Points of Departure: Liavek Stories

Liavek

by Patricia C. Wrede, Pamela Dean

Two stalwarts of science fiction combine to pen a dazzling set of stories wild and whimsical, thrilling and powerful.

Liavek is a hot, busy trade city, situated on the southern shore of the Sea of Luck at the mouth of the Cat River. In Liavek, magic is based on one’s “birth luck” and the length of time one’s mother was in labor. Everyone has luck, but using it is another matter. Luck, or magic, must be invested annually in some object outside oneself; only then can it be used to power spells. And investing one’s magic is difficult and dangerous. Prospective magicians who fail find their magic draining away, and with it, their life.

From that mad and wonderful seed, Wrede and Dean create an enthralling set of stories, where a god is trapped in the body of a chipmunk, where a play has the potential to incite a riot and change a nation, and where a family is coming apart at the seams, and going to enormous lengths to stitch itself back together.

All of the stories are tied together by the unforgettable character of Granny, Ka’Riatha—the one the Book of Curses calls the Guardian of the S’Rian Gods. Granny moves through each story, casting spells and bringing her tart brand of wisdom to a world come undone. This spellbinding set is perfect for fans of both titans of the genre, and will bring equal parts thrilled gasps and charmed smiles to readers everywhere.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult, Anthologies

364 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2015

About the author

Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her second book at once, having become permanently hooked on writing by this time.

Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.

Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." Several years later, they were joined by Kara Dalkey. In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).

In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.

Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.
She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat Karma. She has no children.

Reviews

[Lia Marcoux · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasantly weird book where I consistently felt I was in good hands. It read more like a novel with chapters missing than a book of short stories - which, to be fair, Dean's novels do too - but that was fine by me. It kept me on my toes and I felt like I was always craning around the corner to find out more. This collection united Dean's vague, dreamy, confusing storytelling and Wrede's snappish, strong-minded fixers of problems. Since I like both them already very much I liked this too.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a long time since I read the Liavek anthologies in which these stories first appeared. and I'd forgotten how good they are - though this may partly be an artefact of collecting them into a group around two authors' particular set of characters so that the effect is more coherent than when they were scattered throughout the other strands of story.

[Shaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars

An anthology of linked short stories sharing a setting and characters and eventually helping to piece together a larger story. I was originally not very absorbed by this and I'd say a lot of the stories are not especially satisfying on their own. However I ended up liking these more once the stories started complementing each other. It took me a while to get through this, but it was worthwhile.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because I love Wrede - some of my favourite childhood memories are of her Enchanted Forest series. And while Granny reminded me strongly of Morwen, I could not get into this world. I didn't realize that Liavek was a concept that's been around for a while, and I felt dumped into the world and the magic system without any world-building. I never quite understood why the parents were so horrible that the one son ran away and the one daughter wanted to commit suicide. And I never understood the magic mirrors, or what happened to the pair of mentors who died, or...there was a lot going on that I just didn't understand, and there was nothing about the world that made me care enough to re-read it to figure it out.

[Kristin]

This was interesting-- I really enjoyed the first story in the book (written by Patricia), and was sure I was going to have a new favorite. But then the second story was unreadable nonsense (written by Pamela). So I skipped to the next Patricia story to see if the key was to just stick with her stories. It was, once again, much better written, but was now missing so much from whatever was locked up in Pamela's story that it was now a cross between being the same basic plot as the first Patricia story while also getting lost in Pamela's nonsense. I flipped ahead to study whether this pattern continued, and concluded that it did. Oh well- at least I got the one enjoyable sitting of reading out of it.

[Alianoraree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I loved all 16 of Wrede's books I've read, and quite liked the three novels she co-wrote with Stevermer, I was expecting to enjoy Points of Departure.
But no.
I disliked all of Dean's stories, and didn't even like all of Wrede's. (I was "meh" on one of the five Wrede wrote, and "no" on the one she cowrote.)

Liked:
The setting is interesting (both authors)
Granny and Rikiki (Wrede) are delightful characters
Four of Wrede's short stories can be read in any order

Disliked:
Confusing similes (Dean)
Reasons for characters' decisions unclear a couple times (Dean)
Dean's stories didn't feel like short stories, but rather chapters in a novel about the Benedicti family

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Wrede tales but found the ones by Pamela Dean hard to follow.

[Sarah Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collaboration between two excellent fantasy writers, Wrede being the less familiar to me and ensuring me much further enjoyment. I think it is sad that Dean’s “Going North” got mangled in the process of a publisher’s advance for a not yet written sequel to “The Dubious Hills” and will probably never be released by any publisher. One reason for this may be the latter’s ambiguity—I consider it an exceedingly good book, and its puzzling ending is in keeping with the rest of the narrative.
In contrast to almost all the other reviewers, I think Dean’s focus in Liavek on “The House for Responsible Life,” an order focused on the philosophy and planning, and recording, of suicide is artistically coherent, and often funny. Dean captures very well the difficulties of killing oneself when one has responsibilities, her character Nissy’s being a cat with nine lives.
The two authors' stories intertwine to form a coherent narrative which is greater than the sum of its parts. You look at "The Last Part of the Tragical History of Acrilat" and "Mad God," and they are covering the same territory, but the first is a realistic account of dramatic climax of a bitterly disfunctional family while the second is mythological.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liavek is the setting of five anthologies of short stories, written by a dozen of some of fantasy's best-loved authors. This particular collection showcases Wrede's and Dean's contributions to those anthologies.

I can't quite sort out how I feel about these stories. They're well-written--Wrede and Dean are amazingly talented authors, and I love both of them. But I didn't find the stories particularly pleasant. The entire world they've created just feels unsettling, and "off" by a few degrees. Enough to notice, but not enough to easily explain. I care enough to want to find out more about these characters and their journeys... but I'm afraid to. It all feels a bit hopeless. And I don't need a perfectly happy ending, with all the plot points tied up neatly in a bow. But I do like to have some hope. And I'm not feeling that here, except in the very last story, and I'm not sure that's enough to make up for the rest of them.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liavek is a hot city, full of refugees and gods. Magic is tied to your birthday and the time that your mom spent in labor. Two authors interweave their short stories about a refugee family and the character Granny, Ka’Riatha, Guardian of the S’Rian Gods.

Why I started this book: Wrede is one of my favorite authors, in fact her Enchanted Forest series first introduced me to the magic of common sense and working towards your own goals.

Why I finished it: Written with a co-author, many of these stories were blurry... only making sense after you finished each story. Not my favorite, but I kept reading because of my trust in Wrede.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember that short stories generally cannot get a five star rating ever from me. All things considered, I am glad to have revisited this world and this book was a great way to do it. Some of the stories I remembered and others i did not. I was particularly troubled by the story concerning the death of Verdialos because the story in itself was not understandable. I did not see much of the couple’s religious devolution in how they chose to die, if in fact that was the case. Their motivation was not clear and I do not think to story explained it well enough to me because when I was done I felt like I was left at the edge of a cliff no wiser. Other than that story, I thought all the rest of the stories were very good.

[William Paley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the Liavek stories, back in the day, and this is a collection of them in a more useful order with two that I'd never read before interspersed. I give the whole series five stars, so if you can find the books, read 'em!

[A M Steinbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these stories when they were first published.

I wish there had been more written about these characters. Perhaps other authors could run with these stories. This has been done with other series by invitation of the original authors.

[Ren - Soren - Aro · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Quite enjoyable, a collection of interrelated short stories. I liked seeing the same situation or dynamics from different perspectives. A simple, undemanding, pleasant read.
If this is expanded, the fragmented story pushed farther in more books, then it would be 4 stars.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what this would be about and it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. It was confusing and virtually no action. I loved it anyways.

[Antislice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed it, although it was somewhat darker than I expected with a suicide cult.

[Leah Compston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed the stories by Patricia C. Wrede, but the others felt unnecessarily long to me.

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

most of this collection is mediocre but there's something about how weirdly evasive pamela dean's style is that just pulls me in

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories except the first one about the brother because I found it incredibly confusing. Makes me want to go find the original books

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

two of my favorite authors so not surprising that i loved this <3

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very satisfying collection of Liavek stories -- lovely to return to that world, lovely to read new stories in it, and pleasing to have all the ones about these characters in one place.

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Points of Departure was a return to Liavek, a magical location I first encountered in Casting Fortune. I was furious to find out that John Ford, another contributor to this universe was dead, because that meant there was a limited quantity to his work. Eventually that’s true of all writers I suppose. But Points of Departure took me back to one of my most important places in Liavek, the toyshop of the mechanical cat, Quand’s place. And Quand is more complicated than I remember which means that I will have to return to “The Illusionist” to check my recollection and then purchase a copy of Points of Departure. Yes it’s that good, I will want to reread all of these stories again, just as I have reread and cherished casting Fortune.
This is a lovely anthology if you have ever loved a cat or another pet obsessively. I kept checking on my own as I read this because I have that kind of attachment with them, and it was aggravated by the descriptions of Floradazul. I have no doubt the young mage knows her cat more intimately than I have ever known mine.
A note about defining this book as YA-Many of the short stories are about coming of age issues, whether they are from the perspective of Granny who largely serves as a hand of justice or an pobserver to the foibles of her dysfunctional relatives. And it seems she is related far and wide. I couldn’t always tell whose story I was reading, except that ocasionally I’d run across a complex sentence and check to see if Dean wrote that installment. Wrede’s sense of humor is also a signature I traced several times and sometimes I was completely wrong. It’s reassuring to know there are dysfunctional families even within the magical realms. And how dysfunctional is the family? Read these short stories and find out. Highly recommended.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

9/2015 This is a pretty good anthology, although I did find it a bit dark. The stories are also almost entirely from older anthologies, so if you've read the Liavek anthologies (I haven't) these may not be new. I didn't think that these worked particularly well as short stories, that is, many of the individual stories don't really seem to resolve. However, it does work quite well as a series of linked short stories that progresses the narrative about a particular (very dysfunctional) family.

8/2021 re-read. Something I missed the first time reading this anthology was the uncomfortable depiction of suicide in the book. It may hit differently for other people, but I thought that the order of the suicides was trying to be lighthearted but was just sad.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read slowly because I didn't want to run out of this particular goodness but it is, alas, done. This set of stories are set in Liavek and Granny is a character in most - she at least shows up to help get things done. She is the guardian of all things S'rian - the people of the land before Liavek - and so has a certain amount of magic, both the kind that comes with a long life and the birth luck kind. A good number of the stories focus on one very disfunctional family of refugees from a place whose god is mad and Granny has to deal both with him and the family.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize until I started reading that Liavek had been around a long time, and had many stories by different authors. I has read the first story before, about Ravenna and Rikki, but none of the others. as a result, I think it took me awhile to get into the book. but I really liked the stories, and how they were all eventually connected.
but I wanted to know what was in nerissa's book, and I felt like there were some concepts, like the birth mirror, I was missing. good book, I enjoyed how everything was connected

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first exposure to Liavek, and just a great change of pace after reading a lot of epic sturm und drang fantasy bloodfests. A few too many cats, maybe, but otherwise an agreeable set of interlinked tales centered around a mildly dysfunctional family, a character who reminds me a lot of Granny Weatherwax, a god who is also a chipmunk, and a religious order of "suicides" whose adherents tend to live long, rich lives while planning how to go out in style. Definitely going on to read some more of these.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read several things by Patricia Wrede, but nothing by Pamela Dean. I also hadn't read anything about Liavek, so this was an interesting introduction. I liked the concepts of how the magic system worked, and lots of the characters appealed to me.

That said, it became a total slog... I'm not sure why. It took me weeks instead of days.

I might pick up another Liavek collection, but it will probably be a long, long time from now.

[Cecilia S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I am a superfan of Patricia C. Wrede and I am pretty satisfied with the stories she has written in this anthology. However, I am getting increasingly annoyed with Pamela Dean's stories. Her first short story is in first person (ugh) which not only breaks the pattern of the mostly third-person stories but follows a whiny and death-obsessed teenager. In fact, most of her stories involve being obsessed with death and are uncomfortable as well as boring.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could give this 3.5 I would. I read this in concert with Liavek 1 which, with it's completely disconnected, independent, short stories, was more satisfying. The loosely connected stories of Points of Departure felt like a disjointed story which, though charming failed to get momentum for some time. Once one story began to emerge told in pieces from different perspectives, the book became more interesting and more rich.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Patricia Wrede's writing, but I love Pamela Dean's. It is, in part, something about the way she not only tells you what is said but shows you what is not said, and helps you feel the way that it is said. Reading her writing gives me the feeling that the snarls in my brain are being combed out.