Guinevere's Truth and Other Tales

Sherwood #3 - Shadows in the Wood

by Jennifer Roberson

Fans of Jennifer Roberson have long wished for a compilation of her short fiction. This book brings together a collection of 20 fantasy tales spanning worlds from her Cheysuli, Sword-Dancer and Karavans universes.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Historical

321 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 2008

About the author

Over a 40-year career (so far), Jennifer Roberson has published four fantasy series, including the Sword-Dancer Saga, Chronicles of the Cheysuli, the Karavans universe, and urban fantasy series Blood & Bone. Other novels include historicals LADY OF THE GLEN, plus two Robin Hood novels, LADY OF THE FOREST, and LADY OF SHERWOOD.

New novels are percolating in her always-active imagination.

Hobbies include showing dogs, and creating mosaic and resin artwork and jewelry.  She lives in Arizona with a collection of cats and Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read one of Roberson's short stories, "Blood of Sorcery," almost 20 years ago, and while it wasn't my favorite in the collection, it was still fun. So I was glad to find out they'd finally released a collection of her stories.

She's a fantastic writer, but for the most part her style is a little too flowery for me. Very elaborate, and kinda long-winded. Except for two stories: "Mad Jack" and "Spoils of War." Those two have got to be the cleverest, neatest little short stories I've read in a couple years at least, and I'm seriously considering buying the book because of them. Surprisingly clever, and very sweet.

[Anna Bowling · Rating 3 out of 5]

An assortment of short stories and a novella spanning Jennifer Roberson's Cheysuli, Sword Dancer and Karavans universes as well as independent stories. I'll admit, I came for Tiger and Del, and wasn't disappointed. The titular Aurthurian story, "Guinevere's Truth" had a quiet depth to it, and "Spoils of War," a historical story, left me hoping this might be explored more in future historical novels.

"Piece of Mind" may be triggery for some readers (POV of animal in distress)though the overall message is hopeful.

All in all, a good introduction to Ms. Roberson's work, and some lovely tidbits for those who are already fans.

[Roby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love retellings of old stories, which is what drew me to this book, but the writing was not stellar or engaging, and was often trite. I didn't actually finish this collection, which is very rare for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I love retellings of things, so I was looking forward to the title story. It was underwhelming, as were the other stories in this volume.

[Lindig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice but only a few of the stories had real punch.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some okay ones.

[Sonja Isaacson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed Jennifer Roberson's historical romance-y books. For whatever reason, I never tried her serieses (Sword-dancer or Cheysuli) though they look like they would appeal to me. And now that I've read some short stories from these settings, I wish I had more time so that I could jump right in. She is a wonderful author and she starts off writing about getting her first deal. I think she has more stories in her to write. I suppose my one issue is that with the title I had rather assumed that these short stories would all or mostly be Arthurian-inspired, and that is not the case, these are really all over the place.

[Doranna Durgin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of short stories from one of my favorites--several from established novel universes, but plenty of independent shorts. My favorite is Jesus Freaks, a story I think deserved more attention when it was released and speaks even more loudly today than it did when written.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Jennifer Roberson, I have since I was a kid. This collection of short stories is one of the best you'll ever read.