This thrilling collection of twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale, chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire. Also featuring stories from Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and more!
My thoughts:
Anthology; lots of genres, lots of rogues. Men, and women. all rogues, bad ones, good ones.
George R.R. Martin “Everybody Loves a Rogue” (Introduction)
Meh, who needs introductions?
Joe Abercrombie “Tough Times All Over”
Lots of people running around stealing from each other. I really should read the book I have by him
Gillian Flynn “What Do You Do?”
Creepy feeling that grows and grows and the end, ohh creepy. I did not realize that it was that Flynn! Bad me. Now I want to read her book.
Matthew Hughes “The Inn of the Seven Blessings”
A man finds a myserious box. I enjoyed this one. Great thief, great story.
Joe R. Lansdale “Bent Twig”
Contemporary. Guy looking for a missing girl. Good, thriller ish.
Michael Swanwick “Tawny Petticoats”
Conmen in a weird New Orleans. Interesting, but could have given more.
David Ball “Provenance”
A caravaggio is found and we get the tale of it's journey. The flashbacks where the most interesting thing.
Carrie Vaughn “The Roaring Twenties”
20s, hidden night club, paranormals doing their thing. Eh.
Scott Lynch “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”
Fantasy. A thief gets in trouble. Very cool world.
Bradley Denton “Bad Brass”
A guy decides to solve a crime for some reason. meh
Cherie Priest “Heavy Metal”
It felt a bit confusing, then it got better, but still what? What was that?
Daniel Abraham “The Meaning of Love”
Fantasy. This one I enjoyed. A rogue needs to find someone for a friend. Cool world.
Paul Cornell “A Better Way to Die”
No idea what truly happened here. Not for me.
Steven Saylor “Ill Seen in Tyre”
Two travelers arrive in town, trouble found. Rather interesting. Historical.
Garth Nix “A Cargo of Ivories”
Two men has to find something. Kind of boring.
Walter Jon Williams “Diamonds From Tequila”
Thriller like story about an actor. Would make a good action movie.
Phyllis Eisenstein “The Caravan to Nowhere”
A minstrel on a journey. Had promise, but did not deliver for me.
Lisa Tuttle “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives”
2 detectives get a case. Interesting, kind of freaky story.
Neil Gaiman “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”
I guess I should read more by him. Now I was all, guy meets mushrooms? What?
Connie Willis “Now Showing”
Now this one was funny, and strange! Great writing.
Patrick Rothfuss “The Lightning Tree”
I must say I was impressed (considering how bored I was by his book *coughs*) But this fantasy story was amusing.
The Rogue Prince, or, a King's Brother by George R.R. Martin
Why is it so dry!? Something out of a history book, and then I did not even get the fun part.
I have said a little about every story now (cos if I said more then this would be looong). Some stories were good, some ok, some not to my taste. But that is also cos it was from all genres. We had thrillers, fantasy, historical etc. I enjoyed that. Much to try, much to enjoy. It was a nice way of mixing it up. I never knew what would come next, and some authors I will keep my eye on.
Though I must say, it was long ;) I had to keep notes cos I am dreadful with names so even if I remembered a story I could not put a name to it.
But I did feel it was my kind of anthology (surely cos of all the fantasy stories in it :)
Cover
meh
Hardcover, 832 pages
Published August 29th 2014 by Titan Books
Fantasy / thriller / mystery etc
For review
I love Connie Willis! Have you read anything else by her? If not, I have recommendations. :D
ReplyDeleteHonestly I only know of the Doomsday book and nothing else. Horrid me. And this was one of the best stories in this anthology
DeleteOh, you should definitely read To Say Nothing of the Dog! Same basic time traveler setup as The Doomsday Book, but crazily funny. For something quick, Bellwether is great.
DeleteThere are a lot of Connie Willis books on my keepers shelf. :D
Aaand my library only has Doomsday. Figures
DeleteBOOOOOO!!!! :(
DeleteI know!
DeleteI thought I had read this one but I now know I have not. Got on Google, turns out I read the Dangerous Women one that ALSO had stories by Martin and Abercrombie.
ReplyDeleteI have read that one, the cover is basically the same and the authors ;)
DeleteWell sort of ;)
DeleteNice variety it seems. A good way to try out all the different authors.
ReplyDeleteKaren @ For What It's Worth
I agree :)
DeleteI have the darndest time getting into anthologies. I don't know why. I grab one from the library and then it sits there and sits there. I just have a hard time getting motivated to read it.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. The take some time for me to read. I am working on another one now and I have for 2 weeks
DeleteLike always with anthologies
ReplyDeleteWhew that is a LOT of stories in one place. Goodness.
ReplyDeleteYup
DeleteI take it this was better received than his anthology Dangerous Women. I'm kinda torn on this, as I'm not big on anthologies, and this one looks like one huge tome. Lots of stories though, by some awesome authors.
ReplyDelete~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Did not like that other one so yes this one was better. I would recommend it in that way, or just buy more books from the ones you like
DeleteI like a good anthology. I will have to check this one out. Love that your short reviews gave me what to expect. I'm too long winded. <-see!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I feared it was too short, but I mean, there are SO many stories, no one would have bothered to read even half oh my review
DeleteI always find anthologies to be hit or miss. Sometimes I need more to the stories and other times the short ones are perfect.
ReplyDeleteExactly
DeleteHmm, sounds like an interesting blend of short stories here.
ReplyDeleteIt sure was
DeleteI don't like reading anthologies anymore however this has a lot of muscle. Flynn, Martin, Gaiman? WOW!
ReplyDeleteAll the biggies
DeleteWow so many good authors..this is the perfect book to keep by your bedside. A rouge a night!
ReplyDeleteIt would have been perfect for like reading over a month, a story a day or so
Deletewow that's a lot of authors there
ReplyDelete;)
DeleteShe was such a good writer, so I shouod
ReplyDeleteI don't read many anthologies but that author line-up is tempting...
ReplyDeleteIt sure was
DeleteThere are some great authors in this anthology!!! I definitely need to read something by Gillian Flynn:)
ReplyDeleteBut i know I will just end up seeing the movie first ;)
DeleteThis sounds promising due to the variety of authors. I might have to try it.
ReplyDeleteEven if you do not like all, you will still like some ;)
DeleteNope, not for me at all. The ones you find interesting are the creepy ones.
ReplyDeleteLol
DeleteOoh I want to read this - Flynn and Gaiman are awesome, and I'm glad you liked their stories enough to read their books!
ReplyDeleteI really need to try them
Delete