Customer Reviews

Villains Victorious

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

 

 

The book is a mix, obviously, with so many stories. "Horror Show", where the monster becomes real, I've seen a thousand of these. On the good side, "Death Mage" has both an unusual magic system and some very good writing. "All Things Being Relative" by Tanya Huff, which opens this collection is a howler. THIS, by God, is a Dark Queen! Her scribe is named Cornelius Dickcissel. I need say no more. Also contained herein is "To Speak With Angels" by Michelle West. Having read it, I will henceforth date my life by it. "This occurred before I read that story. This occured after." It concerns a saint who enters Hell, and to anyone with a Christian background, it should be very powerful indeed.

Bischoff, David: "The Whiteviper Scrolls" occurs later in Whiteviper's unsavoury career than its counterpart in _Apprentice Fantastic_, and like it is narrated by him to a downtrodden peon in his old age.

Braunbeck, Gary A. & Snyder, Lucy A.: "Souls to Take" Dr. Louis Cohen never wanted to end pregnancies by anything other than a normal delivery, but rather than leave patients to alternatives that seem even worse, he keeps performing abortions, despite his own qualms. But when the "LifeGuards" ambush him on his way back from a house call, the doc's rescuer may be worse than the fate she saved him from.

Crowther, Peter: Set in a comic-book world of "Heroes and Villains", the tone is something like the realism of _Watchmen_, but from the viewpoint of the super-villains. The Comedian in particular is struggling with his conscience, as he prepares for a deathbed visit to his mother, their first meeting in many years. But even sidekicks are well drawn - one, for instance, lost his father at 12 when a run-of-the-mill superhero/supervillain struggle destroyed a few city buildings, and the apologetic superhero's out-of-court settlement wouldn't bring his father back.

Davis, R.: "King of Thorns" is the title awarded to the best of the temple's Thorns - their master assassin trainees - each year. The story follows the Thorns' final competitive exam with one another, and is recommended for _Thief: The Dark Project_ players. :)

Dungate, Pauline E.: "Nina" has a mysterious hold on people - her classmates fear her, she rarely does her homework, and the real story of her father's suicide is uncanny. The narrator's family has arranged a marriage between them, and now that he's asked around about her, he's finally got sense enough to be scared. The story begins with his reference to the marriage, jumps back to his enquiries, then works forward to the wedding day.

Edghill, Rosemary: "The Mould of Form" James Cruikshank, the narrator, will be better known by another name to readers. After Cromwell's victory, his Royalist father's death left James and his mother to their cousins' unkind charity, but James' memories of the abuses of Eton are the most bitter.

Gorman, Ed: The narrator escaped the trap set by the FBI with the help of a woman who betrayed him, and became "A New Man" - with the help of plastic surgery. But by chance, his betrayer (who no longer recognizes him) lives in the small Midwestern town he's passing through - but she's married to a cop.

Huff, Tanya: "All Things Being Relative" Cornelius Dickcissel, far from being a heroic adventurer, is an author; receiving the queen's summons, he drew up his will (the traditional response, when summoned by *this* queen). But she has read his story of a would-be dragonslayer that considered the dragon's point of view, and wants him to write *her* story - although she has his editor killed for the clunky title of Cornelius' last book. See how many fractured fairy tales you recognize herein. :) She's even read the evil overlord list.

Patton, Fiona: "Death Mage" is a Cerchicava story, but rather than following ex-carver Coll, this recounts the story of a full-fledged Death Mage hunting down one who has betrayed the necromancers' Trade.

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: "Doubting Thomas", at the age of six, witnessed something that, far from breaking his belief in Santa Claus, gave him an unusual take on what he considers the world's biggest conspiracy, to which he later brought his skills as an investigative reporter. Cool. :)

Sherman, Josepha: "The Usurper Memos" are a series of email-style carrier-pigeon-delivered memos between Regis I and various bureaucrats of Tavara, including cryptic unofficial communications with the Hunter of Heads. Villain or not, I applaud Regis' final maneuver. :)

Tremayne, Peter: The author of the Sister Fidelma mysteries has turned to Sherlock Holmes in "The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey", the tale of "James Phillimore, who stepped back into his house and was never more seen in this world", one of Watson's famous untold stories.

Waggoner, Tim: "Horror Show" begins with the climactic scene of a story in progress - a late-night movie, the most famous of the seven in which Simon Karkull played the monster Shrike. These days, he's an alcoholic; the producer of the next Shrike film won't even send him a script. But the producer's mysterious murder that same night, a continent away, marks a turning point in Simon's life.

West, Michelle: "To Speak with Angels" For his last walk, the old saint has chosen to seek an audience with he who was once the greatest of the Host, though he must enter Hell to do so. Very fine story. I also recommend Neil Gaiman's treatment of Lucifer in the Sandman series.

In much of contemporary fantasy, the bad guys seem to have no real motive other than "I'm BAD, bwahahaha!" These stories look at some familiar stories and situations from the point of view of the bad guys, and tell us something about why they do what they do. Tanya Huff's Dark Queen's take on quite a few traditional fairy tales is well worth a look, and Fiona Patton's necromancers come back, along with the slightly-twisted magical "Italy" they live in. We get to see the early years of a very famous villain, and, in the context of a four-color comic world, learn with a person obviously based on one of the most famous comic villains about why evil must be evil, and why evil must be.

In (mostly) reverse order, here are the stories in this anthology:
"Heroes and Villains" A poignant and well-written story showing that villains are just as important as heroes, and necessary."
"To Speak with Angels" - what happens with a living saint comes to Hell to speak with Lucifer?"
"King of Thorns" - when being a Master Assassin just isn't good enough "The Usurper Memos" - What could drive a king to give up his throne?"
"Death Mage - necromancy and politics make strange bedfellows"
"Horror Show" - asks the question: What if the monsters, through the adulation of fans, were to become real?"
08/13 page 188
"Nina" - who will take whatever steps are necessary to be free ..."
"Souls to Take - Braunbeck tells the story of one of the last doctors performing abortions in Cincinnati, who gets entwined with a soul reaper. Sure to cause discord in any discussion!"
"A New Man - in which a most surprising deal is made"
"The Whiteviper Scrolls" in which a young Whiteviper is outvillained."
"Doubting Thomas - in which we learn the truth about Santa Claus
"All Things Being Relative - Tanya Huff - HILARIOUS take on the Dark Queen
"The Mould of Form" - introduces us to the origins of one of the most famous piratical villains ever The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey - where Sherlock Holmes is bested by Professor Moriarty shortly after their introduction"

A good book, with lots of great stories, in which the villains are ultimately victorious. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone.

3.5 stars I reluctantly round down to 3.

There are a handful of good stories here, and none really bad. Most though are firmly average or predictable and one or two below average.

Yes, we do see villains triumph. The problem is, in my mind, very few of the villains are actually shown or hinted at doing awful things. When they are, in some cases, it is presented as being comedic. Or in other cases, it is villain vs. villain. Is one really a villain if he battles another villain? Well maybe but it isn't very satisfying. And though technically being victorious seems contrary to the spirit of the title.

Getting close to the villains also, unpreventably ,creates a form of sympathy for them, rendering them from villain to mere antagonist. This also dilutes the power and shock of having a villain triumph. When we like or sympathize with them, well, that's not very villainous. I do give the authors the fact that it would be hard to present the viewpoint of a character and have the character remain unlikeable.

The other problem is that they weren't generally likeable either making the reader feel ambivalent about their triumphs. Though some decent craft went into most of these stories they remain average but entertaining ways to while a few moments away. The difficulty of the concept may have prevented them from becoming more.

Worthwhile to read, but it isn't greatness.

Unlike so many Ace anthologies, this one actually lives up to its title. Villains of all sorts triumph here, from familiar fiends such as Moriarty or the Evil Queen from fairy-tale legends to previously unheard of crooks, criminals, and cranks. Not every story is a rousing success. Rosemary Edghill's "The Mould of Form" is an extremely dull account of the beginning of Captain Hook's career, for example. But many are quite good, including Tanya Huff's "All Things Being Relative" (starring the aforementioned Evil Queen), Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Doubting Thomas" (which will prevent you from ever seeing Santa the same way again), and Pauline Dungate's "Nina" (reminiscent of a dark Bend It Like Beckham). Particularly powerful is Tim Waggoner's
"Horror Show" featuring a washed-up horror movie actor coming literally face to face with his career.

This is the first Ace paperback anthology in a long, long while I intend to actually keep for future reading. It is well worth the time of any and all fantasy and horror fans.

The premise behind this book is what caught my eye - evil defeats good. I wasn't disappointed. I was surprised by the number of different approaches the authors took. (I was expecting a lot of re-told fairy tales...)

The pace of this book is pretty good overall. There are a few amusing stories, but for the most part, these short stories have a dark, somber mood. That doesn't mean that the stuff in them aren't exciting! Sometimes, it's hard to figure out just who is the evil one. The points of view are diverse, showing us that not every evil is doomed to be thwarted.