Soul of the City

Thieves' World #8

by Robert Lynn Asprin (Editor), Lynn Abbey (Editor), Janet E. Morris (Contributor)

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
C.J. Cherryh
Janet Morris

In this dramatic eighth volume, Tempus returns to Sanctuary, a city ravaged by war and upheaval, seething with crime and chaos - a dark bedlam of magic forces thrown out of balance, and disasters, both natural and unnatural...

Contents:
* Dramatis Personae - Lynn Abbey
* Power Play - Janet Morris
* Dagger in the Mind - C.J. Cherryh
* Children of All Ages - Lynn Abbey
* Death in the Meadow - C.J. Cherryh
* The Small Powers that Endure - Lynn Abbey
* Pillar of Fire - Janet Morris

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

242 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soul of the City was the eighth volume of the Thieves' World shared-universe series. There was a year between publication of the earlier books, but this one came out just a few months after the seventh, The Dead of Winter. Instead of the successful format of the earlier books, individual stand-alone stories with shared settings and some character overlap with a wide variety of writers, they went for more of a serialized single novel length story. There are six sections, two each from Lynn Abbey, C.J. Cherryh, and Janet Morris. Tempus returns and the other main character is Roxanne, two of the main characters I least cared for. It was a good enough read, but I didn't think it was nearly as enjoyable as the first six books.

[Jim Kuenzli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I am stopping the series here. The first several books gave us a shared concept with many authors contributing to this unique fantasy anthology. Sadly they strayed from that format, and in this volume, created in essence, a novel. The 6 short stories by the 3 authors read as long chapters, instead of the open and closed stories in the early volumes. They focused heavily on characters that are ridiculous, like Roxanne and Tempus, instead of the multitude of rich characters developed in the earlier books. The writing wasn’t terrible, it just doesn’t follow the concept a lot of us enjoyed.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book's biggest problem is that it fights against its own form. The authors essentially decided to write a novel, but they arranged it as six short stories, and those stories largely fall flat. Without beginnings, middles, or ends, they just contribute to a feeling of inertia.

This is made worse by the fact that the first three stories, comprising a full half of the book, are setup. Thus as you read through them, not only is nothing happening, but it increasingly feels like nothing will *ever* happen. This is only corrected beginning with CJ Cherryh's second turn at bat, when suddenly everything starts blowing up ... but only after reading 140 pages of dense, tight, small text.

I also think the concentration on Cherryh's characters in this novel doesn't help it out. Mor-am, Moria, Haught, and Stilcho have always been among the least interesting of Sanctuary's denizens and they get too much use here (as does the vastly overused Roxanne, who you just wish would die already when she shows up as a major threat YET AGAIN at the start of this book).

Though none of the stories in this volume are necessarily *bad*, the whole is definitely less than its parts, making it the worst volume of Thieves' World to date and the only true failure. If the book had been half its size, perhaps things might have worked out, but I wouldn't count on it, as the volume is too intrinsically flawed.

[Mars · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been over a decade since I picked up a Thieves' World book - but I remember the earlier anthologies being full of life, and exciting new characters, and discoveries of self and stuff.

This one falls rather flat, in that regard. Stuff happens, but it feels like it happens because the authors wanted to tie up some loose ends and cash in on a series while it's still good. The beginning was hideous, it picked up a bit after but not much.

Or maybe I'm just getting too old... should re-read a few of the earlier ones to see which it is.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Right about here is where I went home, boxed up all my Thieves' World books, took them to the used book store and gave them away. What started off as a well-written 'shared universe' series degenerated until each book was more bitter than the previous one.
I think the series went on for years, but I was glad that I had stepped off that train. The stories were no longer fresh and imaginative, they were jaded and tired. And so often sordid. Ugh.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the Thieves World series progresses, its stories become ever more interlinked. This volume tells one story, threaded throughout each different entry. As a consequence, it is both epic and personal.

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one volume was very hard to put down. The stories were, for the most part, crisp and lively. I honestly can't wait to read what comes next but that feeling is tempered with the realization that I'm coming to the end of the anthology. I've got four books left of the original series and I believe two volumes after that by one of the original editors. (R.L. Asprin died unexpectedly in 2008) This book was superb but it ended the stories for a couple of my favourite characters. Still, I would highly recommend it.

[Redsteve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soul of the City has moved beyond the level of author coordination in The Dead of Winter (#7), making this less of a "shared world" collection of short stories and more of a novel with three authors (Cherryh, Abbey and Morris) writing alternating sections. In a way this makes the story more coherent (which is a blessing as the combined plotline is more than a little contorted), but at the same time detracts from much of what makes Thieves' World enjoyable - although Cherryh's TW stories have always felt like a serialized novel anyway. I also agree with some of the other reviewers that the Roxanne story arc just seems to drag on forever. I give this installment a 2.5.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with other reviewers that the strength and weakness of this volume is the same—it’s much more coherent, much more a novel written by a group than a set of short stories. As a novel, it at least has rising action and a climax, even though is seems to take forever to get started. As short stories, they lack the variety and diversity of earlier volumes, and I miss that.

[Janine]

The first 6 novels go quickly the remaining seem to get mired in backstory.

[Des · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have said, this one falls a little flat in comparison to the previous volumes.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three authors with two stories each make this anthology much more focused than the other Thieves World books but, unfortunately for this reader, it focuses on a story I don't care for. First, the huge flood that happened at the end of the last book does not seem to have happened in this book, which is disappointing, and second, it's more of the never ending war between Roxane and Ischade which never seems to progress and a big waste of time reading it, in my opinion.

[Kendal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels like that the three authoresses were just writing stories for themselves. The stories got confusing. TW works best when the stories are focused on a few people, and not trying to touch all bases of characters. At this point, TW is like the MCU in 2023—too many characters getting spread too thin.

[Carlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the series, with three authors contributing two strong stories each make up this eighth Thieves’ World anthology. Probably because the authors had coordinated their stories, this anthology is far more satisfyingly paced, with good “set piece” stories building to a rewarding climax which moves forward several ongoing plot lines.
Well worth the reread after 37 years!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a couple years since I read Book 7 of this series, so I was pretty lost as to what was going on in the story. However, by the end of the book, I was back in te groove, and really liked the conclusion.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My project to re-read the Thieves' World books I had previously read and then read the ones I hadn't continues (I scored a nearly complete collection in a used bookshop in Montreal in February of 2019) - I'm now off the map, reading volumes I didn't previously possess. Unfortunately, I'm finding some of these later volumes, particularly this one, a bit of a slog - I feel like the stories got bogged down in the metaplot of what was happening in the shared world in general, and ceased to shine with the truly independent creative spirit that had made the series great in the first place. I'm hoping the next volume gets better. The fantasy is competent, and not bad . . . just not as groundbreaking and amazing as the early volumes.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readability 8. Rating 6. Date estimated. One of the Thieves' World series of books, which collect short stories from a range of science-fiction and fantasy writers. The interesting aspect of these stories is the common setting (the City of Sanctuary) and the overlapping of characters and events. At it's best, the series provides multiple viewpoints in very different styles of events that impact each character's life to varying extents. The series also does an excellent job of maintaining a historical flow throughout the series. At this point (I am writing this well after the time I read the books), I cannot differentiate among the early books in this series. Note also, that this is the second reading for the first eight in the series.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I went from an ok book to this one, which was amazing. It felt like they really got back on track with this anthology, and then you get to feel a major plot point that is really underscored throughout the books up until now. It comes out like gangbusters in this book and the stories within. I never give spoilers, but they flipped the script, literally on the city of Sanctuary in this book and it is well worth to wait to get to it. Wow!

Danny

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this dramatic eighth volume, Tempus returns to Sanctuary, a city ravaged by war and upheaval, seething with crime and chaos - a dark bedlam of magic forces thrown out of balance, and disasters, both natural and unnatural...

[Patrick Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who switches trends at book #8? It seems like the ladies in this collective had a hookah session, shared their characters, and did them some writing - You might need the other seven as prep, but bout time the ladies got the keys!

[Schatzl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it.It was simply awful-boring and awful. I'd worked my way up to book 8 and enough was enough. I' ve rarely not finished a book. Conan the barbarian-I finished it-and it was -grr-stultifying. But this was trash.

Avoid this book.
Run away.
Live to read
Another day.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continues the high quality of the previous few volumes.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great!

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 3 out of 5]

see book 1

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Raymond Rugg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next up is Soul of the City from 1986, and it is the anomaly of the series. It contains six stories, written by three authors (the first and last stories are by Janet Morris, C.J. Cherryh wrote the second and fourth, and Lynn Abbey did the third and fifth). This book breaks the form and somewhat contradicts the premise of the shared-world storyline. It tends more to a collaborative collection instead of the fresh new shared-world model that made the earlier books so popular. By rights, this should count against it. But I have to admit that it makes the book perhaps a bit more readable and cohesive. It’s easier to follow all of the threads of the tales as they weave together and, to complete the analogy, these stories tie up the loose ends. Oh, there’s still opportunity for storylines to continue, but all in all, book eight would have been a convenient and satisfying stopping point for the franchise.