Thieves’ World

Thieves’ World (1979) Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey

Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin
Sentences of Death by John Brunner
The Face of Chaos by Lynn Abbey
The Gate of Flying Knives by Poul Anderson
Shadowspawn by Andrew Offutt
The Price of Doing Business by Robert Lynn Asprin
Blood Brothers by Joe Haldeman
Myrtis by Christine DeWees
The Secret of the Blue Star by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Making of Thieves’ World by Robert Lynn Asprin

Let me be clear. I love–nay, adore–Thieves’ World. But I cannot in good conscience recommend the eBook version, which combines the first two books, Thieves’ World and Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn into a single book. The copyediting is, essentially, non-existent, with numerous, repeated, glaring errors.

For example, Ils, one of the local gods, is repeatedly written as lis, which is a perfectly respectable word, but WRONG.

I fear the fed the book into an OCR program and printed as is, without even glancing over the output, for so many grievous errors to have made it to publication. I realize this makes it nigh near impossible to find a new copy of the book, but really, do yourself a favor and find a used copy or borrow from the library, or a friend.

That out of the way, it’s been many years since I reread this series, and I was once again struck by how some of the characters personas’ were fully developed in this short story. Not there aren’t a couple of missteps–almost no one had read anyone else’s characters at this point, so a couple of renditions are very off. But for the most part, it’s surprising what a good job was done from the start.

It’s also interesting, what stories I liked and didn’t like, upon this reread.

Sentences of Death by John Bunner, has a story–and characters–that could easily have appeared in a later anthology. It’s our introduction to Enas Yorl, as well as Jarveena, who never becomes a central character, but who nevertheless, returns in later stories.

The Face of Chaos by Lynn Abbey, introduces Illyra the S’danzo seeress and Dubro her protector. Illyra is still being worked out in this story, but the essence of who is is–and who she becomes–is here.

And of course, we learn a valuable lesson about Sanctuary.

“So the gods of Ilsig and Ranke are equal?”

The hooded man laughed. “We have see to it that all gods within Sanctuary are equally handicapped, my child.”

Doesn’t that just turn out to be true!

I was surprised to discover that I didn’t like The Gate of Flying Knives by Poul Anderson. I actually remembered the ending of this story quite clearly, and it always amused me. But despite some wonderful bits, I kept wanting to get past it so I could get on with the next story.

In Shadowspawn by Andrew Offutt, we get Hanse’s story, and although Shadowspawn may be the one character that develops the most over the course of the series, his personality and traits are here quite firmly.

And we also get a glimpse of Prince Kadakithis, though he doesn’t really make much of a personal appearance until later in the series.

The Price of Doing Business by Robert Asprin introduces us to Jubal, the ex-gladiator turned crime lord, who is pretty much unpleasant from the start. One wonders how much trouble the city would have been saved had Zalibar come along when he did.

Weirdly, I’d forgotten what happened to One Thumb in Joe Haldeman’s story Blood Brothers. Of course by the time you reach the end, you’re quite sure One Thumb completely deserves his fate–and possible more.

The last two stories, Myrtis by Christine DeWees and The Secret of the Blue Star by Marion Zimmer Bradley have one of my favorite, Myris, make an appearance. I can’t say that I adore Lythande, but I do very much like Myrtis, and hers is one of my favorite stories in the first book.

And now, I need to read the next volume.
Rating: 8/10

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