Touted as something rather original and a winner of the World Fantasy Award, I kinda expected this to be rather heavier on humor-meets-Noir-meets-D&D vibe than, say, a pleasant knock-off of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series.

In actuality, I see a lot more in common with Lankhmar and a bit of the old Private Investigator than with, say, Discworld.

Some tropes are tweaked mildly but none are taken in extreme directions. The chainmail bikini is more like the outfits at Hooters and the woman is working her way to a better life... versus stupid male fantasies. Okies. Nice. But brilliant? I tend to think not, but this series might need continued reading to build up a compendium of awesomeness. Discworld definitely needed it before it became super-well-beloved.

But this? I come at this from 20 years down the line from when it was originally published. Independent and self-publishing are full of works like this and they are all of comparable quality and humor. I can't say it will have stood the test of time unless we say that these kinds of genre-mashers ARE the legacy we should be looking at.

And if that's the case, then I think it succeeded quite nicely. Thank you! :) ( )

I'm a fan of Martin Millar's books so when I found out he also wrote under the pseudonym of Martin Scott, I was excited and grabbed this book right away.
Thraxas is an over-weight investigator who owes a lot of coin because of betting on chariot races. All of a sudden, he picks up several jobs and finds himself in the middle of a mess. Who is behind stealing the red cloth that protects from magic? Who killed the dragon? Who murdered Attilan? As you can see, Thraxas has a lot to figure out with the help of his friend, Makri, the feminist barmaid at the Avenging Axe.
If you like Douglas Adams and Sir Terry Pratchett, then you will enjoy the adventures of Thraxas. ( )

I enjoyed this book but didn't particularly feel compelled to read it.
Part of the problem is that it can be very hard to set up a whole new world without exposition and information overload at times. That said the characters are likable, believable and interesting and I did want to find out more about them. I've already read the second story and plan to read the rest

A fun read if not overly compelling with a world worth exploring. ( )

Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/chapters/0743471520/0743471520.htm