Empress of Dreams in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jul 20, 2021 Joseph rated it it was amazing

A collection of fantasy stories (mostly lying somewhere in the debatable borderlands of sword & sorcery) by the inimitable Tanith Lee, spanning her career from early to late. (My one minor niggle with the collection -- I didn't see any kind of copyright page listing the dates & sources for the individual stories.)

As always with Lee's fantasy, they were lush and decadent and enfolded me like a big, black velvet cloak. ...more

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Feb 11, 2021 Richard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sword-and-sorcery, dmr-books, anthologies, fantasy

I have collected Tanith Lee books for countless years. I am always on the lookout for something new to add to my collection. Then DMR Books announced a new anthology of Ms. Lee's short stories. Sixteen stories, and I had only read two before? Sign me up.

Tanith Lee's stories have a fairy tale, dream-like quality to them. They also have an air of twilight and antiquity to them. A darkness lurks at the edges. They are like a rare wine, to be sipped and savored. I took my time, enjoying each tale, a ...more

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Aug 08, 2022 Riju Ganguly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Tanith Lee infuses her fantasies with such a dreamlike quality that the colours become sharper, the clash of steel becomes more violent, beauties and words become even more sublime, and yet...
Yet the works become more ethereal— as if they are waiting to vanish once we have read them.
The present collection contains some of her finest fantasies.
Sixteen long and short works are present here. Several were too ornate and acted as soporifics. But several were taut, suspenseful, or humorous works that ...more

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May 17, 2021 Christopher rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

This was actually my first exposure to the writings of Tanith Lee (save the story 'Evillo the Uncunning' which is also contained in this collection) and I feel kind of weird that I never read her work before now. She is a remarkable wordsmith in that 70s fantasy vibe I enjoy so much. ...more

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Jan 09, 2023 Christopher rated it really liked it

****1/4: “The Sombrus Tower” is one of the best pieces of weird fiction, sword & sorcery that I have ever read. The other stories come damn close to matching it. Tanith Lee is still vastly underrated, a true master of the genre.

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