Lawrence Watt-EvansReviews

F/SF

F/SF

Once again Mister Evans has crafted a fine character driven story in this Ethshar tale that is heart warming and interesting. I will admit; however, that I almost shied away from the book when I saw the narrative was from the focus of two young grifters. I have become dissatisfied with stories from the view of evil protagonists, not so much that books should not having evil characters, as just not wanting to spend time in their mindsets.

So I was happy to see Mister Evans taking the story into a narrative of growth from a dark place where the protagonist did wrong to survive into a tale where they were willing to take an opportunity for a better path. All in all, another enjoyable read.

This book is a collection of short stories based in the Ethshar universe and is a fantastic read for long time fans of the series. However, I would not recommend this book for first time readers, since there is little background material for the world. Mr. Evans does give a description/explanation before each tale but it is not enough to fill in the background history you can get by starting at the beginning of the series. I have to say that several of the stories surprised me with his choices keeping me on my toes. A must read for fans of Ethshar.

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12083005

This is another fine book in the Ethshar series by Lawrence Watt-Evans and completes story lines all the way from the third book in the series The Unwilling Warlord. Also, completed is the story line from the eighth book Night of Madness. The main plot revolves around the eventual release of all the Warlocks who surrendered to the call of the mysterious being that was also the source of their magic.

All Warlocks were now free of the calling and had been preserved in health for as much as 34 years. So now they were trapped in uninhabited wilderness with no way how. While back in their homelands, chaos brews when there are hundreds of former Warlocks now unable to earn their livings.

There is one Warlock left in the world. Emperor Vond who had managed to make use of a second power source for his magic when he had conquered several of the small kingdoms before the calling took him. He is not particularly evil but he lacks the empathy to use his un-checked powers wisely. Now the world of Ethshar must embrace nearly 15000 powerless Warlocks and survive the whims of a dangerously flawed all powerful Warlock. The journey for both is long and arduous.

Some good points here,

But I felt it just wasn't quite developed... Just a little too simple. Of course, you have limited space in a short, and it could be hard to flesh out to even novella length within the plot constraints

Forgotten

There's some of this author's work that sticks in mind as so impressive. There are a lot of decent tales here, but not the greatest stuff. I'd also forgotten (or didn't notice before) how he was prone to so many errors ! These aren't BAD stories, but they are the dregs compared to some of his other work.

Every 400 years an ancient evil attempts to reform and current day warriors have to be prepared with magic items to not let that happen.

Soft sci-fi- feels like a young adult novel. easy read but not gripping. Marginal character development- marginal world development.

A fable in which a relict enchantment wants what she wants.½

Very run of the mill "two ancient civilizations fight each other for eternity" stuff, but has some quality space battle tactics descriptions which I liked a lot.

While mostly unremarkable, I appreciated the way it depicted real, deep cultural misunderstanding between alien races — not a lot of Trek does that.

Classically ironic middle grade horror story. Trigger: family cat dies, she shouldn't have caught a fairy :P

A woman on vacation in London is driving and almost hits a man in the road. The man turns out to be from the 1500s and claims to have been stuck in the fairy realm. Well that is what he first says. His story changes .... Well done Mr. Watt-Evans.

{short story}½

I always enjoy coming across his short stories so I thought I'd give a "book" a try.
-------------------

Book opened great but fizzled quickly. This is not what happened but let me use it as an analogy of my issue. MC discovers there are no more brownies at the store. Wait there are no more brownies at any store. MC goes to Denny's to get some food because in the madness of yesterday's discovery he only manages one meal.

The reader was then subjected to chapters of him eating the same breakfast and listening to all his different reasons for the brownie disappearance happening. Repetitively, not one run through on his thoughts. We get his thoughts which includes all the events that got him to those thoughts, then we get a summary of his thoughts. Then a bullet summary of the three main possibilities. WTF I feel so insulted by the author for thinking I can't figure out what I witnessed along with the MC in the opening of the story.

Going to a real book next.

I bought it for the Nina story but I'm ecstatic that there are three Janet Fox stories.

Read:
Janet Fox - WITCHES (1983) 1* child molestation. Idc if she is a witch or something from another realm inhabiting the body, make her older.

Janet Fox - SMALL MAGIC (1982) 3* It really should be a novel. She was able to fit a lot into it but the short story format isn't the best delivery. (ETA: oh I see it’s a novella.) A woman with some magic tricks is overtaken by soldiers and when the leader touches her, her magic becomes destructive to their surroundings. He forces her to help him defeat a castle. I think it ends on her becoming a willing accomplice but I find it a bit confusing.

Janet Fox - THE UNBELIEVER (1968) 5* Flash fiction. That was fantastic. I love these ironic horror stories. A preacher making his rounds to "his flock" stops by the witch woman's house. The witch and he go way back. "You was an evil boy and you growed up to an evil man." That is all that I'm going to say ;)

Joseph Conrad - THE INN OF THE TWO WITCHES: A FIND (1913) DNF but really hardly started. The writing style is above my reading comprehension. Reminds me of when I tried to read The Turn of the Screw. UCK!

Darrell Schweitzer - THE SORCERER EVORAGDOU (1993) own in another book that I read cover to cover decades ago. Can’t remember it but I do plan to read that other book someday so I’m skipping it in this book.

Lawrence Watt-Evans - KEEPING UP APPEARANCES (1998) 4* That was a fun story. The husband of an assassin team is turn into a hamster by a mark. The brains of the operation is the wife and we see her work on getting returned him to a man.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman - BRIGHT STREETS OF AIR (1998) 3* Two witches have been friends for a very long time. One attempts a spell on the other so that she is understood better.

For a while there I was an 80s anthology junkie. They often have a LWE story in them. I think his stories are always worth a read. Looking through an anthology, I would pick and choose which stories to read, and he always made the cut. His stories are often a bit humorous, and/or contain a puzzle to be worked out by the characters, and/or are ironic.

Now in the 2020s, I pick up this kindle collection. It has a lot of stories. It probably took me about three years to read them all. Now, I think I've maxed myself out on his work. (This recently happened with Jeffrey Ford also.) So, Mr. Watt-Evans, I bid you a fond farewell, it has been a pleasure. *curtsey*
-----------------------------------

-- Arms and the Woman - 5*
Every 400 years an ancient evil attempts to reform and current day warriors have to be prepared with magic items to not let that happen.

-- The Temple of Life - 1.5*
Sailors stopped at port to re-supply but the island is taken over by a wizard.

-- Mehitabel Goodwin - 3.5*
An author being an author :D He based this story on an ancestor, based on facts he had about her at the time. How cool of him! A story of settlers and a confrontation by native Americans in the 1600s. Her baby dies in a most horrid way so please be warned! After her baby dies, she does something supernatural, and a native Americans holds her captive until he can learn how she did it.

-- Heart Of Stone - 4*
So unique to me. One of a wizard's creations is left behind after the townspeople destroy his workshop. A woman living in the walls.

-- The Final Challenge - 3*
After a kingdom buried their king, and his son became the new king, the story picks up in a tavern, hearing a soldier talk of how the prince is a good man but the king was a great man. We hear some examples. The prince's men are there so the storyteller is walking a fine line with not getting his ass kicked by them. I believe the storyteller is the new king. Was that Undercover Medieval Boss?

-- Beth’s Unicorn - 2*
Beth has had a unicorn for as long as she can remember. No one else can see it so she doesn't talk about it and as she grows older she isn't even excited about it. When she gets her first boyfriend the unicorn becomes obvious to everyone. The boy says she must be someone very special and leaves. I have no idea what the point of the story was and why she has a unicorn.

-- The Bride Of Bigfoot - 3*
Silly. Bigfoot saw, in a tabloid, a female bigfoot and he is so lonely and would like to find her. He gets some help from a drunk, a tabloid writer who admits he made it up but if there is one big foot there must be more...

-- Keeping Up Appearances (1998) - 4*
That was a fun story. The husband of an assassin team is turn into a hamster by a mark. The brains of the operation is the wife and we see her work on getting returned him to a man.

-- Dropping Hints - 4*
That was fun. A new Duke goes to meet the wizard. The wizard has some homunculus he created, doing various tasks. A clumsy one murders the wizard in front of the Duke but since they all look alike he is not sure which one to hold accountable. So we get to read him work it out.

-- The Bogle In the Basement - 3*
A family inherits many chests from an elder that died in Scotland. One is locked and contains a surprise.

-- The Man For the Job -
I liked it, similar pattern as others of his story. There is a problem (dragon eating citizens) and our characters work toward a resolution.

-- Chaperone -
I liked it, as I just said similar problem. There is a problem (multiple versions of a person attending a prom) and our characters work toward a resolution.

-- Out Of the Woods (1995) - 4.5*
I've read this in [book:Enchanted Forests|1867072] A woman on vacation in London is driving and almost hits a man in the road. The man turns out to be from the 1500s and claims to have been stuck in the fairy realm. Well that is what he first says. His story changes .... Well done Mr. Watt-Evans.

~ Horsing Around - DNF
Two boys pick on a witchy looking lady at a convenience store and suffer a consequence. I don't want to read about grade school children currently.

~ Ghost Stories - 3*
Two boys talk to a ghost whose wife put a curse on him to keep him from the leaving the house until a certain condition is met.

~ The Frog Wizard -
I know I read it before but didn't write a memory trigger and I don't want to re-read

~ Spirit Dump - 2.5*
pretty clever. There is a spot where you can toss your bad mood, hangover, anger, depression.

~ Mittens And Hotfoot - 2.5*
Mittens is a kitten and Hotfoot is a baby dragon.

~ Trixie - 4*
Super cute. Trixie is the name of a cat. She is with one owner who dies. She gets moved to a new house but really wants something from the old house and she knows the new owner could really use it.

~ In Re: Nephelegeretes - 1.5*
Zues has a baby with a "mortal" and she wants some help raising a demi-god.

~ Just Perfect - 2*
Author humor. A magazine editor receives a manuscript from the big guy. (no, not Santa)

~ In For A Pound - 3*
Husband who is a werewolf during the full moon wants to run for mayor, wife is against it. So, opens the story. Side note: it is interesting to see people solve problems without cell phones in these old stories.

~ Something To Grin About - 3*
The Cheshire cat moves to the US after his caretaker enters a nursing home.

~ Best Present Ever! - 3*
A Christmas story. a little depressing, a little infuriating, definitely interesting with a surprise ending.½

This was my first fantasy as an “older” reader and I loved it. It was donated to another avid reader.

Some of the life seems to have gone out of this series. Also probably could have used an editor at a major publisher for some polishing.

Various and assorted short stories, all (more or less) placed in Ethshar/The World. There's a short note at the beginning of each story explaining a bit about it - how it came to be written, why it is (or isn't, quite) an Ethshar story, etc. Some excellent tales, some good ones but I either haven't read or haven't read in years the novel they're related to - and some that are cute but weird (the Santa Claus one, in particular). I suspect this book is better the more you know and like Ethshar; I'm an occasional reader of the series (have not yet read all the books) and mildly enjoy this book.½

This is a fun collection of stories by Lawrence Watt-Evans, who may be best known for fantasy stories, but the tales in this book are more focussed on the science fiction end of the range, though there are some excellent fantasy stories as well. The best of the bunch, IMHO isn't 'Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers', though it's still enjoyable after quite a few rereads but I preferred 'Windwagon Smith and the Martians' this time through and, although I don't usually recommend the Introductions and Afterwords, the Introduction to this book was a joy in its own right.

A classic sword and sorcery tale featuring Garth, the non-human swordsman. Great classic fantasy. Short and to the point.½

Classic fantasy, told from the point of view of a non-human warrior. Great stuff!

Lost heirs, barbarians, dragons, girl warriors, beheadings, rebels in the greenwood, palace intrigue, it's all here in this joke on epic fantasy. The characters race around bumping into each other and into the plot, until they all gather for a grand finale. My favorite character is Bernice, once a sheep, now a dragon, who realizes that she no longer is going to be eaten by anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact. The humor is sometimes a little fourteen-year-old clever for me, but still fun.