Customer Reviews

Flights of Fantasy (Daw Book Collectors)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A young man who learns how to seek revenge from Odin's friends, the ravens; a harmless, very unclever man who saves a fledgling and earns the respect of the gods; a young warrior seeks his destiny and discovers he has much in common with the eagles; a girl with higher aspirations than mere marriage takes flight. These and other tales of winged creatures, both real and fantasized, are told by some of the greats of fantasy in Flights of Fantasy, an anthology of never-before-published tales, collected by Mercedes Lackey. Ms. Lackey contributes a novella which is a spinoff story of her book, Black Swan. She brings with her such greats as Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Josepha Sherman, and Nancy Asire, each of whom puts a slightly different slant on their story of birds of prey, and winged heros. With an introduction by Ms. Lackey which illustrates her own love for birds, Flights of Fantasy contains enough imagination and talent to carry readers off into delightful flights of fancy with each story.

Rickey R. Mallory

I am a devoted fan of Misty's books, but I found many of the stories in her compilation to be poorly written. There were the occasional story that drew you in, but for the most part, Misty should have found some more creative authors this book. Ron Collins' story about a wizard's son and the hawks who always stayed around the castle was a good one with a surprising ending. Nancy Asire's story of a priestess resisting a conquoring wizard was also well written. Misty's own story was interesting, as always. Most of the others weren't worth mentioning. Sorry Misty, you did a better job picking stories for Sword of Ice.

This book is an anthology of eleven fantasy stories, each one revolving around flying creatures. As with all anthologies, it is a real mixed bag, with some being excellent, and some not. My personal favorite was Wide Wings by Mercedes Lackey herself, a story about a young medieval woman who wishes she had the freedom enjoyed by her hawks. Overall, this is a good book, and a fun read. I highly recommend it.

Very nice collection of short stories, each themed around a hawk or such. Good solid read for your money, with no 1-star stories.