Customer Reviews

Places To Be, People To Kill (Daw Book Collectors)

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

 

 

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

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.

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!

This twelve never before published tales focuses on the fantasy genre's professional hitmen (and women), assassins as they have not been seen before (at least to the knowledge of this reviewer). The authors go deep into the psyche of what makes an assassin (naturing vs. nurturing), but not during the adrenalin rush of a planned kill; instead the tales occur during non productive time though a death or two happens. The compilation provides differing reasons why someone would choose to become a paid killer ranging from avarice, the thrill of the kill, the gene pool, or feeding a family. Think of this book as the assassin's résumé. Fascinatingly, in several of the tales this stereotypical antihero actually honors life as sacred because they take it away so effortlessly. The stories are well written running the gamut from a serious look at why one becomes an assassin (see "Fealty" by S. Andrew Swann and "Bloodlines" by Jim C. Hines) to a satirical look at why not ("Hang Ten" by Jean Rabe). In each of these fun contributions the assassin is a terrific antagonist who is always ready for population control assignments as their prime mission is PEOPLE TO KILL.

Harriet Klausner

This is an enjoyable collection of tales that to be honest I only purchased for the contribution by John Marco, one of my favorite fantasy authors. Of course in any collection of tales of this sort, there are some stinkers, but overall most of the contributions are solid to top notch. All of the stories contained here deal with assassins to some extent and each author offers his/her own unique spin. Some of the tales deal with assassins on their day off, some with the experience of first time killers for hire. I only found a couple of the tales to be dull or uninteresting and enjoyed the collection as a whole for the most part. For something that I bought only because of the contribution of one of the authors, I was pleasantly surprised to find an entire collection that was totally worth my time and effort. It's something that I'd heartily recommend to fans of the fantasy genre especially if you enjoy the darker side of the typical hero character.

I love assassins and thought this would be a great collection making "heroes" out of murderers-something that's difficult to do as a writer. And this collection demonstrated this. Most of the stories are very disappointing with only a couple that are good. Some of the stories aren't even about assassins, or it's a really loose interpretation of what an assassin is. Skip this one.

I love anthologies and I love assassins, but wow, this was the most boring and un-inspired selection of stories that I've ever read. Not one single tale managed to interest me. Spend your money elsewhere!