Soul of the City: Thieves' World, Book 8. [Mass Market Paperback]

C. J. Cherryh (Author), Janet Morris (Author), Robert Lynn Asprin (Editor), Lynn Abbey (Editor)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Ace Fantasy; First edition & printing edition (January 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441775810
• ISBN-13: 978-0441775811
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best of the series., June 9, 2005

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Soul of the City: Thieves' World, Book 8. (Mass Market Paperback)

In Book 8 there is a lot of wrapping up going on. Many threads regarding Roxane and Jihan are closed (or are they?). Tempus returns to Sanctuary and is reunited with Niko as his partner.

The Thieves World books are always at their best when they are slowly building to a climax using the small stories of the Maze and palace that the various writers do so well. The relay format does not work as well at crafting a single climax point. The result is not bad, exactly, but it reads like a more typical fantasy series installment. One of the nice thing about Thieves World at its best is that it does not read like that at all. There were also some very nice plot points opened up in Book 7 that are completely ignored here-- a little bit of continuity with some of those elements would have been nice.

Lynn Abbey, Janet Morris and C.J. Cherryh were the writers in book 8. As you can imagine, begin at the beginning and not here if you have not read any of the books before.

3.0 out of 5 stars Linear for a change, February 21, 2009

By 

Naor Wallach (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Soul of the City: Thieves' World, Book 8. (Mass Market Paperback)

As an idea for a series of anthologies, Thieves' world was a unique concept. By this point it has reached the 8th book and it is suffering a bit. I guess maybe that is why Abbey and Asprin (the editors) decided to play a bit with the format. In previous editions, there were many short stories around a common theme. Every author, however, had the right to look at slightly different events, or even picture the same events from a different angle. This was entertaining and unique.

This volume is very linear. In essence the story line was agreed upon and each of the three contributors provided two chapters that carried the storyline forward. Of course, the fact that there were only three contributors could be a sign of the withering of this concept as previous volumes had as many as ten contributors!

The storyline here is all about the enmity between the two female witches in town - Ischade and Roxane. For reasons unknown to anyone, the rest of the groups in Sanctuary choose sides and Roxane is being attacked. This book examines the impacts of the magical and common attacks that take place as the two women work to destroy each other. Since everyone in Sanctuary is involved, the gods themselves manage to intervene and ever higher powers are invoked leading to some new and powerful beings being summoned from regions that they've never left before.

The battle takes place in all kinds of places including the mind and soul of Niko. Ultimately, nothing is really resolved as to destroy any of the main characters would bring this series to a screeching halt so it is not satisfying at all.

A question that I kept pondering as I read this book was about how it evolved. In the early days, Tempus was one of several Hell-Hounds and Enos Yarl and Hakim played prominent roles. Since then we've found out that Tempus is much more than a simple mercenary, but this volume has no mention of any of the previous magicians. Neither Enos Yarl, nor Hakim, nor even the limner make an appearance even though they are all supposedly involved in the affaris of the city at high levels.

Some of the fantasy that is woven here is very dark and even meta-physical. The whole battleground being a meadow that represents Niko's soul was quite beyond me and not very pleasurable to read. Ultimately, as I said, nothing really gets resolved and all the deaths and magical energy being expended leads to nothing at all.

This lack of focus and progression is why I downgraded the book as well as the series. It appears to have lost its aim and is simply meandering around.