Death and Thraxas

Thraxas #3-4

by Martin Scott

The city is Turai, where sorcerers and assassins-sometimes, it's hard to tell them apart-ply their wares, the rulers are corrupt, the politicians are worse, and the civic guards might try to solve a crime, except that they've really got better things to do. Overweight and somewhat uncouth, Thraxas may not look like a man of action, (and he'd rather pass on the action, thank you, and order another beer), but if you're in trouble in Turai this portly private eye is probably your only hope. Not that Thraxas himself has much hope in the first of the two complete novels in this volume-A judge has fined him almost every guran he has, two old enemies have threatened his life, and his old commander in the army, after promising a solution to Thraxas' problems, has just turned up dead. Naturally, Thraxas is the prime suspect . . . . In his second case, Thraxas has received a message from an old friend in trouble in the Elvish Isles, and since the elves have no experience in investigating, Thraxas is hired to do the legwork. Naturally, as soon as he arrives in the Isles, things start getting weird. But when the going gets weird, Thraxas gets going. . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Humor

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 31, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

A pen name of Martin Millar.

Reviews

[Nathan Woll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I like the idea of the book. A detective in a fantasy city is just the type of cross-genre I love. But the execution was not that good. There weren't any major issues, just nothing grabbed me. I was a bit annoyed at the characters using the same similes every chapter. I guess that's how normal people talk, but it's jarring in a book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous and entertaining. I very much enjoyed all the characters - each has a distinct personality that play off each other well. The little plot twists were fun, as was laughing at the repeat misfortunes of Thraxas and his friends while trying to solve all the mysteries.

[CONNIE BALTHROP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the way there were two stories. To really enjoy the book you need to read 1 and 2. It's very entertaining.

[Rajit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two more fun Thraxas stories, the first of which revolves around him being a bad influence on Makri.

[Liza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A double whammy of a light read, with two books in one. These books are surprisingly sustainable though back to back readings of sequence novels, though they are all pretty similar, with lots of repetition. Lots of laugh out loud moments and absolutely no brainpower required.

[Sebastian Hagedorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun. I'd read the first Thraxas novel in German, but the translation was pitiful. I'm glad I gave him another chance in English. This is no must-read literature by any means, but it's quite entertaining. I liked the second story in the book much more than the first one.

[Budo Von Stahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasy humor in the vein of a dime detective story. How much better can it get?

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective wandering around fantasy world. In the same vain as Glen Cooks books.

[Greggd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun. Don't feel the need to rush out and read the rest of the books in the series, but they would make good beach reads.

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]