Stealers' Sky

Thieves' World #12

by Robert Lynn Asprin (Editor), Lynn Abbey

Welcome to Sanctuary, a city of outlaws and adventurers in a world of war and wizardry, peopled with colorful characters created by today's top fantasy adventure talents, including:

Lynn Abbey
Robert Lynn Asprin
C.J. Cherryh
Andrew J. Offutt

In this dramatic final adventure, clouds of war gather over Sanctuary once again. And as warriors prepare for battle, thieves eagerly await a great dust storm to envelop the city. For then they can silently strike, slipping in and out of the raging currents of the storm...

Contents:
* Dramatis Personae - Lynn Abbey
* Introduction - Robert Lynn Asprin
* Night Work - Andrew Offutt
* The Incompetent Audience - John DeCles
* Our Vintage Years - Duane McGowen
* Quicksilver Dreams - Diana L. Paxson
* Winds of Fortune - C.J. Cherryh
* The Fire in a God's Eye - Robin Wayne Bailey
* Web Weavers - Lynn Abbey
* To Begin Again - Robert Lynn Asprin

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

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

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

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read!! And I’m glad that a couple of my favourite characters have survived relatively intact. There are possibly two more spin offs that I will be collecting shortly and hopefully enjoying as much as I have this series. I’m also in a bit of a poignant mood as it was the last book finished by R.L. Asprin before his untimely death. I would give the whole series 4.5 stars out of five. That is just a bit less than Tolkien and Donaldson’s 4.8 overall rating.

[Raymond Rugg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final book of the twelve-volume series is Stealers’ Sky, published in December of 1989. The lineup on authors for this collection is an interesting one; longtime members of the TW community Andrew Offut, Diana L. Paxson, C.J. Cherryh, and Robin Wayne Bailey are joined by relative newcomer Jon DeCles and brand-new contributor Duane McGowan. And of course, Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin, co-creators and more recently co-editors (or as Offut once referred to them, mommy and daddy of the TW family) have their say; Abbey penned “Web Weavers” (for all intents and purposes, the last story in the book) and Asprin wrote the Introduction and a final piece that is essentially this collection’s Afterword.

In a 2002 interview with Steven H. Silver, Paxson notes that she felt that the series ended abruptly, and that if she had known that Sky were going to be the last book, she would have wrapped up the storyline of her character, Lalo the Limner. But it’s hard to read this book and not feel that Abbey and Asprin had a pretty solid idea that the end was nigh. In Abbey’s story, her Walegrin appears to get a (gasp!) happy ending, and in Asprin’s end-piece, entitled “To Begin Again,” it seems that Hakiem, Jubal, and Zalbar (all of whom are characters from the very beginning of the TW saga) will be leaving Sanctuary behind for other lands.

And if Hakiem is leaving Thieves’ World, how can it not be the end? Asprin’s Hakiem has been the Storyteller, and we the readers have been his audience. But over the past decade – from 1979 to 1989 – we and Hakiem have grown to be more and more alike. We the readers know dozens and scores of tales of the city – as does Hakiem. We the readers have watched Sanctuary suffer through politics, religion and magic, and have seen its economic revival – as has Hakiem. The Beysa once said to Hakeim that he knew “…so much about Sanctuary and [watched] so many of its citizens…,” – as have we. And Hakiem “loved this bedraggled town as he loved the tough breed of people it spawned.” As do we. (Hakiem even toyed with the idea of leaving Sanctuary once or twice before, as did some of the readers. But ten years in, both he and we were still there, still experiencing the “eight million stories in the naked city” referenced by Robin Wayne Bailey in the aforementioned interview.)

So when Asprin tells us that Hakiem is leaving Thieves’ World, I think he’s telling us that we are leaving Thieves’ World. As it turns out, it’s not that there aren’t other tales of Sanctuary to be told, but as Hakiem himself said, waaaaay back when we met him for the very first time, “That is a story in itself … requiring separate payment.” For now, we’ll just close with the Storyteller’s final thoughts from the end of Stealer’s Sky; the end of the original Thieves’ World series:

“As he knew all too well, each new beginning is also an ending, and on the road of life, there is no turning back.”

[Kendal · Rating 3 out of 5]

And thus it ends. Like popular TV shows (MCU as a textbook example), Thieves’ World began with a bang, glittered with promises, progressed along, slowly got lost along the way as original writers moved on, hit a rock bottom (Vol. 8), rediscovers the Original Promise (vol. 10), but by then, it became it’s own tribute band.

True, the series ends on an upbeat tone: trade is increasing, industries are renewed, gods have come back. But there are so many straggling thread left unbound. A more formal ending would have helped.

Even so, life is like that. We move on. Life goes on for us, and life goes on in our hometowns—newly departed.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, by this point in the series things are so blurred that it is really hard to figure out what is going on with everyone.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 3 out of 5]

see book 1

[Patrick Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rough when it finally ends. Like that player trying to run it back one more season. Not pretty.

[Carlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so we come to an ending.
The twelfth and final anthology in the Thieves’ World series includes welcome stories from the regulars:
• Andrew J Offutt about Hanse, also known as Shadowspan, obtaining satisfying revenge for being sold into slavery at the end of Aftermath (the tenth anthology).
• Diana L Paxson featuring Lalo the limner and his apprentice, the trainee mage Darios, continuing to learn the power of his gift.
• C J Cherryh with another story of leave taking, of the remaining Stepsons, Straton, Critias and Randal, and Ischade, with cameos from Haught and Zip. And Shepherd, who says: “Our service is done. Time we were moving on.” An ending, and a beginning, emotional.
After that was just the dust, just the ghosts of buildings in what should have been bright day, the hill lost in haze and dust, yellow sand skirling along the streets.
• Robin Wayne Bailey, who furthers his tale of Chenaya, a Rankean god-ridden (Savankala) fighter, and although there are demons and bloodshed, there is a celebratory conclusion. There is also a lovely reference to the colt produced by a mischievous union of Chenaya’s father’s mare with Tempus’s full-blooded Trôs horse.
• Lynn Abbey, with a story of Walegrin (Illyra’s half-brother) and the changing nature of Sanctuary, as it becomes a trading port. Wedemir (Lalo the Limner’s son) becomes Walegrin’ lieutenant, and Walegrin “accommodates” good fortune after a Seeing by Illyra (half S’danzo seeress).
• Robert Lynn Asprin provides a short introductory story and completes the anthology with a story of Hakiem (the storyteller who introduced us to Thieves’ World and appears as a connecting character in many of the other anthologies), with cameos from Shupansea, Kadakithis and, significantly, Jubal.
There are also stories from other authors, including Jon DeCles who provides another story about the thespians introduced in the previous volume, and a somewhat thin standalone story by Duane McGowen.
Overall, as a conclusion to a wonderful series of “Swords & Sorcery” anthologies, this volume rounds out the ongoing stories in an uplifting and forward looking style.
Let me leave the last words to Hakiem/Asprin:
As, Jubal spoke, the storyteller was looking around the Vulgar Unicorn, trying to permanently brand every detail in his mind. It had suddenly occurred to him that this might be the last time he ever saw the place, the scene of the start and/or ending to so many stories over the past years. Even if he returned to Sanctuary, this tavern, as well as the town itself, would be different. As he knew all too well, each new beginning is also an ending, and on the road of life, there is no turning back.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 12th and last book of Thieves' World - well, of the original run of Thieves' World - which I never got to read at the time when it was current. In February of 2019 I obtained a complete collection, and I've been slowly catching up on the volumes I never owned back in the day. This collection of short sword-and-sorcery stories was bittersweet, as it was planned to be the last, and having the final story feature a meeting between the prince and Hakiem the storyteller - who met in the introduction to the first collection - was a nice touch. I enjoyed the whole Thieves' World catalogue, and this collection was very good indeed. The series formed part of my personal "Appendix N," inspiration for my D&D gaming in the 80s, and I sincerely believe that if the series had been published just a decade earlier, it would have made the actual Appendix N of Gary Gygax. There was an attempt by Lynn Abbey to revive Thieves' World around the turn of the millennium, and I intend to re-read those books as well, in the near future.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely had never read this book, so it was interesting to get some closure on a variety of the characters. Ischade's probably worked best for me, but I was especially happy to see the little god-dog Tyr find a relatively good ending after Duane killed off the other characters associated with her a couple of books ago.

[Victoria Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

last of the thieves world series. I really enjoyed them.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice conclusion to the series although none of the stories was earth-shattering.

[Des · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty strong ending...though of course, it's not the actual ending after all.

[Soc Page]

conclusion

[Pamela]

If you're A new fantasy reader these books are the classics. Read them

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is still focused on smaller stories, which is nice but feels like they're just petering out instead of ending the series with excitement. Not with bang but a whimper, I guess.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always wanted the Thieves World books to be something they weren't. Because later shared-world anthologies have managed to create coherent book-spanning plot lines, I always hoped that Thieves World had as well. But ultimately it didn't, and that's quite obvious in this last volume which closes out some characters' stories and makes some points about the rise of Sanctuary, but doesn't do so in any sort of coherent way.

I shouldn't blame Thieves World for not being what it wasn't ... but the shared-world anthologies that grew from this base proved that you could do more.

Introduction (Asprin). One last time, Asprin sets up the state of Sanctuary for us. Not really a story, but some nice advancements on the state of the world [5/10].

Night Work (Offutt). Hanse gets to close the book on wrongs done to him. A fine enough caper, and a good chance to see some old friends one more time, but nothing deep [6/10].

The Incompetent Audience (DeCles). It was surprisingly enjoyable to just read about the travails of putting on a play in Sanctuary. I was a bit shocked when things took a dark turn at the end, but it wasn't inappropriate for the city of Sanctuary [7/10].

Our Vintage Years (McGowen). The Thieves' World books have never been great at detailing the organic growth of a secondary world; instead everything occurs in sudden bursts as one disaster follows another. Here, Mcgowan tries to change that trend by suggesting that Sanctuary has been on a general trend upward as the rest of the Empire crumbles. Though the writing is on occasion rough, the overall idea is delightful [7/10].

Quicksilver Dreams (Paxson). Molin asks Lalo when he's going to do something with his power ... and the answer appears to be, "Not within the confines of the Thieves' World series." This story was clearly intended to show how Lalo had changed, but by pushing that change to the end of the story, we never really see it. Instead we get an OK mystery-adventure that's not much of a conclusion to Lalo's stories [5+/10].

Winds of Fortune (Cherryh). A nice walk through Cherryh's various characters, and some closure for them. The departure of the Stepsons would have been more meaningful if it hadn't happened once before. [6+/10].

The Fire in a God's Eye (Bailey). Chenaya's final story simultaneously feels too sudden and too slow. It's nice that it gives resolution to Chenaya's central dilemma and that it also shows the shift from Ranke to Sanctuary, but it really drags along the way [6/10].

Web Weavers (Abbey). Walegrin's finale is a surprisingly small slice-of-life story, but it's still a nice, upbeat conclusion for the character [6+/10].

To Begin Again (Asprin). And sure enough, this ending is a new beginning for three of Sanctuary's characters, continuing a trend of this book.

Overall, this was a nice final volume, very much in character with the whole series. After all, Thieves World had always been full of small stories about characters.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had forgotten that the Thieves' World series ends on a fairly high note, if not actually for everyone involved, then at least for the city in general. The stories are readable but seem to mostly be devoted to wrapping things up as a new chapter begins for Sanctuary (although new stories were not written for more than a decade after this book*): the final Imperial soldiers depart as Emperor Theron "cuts lose" the city from Ranke, relations between the Beysib exiles and their home empire seem to be improving, and an era of (relative) peace and prosperity begins for the first time since the desert trade routes shut down years ago. A number a major characters leave Sanctuary (probably for good) and most of the story arcs are wrapped up (including the interminable soap opera of Ischade, Stilcho, Moria, Straton and Critias). Some characters end this book changed significantly from their first appearances in the series (generally positively - Hanse, Walegrin, Lalo and Gilla for example), and some villains get the comeuppances. Stealers' Sky could not be called a climax to the TW series, but it does a decent job of wrapping up lose ends while laying ground for some future stories.

* I have not read any of the "new" TW books.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

And here it was, the last set of stories from Thieves World. I was so sad when i finished this one, and it was pretty good as I remember. I want to say I finished this book in 1990 or 1991. It was a good conclusion to long story lines and short ones. I know there have been a couple attempts at writing these again in the early 2000's but I haven't read them and I'm not sure I would want to. I am afraid it would spoil the nostalgia and memories I had reading these when I was so much younger than I am today.

Danny

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readability 8. Rating 6. The final (?) Thieves' World book. Somewhat anticlimactic, but does take stock of the ground covered by the series, and that in and of itself makes it worthwhile. Interestingly enough, two of the best characters, Hakiem the storyteller and Jubal, the slave lord and ex-gladiator, are set up to begin an entirely new series, based in the capital city of the Beysib. Now if they can just work Hanse/Shadowspawn in there somewhere, it could get interesting.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stories, but not really reaching the heights that had been obtatined in the orignal series. This was the last one I read, and I don't think any more came out for a while. I only found out years later that other volumes did appear.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed most of the stories.

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good shared world book series. The variety of writers keeps the stories fresh. Recommended

[Komble III · Rating 5 out of 5]

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