Historian Shag Margold has delivered his eulogy for Nifft The Lean, assuming his longtime friend and acquaintance is now dead. Fortunately, Margold has opened up journals given to him by Nifft for safekeeping; journals that tell the tales of Nifft's adventures with his friend Barnar The Chilite. There are four tales of adventure:
1) Come Then, Mortal, We Will Seek Her Soul
2) The Pearls Of The Vampire Queen
3) The Fishing Of The Demon-Sea
4) The Goddess In Glass
In 'Come Then, Mortal, We Will Seek Her Soul', Nifft documents his tale to Barnar of his adventure with Haldar into a uniquely painted subworld of Hell. Dalissem crawls from under a rock, dead, slowly changing from skeleton to a ravishing beauty, and tells Nifft of how she was betrayed in life by her lover Defalk. Defalk left her in Hell alone, and Dalissem explains to Nifft how to bring her lover to her while he still lives, promising the Key To The Marmian Wizard's Mansion in return. His task is dangerous, difficult, and tricky; and Nifft must see to it that after delivering Defalk, Dalissem will release him alive.
In 'The Pearls Of The Vampire Queen', Nifft has written a letter to his friend Taramat Light-Touch in his homeland of Karkmahn-Ra, telling of his adventures in the swamps where Queen Vulvula rules from her great pyramid. Only there can be harvested the valuable black swamp pearls, from giant and deadly polyps that grow them from blisters on their treacherous bodies. Around the polyps swim lurks, even more deadly and highly poisonous to boot. The pearls are extremely difficult to harvest, but Nifft has come up with a better plan for getting the pearls than diving for them; one involving the Vampire Queen's ceremony called The God-Making Of The Year King. It's one of Nifft's riskier adventures yet!
'The Fishing Of The Demon-Sea' is the longest of Nifft's adventures. In a manuscript of his own handwriting, Nifft tells of entrapment by Kamin, the Rod-Master of Kine-Gather. Just at the moment of his and Barnar's execution, Kamin grants the two thieves a stay...IF they will venture through the Darkvent into Hell and rescue his son Wimfort from the bonshad (a demon) that holds him captive in the Demon Sea below. Charnell, a mediocre magician, tells Nifft to contact Gildmirth, a highly accomplished wizard and shape-shifter once he is in Hell. Below the deepest mining levels they must pass black scorpions traveling through vast webbing, flying insects the size of a horse, leech-like worms rising like towers out of fetid swamps to snap at them, the jewel-crusted flora and fauna that lies along the rock-salt crusted shores of the Demon Sea, and a demon called a Spaalg that sings poetry and annoys them almost to death. First they must find Gildmirth, then Wimfort, and if they survive through that they must find their way home again.
Lastly is 'The Goddess In Glass', the only tale told in third person by an unknown person of Nifft's acquaintance. There's trouble in the city of Anvil Pastures, where Nifft must deliver a packet from Margold to the Oracle Of The Flockwarden; otherwise known as the Goddess In Glass. Anvil Pastures is a city of opportunists, a city made wealthy by supplying both sides of warring Hallam and Baskin-Sharpz with arms. Now the two warring cities have blockaded Anvil Pasture's harbor, though the city faces a much larger crisis. The unique mountain structure surrounding their city has broken down, and only the Goddess can save them. When her request to have her flock of lithivores (who graze on rock and mountains) returned went unfulfilled, a piece of the mountain fell away and now threatens to topple the rest of its mass onto the city. Nifft makes fast friends with summoned mercenary First Captain Kandros, and together they investigate the city's troubles with oracle Dame Lybris against the Aristarchs (ruling government and merchants). Can the city be saved, and what can Nifft do to help?
Michael Shea has written a decisively extraordinary piece of science fiction here; tales of an old fashioned thief and adventurer with amiable bragging, colorful curses, flippant humor, and astonishing talents. Aside from his amazing protagonist, Shea makes the landscapes actually live...you can almost feel them breathing around you. The prose is drawn out to vividly paint the scenes, and the language used a bit "formal" or "archaic", but quite fitting for the story at hand. Each chapter is prefixed with remarks by Shag Margold, giving background to each of Nifft's tales. It's been a long time since I've read a good SciFi adventure such as 'Nifft The Lean'. Ten Stars! I strongly encourage the SciFi lover to grab up a copy of this book as quick as you can. Enjoy!
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- DVReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2016
Shea has an excellent prose style and the fantastic scenarios are unrivalled
