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Nifft the Lean #2
The Mines of Behemoth
Nifft the Lean, and his companion-at-arms, Barnar Hammer-Hand, were often lucky. Enroute to working Costard's sap mine — very dangerous, and sometimes nauseating work far below ground — they were shipwrecked. But this proved fortuitous, when they met Bunt, who had been seeking just such as they. If they would work the sap mine, but also bring back twenty gills of fluid, he would make them exceedingly wealthy.So it was settled. They would suck the sap from the servants of the monstrous insectile queen — and they would bring back some of the ichor that she alone exuded — and they would be rich. It seemed relatively easy. They wouldn't have to go to hell at all, for instance.
Of course, the best laid plans sometimes do go a little astray.
Of course, the best laid plans sometimes do go a little astray.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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231 people want to read
About the author
Michael Shea
73 books189 followersFor the British author of thrillers and non-fiction see Michael Shea
Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).
Michael Shea (1946-2014) was an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction author who lived in California. He was a multiple winner of the World Fantasy Award and his works include Nifft the Lean (1982) (winner of the World Fantasy Award) and The Mines of Behemoth (1997) (later republished together as The Incomplete Nifft, 2000), as well as The ARak (2000) and In Yana, the Touch of Undying (1985).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 11, 2014
This is one of those books that contains so much to write about here that I have to carefully pick and choose what things to mention.
Nifft and Barnar, not quite Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, start to look back on their lives and feel that time is starting to run out on performing works that would net them immortality in legend. Both feel that the potentially ample rewards of this adventure, pooled together, may fund one such great thing. But whose? Each feels that the other has reneged on the oath sworn to complete his pet quest. This drives a wedge between the two that can only fester.
It is made worse by a creeping petty avarice that consumes both adventurers, which Nifft in narration casts as reasonableness, fooling nobody. Just this characterization in itself is wonderful: a man who does not understand why everyone around him reacts with disgust to his miserly behavior. It is obvious from its onset that this will eventually be his downfall, and the reader (this reader) is put into the position of talking to the book--"No, stupid! Take what you have and get out of there!".
The situation that Nifft and Barnar find themselves is plot ingenuity itself. A family obligation puts them to work at a "sap mine", where mine workers harvest the ichor of vast grublike beings who themselves predate on subworld demons. These temporary laborers of course manage to turn this limited gratis employment into the opportunity for vast profit and catastrophic adventure. I don't remember any other sword and sorcery story that starts with the principals assisting a wayward nephew regain his business. Or, for that matter, with whaling giant insect larvae.
Nifft and Barnar, not quite Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, start to look back on their lives and feel that time is starting to run out on performing works that would net them immortality in legend. Both feel that the potentially ample rewards of this adventure, pooled together, may fund one such great thing. But whose? Each feels that the other has reneged on the oath sworn to complete his pet quest. This drives a wedge between the two that can only fester.
It is made worse by a creeping petty avarice that consumes both adventurers, which Nifft in narration casts as reasonableness, fooling nobody. Just this characterization in itself is wonderful: a man who does not understand why everyone around him reacts with disgust to his miserly behavior. It is obvious from its onset that this will eventually be his downfall, and the reader (this reader) is put into the position of talking to the book--"No, stupid! Take what you have and get out of there!".
The situation that Nifft and Barnar find themselves is plot ingenuity itself. A family obligation puts them to work at a "sap mine", where mine workers harvest the ichor of vast grublike beings who themselves predate on subworld demons. These temporary laborers of course manage to turn this limited gratis employment into the opportunity for vast profit and catastrophic adventure. I don't remember any other sword and sorcery story that starts with the principals assisting a wayward nephew regain his business. Or, for that matter, with whaling giant insect larvae.
January 8, 2019
Michael Shea totally understood the spirit of sword and sorcery unlike any other modern author. When reading the Nifft books, for example, I feel like I'm in the middle of a living Frank Franzetta painting.
With Mines of Behemoth, he cranks it up to 11. When coming up with this insane shit, he must have had smoke coming out of his ears as he furiously wrote it down in blood. Unlike any other book I have read, I really felt like I went on an adventure here, to the point where I was almost exhausted by the end as if I had been right there with Nifft and Barnar.
With Mines of Behemoth, he cranks it up to 11. When coming up with this insane shit, he must have had smoke coming out of his ears as he furiously wrote it down in blood. Unlike any other book I have read, I really felt like I went on an adventure here, to the point where I was almost exhausted by the end as if I had been right there with Nifft and Barnar.
July 26, 2021
In which Nifft the Northron and Barnar the Chilite travel to help Barnar's feckless nephew(? well, relative at some close remove; and he is, in fact, entirely lacking in feck), who's been mismanaging a sap mine. A bit of explanation is required: Nifft's world is old and rotten and riddled with holes (or subworlds) like a wormy apple; and most of those subworlds are, in fact, full of feculent demonic life (SEE: The previous story The Fishing of the Demon Sea) that would like nothing more than to burst forth onto the surface and do terrible things to us; terrible things. But they're kept in check by a sort of terrestrial subcutaneous colony of giant insect-like creatures (the Behemoths in question); and, people being people, someone figured out that you could, in fact, descend into Behemothic caverns and drain some of the grubs to extract Sap, a substance of great value and multifarious uses. It's not a pleasant task -- the caverns are hot, and the Behemothic life forms seem to start at about the size of a Greyhound bus and go upwards from there; and would have no compunction about treating human interlopers the same way they treat demons (i.e. with lots of rending and eating), but if you paint your entire body and clothing and appurtenances orange, then you should be safe because the Behemoths' eyes cannot perceive light of that particular wavelength.
Anyway, so Nifft and Barnar, suitably dyed, find themselves lowered into the caverns to take over running of the sap mines and, of course, they have a few other plans as to how they might be able to make some extra cash on the side and, of course, complications ensue ...
Unlike the original Nifft the Lean, this is a single full-length novel and honestly? It's almost a bit too much to take, endlessly, grotesquely rich and inventive; but I was still very happy to spend more time with everybody's favorite Northron and Chilite.
Anyway, so Nifft and Barnar, suitably dyed, find themselves lowered into the caverns to take over running of the sap mines and, of course, they have a few other plans as to how they might be able to make some extra cash on the side and, of course, complications ensue ...
Unlike the original Nifft the Lean, this is a single full-length novel and honestly? It's almost a bit too much to take, endlessly, grotesquely rich and inventive; but I was still very happy to spend more time with everybody's favorite Northron and Chilite.
January 2, 2019
This is one of the best S&S novels I've ever read, a splendidly inventive tale told with humor and great gusto. As in Nifft the Lean, it follows the latest get-rich-quick scheme of the titular thief and his comrade Barnar Hammerhand, in this case their attempts to kickstart a failing mine owned by Barnar's greedy but inept nephew Costard.
Things are, of course, not that simple. The mine in question is a 'sap mine' directly situated above a nest of behemoths, giant ants from whose bodies the precious sap is extracted, and who act as a sort of barrier between the human world and the demonic sub-realms which they scour for food. It is down to Nifft and Barnar to brave the dangers of the nest and come back with enough sap to fulfil Costard's contractual obligations. But the lure of the subworld, and its fields of infinite riches, soon draw them deeper than they ever thought to go...
This is all a really interesting set-up, and Shea uses the bulk of the novel exploring this fascinating ecology and the ways in which its various denizens (including humankind itself) interact to survive and thrive. It's a perfect example that great world-building doesn't need to involve an epic canvas, but can be just as effectively developed on a smaller scale providing sufficient attention is paid to the complex dynamics of enough competing elements.
The novel is not without its weak points. Shea lavishes so much attention on the world-building that characterisation often takes a backseat. The camaraderie between Nifft and Barnar never approaches the level of, say, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or even Moorcoc's Elric and Moonglum, and many of the secondary characters rarely rise above the two-dimensional. On the plus side, Nifft is such a powerful and engrossing narrative voice that it's easy to ignore these occasionally flat moments in the overall sweep of the story.
Things are, of course, not that simple. The mine in question is a 'sap mine' directly situated above a nest of behemoths, giant ants from whose bodies the precious sap is extracted, and who act as a sort of barrier between the human world and the demonic sub-realms which they scour for food. It is down to Nifft and Barnar to brave the dangers of the nest and come back with enough sap to fulfil Costard's contractual obligations. But the lure of the subworld, and its fields of infinite riches, soon draw them deeper than they ever thought to go...
This is all a really interesting set-up, and Shea uses the bulk of the novel exploring this fascinating ecology and the ways in which its various denizens (including humankind itself) interact to survive and thrive. It's a perfect example that great world-building doesn't need to involve an epic canvas, but can be just as effectively developed on a smaller scale providing sufficient attention is paid to the complex dynamics of enough competing elements.
The novel is not without its weak points. Shea lavishes so much attention on the world-building that characterisation often takes a backseat. The camaraderie between Nifft and Barnar never approaches the level of, say, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or even Moorcoc's Elric and Moonglum, and many of the secondary characters rarely rise above the two-dimensional. On the plus side, Nifft is such a powerful and engrossing narrative voice that it's easy to ignore these occasionally flat moments in the overall sweep of the story.
April 30, 2018
A couple years ago I wrote a piece on the similarities and differences between old-school Heroic Fantasy (essentially the same as Sword and Sorcery I guess) and the new wave of relativist, materialist fantasy that the time was mostly called Grimdark but now has thankfully transcended that label. The crux of the matter is that while both waves share a focus on factional conflict and material well-being, as opposed to universal moral precepts, only one of them is actually interested in those things. The other seems pathologically disinterested in everything except the narrowest conception of adventure. So on one hand, Mines of Behemoth is kind of a dream come true – its worldbuilding is deeply ecological on practically every level, and composed from arthropods, geology, and parasitology – but since it's a Sword and Sorcery book, it's barely recognizable as an attempt at good fiction.
It's such a shame that things have to be this way. How I would love a real book in this world! It has a kind of anime fantasy premise, not about the subtle differences between a bunch of kingdoms but instead built around a really big premise. There are humans on the surface of the planet, then demons living deep underground, and they're in internal conflict or something. But that conflict is now mediated by a species of giant ants, which eat the demons and metabolize them into a kind of nutrient that humans can extract and use as a source of energy. This is already a super cool premise – I like to think about a fantasy society where humans have to deal with a single species that is rang on them, but this is even cooler because there are two societies in tension with each other, with this third party shaping all those interactions. It makes things a lot more complex and dynamic. It's not clear how long the Behemoths have been around; people talk as if there is a time and memory that humans and humans interacted without them, but on the other hand they have been around long enough that an enormous ecology of parasitoids, inquilines, ecto-parasites, hyper-parasites, commensals, and predators have evolved to exploit the opportunities they create. Many of these are classed as demons, and the demons are also described is somewhat insectlike, so it's not clear if these might not in fact all just be branches of the same clade. On the other hand, the demons are implied to have a complex lifecycle more akin to a fungus or a parasitic worm.
A decent chunk of the story is dedicated to just touring this ecosystem and its relationships. This is achieved by making the protagonists take on a job mining sap from the Behemoth larvae. The job requires them to learn about the senses and behaviors of the species itself, how all the castes interact, their developmental biology, and what it's actually like to move around inside their nests. It's a great example of how posing ecological tasks justifies showing off ecological worldbuilding experientially. It also extends to some extent up to the surface, exploring the uses of sap, how its price fluctuates, etc. But this isn't even the limit of how important ecology seems to be in the imagination of this world. Of the stress the protagonists motivations more in a bit, but one of them is strongly committed to three for staying his homeland, and frequently fantasizes about how the treasure their obtaining will allow him to pay for the teams of specialists needed to manage species of animal necessary to fertilize the unique trees that one-stroke the economy of his people. That to me shows an above and beyond level of interest in environmental history from the author's perspective.
I could go on nerding out about how theoretically cool this world is for a while, obviously. The problem is that while Shea is obviously interested in this stuff on some level, the book is incapable of doing anything more than basically stating it. The prose is indulgently ornamented with fancy and unusual words, but it rarely seems to even try creating any kind of immersion. The two main characters might actually be worse than any of the other barbarians that populate this worthless subgenre. Both of them have clearly envisioned dream scenarios, things they would like to accomplish with their life. But the conflict between these two scenarios is the only point of distinction between the two; on every point, at every moment of thought will occur to one and they will look to see that the other has already acted on the same thought, or state it and find they agree. They might as well be the same person. Moreover, the dreams they have for using their treasure doesn't inform their personality in the moment at all (a good reminder that the function of these dreams in characterization is to say something about the character, that the real meaning is deeper than the appearance). Nor do they have any other characterization. Their motivation is simple greed, and while it pushes them to some feats of daring, it also prevents them from expressing any kind of kindness, generosity, or curiosity about any single thing in the world or person that isn't immediately mercenary. It's not clear to me why this choice was made; it's incredibly boring and saps any sense of long-term narrative interest, and doesn't seem to have been aimed at any commentary on the ills of greed or anything like that.
I'll also say that I didn't find the flavor of the world, outside of the abstracts outlines of its ecology, particularly imaginative. The fact that the demons sweat gold and bleed gemstones or whatever especially reminded me that all this intricate ecology was just created in service to the shallow avarice of Sword and Sorcery. It's all just so cheap and boring! The stark juxtaposition of this kind of storytelling in this kind of setting is the greatest example I could imagine of the difference between so-called “nihilism” and true postmodernism in fantasy.
It's such a shame that things have to be this way. How I would love a real book in this world! It has a kind of anime fantasy premise, not about the subtle differences between a bunch of kingdoms but instead built around a really big premise. There are humans on the surface of the planet, then demons living deep underground, and they're in internal conflict or something. But that conflict is now mediated by a species of giant ants, which eat the demons and metabolize them into a kind of nutrient that humans can extract and use as a source of energy. This is already a super cool premise – I like to think about a fantasy society where humans have to deal with a single species that is rang on them, but this is even cooler because there are two societies in tension with each other, with this third party shaping all those interactions. It makes things a lot more complex and dynamic. It's not clear how long the Behemoths have been around; people talk as if there is a time and memory that humans and humans interacted without them, but on the other hand they have been around long enough that an enormous ecology of parasitoids, inquilines, ecto-parasites, hyper-parasites, commensals, and predators have evolved to exploit the opportunities they create. Many of these are classed as demons, and the demons are also described is somewhat insectlike, so it's not clear if these might not in fact all just be branches of the same clade. On the other hand, the demons are implied to have a complex lifecycle more akin to a fungus or a parasitic worm.
A decent chunk of the story is dedicated to just touring this ecosystem and its relationships. This is achieved by making the protagonists take on a job mining sap from the Behemoth larvae. The job requires them to learn about the senses and behaviors of the species itself, how all the castes interact, their developmental biology, and what it's actually like to move around inside their nests. It's a great example of how posing ecological tasks justifies showing off ecological worldbuilding experientially. It also extends to some extent up to the surface, exploring the uses of sap, how its price fluctuates, etc. But this isn't even the limit of how important ecology seems to be in the imagination of this world. Of the stress the protagonists motivations more in a bit, but one of them is strongly committed to three for staying his homeland, and frequently fantasizes about how the treasure their obtaining will allow him to pay for the teams of specialists needed to manage species of animal necessary to fertilize the unique trees that one-stroke the economy of his people. That to me shows an above and beyond level of interest in environmental history from the author's perspective.
I could go on nerding out about how theoretically cool this world is for a while, obviously. The problem is that while Shea is obviously interested in this stuff on some level, the book is incapable of doing anything more than basically stating it. The prose is indulgently ornamented with fancy and unusual words, but it rarely seems to even try creating any kind of immersion. The two main characters might actually be worse than any of the other barbarians that populate this worthless subgenre. Both of them have clearly envisioned dream scenarios, things they would like to accomplish with their life. But the conflict between these two scenarios is the only point of distinction between the two; on every point, at every moment of thought will occur to one and they will look to see that the other has already acted on the same thought, or state it and find they agree. They might as well be the same person. Moreover, the dreams they have for using their treasure doesn't inform their personality in the moment at all (a good reminder that the function of these dreams in characterization is to say something about the character, that the real meaning is deeper than the appearance). Nor do they have any other characterization. Their motivation is simple greed, and while it pushes them to some feats of daring, it also prevents them from expressing any kind of kindness, generosity, or curiosity about any single thing in the world or person that isn't immediately mercenary. It's not clear to me why this choice was made; it's incredibly boring and saps any sense of long-term narrative interest, and doesn't seem to have been aimed at any commentary on the ills of greed or anything like that.
I'll also say that I didn't find the flavor of the world, outside of the abstracts outlines of its ecology, particularly imaginative. The fact that the demons sweat gold and bleed gemstones or whatever especially reminded me that all this intricate ecology was just created in service to the shallow avarice of Sword and Sorcery. It's all just so cheap and boring! The stark juxtaposition of this kind of storytelling in this kind of setting is the greatest example I could imagine of the difference between so-called “nihilism” and true postmodernism in fantasy.
January 19, 2012
I love everything about this book. I suppose it doesn't stand as an all-time great achievement of literature, but it's a marvelous tale, told by a clever, untrustworthy, conniving, and charming first-person narrator. Shea's imagination is epic in scope, and his version of Hell is simply jaw-dropping - horrible and enchanting at the same time, even better than in Nifft the Lean. If you don't say "Oh, fuck!" with a groan of laughter at the end of this book, there's something wrong with ya. :D
August 20, 2017
It ain't fair THE MINES OF BEHEMOTH gets short shrift in the Nifft canon. The novel is an almost calisthenic display of the imagination. I felt like I was riding on the back of one of those giant ants hurtling along at 100 mph. Shea's combination of quick pacing, his awe-inspiring command of the English language and the endless horrors he transports from his mind to paper so well make THE MINES OF BEHEMOTH an intensely imaginative work. Shea is often compared to Lovecraft and Vance, but he uses their influence as a mere starting point in his fiction; he might be several streets up from either of them, mostly because they're so old school. I'm sure Clive Barker influenced Shea too, both deliver the visceral goods, writing eloquently while doing so.
MINES rivals 'Fishing of the Demon-Sea' as far as I'm concerned as the best of Nifft. So go ahead and try it, you just might like it. I'd ask are you scared it might bite you, but there's no telling what grisly beastie will slither out of the cracks of a Michael Shea story.
MINES rivals 'Fishing of the Demon-Sea' as far as I'm concerned as the best of Nifft. So go ahead and try it, you just might like it. I'd ask are you scared it might bite you, but there's no telling what grisly beastie will slither out of the cracks of a Michael Shea story.
December 18, 2022
Michael Shea had a way of inventing and then describing incredible, grotesque environments that makes the reader feel they're actually there. The writing is clear, the plotting tight. It's so strange that this series of books about master thief Nifft the Lean are out of print, especially as the first in the series won the World Fantasy Award.
June 23, 2017
So well written and amazing. Also so very very weird. Thieves of world renown they may be, still Nifft and Barnar feel the perils of avarice. Kind of a tough slog but I found Shea's use of language very compelling. Glad I read it.
February 5, 2019
Еще одна история из жизни беспринципного вора Ниффта и его друга Барнара. На этот раз не новелла, а полноценный роман.
Практически все действие книги происходит в бесконечных подземных муравейниках, но скучать не приходится. Герои успевают подоить муравьиную царицу размером с небольшую гору, верхом на муравье-фуражире путешествуют в ад (где между делом выясняют, что страшное царство всесильных демонов — всего лишь ничтожное звено в пищевой цепочке), пытаются добыть эликсир полета, а в свободную минуту всячески хитрят и обманывают работодателей, которые направили их в этот титанический лабиринт. Похождения с оторванной головой демона — вообще материал для отдельной книги.
Книга более цельная, чем Nifft the Lean, характеры героев изображены сочнее, юмор еще чернее, идеи еще безумнее, от плот твистов временами отваливается челюсть, финал просто прекрасен своей античной красотой. Поставил бы 6/5, если б мог.
Практически все действие книги происходит в бесконечных подземных муравейниках, но скучать не приходится. Герои успевают подоить муравьиную царицу размером с небольшую гору, верхом на муравье-фуражире путешествуют в ад (где между делом выясняют, что страшное царство всесильных демонов — всего лишь ничтожное звено в пищевой цепочке), пытаются добыть эликсир полета, а в свободную минуту всячески хитрят и обманывают работодателей, которые направили их в этот титанический лабиринт. Похождения с оторванной головой демона — вообще материал для отдельной книги.
Книга более цельная, чем Nifft the Lean, характеры героев изображены сочнее, юмор еще чернее, идеи еще безумнее, от плот твистов временами отваливается челюсть, финал просто прекрасен своей античной красотой. Поставил бы 6/5, если б мог.
June 16, 2015
This book was difficult to rate. On the one hand, there is an incredible level of creativity in the creatures and setting, but on the other hand you have perhaps the least likeable protagonist I've ever seen. At every turn the main character displays a greed and selfishness rarely seen outside of the tax collectors in a Mel Gibson movie. You keep expecting him to get his comeuppance as the book continues, or at least show some remorse for the absolute destruction brought on by his actions, but no. I found myself hoping the protagonist would die a painful death and that's a pretty rare reaction to a story's hero. In the end he does suffer a loss of sorts, yet he still ends up rich and happy and flying off into the sunset, tra la la. Let's just ignore the hundreds of deaths and two cities you helped destroy, as that seems to be the authors message.
April 6, 2013
I couldn't wait to read this once I discovered it was a sequel to Nifft the Lean one of my favorite books of all time but it took a little getting into and I wasn't sure if I liked this version of Nifft as much; he is much darker, more malevolent Nifft, I don't know if it was because we were only granted short glimpses into his life in the first book and now his flaws are exposed in a full length novel. The story revolving around milking Behemoths (titanic creatures who feed on demon-kind) is good and soon, in typical Nifft fashion, becomes convoluted with schemes. This journey into the demon filled underworld was a highlight and did the amazing job of being even better than the first trip down in Nifft the Lean.
January 15, 2013
One of my favorite books. In addition to being the heir apparent to Jack Vance, Shea has a staggeringly huge imagination, and it is very much on display here.
His protagonist, Nifft The Lean, is by turns charming and cocky and greedy and a first-class @$$hole – a worthy successor to Cugel the Clever.
It's a great book. Go find a copy!
His protagonist, Nifft The Lean, is by turns charming and cocky and greedy and a first-class @$$hole – a worthy successor to Cugel the Clever.
It's a great book. Go find a copy!
February 1, 2015
Like Nifft the Lean, this book is full of creative monsters, clever dialogue, and adventures in the subworld.
This is the fourth Michael Shea book that I've read, and I see now that I'm going to have to track down the rest of his work. Even if I have to pay too much for beat-up used paperbacks.
This is the fourth Michael Shea book that I've read, and I see now that I'm going to have to track down the rest of his work. Even if I have to pay too much for beat-up used paperbacks.
June 27, 2019
A novel-length story with a much more Vancian feel where the character of the famous thief Nifft the Lean finds himself involved in a very weird business venture involving an underworld with a demonic eye in the sky instead of a sun and all manner of fucked-up things.
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