Thraxas and the Sorcerers

Thraxas #5

by Martin Scott

It was your average kinda day in Turai. Elves were murdering Orcs, Orcs were murdering Elves, everyone was murdering Dwarves and anything that wasn't nailed to the floor had been stolen, fenced and then stolen again.Yep, business was booming - except for me. My last case was a bust, the bills were as high as a dragon's toupee and the only guys beating a path to my door wanted gold - or else it wouldn't be the path they'd be beating.My name's Thraxas, and I'm a P.I.So when the word hit the street that the Sorcerers Guild were holding their convention downtown I felt as happy as a crab in a whorehouse . Don't get me wrong - I do magic like the next guy - but as far as Sorcerers go, well, two's company and three's a crime-spree ... For more information on this or any other Orbit book, visit the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Fiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2001

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

[Jerry Regnault · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finished this book I decided to write my first review. To me this series is a good way to kill some time and in a fairly relaxed and predictable manner. I do like the characters and the world that the author has created. The plot and stories are OK enough to past time but at the end of the day I will be hard pressed to recommend the series to others at a later date.

But in saying that I also have to admit that the series was good enough that I should be able to remember the characters and books in general ten years down the line with some ease. They are good and like-able. Easy enough to envision. But in this book I think the author dropped the ball.

[Boneist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again with the formulaic plot (I'd worked out who the main baddie was fairly early on!) and odd narrative style, but I enjoyed it anyway. I may have worked out whodunnit, but not why, and I enjoyed the telling of the explanation.

[David Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this series.Take a down and out wizard/private eye, add in some shady friends, and top it off with a solid mystery.

[John Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best Thraxas book I’ve read so far. Still flawed in many ways, but by far the most cohesive of the books; even if he doesn’t really solve the crime until after it becomes clear (usually he nails it beforehand). 4/5 is relative to the previous books. As a standalone it would just about get a 3/5.

[Veselin Nikolov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thraxas and Makri will be involved in lobbying. The mystery has multiple layers, unrelated to Makri's romantic feelings for a young elf. There will be more detective work and fewer battles or exploitation themes, primarily in the area of alcohol.

I think this was the best Thraxas so far.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some of the other Thraxas books. It seemed to never be able to find a direction and seemed more about Thraxas complaining about everything.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good cynical tale of an election and the shenanigans behind it. Thraxas seemed a bit more dull-witted in this one than the last one.

[CONNIE BALTHROP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Martin Scott and have always enjoyed his books.

[Rajit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining tale about Thraxas (and Makri). I may have to buy the next book, since it appears that the library does not carry them

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insane. Brilliant. Pure reading pleasure. I feel it's an uncompromisingly honest satirization of the electoral process. A peak behind the curtain of why things are the way they are.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Martin Scott, Thraxas and the Sorcerors (Orbit, 2001)

What a fantastic idea. Take a hardboiled detective, put him in a swords-and-sorcery setting, and see what happens. Unfortunately, a fantastic idea doesn't always work out, and this particular fantastic idea seems to have hit more than its share of potholes. In fact, not a single fantasy hardboiled detective that's crossed my desk to date has stood the test of time (or even the test of fifty pages).

The most recent of them is Thraxas, the title character in Martin Scott's series of comic novels. Thraxas and the Sorcerors is the fifth novel in the series, but I don't think I lost anything major by not starting with the first book. Actually, I think I saved myself four books of cliché, execrable editing, plot holes, and various and sundry other devices that make this, perhaps, the least interesting and exciting book I've read since I had the misfortune to inflict myself with the pain of Iris Johansen.

Someday, someone will manage to write a great hardboiled fantasy story. And I will happily subject myself to the swine to find the pearl (as I know it will be). Now it's time to move on; I have to keep looking. (zero)

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea of a private eye story in a fantasy setting, but this doesn't execute it overly well. The actually story is hampered by the fact that in between each plot point either Thraxas is getting drunk or his assistant is getting stoned (both to no effect on the story so the action itself is really just a throw away attempt at characterization). The whole story comes to an abrupt end that doesn't seem to relate much to the intrigue the author had been developing in the underlying private eye job.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

First time through I thought this was probably the weakest of the Thraxas stories, and I maintain that opinion second time through. It has politics straight out of the Tough Guide to Fantasyland, a silly, more-or-less unecessary jaunt through the magic space and moody Makri who doesn't quite come off as believable. Still a few laughs, but Scott really just phoned this one it, unfortunately. Rated M for frequent strong drug use and violence. 2/5