Customer Reviews

The Incompleat Nifft

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Michael Shea opens up new doors for readers of Horror andFantasy Literature with the "The Incomplete Nifft". In thisvolume the lucky reader is treated to a reprint of the now out of print and hard to find Nifft the Lean, plus the latest Nifft novel. It's two for the price of one. Both feature the irrepressible Nifft the Lean and his trusty sidekick Barnar the Chilite. Yes, in some ways this is the age old buddy theme, but the resemblance to, say, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser is superficial. Nifft is the real hero.

But why should you read Shea when you can pick up the latest flabby offering from the fantasy trilogy factory? Unlike most fantasy writers nowadays Michael Shea deals in the fantastic. Nifft's adventures to Hell or his sojourn in the belly of the Behemoth resonate deep within the reader's imagination. These stories are literally the stuff of legend and myth. What's more, Shea tells his tales in a voice you aren't likely to come across in most contemporary fantasy. Intelligent, shrewd, and literate, Shea writes for the thinker, but his images are more suitable for the sensualist who relishes the frisson of the grotesque and the fantastic. It is a tribute to Shea's skill as a writer that his fervid pen always serves his intelligence. The horrors and grotesqueries found in his pages appear there in order to make a very clear point, usually an old fashioned moral point, about the power of the human spirit to withstand, and in some small but important way to triumph over, the terrors to which life (and Michael Shea) subjects us. For Shea is above all a Stoic. Probably an agnostic Stoic, but a disciple of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus all the same.

So go ahead and give The Incomplete Nifft the Lean a try. You may be shocked, but you won't be disappointed.

This book in a combination of two previous books, Nifft the Lean, and The Mines of Behemoth. When I first read Nifft the Lean, I was bowled over by the astonishingly vivid and incredible descriptions, and the adventure plots are riveting. The level of imagination in the various stories is also exceptional. As I recall, the book won a world fantasy award, and it was well deserved. I've re-read it a few times since, and it continues to hold up quite well. The book falls into a odd category of horror/adventure.

The sequel, The Mines of Behemth, is a short novel (as opposed to half a dozen or so short stories for the first book), and I would rate it a little weaker (only 4 stars out of five). Still, any book that takes Nifft back on an expedition into the Underworld (i.e., Hell) is good news indeed (for the reader, anyway).

This edition also has a foreword from a friend of Nifft's, commenting on each of the adventures and generally adding some amusing grace notes.

Few people have had the ability to enjoy the dark pleasures offered by Michael Shea. The original Nifft the Lean was a DAW book back in the days when that meant a quick oblivion. Nevertheless, it won a World Fantasy Award. Imagine Jack Vance with a twist of Heironymous Bosch and you have Michael Shea.

No reader of quality fantasy should ever, EVER pass up a chance to have this book rest on their shelves.

This is an excellent, excellent book. The Nift stories are sort of a darker version of Jack Vance, with a similar level of creativity and gripping imagery.

The only thing to be careful about is if you are buying this book because you loved the other two Nift Books (Raiders of the Infernal Domain and Mines of Behemoth), because there is no new material in this book.

This book captivated me from the beginning, and I was shocked at how deeply involved in the story, characters, and description I became. It was hypnotic.

This book is written in the Jack Vance style of the Dying Earth series, with an H.P. Lovecraft horror perspective. If you like Vance, you'll like this book. What made this book succeed where most others fail, was the bridge from the recognizable to the comicly foreign and demented. Too often fantasy writers just expect the reader to follow them into their artificial world that looks all-too-familiar. Expect to be blown away with Nifft. Its that dusty attic door you were always too afraid to open. Nifft opens it for you, and pushes you in, but comes along for support.

The two main characters (Nifft and his friend Barnar) have quite a bit of dialog. They joke with each other, get on each other's nerves, anger each other, and sacrifice themselves for the other. Somehow, Shea has included a very nice "buddy" story amid the horrors of imagination. Never seen it before, and it works beautifully.

Who would of thought sneaking into Hell with your buddy would be so shocking and revolting, yet so much fun? Shea struck a perfect balance between dread and absurdity. Its as if he took the dare other fantasy writers wouldn't take, and blew through the artificial ceiling of "fantastical" thought.

As I recall, this book is actually four separate stories. This works actually better than one very large novel as it gives broader scope to the characters. Things take place in different times and places. My personal favorite is "Fishing in the Demon Sea". I still have memories of it, even though its been a few years.

Reading "Nifft the Lean," is a must for those who enjoy great adult fantasy. Other hard to find, but worth it, novels include "In Yana, The Touch of Undying," "A Quest for Simbilis," (which is a sequel to Jack Vance's "The Eyes of the Overworld," released about a decade before Jack Vance wrote his own sequel) and "The Color Out of Time," (a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space.") Both sequels are well up to the standards set by the writers of the original stories. "In Yana..." is a stand alone masterpiece of existential horror and also a lot of fun. Expect dry and mordant humor from Mr. Shea.

The Cheap Truth review of NIFFT THE LEAN says it betterthan I could possibly manage: "This is an important, even crucial book, with the lurid brilliance and craftsmanlike discipline of a Bosch canvas. Not to be missed."

I first read Shea in the form of his award-winning story "Polyphemus". I read but little fantasy, prefering SF. Shea is a HELLUVA Science Fiction writer, but he is NOT the most prolific around! Trying to get Shea and Vernor Vinge to step up their output is a task dear to my heart!