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I found the first two books in the Liavek series in a list of fantasy books for sale. I really hope they haven't been sold already - I have no idea how long that list has been on the web. The Liavek books are really difficult to find; I've scoured the book rooms at several Eastercons and a Readercon without finding more than one - the fifth, which I promptly bought. At the same time, Thieves' World, that miserable excuse for a fantasy series, is ubiquitous. Oh, maybe "miserable excuse" is unnecessarily harsh - I have read one or two worthwile short stories in the two or three books I've read - but Liavek is so much better that comparison becomes ridiculous.

In both cases the concept is shared world: a group of authors all write short stories about the same place. Which is a fantasy world, in the case of both Liavek and Thieves' World (no, not the same one, they spin their tales about two different worlds.) I'm not sure if it just the fact that most of the authors of the former series are among my favourite fantasy writers (Brust, Lindholm, Bull and Yolen, for instance) but the Liavek stories manage to build a coherent world with fascinating characters and a great mix of sad, funny, exciting and thoughtful stories, while Thieves' World constantly trips over its own clichés. In any case, the Liavek series is hard to get but very well worth the effort. If you like well-written fantasy and/or short stories, try and get hold of it - only please wait until I've gotten the first four volumes.

Hopefully, no 1 and 2 are within my reach.

  posted by Linnéa Anglemark at 22:50 0 comments