Thieves' World: Turning Points

This is the first Thieves' World volume to follow Lynn Abbey's "Sanctuary", the novel that, if it didn't wipe the slate clean for this shared-universe setting, at least erased a whole lot of what had come before. "Sanctuary" was a "and now, many years later" type of reboot to clear the decks of a lot of old characters and punt a whole mess of overly byzantine plotlines to the curb. This collection of short stories therefore deals mostly with brand new characters with a different set of concerns and goals than the "old school" heroes and villains from the original run back in the Eighties. It's a good point to jump aboard because things haven't become too terribly convoluted yet. I just had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Abbey this past weekend at a convention. In addition to the second new short story collection, "Enemies of Fortune", that has already been released, there is a third volume that is being planned. We are very unlikely to see the return of the big names from the past (such as the loathsome Tempus). In some cases (in particular Marion Zimmer Bradley's Lythande the Blue Adept) this is because the authors in question spun their characters off into stand-alone novels and went beyond the scope of the shared universe and were told that there was no bringing them back into Sanctuary. At any rate, Ms. Abbey will be trying to keep each collection more self-contained, so that plots don't span multiple volumes and the characters won't be pursuing 18 different agendas simultaneously. In addition to sharing tidbits of how things were done back in the day (the writers from the first run seemed to spend plenty of time plotting against their own editors, when they weren't taking out their frustrations on the characters of fellow authors they were quarreling with), Ms. Abbey and some folks from Green Ronin fielded questions about the new Thieves' World role-playing game. Chaosium had their own version of this 20 years ago, but now the game rights have been transferred and Green Ronin is rolling out four d20-compatible volumes, two of which have already been released. The upcoming guide to the world of Sanctuary (including city maps and details on all of the realms we've heard of, such as the Rankan Empire, Ilsig, and so on) sounds really great. And everything in the RPG material will be considered canonical. Worth a look when it comes out!

If you are looking for an excellent sword/scorcery/adventure read then Sanctuary is the place. Old fans of the original 12 books and new ones will be greatly pleased with this effort. Anyone that says there is nothing exciting in the heroic fantasy genre needs to look no further.

When the Hell-Hounds patrolled the Maze, when Unicorns were Vulgar and when Sanctuary was just a play-thing for the Gods? Well, the Gods have left and the city has new rulers, but most of the rules are the same - there are none. Keep a sharp eye on your friends, a closer one on your enemies and grow a third eye to watch your back. Welcome to Thieves' World! Enter one of the darkest cities EVER to be created by ANYBODY. Ten stories by such authors as Raymons E. Feist, Lynn Abbey (of course) and Diana L. Paxson. Old fans will wish to get this book and new fans will wish to collect the old series (if they can). Meet the most dangerous, most tight-fisted, most foul-mouthed, Heros you may EVER come to love. Just keep a fourth eye on your purse.

Many moons ago there was an anthology called Thieves World. It was about a small city called Sanctuary and the goings on within this city. A caste of characters was developed by different authors and as the books progressed, so did the characters. The difference was the authors could use characters from each other. This gave a very rich narrarative to the various tales. Instead of getting one version of events, the reader recieved many versions of the same accounts. This gave the world of Thieves World a depth not very often seen.Lynn Abbey has returned to the city again and worked his magic. Once again the city of Sanctuary is in full bloom. This is the first of the new set and it is a great beggining. The setting is many years after the end of the last book from the last collection. This gives the city a new feel, but does leave an old reader wondering what happened to the various characters from the last anthology. Some old characters do make appearences as older or dead versions of themselves, but most of them are gone without mention. A new reader can figure out what had happened with the history from the new stories, but there is nothing like living the old books. This is my only complaint about first book. The writing is superb and Abbey gets my compliments with his editing and choice of writers. My personal favorite story is "Doing the Gods' Work" by Jody Van Nye. Even in a city of cutthroats, somebody is trying to build something for the good.This book is great start to something new and does harken back to the old for those of us who enjoyed the first Anthology. Highly reccommended.

In Sanctuary, Cauvin the Stonemason is the misfortunate owner of deceased Molin Torchholder's wealth of sorcery and money. Though he prefers none of this as he is just a working stiff, Cauvin has no way of ridding himself of Molin's deathbed "gift". If he did he would bring back the shade of that dead scheming witch to take it all away. However, as guardian of the city, Cauvin informs His Tyrant Arizak perMizhur to be wary of everyone, especially visitors, as the time of the Double Eclipse will being every Tom, Dick, and Halott to the center of magic, Sanctuary.With this background, ten highly regarded authors jump off of editor Lynn Abbey's recent updating of Thieves World universe (see Sanctuary) to provide fresh tales with fresh persona that cross all the known kinds of magic including of course the shadowy thieves. Each tale is well written adding to the mythos of this long running series. The contributors are great genre guns who do not hide in the shadows or need necromancy to relate a powerful anecdote that will elate fans of the series. This work will surely introduce this wild realm to a host of newcomers and please existing fans with this entertaining swords and sorcery extravaganza. A warning label should state that used bookstores should be aware of a run on the Thieves World volumes once TURNING POINTS hits the streets.Harriet Klausner