Reave the Just and Other Tales

Stephen R. Donaldson is my favorite author: a giant in the world of epic fantasy and SF, who deserves a place right next to J.R.R. Tolkien in the pantheon of the genre. His 1977 book "Lord Foul's Bane" launched the "First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", a landmark series in fantasy. Since then, he's delighted readers with the lighter "Mordant's Need" books, the extremely dark "Gap" science-fiction series, the "Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", and this year's "The Runes of the Earth", the first book in the "Last Chronicles". Between these epic projects, Donaldson has worked on his "The Man Who..." mystery novels, and two wonderful books of short stories, "Daughter of Regals" in 1986 and this book, "Reave the Just, and Other Tales". The stories here run the gamut, from action-packed martial arts tales to deep, thoughtful novellas. The titular "Reave the Just" story is the best short fantasy work I have ever read. Anyone who is a fan of SRD probably already owns this book, but for those unfamiliar with his work, "Reave the Just and Other Tales" provides a great introduction to the master's talents.

Without a doubt one of the best long-form authors out there (admission: I haven't yet read "The Gap into Power" series), Donaldson is even better in the short-form. Unfortunately, he's not that prolific in the realm of short stories, novellettes, or novellas. What he does produce is routinely magnificent however. As with his first collection of short-form stories, there is not a dog in the bunch. While his first collection was a mix of science-fiction and fantasy, this collection is solely fantasy, but what a collection of well-written, involving, and unusual fantasy it is. Highly recommended.

Donaldson again demonstrates that he is the best fantasy writer today. He makes the others in the genre--Goodkind, Brooks, Jordan--look like hack writers. Although I prefer the longer books and series, the short story format is satisfying in a way in which multiple volume works are not--each story has a beginning, middle and end. The most frustrating thing about other authors is their tendency to wallow in unnecessary prose and character development. Here, Donaldson's writing is taut and sharp--a pleasure for fans of the genre to read. I highly recommend it. To Donaldson, I would say: Go back to fantasy novels! Your fans miss you!

Donaldson creates some wonderful imagery and characters in this delightful collection of short stories. For someone with a demonstrated talent for telling epic sagas, his ability to craft compelling short stories is remarkable. Despite the anticipation of waiting for over a decade since his last collection `Daughter of Regals,' I was not disappointed with this work. If you like short stories, these are tops and well worth the time reading them. I would comment that comparisons made to the Covenant series invariably find `Reave the Just and Other Tales' lacking. Such judgments are inappropriate given the different scope of these works.

I'll admit that I will read anything by Donaldson, but that is simply a testament to his skill as a writer. His stories have so much more meaning and depth than those produced by the countless hack sci-fi/fantasy authors around today. Perhaps Donaldson's greatest strength is his willingness to break the standard conventions of the genre. As in his other works, Donaldson manages to make the reader experience the pain of his characters. Some of these stories deal in dark themes: watch out for "Penance" and "Reave the Just."