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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Bag of Assassin Tales, August 16, 2007
This review is from: Places To Be, People To Kill (Daw Book Collectors) (Paperback)
Reviewing an anthology of short stories has to be one of the hardest things a reviewer can do, especially if the stories are all written by different authors.
In this book, we are given twelve different stories by twelve different authors but with one theme uniting them all: assassins. The genres include science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, and horror. Like all anthologies, there were some I liked, some I didn't care much for, but not because of the writing. Each story is well crafted and well written. Because we are dealing with assassins, some touch on the macabre and are a little too graphic for me, but that is a personal issue and not one of craft. Overall, the stories were very good.
If you don't have a lot of time to invest in reading, anthologies are a good place to go. Each story is complete with beginning, middle, and satisfying - if sometimes bizarre - endings. They're good for a quick read when you don't have time for a novel. If you like the odd, sometimes bloody, occasionally funny, but always intriguing world of assassins, then this book is for you.
Reviewed by Vicky Burkholder
08/16/2007
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great, October 27, 2007
This review is from: Places To Be, People To Kill (Daw Book Collectors) (Paperback)
When I bought this book I had visions of a Pratchett-esque style assassins but I was wrong. This is more a book about death dealers - who might be assassins but might also be hangmen or executioners or just killers. So a real mixed bag of original stories that are entertaining and sometimes moving.
The best stories are those by Tanya Huff about assassins on holiday plus the stories the Hundreth Kill (a ninja story with a twist) and Substitution (a very moving story about death and those who bring it).
Others are good but leave a little to be desired - there is one story (It's all in the Execution) which is so close to be brilliant but loses it at the last 2 pages. I think the editors could have helped the writers a bit more to get to the core of their stories as sometimes the authors seem to waste very good material and ideas in flippant or forced endings.
Overall this is a very enjoyable read and worth having for the 2 or 3 outstanding stories. Whilst there aren't any bad stories here there are some that have unresolved potential that is slightly frustrating but at the same time you want to read more by pretty much every author in this collection.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tanya Huff anyone?, August 8, 2007
This review is from: Places To Be, People To Kill (Daw Book Collectors) (Paperback)
This short story book includes a new Vree and Bannon short story! Tanya Huff's assassins from her Quarters series are back, once again a prequel to their first adventure (No Quarter) Vree and Bannon are set on another target.. sort of. This time they are put in the unenviable situation of trying to decide if their target is guilty BEFORE they kill him!
This was a great Vree and Bannon short and well worth getting your hands on the collection!
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