Tales From the Vulgar Unicorn

Thieves' World #2

by Robert Lynn Asprin (Editor), Lynn Abbey (Editor), Philip José Farmer (Contributor)

The world's top fantasy writers spin stories and loop the loop with each other's characters in Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, the second collection in this unique anthology series set in the amazing city of Sanctuary, where you can enjoy the quiet elegance of Ambrosia House; sample bizarre pleasures at the House of Whips; sip ale in the Vulgar Unicorn, and listen to some of the most strange, dangerous, magical and deadly tales ever told... Philip Jose Farmer, A.E. Van Vogt, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Janet Morris, David Drake and Andrew J. Offutt have dreamed up a world of wonders - a fabulous reading adventure! * Introduction - Robert Asprin * Spiders of the Purple Mage - Philip José Farmer * Goddess - David Drake * The Fruir of Enlibar - Lynn Abbey * The Dream of the Sorceress - A.E. van Vogt * Vashanka's Minion - Janet Morris * Shadow's Pawn - Andrew J. Offutt * To Guard the Guardians - Robert Asprin * The Lighter Side of Sanctuary - Robert Asprin

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction, Sword and Sorcery

299 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1980

About the author

Robert (Lynn) Asprin was born in 1946. While he wrote some stand alone novels such as The Cold Cash War, Tambu, and The Bug Wars and also the Duncan & Mallory Illustrated stories, Bob is best known for his series fantasy, such as the Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve, the Phule's Company novels, and the Time Scout novels written with Linda Evans. He also edited the groundbreaking Thieves' World anthology series with Lynn Abbey. Other collaborations include License Invoked (set in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and several Myth Adventures novels, all written with Jody Lynn Nye.

Bob's final solo work was a contemporary fantasy series called Dragons, again set in New Orleans.

Bob passed away suddenly on May 22, 2008. He is survived by his daughter and son, his mother and his sister.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second collection of Thieves World stories departs substantially from my initial impression of (and hope for) of a common setting for sword & sorcery type adventures featuring heroes and rogues. Rather, the stories prove decidedly grim, tending to focus on conflicts among and between sorcerers as well as the vengeful new deities of Ranke and old deities of Ilsig, and their frequent meddling in human affairs.

Spiders of the Purple Mage by Philip José Farmer, the longest of the bunch, is also the most disappointing. This tale of infiltration into the lair of an evil wizard comes across as juvenile, in a setting that has few consistencies with the world as it's been depicted. Asprin notes in the first collection that Farmer's tale was originally intended to appear there, but he wasn't able to finish it on time. Apparently he didn't read any of those stories, or was otherwise too busy to revise his story to make it less incongruous.

Goddess by David Drake is a delightfully chilling tale of a brother seeking to avenge his sister by infiltrating a subterranean temple in order to slay a demon. This one has some good intrigue and mystery.

In The Fruit of Enlibar by Lynn Abbey, Illyra, using her S'danzo gifts, aids a cursed soldier seeking an ancient secret for creating powerful weapons. Abbey keeps the reader in the dark, deftly revealing just enough to keep one intensely curious to see how events unfold.

The Dream of the Sorceress by A. E. van Vogt tells of a doctor seeking to uncover the mystery of his father's murder, apparently at the hands of the gods. Enas Yorl the sorcerer makes an appearance here. With his gift (curse?) of randomly assuming the form of others he's one of the most interesting characters in Sanctuary. The writing is characterized by van Vogt's typical raw, unpolished exuberance and abrupt exclamations and transitions. van Vogt is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. He's written far less fantasy, so it was a great surprise to find a story from him here.

Vashanka's Minion by Janet Morris proved a confusing and roughly written tale of the deity Vashanka sowing chaos in the city by providing weapons to its citizens, in an apparent attempt to boost his popularity. It introduces an interesting character, the immortal mercenary Tempus, who serves as a vessel for Vashanka to occasionally inhabit. Tempus seems a bit morally ambiguous, manipulative but also willing to serve the young and inexperienced prince/governor of Sanctuary because he's taken pity on him.

Shadow's Pawn by Andrew Offutt is an excellent little tale that follows on directly from the appearance of the weapon shop of the previous story and also comes full circle on Shadow Spawn's experiences in the first story in which he appeared in the first volume. Tempus the Hell Hound, introduced in the last story, also makes an appearance. It's too bad that more of the stories aren't woven in as tightly with the others as Offutt managed.

To Guard the Guardians by Robert Lynn Asprin is a grim little tale where things come full circle for Tempus and we get a closer view of how the Hell Hounds operate, which despite being to the letter of the law may not always abide by its spirit.

[Theo Logos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales From the Vulgar Unicorn is a great title. It’s accurate — many of these stories pass through that nefarious watering hole. And it sets the mood for these tales — dark, gritty, and on the wrong side of respectability. It’s a brilliantly named collection.

Unfortunately, most of the tales within this second Thieve’s World book fail to achieve the brilliance of its title. Some (Philip Jose Farmer’s Spiders of the Purple Mage) entirely miss the point of the shared world concept, and neither use any Sanctuary regulars in the story, nor contribute any new citizens to Sanctuary. Others (Janet Morris’s Vashanka’s Minion) introduce new characters, (Tempus the immortal mercenary), and weave in established characters, (Shadowspawn the thief) but spin an over busy, muddy tale that blunts its effectiveness.

Lynn Abbey and A.E. Van Vogt seem to have both understood the project and had fun with it. Van Vogt’s The Dream of the Sorceress uses nearly the whole cast of established Sanctuary citizen in an entertaining, somewhat convoluted story. And Abbey’s The Fruit of Enlibar is a tight, dark tale that considerably fills in the backstory of Illyara the seer. These two are the best of the bunch.

I first read this book over 40 years ago when it was new. Rereading it now for the first time in four decades, none of these tales were at all familiar. Nothing here was memorable enough that I had any hint that I had previously read these stories. This stood in contrast to my rereading of the first book in the series, Thieve’s World, where several tales poked my memory. The execution fails to live up to the concept. I don’t think that I will be rereading any further books in this series.

2.5 stars rounded up

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The image of Sanctuary in the original collection was essentially hardscrabble: the caravan path through the area is no longer necessary and now this city is in possibly irreparable economic decline, with all the associated desperation and edge-of-empire mentality. Intentionally or not, this collection shifts that image to being more Lankhmar-like decadent and cosmopolitan. We hear mention of some kind of wizard's guild in residence, there's overt conflict between deities including physical manifestation, and a godly Weapon Shop appears on a streetcorner, dispensing mischief.

I can't call it an improvement, really, though the hardscrabble depression is hard to take for more than one volume. Sanctuary as a backwater made the stories and characters more worm's-eye view and character-driven, while cursed-immortal warriors, divine manifestations, and strange women distributing swords drive entirely different stories (as well as being no basis for system of government).

The innovation here is the tentpole divine event(s) of "The Dream of the Sorceress" and "Vashanka's Minion" midway through the collection, where the ramifications percolate through the remaining stories. Unfortunately, unlike Thieves' World, the associated essay is an elaborate and unfunny piece of humor instead of an editor's message about wrangling and developing the stories.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn was the second volume in what was to become a long-running shared-world series of anthologies, Thieves' World. It was edited by Robert Lynn Asprin; Lynn Abbey became co-editor a few volumes in, about the same time she and Asprin were married. It was one of the first shared-world projects and remains one of the best and most successful in the fantasy genre. The idea was that each of the authors wrote a story in the fantasy-world originally designed by Asprin, and made use of the other authors' characters. Events in each story affected the world as a whole, and the other characters as well. Three of the authors in this second volume returned from the first with good stories, editor Asprin, Lynn Abbey, and andrew j. offutt, and four new authors were introduced, Janet Morris, Philip Jose Farmer, David Drake, and A.E. van Vogt. My favorites in this second book were A.E. van Vogt's The Dream of the Sorceress (van Vogt was known almost exclusively as a hard-sf author, but he proved he could do heroic fantasy as well), and Goddess by Drake. Vashanka's Minion by Morris, The Fruit of Enlibar by Abbey, and To Guard the Guardians by Asprin are good, too. The story by Farmer was a rambling disappointment that made it seem like he didn't take the time to read the other works, or didn't care to play along. The title is cute, though, Spiders of the Purple Mage, alluding to his Riders of the Purple Wage from Ellison's Dangerous Visions. My favorite story was andrew j. offutt's Shadow's Pawn, the second of his many Thieves' World adventures and one of offutt's all-time best. Asprin provided another interesting "making of" essay, as well as an introduction and notes. Altogether, it was grand welcome to the eighties in the fantasy field!

[Jim Kuenzli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 3.8. Grim anthology tales continue. Van Vogt writing a fantasy story is worth the read. Offutt and Asprin tales were excellent. I was expecting a lot out of Philip Jose Farmer, especially with the length, bit it seemed to drift away from the setting produced in the first anthology. Still decent, though. David Drake was also here. I’m enjoying this more than I thought I would.

[Бранимир Събев · Rating 3 out of 5]

Странна, противоречива, на моменти много интересна, на други – скучновата. С една дума – наистина нееднозначна книга, това е „Разкази от Кръчмата При Еднорога”. По същината си това са седем разказа от седем автора, които се развиват в един и същ фентъзи сетинг. Може да ви прозвучи натруфено, но ми стана приятно когато разбрах, че подобно на „Мечове в Леда”, които съставихме с колегата Александър Драганов, и големите имена в жанра са имали подобни проекти десетилетия преди. В случая Робърт Асприн е съставител, подхванал няколко от колегите си и са създали… това.

В Сенкчуъри, общо взето, не е препоръчително да се разхождате насам-натам след залез слънце – по уличките бродят не само съмнителни личности, но и всякакви незнайни и страховити създания; Затова пък винаги можете да поседите в кръчмата „При Еднорога”, да опитате виното и да послушате някои от най-странните, вълшебни и ужасяващи разкази за незнайни божества, смъртоносни магии и невероятни приключения…

Нека видим какво се крие между страниците на сборника:

1. Филип Хосе Фармър – Паяците на Пурпурния Маг: откриваме сборника с един разказ, чието заглавие е, меко казано, бомбастично. Творбата не е лоша, даже никак - една отчаяна жена в комбина с един странен и невзрачен мъж ще се отправят на опасна мисия, там, където царува могъщия Пурпурен Маг и зловещи твари пазят чертозите му...
2. Дейвид Дрейк – Богинята: нелоша творба, макар доста, да не кажа прекалено напомня за приключенията на Конан на Робърт Хауърд. Един благородник слиза буквално в Ада и се изправя безстрашно против могъщо божество не толкова да отмъсти за смъртта на сестра си, колкото да спаси поруганата чест на своя род.
3. Лин Аби – Плодове от Енлибар: тази дама е втората съпруга на съставителя на този сборник. Между другото, книгата е едва началото на огромна поредица от творби, които изграждат тя и Асприн, за Сенкчуъри, Светът на Крадците и т.н., писани както от тях, така и от доста други автори. Не е кой знае какво творбата, няма да задълбавам в нея.
4. Джанет Морис – Наместникът на Вашанка: ммммм, май това е най-доброто в книгата, моите почитания към авторката. Темпус е един от Копоите - елитната дворцова гвардия, най-добрите сабльори в Сенкчуъри. Но той е и нещо много повече - с произход, забулен в мрак, криещ много тайни, той не е обикновен човек. Ала не само свръхспособностите му са важни в случая - той е още поборник на Вашанка, могъщият бог на мълниите и войната...
5. Алфред ван Вогт – Сънят на Пророчицата: очаквах повече от фантаст от подобен ранг. Но, може би фантастиката е неговият жанр, не фентъзито. Главният герой е скучен млад самотен знахар, чийто коронен номер е вместо с пари да иска жените да му плащат в натура. Това е Сенкчуъри, никой не отказва подобна сделка. Боговете обаче слизат и крачат сред хората...
6. Робърт Асприн – Копой на Копоите: съставителя на сборника се е постарал, признавам. Акцентът тук пада на Копоите и Темпус, мръсните кални номера, които си въртят едни на други. Кой ще излезе сух от водата? Добър разказ, макар краят му да ми се видя доста претупан.
7. Андрю Дж. Офът – Изчадието на Мрака: става разказът, проследява съдбата на един от най-известните и странни крадци на Сенкчуъри, известен просто като Изчадието на Мрака. Много дебнене, криене в сенките и безшумно промъкване, бива.

Не ме хареса факта, че въпросната кръчма, на която е кръстен сборникът присъства съвсем фигуративно в разказите. Просто се появява за момент и нищо съществено не се случва в нея – акцентът не е върху й, може спокойно и да я няма, или да се казва другояче.

Друго – оригиналното заглавие на сборника е Tales From The Vulgar Unicorn. Защо вулгарен ли? Ами, защо на табелата на кръчмата въпросният еднорог е изобразен не само с едно нещо, което стърчи. Правилно познахте – освен рога му въпросното копитно е навирило и оная си работа.

Въпреки ясно изразените ми негативи би ми било любопитно да прочета още приключения от този сетинг – личи си, че потенциалът има накъда да се разгръща, доста книги са изписани по света, но дали са излизали други в България от Света на Крадците? Едва ли.

Ако мога да се изразя по-крайно – Сенкчуъри е бледо копие на Хейвън, където се развиват приключенията от „Хоук и Фишър” и „Победителят Печели Всичко”. С дребната разлика, че тук няма двоица неподкупни и безкомпромисни стражи, които носят закона върху остриетата на оръжията си. В Сенкчуъри всички са подкупни, всички се продават и са тотално и безвъзвратно пропаднали. Моите уважения към имена като Филип Хосе Фармър, Робърт Асприн, Алфред Ван Вогт и останалите – сори пичове, ама Саймън Ричард Грийн ви слага всичките в задния си джоб, след което сяда и започва да твори поредния блокбастър. Това е положението.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tales From the Vulgar Unicorn
Book Two of Thieves' World
Edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey
Tantor Audio
Narrated by Jonathan Johns

This title has languished upon my shelf for far too long. Older fans have recommended this series to me for years. I decided to listen to the audiobook on Spotify during my commute. Jonathan Johns performs the story. While the characters are growing on me the halting narration by Johns is not.

The table of contents features a who’s who of authors working during this time. I see that many of them return from book to book. The solid continuity from story to story and collection to collection was surprising. The meshing of established characters in new stories is delightful. So far I am very pleased with the series.

[Lee Battersby · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I was a young teenager, thirteen or fourteen, I read a few of the shared world 'Thieves World' anthologies and enjoyed them. I remember them as being good, rollicking, adventure-fantasy fun, so when I found this volume at the back of my archive boxes I had an 'ooh' moment and decided to give it a read, out of a nostalgic whim for some good, simple fun.

Sadly, the book is dire. Each of the volumes is sprinkled with a smattering of SFnal big names: in this issue it's Philip Jose Farmer, an author who veered wildly between interesting and embarrassing throughout his career. His story in this volume is an example of the worst kind of hackery, of the sort that would have shamed even John Jakes, and the rest of the anthology struggles to raise itself above his level. David Drake and AE van Vogt represent the old school pulp style with their usual clogging, pedestrian best-of-the-1930s efforts, and there's nothing that can recommend the efforts of Lynn Abbey, Janet Morris and Andrew J Offutt (a super-pulpy writer whose stories often have the saving grace of seeming to take the whole thing with his tongue firmly in his cheek, but who can't even bring that off in this instance.)

It's fantasy of the dumbest D&D variety, with one-dimensional characters, hokey broad-brush Burroughsian cultural and social infrastructures, and that peculiar 'phat phantasy' mix of conversational English and clumsily formal sentence structures that makes the whole thing come across like some particularly uninspired fourth rate Christmas pantomime.

If I'm objective I can see why I enjoyed this sort of stuff as a naive, non-critical boy of 13-- it's thoroughly escapist, without the sort of soggy character development that demands you think instead of just enjoying the thud and blunder. But I should have left it with my younger self.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago in high school and remember loving it. There are some interesting characters in these short stories and in the whole Thieves' World series. One of my favorite stories from that series is in this book, and contains a plot twist that I remember fondly to this day.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like two and a half. Theres some good, fun stuff here, but the rape-and-rape-adjacent actions and characters and dialogue make this a SUPER uncomfortable read at times.

[JoeK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first one. Not too sure I want to read any more of the series. This concept was pretty legendary back when the series first came out and was probably directly responsible for my favourite shared universe (Wild Cards). Unfortunately it really hasn't grabbed me the way I would have expected. All my friends were reading these in college literally as they were coming out in the first paperback editions.

The concept didn't appeal to me back then, and now that it does, I don't find too many of the stories appeal. As the afterword mentions, the stories are very grim/dark (and then proceeded to add five more pages of -not funny- to the page total. Some of the stories intertwine with the setting and amongst already established characters, these work the best. The first story took up a third of the book and could easily have been added to any fantasy anthology since it really didn't have anything to do with Sanctuary and all the major players died or left the city by the ending of the story, leaving pretty much everything unchanged.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second installment didn't intrigue me as much as the first one. I still enjoyed it, but I found myself getting lost and having to reread pages...it just wasn't grabbing me. I will say, it felt like the stories were even more connected than the first book; one the antagonist would be the protagonist in the next story, etc. I did appreciate the flow of the stories.

I plan to keep going with the series, as the format is fun.

[Carlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first sequel to Thieves’ World is a fun read, although there is none of the brilliant humour of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories. It also shows its age in the simplistic portrayal of women in many of the stories.
A reread from 1982, this second anthology of short stories set in Sanctuary, Thieves’ World, includes stories by well known names such as Philip José Farmer with the terrible pun of Spiders of the Purple Mage (see also his title, Riders of the Purple Wage, in Dangerous Visions) and A E van Vogt with The Dream of the Sorceress.
Although I found the language of The Dream of the Sorceress sometimes stilted (I am presuming this is not a fault of the ebook conversion), this synthesising story has the merit of introducing us to Vashanka (the Ranke god of war) and having satisfying cameos from characters introduced in the first anthology.
The Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn improve in the second half, integrating more of the characters encountered in earlier stories, and introducing Janet Morris’ more complex Tempus character.
Overall, this second volume works better than the first, beginning to show more depth and complexity. Not great literature, but easy reading fun.

Contents:
• Spiders of the Purple Mage - Philip José Farmer
• Goddess - David Drake
• The Fruit of Enlibar - Lynn Abbey
• The Dream of the Sorceress - A. E. van Vogt
• Vashanka’s Minion - Janet Morris
• Shadow’s Pawn - Andrew J. Offutt
• To Guard the Guardians - Robert Lynn Asprin

The conversion to Kindle is adequate, and although there are numerous typographical misspellings and outsized font changes, the original sense is usually clear, only occasionally requiring multiple readings.

[Tom Fredricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd in the Thieves World anthology series. Like most anthologies it's a mixed bag. On the whole I enjoyed it. I think the shared world makes it a lot easier to get into each story (you already know the world, no setup necessary).

Spiders of the Purple Mage by Philip Jose Farmer - Good story. The character of Smhee was worth the read alone (devotee of a foreign cult who smears himself with butter and is hunting a wizard!?).

Goddess by David Drake - Another good one. An interesting story about avenging a family’s honor and a creepy local cult.

The Fruit of Enlibar by Lynn Abbey - Not my favorite story, but it's short. We are introduced to the character of Whalegrin (good name!), a cursed mercenary.

The Dream of the Sorceress by A.E. van Vogt - A horny doctor is unwittingly involved in the intrigues of the gods, both the old Gods of Sanctuary's locals and the new gods of their Ranke conquerors. Good story.

Vashanka's Minion by Janet Morris - Story about Tempus. Tempus is Vashanka's hand in the world. As you would imagine he is kind of a bad A, but he is also addicted to the drug krrf and has some serious sexual issues. He's an interesting character, but I found the story just ok.

Shadow's Pawn by Andrew Offutt - This story deals with the magical weapons that get into the city in the previous story. The main character is Shadowspawn. It's ok.

To Guard the Guardians - I liked this one. It is interesting to note the portrayal of Tempus in this story as opposed to the Janet Morris story. I wonder what Morris thought of what happens to Tempus in this story. I won't spoil it. Good read.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The continuing stories of Sanctuary and its inhabitants...

Take a bunch of fantasy writers, give them a city and tell them to populate it.
Thieves World takes place in the city of Sanctuary, but don't let the name fool you, Sanctuary is not the kind of city where you want to be wandering alone, or even in a group during nightime OR daytime... and whatever you do... do not go into that alley!
Thieves, Assassins, Barbaric Warriors, all around Bad People are mostly what populate this city. But even the bad people have some (I did say SOME) redeeming values and some even have a somewhat behavioral code of honor by which they live.
What's also fun about these stories is that they can intertwine, so you get multiple interpretations of what may be the same character as written by different authors.

Some of the stories from this series were also adapted into graphic novel format by Tim Sale and are worth hunting down if you want to put images and faces to the city and its inhabitants.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to have many Thieves Guild books but gave most of them away in a previous tidying fit. Since then I have picked up copies whenever I (rarely) find them. I honestly don't know if I like them now for themselves or for nostalgia reasons but they are good old fashioned fantasy from before it became popular with mainstream readers. My favourite character (I think) is Hanse, though I find Tempus interesting too. I wonder if these characters will ever catch the eye of film-makers?

[JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm digging this series so far. The old school fantasy thing is so much more satisfying and interesting than most modern examples, prone as they are to simply repeat tropes and stereotypes, and focus on other things than plot. We'll see how it goes, because there's a bunch of these books and they're bound to start sucking a bit.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Thieves World so much when I was in middle school! All the misogyny and sexual violence seemed entirely normal in the late 80s, and the baked-in fantasy racism was unfortunately entirely invisible to me. Rereading it now, as an adult person in this time, it is much more hit or miss -- I ended up just skimming or altogether skipping some of the stories.

In more detail...

"Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin -- a frame story of Hakiem the Storyteller hanging out at Vulgar Unicorn, wondering why One-Thumb is gone (he got trapped in magical doom @ end of 1st book, right?) and ‘collecting stories’ and that sets us up for the rest of the book. It's pretty unnecessary, although I guess it does remind the reader of the major plot points from the previous volume.

“Spiders of the Purple Mage” by Phillip Jose Farmer — this is really old-school sword & sorcery, with a kind of neat female protagonist who tries to rescue the dying Foreign Immigrant because he's talking about a jewel and she's in desperate need of money. There is a lot of cultural variation but mostly to be weird or made fun of, and there are evil ‘desert men’ who are servants of the purple mage… I am basically skimming, the writing is not bad on the sentence level but it's just not really interesting to me in any way.

"Goddess" by David Drake -- all the terrible tropes, there's a woman who is pregnant with a demon and kills herself, thus providing her estranged brother with the motivation to go on his adventure. Bleah.

“The Fruit of Enlibar” by Lynn Abbey — another pair of estranged siblings! It feels like there's a lot of potential here with them and their shared traumatic childhood and the reunion etc, but it doesn’t come to anything; I want the over-the-top fanfic version of this with Every Single Feeling instead of the adventure-story version... although really, not enough happens to make it an adventure, either.

“The Dream of the Sorcereress” by A. E. Van Vogt — Stulwig, the protagonist, is a serial rapist whom we are supposed to feel sorry for because a god is trying to kill him and his father died and yadda yadda yadda, just no, no, no.

“Vashanka’s Minion” by Janet Morris — okay, Tempus is definitely a rapist too, why do I like him so much? he was one of my favourite characters back in the day and I still find him really compelling, this was my favourite story in the book. I think it’s because of the narrative approach, van Vogt likes Stulwig and seems to think anyone in his position would act the same, whereas Morris shows Tempus as someone who is struggling to be better than he is while dealing with the consequences of terrible choices he made in the distant past. The sexual violence is there as violence, and when he succeeds in deflecting Vashanka from Cyme it’s a real victory and yet simultaneously bleak because it’s such a small victory compared to the entire mess of their lives and the world they live in. Tempus can’t really fix anything or in any way atone for the things he’s done, he isn’t even trying, he’s just trying to navigate his present without causing damage to the very few people he cares about, which definitely fit into my 13-yr-old worldview.

"Shadow’s Pawn" by Andrew J. Offutt — Google has just told me terrible things about this author I did not really want to know, but putting that aside, Hanse was always another of my favourite characters and this time around he is SO CLEARLY shippable with Tempus — if this was being written today there would be so much fanfic about the two of them on AO3, the vibe between them is just such a trope — intimidating big mercenary guy looking after smaller slighter younger street-smart thief who resents and yet appreciates his attention. The story itself follows right on Morris, the god-weapons from the last story are a problem Hanse is trying to deal with, and he blames Tempus for the situation (not unfairly), and there are some adventures but because Hanse is always too clever for his own good he ends up embarassed rather than covered in glory.

"To Guard the Guardians" by Robert Lynn Asprin — So the cool thing about shared world anthologies is getting to see all the characters from different POVs, and I get that, but after the two stories in which Tempus is a sympathetic-ish character, it was kind of whiplash to be in this story from the POV of people who hate him and are willing to set him up for indefinite torture to get him out of their way. It works plot-wise, we see him doing all the stuff that makes him enemies in the previous two stories and now we see the consequences of it, and the people who trap him don’t actually realise how powerful he is (and thus how stupid they are being ot leave him alive), so narratively, sure, but I didn’t enjoy the story at all.

“The Lighter Side of Sanctuary” by Robert Lynn Asprin — it’s supposed to be funny, and it’s not, but I remember finding it VERY funny when I was 13, so hey.

So as I said, very hit or miss, but I have already started volume 3 -- I'm enjoying revisiting it, and since I remember books 7-9 (focused mostly on Tempus and his various gay mercenary friends) were my favourite prevously, I'm curious to get that far and see how it all goes, although at my current rate that'll probably be 2026 or so.

[Greg (adds 2 TBR list daily) Hersom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm listening to the Audible version of this book which I read about 30+ years ago, and I am amazed how good it is.
I liked it back then, but I hadn't read a whole lot if fantasy back then and I don't think I understood how awesome it is

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

TALES FROM THE VULGAR UNICORN
With the second book, comes a little more interaction between characters and the beginning of a a philosophy of contention as referenced by C.J. Cherryh in her afterword to Blood Ties: "You write your first Thieves' World story for pay, you write your second for revenge.".
It is admittedly confusing at times but pushing through, even if it means going back and re-reading is worth it.

Contributions include:
SPIDERS OF THE PURPLE MAGE Philip Jose Farmer This was the week of the great rat hunt in Sanctuary. The next week, all the cats that could be caught were killed and degutted. The third week, all dogs were run down and disemboweled.

GODDESS David Drake “By Savankala and the Son!” Regli swore, “why can’t she bear land be done with it? And why does she demand to see her brother but won’t see me?”

THE FRUIT OF ENLIBAR Lynn Abbey The hillside groves of orange trees were all that remained of the legendary glory of Enlibar. Humbled descendants of the rulers of an empire dwarfing Ilsig or Ranke eked out their livings among the gnarled, ancient trees.

THE DREAM OF THE SORCERESS A. E. van Vogt The scream brought Stulwig awake in pitch darkness. He lay for a long moment stiff with fear. Like any resident of old, decadent Sanctuary his first fleeting thought was that the ancient city, with its night prowlers, had produced another victim’s cry of terror.

VASHANKA’S MINION Janet Morris The storm swept down on Sanctuary in unnatural fury, as if to punish the thieves for their misdeeds. Its hailstones were large as fists. They pummeled Wideway and broke windows on the Street of Red Lanterns and collapsed the temple of ILS, most powerful of the conquered Ilsigi gods.

SHADOW’S PAWN Andrew Offutt She was more than attractive and she walked with head high in pride and awareness of her womanhood. The bracelet on her bare arm flashed and seemed to glow with that brightness the gods reserve for polished new gold.

TO GUARD THE GUARDIANS Robert Lynn Asprin The Hell Hounds were now a common sight in Sanctuary so the appearance of one in the bazaar created little stir, save for the concealment of a few smuggled wares and a price increase on everything else.

[Shaitarn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a bit stars, not enough for four stars.

The second Thieves' World is a mixed bag. It has more of a clearly defined larger theme going on in the background - it seems the gods, both of the invader Rankans and the conquered Ilsigi people - are taking an interest in Sanctuary.

The seven stories (with an introduction and essay) are of varying quality. The first two, Spiders of the Purple Mage by Philip Jose Farmer and Goddessby David Drake, were probably my least favourite, despite being written by such well-respected authors. Shadow's Pawn by Andrew J. Offutt was my favourite; certainly cocky young thief Hanse remains my favourite character - in fact, he's probably partially responsible for my fondness for stories with rogues- with the rather unsettling To Guard the Guardians, Vashanka's Minion and The Fruit of Enlibar coming along behind. But this is purely subjective - other reviewers have liked the stories I disliked and disliked my favourites.

All in all, a nice like collection of stories. If you like old fashioned (it's an old book) fantasy stories of the sword and sorcery type, you should really check this anthology series out.

[Jeff Waltersdorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second entry of the long-running shared-world sword-and-sorcery fantasy anthology, centered around the seedy port city of Sanctuary. The stories this time have a bit more connection than the first book, building on events and characters of previous stories.

Philip Jose Farmer's Spiders of the Purple Mage feels like a story written on a wager based on the name, but is a cracking good yarn of desperate thieves burgling an impenetrable magic stronghold. And Vashanka's Minion introduces Janet Morris' antihero Tempus, the ageless mercenary and favorite of the Rankan storm god. Tempus appears again in Andrew Offutt's Shadow's Pawn, featuring the cocky young thief Hanse, aka Shadowspawn.

Memorable characters, bloody action, and weird sorcery in a wretched hive of scum and villiany. What's not to love?

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this second volume of tales from the Thieves World universe, the world is still trying to properly define itself. This is a collection of sharp, daring-do, and violent tales revolving around sword play and sorcery. Eventually the series will begin playing a longer game with its tales as the real heroes come to the forfront. Tempus makes his first appearance here, while those presented as being in the center of the action - Lythande, Cappen Varra, One Thumb, even Shadowspawn in some cases - eventually disappear. While these stories do reference characters from other tales, they are not meant to be seen as one grand story. View them instead as a squares in a patchwork quilt. Part of a larger whole, but still independent.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second Thieves' World is for me a huge disappointment. This is mainly because of the very lengthy and tedious Philip José Farmer story that heads this collection, but also because it even more downbeat than Thives' World - Sanctuary was already a bleak place to live, but this second entry in the series is much more brutal, and more so than I remember from when I first read it at the time it was originally published in the UK.

[HereticalMind · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars: Really loving this series so far. One thing I find very interesting is how dark it is compared to anything else that was being written at that time. I also love how different characters reappear in each other's stories as secondary characters, really tying together the city, and creating a sense of community. There are no NPCs (well except maybe 2 thumbs). I especially enjoyed Spiders of the Purple Mage, Vashanka's Minions, Shadow's Pawn (hilarious ending), and To Guard the Guardians!

[Jsrott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories good, some stories merely meh. There are definitely contributors who I'm glad I haven't read more of given their style and prose in their particular story. One more note- the stories, even the good ones, sure feel depressing. None of the recurring characters have much in the way of redeeming qualities, and their lives seem bleak and joyless.

[Tani]

I enjoyed the first collection of this series, but somehow I just couldn't get into this one. I read more than half of it, and I just stopped picking it up. I think I had it on my currently reading list for more than a year. Then yesterday I sat down to try reading it, and just found that I didn't care any longer. So, a dnf it is. Well, at least it's off my shelf...

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some ways better than the first book, in some ways worse, but notably different from the minute Tempus comes to town and the gods start taking notice of events in Sanctuary. The tone starts to shift from worms-eye-view of the dirt to a much more operatic tone.

I thought maybe I’d like Tempus more re-reading as an adult, with a less naive mindset. Nope, I still very much dislike him.

[Blair Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven. A few stories actually use the shared setting to good effect (and one of the more interesting characters in the series is introduced), but some completely miss the mark.
Overall writing quality is low.

(Also, the OCR run on the originals to produce the ebook should've been checked by a human after.)

[Mark McMillen · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a serious drop off of the quality of the stories from the first volume to this one. Of all the stories, I only enjoyed two of them and slugged through the rest. The prose was the main culprit. The characters are almost always interesting but the story often goes nowhere. It was disappointing considering how engaging volume 1 was.