Robert V.S. Redick Nocturne, Jacqueline Carey The Martyr of the Roses and Brandon Sanderson River of Souls.
Now for those interested in the why's and why not's then reader further.
Imaginary Friends - Terry Brooks
A master of fantasy writing, Terry Brooks gives us this wonderful story of magic in the real world. Told through the eyes of a child that experiences a fantastic world of elves and dragons. Do you ever remember recreating fantastic worlds when you were a kid? But what happens when those imaginary worlds are actually right there in your neighborhood, just hidden from the grown ups but accessible to you? This is the setting of this wonderful story. It transported me back to my childhood and I truly enjoyed the ride.
How old Holly Came To Be - Patrick Rothfuss
A chant or rhythmic prose that reads like a poem by Patrick Rothfuss. Although this type of writing has never been my cup of tea, the underlying story is one of wonderment, love, good and evil but ultimately of beauty. Definitely a different side I have not seen from Patrick Rothfuss. Completely different from his highly successful series and books, The Name of the Wind and Wiseman's Fears
The Old Scale Game - Tad Williams
Funny! Highly entertaining. Tad Williams writes a great story about a Knight and a Dragon in cahoots to scam people out of their money. Reminiscent of the movie Dragonheart but what happens when other fairy creatures figure out what these 2 are pulling off? Then things get quite interesting and funnier. Brilliant! If you liked this story then you should also check out his short story anthology A Stark and Wormy Knight
Game of Chance - Carrie Vaughn
Refreshing! The story of these people that can be called very well masters of the world. They have magical abilities that allows them to influence the world. Their agenda to stir the motivations of these political figures. But what is the price of using these abilities? How far can they push before they are drawn back into the real world they are trying to influence? These and other questions are answered throughout the story brilliantly told by not the most powerful of all the masters of the world.
Mudboy - Peter V Brett
Demons in a world where humans fend off as best as I can to keep them at bay. A child learns from his father how to battle them. His mother teaches him how to cure the wounds they give. Briar is young but already exposed to the evil of this world, to the demons that surrounds us. A terrific story that begins brilliantly and ends perfectly. This story was intended to be part of his book, The Daylight War. An emotional story that has made me a new fan of Peter V Brett
The Sound of Broken Absolutes - Peter Orullian
Mr. Orullian writing is both fantastic and musical. How can you not love a fantasy where the magic system is rooted in music? Well I guess if you don't like music. But lets assume you do... Then you must read this story. A man that lost his family do to war, leaves his training incomplete and joins the war. He uses his voice and knowledge of music to exact justice. Or is it revenge? There are always consequences to all the choices we make and he is not immune to that. I liked this story so much that I went and bought a copy of The Unremembered. This is a must read story in this anthology. Musical and Excellent!
The Coach With Big Teeth - R.A. Salvatore
The story of a kid that is not one of the jocks. He is there at the baseball field, on the right field where statistically nothing will ever be hit at. And if there is a slight chance of that happening, the good coach will switch you out immediately to avoid anything bad happening. After all we all want to win, right? How can you turn this story into something supernatural? Well read this story from R.A Salvatore and you can find out. Perhaps, you were a kid just like the one in this story once and it might just resonate with you. A well done supernatural horror story.
Keeper of Memory - Todd Lockwood
Perhaps you know Mr. Lockwood for his awesome artistic skills on the many fantasy books his art is shown. Terry Brooks and Shawn Speakman works sport some of Todd's magnificent work. This time though we have Todd's writing and let me tell you it is nothing short of awesome. Dragons, magic and a terrific shocking ending. Can the Keeper of Memories survive his fate? I am not gonna give you any other details, this is the kind of story you have to read to have a really good appreciation for it. Like a painting, no matter how much you want to describe it, you need to see it for yourself to be able to relate to it. Read this story if nothing else in this book. Absolutely Outstanding!
Heaven in a Wild Flower - Blake Charlton
This story is both an incredible tale of love, magic and wonderment. It almost made me cry. I said almost. Touching and so real. I think unless you are Dexter (Showtime series), you will be moved by this story. You don't know who Dexter is? Ok, go fix that. But seriously now, it is an emotional story that will touch your heart. What would happen if you decide to intertwine your life essence with that of a child? Would you do it willingly, not knowing what will happen in the future? What if your chances are slim? Does love conquers all? Read this wonderful story from Blake Charlton and find out.
Dogs - Daniel Abraham
An interesting story with deep psychological undertones. What does happen to the mind of a person when they have been attacked by dogs? This is the question Daniel Abraham explores in this tale of loss and fear. It is about the human condition, of the things we take for granted - of how safe that walk to work might or might not be. Mr. Abraham shares the construction of this wonderful story with us. This is both a great story and a rare opportunity to get behind the mind of an author.
The Chapel Perilous - Kevin Hearne
Who doesn't like a story about a lost powerful item? The Holy Grail of eternal food? The chalice that doesn't stop feeding people? Mr. Hearne writes about it in a celtic, druid type setting. Our protagonist a powerful druid infused with nature's own magic. Our antagonist is no other than a Pict with dark powers. This story is both adventurous, funny and full of that good old fantasy we all like. Thumbs up for a well written story. I read this one in one sitting as I needed to know if in the end good prevails or not.
Select Mode - Mark Lawrence
Select Mode is a short story in Mark Lawrence's trilogy world The Broken Empire. If you have not read him already, please do yourself a humongous favor and pick up Prince of Thorns. The short story could be read without previous knowledge of the series and I have to say Mr. Lawrence pulled it flawlessly. The story begins in a grim situation for our protagonist. He is a prisoner and only The Arch can judge him to be Select or not. The situation for Jorg is difficult and chances are he is not gonna live to see it through. His hate for his captors is quite obvious and his skills as a fighter even at his young age are quite apparent. There is no sugar coating in the action and the descriptions of Jorg and his Nuban acquaintance. The story is gritty and real. But what will happen when they are finally in the presence of The Ark? The answer is told in this excellent story. Brilliant, Grim and Gritty - just how i like my stories. Perfectly executed. A must read!
All the Girls Love Michael Stein - David Anthony Durham
A cat story that is unlike any you have ever read. Dead cats that can see people and other dead cats. But what about people that can see dead cats? But even better, what about people that can also hear dead cats talking? Well this story is all that but not in a spooky creepy kind of way. This is a children story about love for those pets that have departed us and those that are with us. This is a story I will read to my young children. I can describe it in just one word, Beautiful.
Strange Rain - Jennifer Bosworth
This story serves as a prequel to the events before Struck and her short story Prophet. What are the origins of the followers of Rance Ridley Prophet - Iris and Ivan? Well this is their story before they were supercharged with powers. I have always liked background stories, like this one. Where we get to learn more about those characters that are in epic adventures but we can't get enough of them. I enjoyed the way the author develops them throughout the story. Good solid writing that I found most enjoyable.
Unbowed - Eldon Thompson
The story of the origins of Kylac one of the characters in Eldon Thompson's The Legend of Asahiel trilogy. Kylac will get his own spin-off series according to the foreword by Thompson. The story is full of good action and a strong plot. This story is so good that without hesitation, I went and bought the trilogy. I really cannot wait to read this upcoming spin-off series on Kylac. The character is believable and the ending was impressive. The story is 40 pages long and I read it in one sitting. That is quite an achievement for me, to be able to read that many pages uninterrupted. The story was that good. All I have to say is, Thanks Mr. Thompson this story is fabulous.
In Favour with their Stars - Naomi Novik
I am sure that with the adequate background into Naomi Novik's Temeraire this story would be even more fun that it is. But it stands on its own and delivers good fantastic fun. Again I read the story in one sitting but ran out of funds to start buying the books in her series! I blame Eldon Thompson for that. But do not despair, this story was so good that I will be buying the whole series to read, perhaps for Xmas. I don't want to spoil the details, but there are Dragons in it. Lovely!
The Jester - Michael J. Sullivan
A story of friendship, adventure and where fate is decided by the choices we make. Powerful story-telling and clever use of characters makes the story even better. This is one of those stories I wish I could spoil to you. Just because I enjoyed the internal conflict of the characters - I felt I was there with them in the story itself. Although, in retrospect that would have been extremely hazardous to my health. Anyways, please read this story and try to picture yourself in their shoes. I think you will enjoy it more that way.
The Duel - Lev Grossman
Oh boy did I laugh reading this story. Mr Grossman story is both hilarious and epic. The way I imagine this story is from the perspective of a 20th century man that now is King in a fairy tale world. And although I have not read Mr. Grossman Magician series, I can tell you that it must be very good. This is a story as the title says... about a duel. And what a duel! Action packed sequences and funny sketches is all I pictured in my mind. Elliot our protagonist, has a unique personality that I can relate to. He feels all too human, all too real. Our hero Elliot , King of the Fillorians, figures out that the best way to stop an all out war that will just end up crushing his enemies in a way that is not even funny is to just duel their best warrior. Elliot is the protagonist and the King of basically every possible fairy monster you can pull out of D&D manual. Get the picture? The bad guys are just screwed... Or so he thinks. Do you want to know who wins? His adversary is nothing short of outstanding himself. Modeled after GRRM's Strong Belwas but with the super powers all too necessary in a fairy world, this man is by no means a walk in the park.
The Unfettered Knight - Shawn Speakman
Now to end this review we have the short story from Shawn Speakman. I own Shawn's The Dark Thorn and it is just an amazing novel. The novel is of the caliber of great authors like Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan and Raymond Feist to mention a few. What? You have not read The Dark Thorn? Fix that, promptly. Save some money and buy it. Because the story of Richard Mcallister needs to be read by as many people as humanly possible. So why this intro about The Dark Thorn? Because our protagonist in The Unfettered Knight is an important figure in The Dark Thorn and pivotal on what will happen with Richard Mcallister. Charles Ardall's responsibility is, in a nutshell, to keep our world and that of the Tuatha (fairy tale creatures) separated and in harmony. Easy right? NO! Because no other than a vampire has crossed into our world through a portal under the Vatican itself! Ok, no more spoilers. And no this is not one of those "glowy vampires". This is one of those hardcore, rip-your-heart-out type of vampire. This is the fight of good vs evil. Druidic Powers vs Vampires! Zompires vs Humans! You don't know what a Zompire is? Read the story! I did not know either and well it was more than a bit of fun. Can our champion defeat what could be the most powerful undead in this world? Shawn delivers an exquisite exposition of magic and creepy vampire lore with a twist that you will not expect. Mix that with his already great take in fairy tales and you are up for a great ride.
I want to finish this review with an uplifting note. I met Terry Brooks recently in Connecticut at the Mark Twain House. It was a special occasion for me as I could speak to him one on one at a reception before the event. The question came up then, "How is Shawn doing?" and Terry plainly said: "He is doing great!" Based on the quality of the work that you find in his anthology Unfettered, his short story and that of the authors he chose to have in it, I have to say Terry must be right on the money. Now Shawn get to write, I am waiting for the sequel to The Dark Thorn.
Note:
At the time of this review I have not read: Robert V.S. Redick Nocturne, Jacqueline Carey The Martyr of the Roses and Brandon Sanderson River of Souls.
February 27, 2014
As with another anthology I did recently, I will(have to) grade each story separately and use the average to give the book the overall score; seeing as how the book isn't all by one author taking place in the same universe.
The average rating is 2.4 Star out of 22 stories(didn't finish one of the stories)
"Imaginary Friends" by Terry Brooks
It's good that Terry put his life on hold and placed time and effort into helping out a friend without looking for any compensation in return.... doesn't change the fact that this book sucked and was horrible.
The writing was as if the 13 year old in the book wrote it... i didn't like it at all.
0.5/5 Stars
"How Old Holly Came To Be" by Patrick Rothfuss
Mr. Patrick I really loved TNOTW and TWMF and thought i would/could read anything from you...... but poems are not my thing. I understand it tells a story but.....
1.5/5 Stars
"The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams
It was too childish(or simplistic) for me... it also had dragons.. I dislike dragon books
0.5/5 Stars
"Game of Chance" by Carrie Vaughn
I actually enjoyed this story, wasn't overly childish(wasn't childish at all) like some of the other stories in this book.
I might look and see what else the author wrote.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Martyr of the Roses" by Jacqueline Carey
I don't care for beautiful males and their graceful dance fetishes.
1/5 Stars
"Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett
Was an entertaining read, would like to know the outcome seeing as no one but his own would look after him.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Sound of Broken Absolutes" by Peter Orullian
Using music as a weapon....interesting.
I've read books where music and musical instruments have been used to harm(Warded Man, etc, etc) but never in this way. An enjoyable read.
3/5 Stars
"The Coach With Big Teeth" by R.A. Salvatore
Baseball... Your Typical "well read"/"nerd" trying to fit in by playing some popular sport. Horribly Boring.
0.5/5 Stars
"Keeper of Memory" by Todd Lockwood
The book started with dragons which was annoying and boring(don't know why so many authors believe that if they are writing a fantasy it must have dragons), then it pick up and got interesting...still the dragons put me off.
1.5/5 Stars
"Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton
This story gave me so many feels and a possible look into the future, as far as I've read or seen before it's wholly original.
4/5 Stars
"Dogs" by Daniel Abraham
This isn't fantasy unless the dogs were possessed by demons.
I understand the guy went through something traumatic, but he made a big mistake by letting his dog take the Alpha position and allowing it to make him a Beta.
2/5 Stars
"The Chapel Perilous" by Kevin Hearne
A fun Iron Druid short story
3/5 Stars
"Select Mode" by Mark Lawrence
Jorge still battling his inner demons
2.5/5 Stars
"All the Girls Love Michael Stein" by David Anthony Durham
Cats ... D.N.F
"Strange Rain" by Jennifer Bosworth
Wow, just wow. That was crazy and slightly obsessive.
3/5 Stars
"Nocturne" by Robert V. S. Redick
I don't think this was fantasy, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
3/5 Stars
"Unbowed" by Eldon Thompson
I know some might say that the protagonist is a "Mary..." no "Gary Stu" because he is so "perfect" at everything, what you have to remember is that he was trained from birth by the best there is; with that I highly enjoyed this book.
This is one of the best story in this book so far Will look for more books from the author.
4.5/5 Stars
"In Favour with Their Stars" by Naomi Novik
This book was going so well... then they had to introduce Dragons.
I nearly stopped this story to leave it as a "di not finish" when the Dragon appeared, but I continued. The story turned out ok.
2.5/s Stars
"River of Souls" by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
I've never read a Wheel of Time book in my life, if they all have this form of writing and cadance I might look into the rest of them.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan
Short, fun story about people and their inner demons and how no matter how much they try to hide it, it always shows true in the end.
4/5 Stars
"The Duel" by Lev Grossman
All the pop culture references made me smirk a little, it was a childish kind of grim.
3/5 Stars
"Walker and the Shade of Allanon" by Terry Brooks
The book started off fine, I thought the conclusions I made about Terry from his first story in this book was wrong... After continuing the story, it seems my conclusions were spot on. This story was horrible.
0.5/5 Stars
"The Unfettered Knight" by Shawn Speakman
It's like a cross between Dresden Files and Iron Druid Chronicles with a little pinch of Kim harrison thrown in. Enjoyable read
4.5/5 Stars
The average rating is 2.4 Star out of 22 stories(didn't finish one of the stories)
"Imaginary Friends" by Terry Brooks
It's good that Terry put his life on hold and placed time and effort into helping out a friend without looking for any compensation in return.... doesn't change the fact that this book sucked and was horrible.
The writing was as if the 13 year old in the book wrote it... i didn't like it at all.
0.5/5 Stars
"How Old Holly Came To Be" by Patrick Rothfuss
Mr. Patrick I really loved TNOTW and TWMF and thought i would/could read anything from you...... but poems are not my thing. I understand it tells a story but.....
1.5/5 Stars
"The Old Scale Game" by Tad Williams
It was too childish(or simplistic) for me... it also had dragons.. I dislike dragon books
0.5/5 Stars
"Game of Chance" by Carrie Vaughn
I actually enjoyed this story, wasn't overly childish(wasn't childish at all) like some of the other stories in this book.
I might look and see what else the author wrote.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Martyr of the Roses" by Jacqueline Carey
I don't care for beautiful males and their graceful dance fetishes.
1/5 Stars
"Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett
Was an entertaining read, would like to know the outcome seeing as no one but his own would look after him.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Sound of Broken Absolutes" by Peter Orullian
Using music as a weapon....interesting.
I've read books where music and musical instruments have been used to harm(Warded Man, etc, etc) but never in this way. An enjoyable read.
3/5 Stars
"The Coach With Big Teeth" by R.A. Salvatore
Baseball... Your Typical "well read"/"nerd" trying to fit in by playing some popular sport. Horribly Boring.
0.5/5 Stars
"Keeper of Memory" by Todd Lockwood
The book started with dragons which was annoying and boring(don't know why so many authors believe that if they are writing a fantasy it must have dragons), then it pick up and got interesting...still the dragons put me off.
1.5/5 Stars
"Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton
This story gave me so many feels and a possible look into the future, as far as I've read or seen before it's wholly original.
4/5 Stars
"Dogs" by Daniel Abraham
This isn't fantasy unless the dogs were possessed by demons.
I understand the guy went through something traumatic, but he made a big mistake by letting his dog take the Alpha position and allowing it to make him a Beta.
2/5 Stars
"The Chapel Perilous" by Kevin Hearne
A fun Iron Druid short story
3/5 Stars
"Select Mode" by Mark Lawrence
Jorge still battling his inner demons
2.5/5 Stars
"All the Girls Love Michael Stein" by David Anthony Durham
Cats ... D.N.F
"Strange Rain" by Jennifer Bosworth
Wow, just wow. That was crazy and slightly obsessive.
3/5 Stars
"Nocturne" by Robert V. S. Redick
I don't think this was fantasy, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
3/5 Stars
"Unbowed" by Eldon Thompson
I know some might say that the protagonist is a "Mary..." no "Gary Stu" because he is so "perfect" at everything, what you have to remember is that he was trained from birth by the best there is; with that I highly enjoyed this book.
This is one of the best story in this book so far Will look for more books from the author.
4.5/5 Stars
"In Favour with Their Stars" by Naomi Novik
This book was going so well... then they had to introduce Dragons.
I nearly stopped this story to leave it as a "di not finish" when the Dragon appeared, but I continued. The story turned out ok.
2.5/s Stars
"River of Souls" by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
I've never read a Wheel of Time book in my life, if they all have this form of writing and cadance I might look into the rest of them.
2.5/5 Stars
"The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan
Short, fun story about people and their inner demons and how no matter how much they try to hide it, it always shows true in the end.
4/5 Stars
"The Duel" by Lev Grossman
All the pop culture references made me smirk a little, it was a childish kind of grim.
3/5 Stars
"Walker and the Shade of Allanon" by Terry Brooks
The book started off fine, I thought the conclusions I made about Terry from his first story in this book was wrong... After continuing the story, it seems my conclusions were spot on. This story was horrible.
0.5/5 Stars
"The Unfettered Knight" by Shawn Speakman
It's like a cross between Dresden Files and Iron Druid Chronicles with a little pinch of Kim harrison thrown in. Enjoyable read
4.5/5 Stars
October 9, 2019
★★★☆☆ Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
★★★★★ How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (Tales from Temerant 2.3)
★★★★☆ The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
���★★★★ Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
★★★★☆ The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Universe)
★★★★☆ Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
★★★★★ The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (Vault of Heaven 0.7)
★★☆☆☆ The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
★★★★★ Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
★★★★☆ Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
★★★☆☆ Dogs by Daniel Abraham
★★★★☆ The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid 4.6)
★★★☆☆ Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
★★★☆☆ All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
★★★☆☆ Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
★★★★☆ Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
★★★☆☆ Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
★★★★☆ In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (Temeraire)
★★★★☆ River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
★★★★☆ The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (Riyria 2.5)
★★★★☆ The Duel by Lev Grossman
★★★☆☆ Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
★★★★☆ The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
Unfettered will be available in ebook format for those of us with tiny living spaces and even tinier bookcases.
Update: The ebook is available for Kobo (yay!), Nook, iBooks, and Kindle.
★★★★★ How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (Tales from Temerant 2.3)
★★★★☆ The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
���★★★★ Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
★★★★☆ The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Universe)
★★★★☆ Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
★★★★★ The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (Vault of Heaven 0.7)
★★☆☆☆ The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
★★★★★ Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
★★★★☆ Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
★★★☆☆ Dogs by Daniel Abraham
★★★★☆ The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid 4.6)
★★★☆☆ Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
★★★☆☆ All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
★★★☆☆ Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
★★★★☆ Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick
★★★☆☆ Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
★★★★☆ In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (Temeraire)
★★★★☆ River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
★★★★☆ The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (Riyria 2.5)
★★★★☆ The Duel by Lev Grossman
★★★☆☆ Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
★★★★☆ The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
Unfettered will be available in ebook format for those of us with tiny living spaces and even tinier bookcases.
Update: The ebook is available for Kobo (yay!), Nook, iBooks, and Kindle.
September 9, 2018
This is a collection of short stories by different fantasy authors. These stories could be part of long running series or stand alone stories. They have nothing in common with each other. This was put together for humanitarian reasons as the editor was diagnosed with cancer and needed monetary help.
I have to say that this review could be classified as incomplete as I did not read all the stories. I stayed away from series that I have no knowledge from. Basically I read the stand alone stories and the stories from series by Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Lev Grossman, and Peter Brett. These are the ones my review will concentrate on. As with any anthology there were stories I really enjoyed, middle of the road stories, and stories I disliked. Even with the stories set in series that I am invested in, I enjoyed the stand alone stories more. These could range from real life scenarios to magicians steering time events. I did like how these stories were diverse from each other. As for the stories contained within the series, there was additional information but not vital for the overall arc.
Usually I give an anthology a three star rating because I really enjoy some stories and really don't enjoy others. This is the case for this anthology but I added one more star solely for the reason this was put together. For a feel good cause it deserves it and I have no problem supporting a cause like this one.
I have to say that this review could be classified as incomplete as I did not read all the stories. I stayed away from series that I have no knowledge from. Basically I read the stand alone stories and the stories from series by Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Lev Grossman, and Peter Brett. These are the ones my review will concentrate on. As with any anthology there were stories I really enjoyed, middle of the road stories, and stories I disliked. Even with the stories set in series that I am invested in, I enjoyed the stand alone stories more. These could range from real life scenarios to magicians steering time events. I did like how these stories were diverse from each other. As for the stories contained within the series, there was additional information but not vital for the overall arc.
Usually I give an anthology a three star rating because I really enjoy some stories and really don't enjoy others. This is the case for this anthology but I added one more star solely for the reason this was put together. For a feel good cause it deserves it and I have no problem supporting a cause like this one.
Want to read
August 11, 2013Terry Brooks' 1st story was pretty rubbish, fluff urban fantasy. A product of its time for sure.
Patrick Rothfuss' entry was better the 2nd time through (It's only 1700 words long) and actually does work quite well if read aloud. Quite clever, but I can see people getting annoyed with it for being style over substance.
Tad Williams' story is actually quite funny in a daft, eye-rolling sort of way. I enjoyed it.
Carrie Vaughn's entry is stunning - easily the best one I've read so far. Very well written and a genuinely unique take on fantasy itself.
Jacqueline Carey's story went right over my head. No idea what the point of it was. Is it some sort of meta-connection to her Kushiel's series (which I haven't read) or just some sort of weird, very overwritten piece of fluff which I should understand better than I do? Meh.
Peter V. Brett's "Mudboy" is, well, *exactly* what you'd expect from Brett. Nothing more, nothing less. It introduces a new character in the world of his "Demon Cycle", in a way that seems to be his staple for introducing POV characters. It was enjoyable enough for a short story. Nice ending.
Next up: Peter Orullian's massive entry, "The Sound of Broken Absolutes".
Patrick Rothfuss' entry was better the 2nd time through (It's only 1700 words long) and actually does work quite well if read aloud. Quite clever, but I can see people getting annoyed with it for being style over substance.
Tad Williams' story is actually quite funny in a daft, eye-rolling sort of way. I enjoyed it.
Carrie Vaughn's entry is stunning - easily the best one I've read so far. Very well written and a genuinely unique take on fantasy itself.
Jacqueline Carey's story went right over my head. No idea what the point of it was. Is it some sort of meta-connection to her Kushiel's series (which I haven't read) or just some sort of weird, very overwritten piece of fluff which I should understand better than I do? Meh.
Peter V. Brett's "Mudboy" is, well, *exactly* what you'd expect from Brett. Nothing more, nothing less. It introduces a new character in the world of his "Demon Cycle", in a way that seems to be his staple for introducing POV characters. It was enjoyable enough for a short story. Nice ending.
Next up: Peter Orullian's massive entry, "The Sound of Broken Absolutes".
December 9, 2021
*Will Update*
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
A Magicians story: The Duel by Lev Grossman
A Broken Empire story (1.5): Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss
A Magicians story: The Duel by Lev Grossman
A Broken Empire story (1.5): Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
August 23, 2013
This collection literally (literally!) has something that every fantasy reader can enjoy. I read 96% of the pages, and with 24 authors I thought for sure there would be something I didn't like, and it turned out to be very, very little. Some highlights for me were:
"Imaginary Friends" - Terry Brooks. Heart wrenching and heart lifting, a perfect opening for the collection.
"Game of Chance" - Carrie Vaughn. Can't beat a redemption story.
"The Sound of Broken Absolutes" - Peter Orullian. A completely fleshed out story, characters developed, world developed, solid plot, emotionally fulfilling. Hoping this turns into a series someday. ("I thought it mattered - I thought that music...mattered")
"Heaven in a Wild Flower" - Blake Charlton. Great parable on parenting and loss. If you have taken care of a mortally ill loved one you'll feel this one all the way through.
"The Chapel Perilous" - Kevin Hearne. A solid mini-adventure Atticus.
"Unbowed" - Eldon Thompson. Origin story for a hero, turns out exceptionally tragic, as one might expect. Riveting though.
"The Unfettered Knight" - Shawn Speakman. Interesting mix of History, Fantasy, and modernity. I haven't read his novel yet but it's now on my list!
Many of the other stories are slices of larger works, or side stories, or characters origin stories. They are almost all completely enjoyable as printed, no cliff hangers or "to be continued in issue #294" moments. I would totally lend this to anyone but you should really buy it for yourself.
"Imaginary Friends" - Terry Brooks. Heart wrenching and heart lifting, a perfect opening for the collection.
"Game of Chance" - Carrie Vaughn. Can't beat a redemption story.
"The Sound of Broken Absolutes" - Peter Orullian. A completely fleshed out story, characters developed, world developed, solid plot, emotionally fulfilling. Hoping this turns into a series someday. ("I thought it mattered - I thought that music...mattered")
"Heaven in a Wild Flower" - Blake Charlton. Great parable on parenting and loss. If you have taken care of a mortally ill loved one you'll feel this one all the way through.
"The Chapel Perilous" - Kevin Hearne. A solid mini-adventure Atticus.
"Unbowed" - Eldon Thompson. Origin story for a hero, turns out exceptionally tragic, as one might expect. Riveting though.
"The Unfettered Knight" - Shawn Speakman. Interesting mix of History, Fantasy, and modernity. I haven't read his novel yet but it's now on my list!
Many of the other stories are slices of larger works, or side stories, or characters origin stories. They are almost all completely enjoyable as printed, no cliff hangers or "to be continued in issue #294" moments. I would totally lend this to anyone but you should really buy it for yourself.
July 22, 2013
I am so glad that I bought this anthology.
Firstly, it was for a good cause. The American healthcare system is so weird and scary, and just thinking that you would have to declare bankruptcy because you cannot afford cancer treatment scares the crap out of me. Here's for a speedy recovery, Sean!
Second, a lot of these authors pop up on my recommendations list and I'm never sure whether to make the leap or not to try out someone new. Having sampled their writing styles and gotten a taste of their worldbuilding, I'm much more inclined to start buying their books now. I've added the majority of authors on my 'Want to Read' list and I'm really looking forward to reading everything I have queued up now.
Third, I really, really enjoyed that this anthology was unfettered and themeless. I usually shy away from anthologies, especially when it has such an overarching theme, like Warrior Women, or Sorcerers only, etc. How fun can it be to read 10+ stories with the same take on main characters? Sure, there might be the odd story or two in there that plays around with the common conceptions of character, but even then it feels like the 'token' story added, like those token characters in films.
This was refreshing and a great read. I recommend it to anyone who is into fantasy and is looking to broaden the authors in their collection!
Firstly, it was for a good cause. The American healthcare system is so weird and scary, and just thinking that you would have to declare bankruptcy because you cannot afford cancer treatment scares the crap out of me. Here's for a speedy recovery, Sean!
Second, a lot of these authors pop up on my recommendations list and I'm never sure whether to make the leap or not to try out someone new. Having sampled their writing styles and gotten a taste of their worldbuilding, I'm much more inclined to start buying their books now. I've added the majority of authors on my 'Want to Read' list and I'm really looking forward to reading everything I have queued up now.
Third, I really, really enjoyed that this anthology was unfettered and themeless. I usually shy away from anthologies, especially when it has such an overarching theme, like Warrior Women, or Sorcerers only, etc. How fun can it be to read 10+ stories with the same take on main characters? Sure, there might be the odd story or two in there that plays around with the common conceptions of character, but even then it feels like the 'token' story added, like those token characters in films.
This was refreshing and a great read. I recommend it to anyone who is into fantasy and is looking to broaden the authors in their collection!
November 24, 2013
Great stories, great cause, great authors, amazing collection. I've added a lot of new authors to my to-read pile because of this anthology. I believe that was exactly what Shawn Speakman was aiming for.
My favorite story was without a doubt The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian. Here's what I wrote about that story, because it deserves being mentioned:
At about 22,500 words, Peter Orullian’s The Sound of Broken Absolutes can just barely be classified as a novella. It is short fiction, though, and it may well be one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. If you’ve seen my review of The Unremembered, Orullian’s debut novel, you may know I wasn’t very impressed by his writing. Having read this stunningly gorgeous, painfully intimate, and magnificently epic story, however, I stand corrected. The Sound of Broken Absolutes proves there is so much more to Orullian’s fantasy world than meets the eye, and the magic system of music that was merely hinted at in the first book is intricately fleshed out in this story. Orullian’s words resonate with a love of music and, through its perspicuous cast, convey the cost of our actions and emotions in realistic ways. This is a story of war, music, loss, and restoration, and it will touch the hearts of its readers.
My favorite story was without a doubt The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian. Here's what I wrote about that story, because it deserves being mentioned:
At about 22,500 words, Peter Orullian’s The Sound of Broken Absolutes can just barely be classified as a novella. It is short fiction, though, and it may well be one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. If you’ve seen my review of The Unremembered, Orullian’s debut novel, you may know I wasn’t very impressed by his writing. Having read this stunningly gorgeous, painfully intimate, and magnificently epic story, however, I stand corrected. The Sound of Broken Absolutes proves there is so much more to Orullian’s fantasy world than meets the eye, and the magic system of music that was merely hinted at in the first book is intricately fleshed out in this story. Orullian’s words resonate with a love of music and, through its perspicuous cast, convey the cost of our actions and emotions in realistic ways. This is a story of war, music, loss, and restoration, and it will touch the hearts of its readers.
July 10, 2013
Heard about this from Kevin Hearne on FB a while ago and it slipped my mind. Saw it this morning on Patrick Rothfuss' blog....bought it immediately! I want to start it now, but I have to finish Infinity Blade by Brandon Sanderson first. I haven't read it yet, so I cannot give it an accurate review, but given the compilation of authors I am sure this is going to be a very enjoyable read.
UPDATE
Now that I've finished it, I ended up buying some new authors. I was expecting more from some authors I've already read, but after reading through this anthology I decided to try out Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations because I enjoyed the banter and chemistry of the two main characters. I also downloaded Peter Orullian's The Unremembered from his Vault of Heaven series. I read some mixed reviews on it, but I am intrigued about the magic being music based as I am a violist. There are more authors I would like to try, but I have much anticipated reading ahead for me already :-)
UPDATE
Now that I've finished it, I ended up buying some new authors. I was expecting more from some authors I've already read, but after reading through this anthology I decided to try out Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations because I enjoyed the banter and chemistry of the two main characters. I also downloaded Peter Orullian's The Unremembered from his Vault of Heaven series. I read some mixed reviews on it, but I am intrigued about the magic being music based as I am a violist. There are more authors I would like to try, but I have much anticipated reading ahead for me already :-)
December 6, 2016
Jedna vrlo lepa kolekcija koja više vredi zbog razloga koji ju je stvorio nego možda i same priče. Takav odziv da se pomogne nekome je stvar koja prosto greje oko srca.
Same priče nisu povezane pa tako imamo razne žanrove što malo kvari utisak, al ne previše :P
Ipak su sve ovo majstori žanra i nema ni jedne slabe priče pa samim tim nema poente ih posebno ocenjivati nego moja preporuka da slobodno pročitate.
Same priče nisu povezane pa tako imamo razne žanrove što malo kvari utisak, al ne previše :P
Ipak su sve ovo majstori žanra i nema ni jedne slabe priče pa samim tim nema poente ih posebno ocenjivati nego moja preporuka da slobodno pročitate.
January 25, 2020
Ugh.
***
These are the comments/mini-reviews I posted in the group that I read this with. Overall I'll say that the book is overlong, a lot of the stories are overlong and either tedious or mediocre. Also, several of them are set in established worlds and don't do enough to introduce or make people not already familiar with them care about them.
There were a few gems, though:
Imaginary Friends was super predictable and, imo, the writing was pretty bland. 2 stars.
Old Holly - what in the actual fuck? 1 star.
Scale Game - Definite Dragonheart vibes, if written for MG level. I liked the turn it went in the end. Generous 3 stars.
Game of Chance is my favourite so far. It's the first once where I cared about the characters at all, though I was also annoyed with Gerald. Like, why bother 3.5 stars
Martyr of the Roses - knowing nothing of Kushiel, this didn't do much for me. Too much about politics and religion that I didn't grok or care about behind the basic "the big religion of the people is shockingly corrupt". 2-stars, I guess.
Mudboy was ok, but kinda sad. Backstory to a character in a series I won't read the rest of, so maybe not the best as a standalone story. 2.5 stars
Broken Absolutes - I liked the idea of magical music and resonance and stuff, but I felt like the story was never gonna end. Was a bit surprised at the end - kinda liked the musical lesson as metaphor for life thing. 3.5 stars for the idea, but 2 for execution.
Coach with Teeth what in the fuck did I just read? Did that actually happen? Did he get hit in the head? What in the what. Also, reading about play-by-play baseball is kinda boring. 1.5-2 stars
Keeper of Memory - I dug this one. I was actually invested in the Keepers and the history of this place I knew nothing about, and the twist was pretty cool. I had thought, at one point that 4 stars
Heaven in a Wildflower - I kinda like this one. It was weird, but I thought the idea of More sci-fi than a lot of the other stories. 3 stars
Dogs - meh. Bit overwrought in the metaphor department. Might require a trigger warning for some people for . 2 stars
Chapel Perilous - interesting take on the Grail story and the Fisher King. Might be a bit biased because I read the first in this series, and I just don't like Atticus. Still think Oberon's thoughts aren't "doggy" enough. 2.5 stars
Select Mode - At least it's short. Hard to follow without knowing anything of the world, but I'm guessing dystopian from the ending. 1.5 stars
Michael Stein - I thought this was gonna make me sad, but it was actually pretty sweet. I'd like to read more about a 3.25 stars
Strange Rain - it was ok, but i think The Thirteenth Tale biased me against stories about twins. I liked the cloud, though. 2.5 stars
Nocturnes - got bored about halfway through and bailed. Zero stars.
Unbowed - too long and I could've done without the . Swordplay was halfway decent. 2 stars
In Favour With Their Stars - is pretty decent. I read the first Temeraire book and while I don't think I'll continue to series, I'm enjoying this AU short story version well enough. The ending is total "d'awww" 3.25 stars
River of Souls - I know nothing of the Wheel of Time series, so this story and all the names meant nothing to me. Failure to make a standalone story, 1.5 stars.
The Jester - meh, it was all right but not enough to make me want to go back to that series. 2 stars
The Duel - to say I didn't love the first book of The Magicians would be an understatement, but this short story was pretty decent, especially because I imagined Eliot as the guy from the show, which I actually like and whom I met at a ComicCon and he was super nice. 3 stars
Walker and Shade - Well, that was pointless. Brooks admits it's pretty much just a scene cut from a book. Doesn't even try to stand on it's own. Stupid. Zero stars.
Unfettered Knight - Meh. Interesting idea,s - though nothing particularly original - but I agree with Ala - found the writing kinda boring and predictable. No doubt the witch will end up being . 2.5 - 3 stars
***
Only stories I'd recommend bothering reading:
Keeper of Memory
In Favour With Their Stars (Temeraire)
Game of Chance
Michael Stein
The Duel (The Magicians)
Heaven in a Wildflower
Scale Game
Chapel Perilous
***
These are the comments/mini-reviews I posted in the group that I read this with. Overall I'll say that the book is overlong, a lot of the stories are overlong and either tedious or mediocre. Also, several of them are set in established worlds and don't do enough to introduce or make people not already familiar with them care about them.
There were a few gems, though:
Imaginary Friends was super predictable and, imo, the writing was pretty bland. 2 stars.
Old Holly - what in the actual fuck? 1 star.
Scale Game - Definite Dragonheart vibes, if written for MG level. I liked the turn it went in the end. Generous 3 stars.
Game of Chance is my favourite so far. It's the first once where I cared about the characters at all, though I was also annoyed with Gerald. Like, why bother 3.5 stars
Martyr of the Roses - knowing nothing of Kushiel, this didn't do much for me. Too much about politics and religion that I didn't grok or care about behind the basic "the big religion of the people is shockingly corrupt". 2-stars, I guess.
Mudboy was ok, but kinda sad. Backstory to a character in a series I won't read the rest of, so maybe not the best as a standalone story. 2.5 stars
Broken Absolutes - I liked the idea of magical music and resonance and stuff, but I felt like the story was never gonna end. Was a bit surprised at the end - kinda liked the musical lesson as metaphor for life thing. 3.5 stars for the idea, but 2 for execution.
Coach with Teeth what in the fuck did I just read? Did that actually happen? Did he get hit in the head? What in the what. Also, reading about play-by-play baseball is kinda boring. 1.5-2 stars
Keeper of Memory - I dug this one. I was actually invested in the Keepers and the history of this place I knew nothing about, and the twist was pretty cool. I had thought, at one point that 4 stars
Heaven in a Wildflower - I kinda like this one. It was weird, but I thought the idea of More sci-fi than a lot of the other stories. 3 stars
Dogs - meh. Bit overwrought in the metaphor department. Might require a trigger warning for some people for . 2 stars
Chapel Perilous - interesting take on the Grail story and the Fisher King. Might be a bit biased because I read the first in this series, and I just don't like Atticus. Still think Oberon's thoughts aren't "doggy" enough. 2.5 stars
Select Mode - At least it's short. Hard to follow without knowing anything of the world, but I'm guessing dystopian from the ending. 1.5 stars
Michael Stein - I thought this was gonna make me sad, but it was actually pretty sweet. I'd like to read more about a 3.25 stars
Strange Rain - it was ok, but i think The Thirteenth Tale biased me against stories about twins. I liked the cloud, though. 2.5 stars
Nocturnes - got bored about halfway through and bailed. Zero stars.
Unbowed - too long and I could've done without the . Swordplay was halfway decent. 2 stars
In Favour With Their Stars - is pretty decent. I read the first Temeraire book and while I don't think I'll continue to series, I'm enjoying this AU short story version well enough. The ending is total "d'awww" 3.25 stars
River of Souls - I know nothing of the Wheel of Time series, so this story and all the names meant nothing to me. Failure to make a standalone story, 1.5 stars.
The Jester - meh, it was all right but not enough to make me want to go back to that series. 2 stars
The Duel - to say I didn't love the first book of The Magicians would be an understatement, but this short story was pretty decent, especially because I imagined Eliot as the guy from the show, which I actually like and whom I met at a ComicCon and he was super nice. 3 stars
Walker and Shade - Well, that was pointless. Brooks admits it's pretty much just a scene cut from a book. Doesn't even try to stand on it's own. Stupid. Zero stars.
Unfettered Knight - Meh. Interesting idea,s - though nothing particularly original - but I agree with Ala - found the writing kinda boring and predictable. No doubt the witch will end up being . 2.5 - 3 stars
***
Only stories I'd recommend bothering reading:
Keeper of Memory
In Favour With Their Stars (Temeraire)
Game of Chance
Michael Stein
The Duel (The Magicians)
Heaven in a Wildflower
Scale Game
Chapel Perilous
July 30, 2013
I haven't read every single story yet, but from the ones I have read, I can still comment on the book as a whole.
First off, just after hearing about the situatuon Shawn was in, I just thought "why not help?" I get an awesome anthology, and in some small way, maybe I've contributed to a good cause. I don't have any connection to Shawn, just a fan of reading, and the authors in this book. So, if you're thinking of buying this anthology, I only say..."Why not?"
Now, to the review. I haven't read all of these authors previously, but I've read some of them. I started with those, only because I'm famliar with the worlds.
How Old Holly Came to be-Patrick Rothfuss: I read this one firs because, well, because it was only 8 pages. I'm a huge fan of Rothfuss, his books are some of the best I've ever read in any genre. I'll be honest, I didn't totally enjoy this. But I do get it. It's a song or short story from the Four Corners World. And if you think about the story like that, then it is a lot better. It's got a unqiue style, I think it's meant to be read more lyrical. Overall, short, not great, not bad
3/5 stars.
The Sound of Broken Absolutes-Peter Orullian: So, I didn't read all these short stories straight through. My main book right now is actually a rather large novel that I've been reading for about 2-3 weeks now. As of today, I have 20 pages left. That book just happens to be Peter Orullian's The Unremembered. Obviosuly I haven't read the end, but The Unremembered so far, is a calssic fantasy story, but with some extremely unique characters. Because I'm reading both of Orullian's stories at the same time, I can draw parallels between them. The most obvious is the musical aspect in both works. In the novel, it's sort of undefined, Wendra(one of the main characters) can just do it. I think the next book in the Vault of Heaven will explore it further, but in the short story in this anthology, the music/magic system is just magical. This short work by Peter(actually, I think it's the longest entry in the book) is a wonderful exploration of pain, loss, friendship, and healing through the power of song. I can tell Peter absolutely poured his heart and soul into this story, and because of that, it's not just the best story I've read in this anthology, it's one of the best stories I've ever read. Peter Orullian is not as big of a name as some of these others authors, but if you take nothing else away from this review, just take a chance and read Peter Orullian. With this work, and the anticipation I have of finishing The Unremembered, I find myself wanting more and more of Peter's writing, because however cliche it may sound, reading his words fill a small part of me that would otherwise be empty. This story is amazing Peter, thank you. 5/5 stars.
Select Mode-Mark Lawrence: I was eager to read this story once I learned it was a Broken Empire tale. If you've never read Mark, I urge you to do so. The main character, Jorg, is a bit of an anti-hero. However, that is a very simple lable for a extremely complex character. I've heard, or read a lot of people who can't get past Jorg in the start of the book...read on, trust me. In this short story, we see Jorg before the events of Prince of Thorns. I really like this story. Although short, it presents an interesting situation for a character I love. I also liked to see The Nuban in it, he might be equally as interesting as Jorg...in my opinion. Overall, if you've never read Mark Lawrence, you might not be used to a character like Jorg, but this really is a tight story, that's very entertaining. 4.5/5 stars
River of Souls-Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan: Never read The Wheel of Time, but I've read every single Sanderson book except Warbreaker. So, I don't quite know EXACTLY what's going on in this story, but it seems it can be apprciated as a stand-alone. Sanderson is brilliant, if you don't know it yet, I assure you that you will soon. WHat can I say, he's a master. I wish I could give more justice to this story, but alas, I can't. Overall though, I really liked it. 4/5 stars.
So far, That's all I've read. Going to keep reading throughout the upcoming weeks, and I'm sure I'll be finished with them soon. I look foward to reading the rest, and I have a felling I'm going to find some new authors to read after I'm done. I wish Shawn the best, and I hope he never again has to go through what he's already been forced to. As Shawn has said, this book is more than an anthology, it's a testament to the fact that sci-fi/fantasy is a commuinity that's willing to get behind something, or someone. Best wishes Shawn! And I can't wait to read and review your story!
First off, just after hearing about the situatuon Shawn was in, I just thought "why not help?" I get an awesome anthology, and in some small way, maybe I've contributed to a good cause. I don't have any connection to Shawn, just a fan of reading, and the authors in this book. So, if you're thinking of buying this anthology, I only say..."Why not?"
Now, to the review. I haven't read all of these authors previously, but I've read some of them. I started with those, only because I'm famliar with the worlds.
How Old Holly Came to be-Patrick Rothfuss: I read this one firs because, well, because it was only 8 pages. I'm a huge fan of Rothfuss, his books are some of the best I've ever read in any genre. I'll be honest, I didn't totally enjoy this. But I do get it. It's a song or short story from the Four Corners World. And if you think about the story like that, then it is a lot better. It's got a unqiue style, I think it's meant to be read more lyrical. Overall, short, not great, not bad
3/5 stars.
The Sound of Broken Absolutes-Peter Orullian: So, I didn't read all these short stories straight through. My main book right now is actually a rather large novel that I've been reading for about 2-3 weeks now. As of today, I have 20 pages left. That book just happens to be Peter Orullian's The Unremembered. Obviosuly I haven't read the end, but The Unremembered so far, is a calssic fantasy story, but with some extremely unique characters. Because I'm reading both of Orullian's stories at the same time, I can draw parallels between them. The most obvious is the musical aspect in both works. In the novel, it's sort of undefined, Wendra(one of the main characters) can just do it. I think the next book in the Vault of Heaven will explore it further, but in the short story in this anthology, the music/magic system is just magical. This short work by Peter(actually, I think it's the longest entry in the book) is a wonderful exploration of pain, loss, friendship, and healing through the power of song. I can tell Peter absolutely poured his heart and soul into this story, and because of that, it's not just the best story I've read in this anthology, it's one of the best stories I've ever read. Peter Orullian is not as big of a name as some of these others authors, but if you take nothing else away from this review, just take a chance and read Peter Orullian. With this work, and the anticipation I have of finishing The Unremembered, I find myself wanting more and more of Peter's writing, because however cliche it may sound, reading his words fill a small part of me that would otherwise be empty. This story is amazing Peter, thank you. 5/5 stars.
Select Mode-Mark Lawrence: I was eager to read this story once I learned it was a Broken Empire tale. If you've never read Mark, I urge you to do so. The main character, Jorg, is a bit of an anti-hero. However, that is a very simple lable for a extremely complex character. I've heard, or read a lot of people who can't get past Jorg in the start of the book...read on, trust me. In this short story, we see Jorg before the events of Prince of Thorns. I really like this story. Although short, it presents an interesting situation for a character I love. I also liked to see The Nuban in it, he might be equally as interesting as Jorg...in my opinion. Overall, if you've never read Mark Lawrence, you might not be used to a character like Jorg, but this really is a tight story, that's very entertaining. 4.5/5 stars
River of Souls-Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan: Never read The Wheel of Time, but I've read every single Sanderson book except Warbreaker. So, I don't quite know EXACTLY what's going on in this story, but it seems it can be apprciated as a stand-alone. Sanderson is brilliant, if you don't know it yet, I assure you that you will soon. WHat can I say, he's a master. I wish I could give more justice to this story, but alas, I can't. Overall though, I really liked it. 4/5 stars.
So far, That's all I've read. Going to keep reading throughout the upcoming weeks, and I'm sure I'll be finished with them soon. I look foward to reading the rest, and I have a felling I'm going to find some new authors to read after I'm done. I wish Shawn the best, and I hope he never again has to go through what he's already been forced to. As Shawn has said, this book is more than an anthology, it's a testament to the fact that sci-fi/fantasy is a commuinity that's willing to get behind something, or someone. Best wishes Shawn! And I can't wait to read and review your story!
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