Customer Reviews

The Hounds of Ash: and other Tales of Fool Wolf

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

 

 

I have mixed feelings about this book by Greg Keyes, an author I love. The Hounds of Ash and Other Tales of Fool Wolf is a book collecting a few short stories starring the aforementioned character. The stories are entertaining, and Fool Wolf is a cool character. The dialogue is usually witty, and the stories make you smile. The only problem is that the book is plagued by dozens of typos. As a matter of fact, there were more typos in this book alone than in all the books I've read over the last four years put together. It was obvious that whoever "edited" the book didn't actually read it, but ran the spellcheck instead. That is the only way all those mistakes can be explained: "two" instead of "to", "Full" instead of "Fool" (part of the main character's name, for crying out loud!), and a million other typos like those. Also, there are missing periods, commas, and quotation marks, which make the book hard to read and enjoy. Good stories marred by an atrocious editing. Shame on Edge Books!

I was first introduced to the writing of Greg Keyes through these short stories, back when they originally appeared in Dragon Magazine. They led me to buy his first two novels--"The Waterborn" and "The Blackgod"--and I was surprised and pleased to find out that the world of Fool Wolf and the world of these two novels were one and the same.

Excited that his Fool Wolf stories had been collected into a single volume, I snatched it up and read it quickly--only to discover his publisher had wrecked the stories. The stories weren't any different from their original printings, mind you, but the dozens upon dozens of typos persist from the first few pages all the way to the end. Words missing letters. Words capitalized for no reason. Lines in the middle of paragraphs that aren't justified like all the lines around them. These quirks are a major distraction.

Overall, I rated the book 3 stars because of these typos. Greg Keyes is a great writer, and this collection of shorts tells stories that take place after "The Blackgod" has ended--so to a fan of his first two novels, there's a certain pleasant familiarity in the reading. But the typos detract from the stories being told and make the entire collection look amateurish.

If you can live with a book that fails to meet professional editorial standards and you're a fan of Greg Keyes, then feel comfortable that you'll get some satisfaction out of this collection of short stories. But if you're unfamiliar with Greg Keyes or need to read perfect manuscripts, then go with "The Waterborn" and "The Blackgod." You'll get much more satisfaction out of those.

I had high hopes for this one. I've thoroughly enjoyed Keyes' series (The Briar King, Blood Knight, Born Queen, etc) and really thought I'd love this, too. I didn't. The stories were interesting, but so many spelling and grammatical errors slipped through it totally destroyed my enjoyment of the stories.

Gregory Keyes has written several wonderful short stories about Fool wolf, a compellingly clever, if not particularly noble individual. Aside from some minor editing gaffs, which I beg to differ with other reviewers, do NOT make this collection unreadable, the stories are polished, well-plotted, the characters interesting and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

My real complaint is, will he ever write more about this character and setting?

This is a collection of older stories as I understand it and I really enjoyed this collection. Greg is a fantastic writer
and all of his books are worth reading. I have know Greg since 2002. He was my daughter's fencing coach in Savannah, Georgia.
I have proofread one of his books and read another on CD before it came out. He has a wonderful imagination and all of his books are extraordinary in fantasy.They take place in the past or perhaps the future-sometimes it is hard to say. I never seem to be able to wait for the next one but that makes it all the better.