The A'Rak [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Shea (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

PROSPEROUS HAGIA'S VAULTS BRIMMED WITH GOLD. HER WAREHOUSES BULGED WITH THE GOODS OF THE SOUTHERN SEAS. SHE HAD THE SPIDER-GOD TO THANK FOR HER PROSPERITY.

But beneath Hagia's ancient bargain with the A'Rak lay the direst danger. That mercenary kingdom had mortgaged its soul in its pact with the giant arachnoid. When the note fell due, death of the most hideous kind awaited the multitudes of that affluent and bustling nation.

As Hagia's debt falls due, two foreigners arrive in Big Quay, her capital: Lagademe and her team, foremost among the world's Nuncios -- deliverers of anything to anywhere -- and Nifft the Lean, thief and rogue extraordinaire.

Nifft and Lagademe, strangers to one another at the outset, will soon be struggling side by side for their lives -- and a nation's survival -- against the most hideous foe in the annals of Sword and Sorcery fiction.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Baen (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671319477
• ISBN-13: 978-0671319472
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael A. Shea's writing career began when he was thirteen, and his published writing career commenced in 1973 with the publication of A Quest For Simbilis--an hommage to the great Jack Vance, and sequel to his Eyes of the Overworld. Shea callowly offered Mr. Vance co-credit if he allowed Shea to publish it. Mr. Vance, graceful and kind, assured the novice that he should sell it if he could, and the neophyte contented himself with an acknowledgment that introduced the text.

Shea quit his natal L.A. and repaired to Frisco's Mission District, where he met his life-mate, artist and author Linda Cesar. They lived by teaching, painting, and writing--preponderantly the former two. Through the years of their union, and the growth of their remarkable son and daughter, Shea produced his works of science fiction and fantasy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Anything Shea is inherently worth reading, June 8, 2004

By 

Happy Jack (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The A'Rak (Mass Market Paperback)

I give this only 3 stars because I became annoyed at the alternating narrator device employed by Shea. For reasons only he knows, he wanted to present the story from a different perspective, so probably 40 percent of the book is from the perspective of Nifft's counterpart. The bad thing is that the female counterpart is honorable and adheres to a strict honor code. We Nifft fans want the old Nifft tales where rules were meant to be broken.

There is a lot of backstory in this book, and the plot contrivance is basic (i.e. chase from one goal to the next).

But there are some moments of great description, style, humor and action that is very "Nifft-like" that should please readers of the incomparable "Incompleat Nifft". Chances are, all of you have read that first collection. If not, drop what you are doing, and read it now. Its a rare 10 carat diamond in a sea of costume junk.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Indefatigible Nifft Rides Again, November 23, 2000

By 

Yael Dragwyla - See all my reviews

This review is from: The A'Rak (Mass Market Paperback)

I have loved Shea's stories about Nifft the Lean since NIFFT THE LEAN, his first Nifft collection, came out in 1982. (I'd love to see what, say, George Lucas or Spielberg could do with "The Fishing of the Demon-Sea" or "Come, Then, Mortals, We Will Seek Her Soul," maybe starring Will Smith as the intrepid Nifft -- nbody else I can think of has quite the panache, the dash, the daring, the attitude, and the ability to clock somebody a good one before he, she, or it can do him serious damage that would go with Nifft.) _The A'rak_ continues in this same tradition. Not only is it a great adventure story, but it is one of the finest satires on our current political scene of any I've ever read. Long may Nifft wave!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Minor disappointments...but still worth reading., October 27, 2000

By 

C. Beals "out-of-area" (Kalamazoo, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The A'Rak (Mass Market Paperback)

Having been a Nifft the Lean fan since the first book, I eagerly bought and devoured The Mines of Behemoth. In the final installment in the saga, The A'rak, however, I did not care for the changing between Nifft and Lagademe as narrators. That being said, I did enjoy every page and recommend it to all. A very vivid world, bizarre creatures and one of fantasy's most original heroes await you.