Fearsome Journeys is a fantasy anthology from Solaris,
edited by the remarkably prolific Jonathan Strahan. I’ve enjoyed some of the
other Solaris anthologies, and this one looked to have a good mix of authors I
knew, and those I hadn’t previously heard of. As ever, I enjoyed some of the
stories more than others – but I don’t think there was a bad one in the bunch.
There were several standouts. “The Effigy Engine” from Scott
Lynch, combined his sharply charming prose with a vivid world. There’s a
certain amount of humour here as well, as a small unit of wizards attempt to
help win a seemingly unwinnable war. The banter is familiar for a close knit team,
and their personalities are large enough that they step off the page. There’s
pyrotechnic thaumaturgy, snark, and a whisper of something deeper. This is a
space I’d quite happily explore more of.
I also really enjoyed K.J. Parker’s entry, “The Dragonslayer
of Merebarton”. This is probably no surprise to long term readers, who know I’m
a massive fan of Parker’s work. Still, the tone here is pitch perfect – a pragmatic,
tired knight, a man well past the point of his previous glories, dealing with
something unusual. Admittedly, dealing with it with a sort of put upon
disappointment, and a fairly deserved expectation that everything will go
horribly wrong. There’s some heroics here, of a sort, and meditations on
mortality and the virtues of duty. It’s a multi-layered piece, and one with
something of a sting in the tail.
Glen Cook’s Black Company short, “Shaggy Dog Bridge” is
probably the other main event in this collection, and it’s really rather well
done. This is Croaker and his gang of miscreants in their early days, on the
run from the Lady and her Taken. It’s a grim story in some ways, with rogue
wizards and otherworldy monstrosities. There’s the seeping tone of noir that
infuses a lot of Cook’s work, and the troops-eye-view of epic events which has
always been the Black Company trademark. It’s a good story, too – occasionally funny,
often deadly serious, and always very compelling.
I could go on – as I say, each of the stories inside of the
collection is enjoyable. I will say that it feels like there’s something here
for everyone. Low fantasy. High fantasy. Grimdark. If it’s got a label, you
could probably apply it to one of the stories available here. The diversity of
material on offer is impressive – from Kate Eliot’s insightful, nuanced, fairytale-esque
story, through Daniel Abraham’s darker tale of an undying king, a narrative in
vignettes where the subtext is as valuable as what’s on the page. Elizabeth
Bear’s “The Ghost Makers” gives us character driven fantasy, driven by an
automaton and a dead man – both of whom stroll off the page, large as life, in
between hunting a killer.
In any event, there’s something for everyone here – it’s a
collection whose imaginative breadth is its soul. Every tale may not be for
you, but they’re all interesting takes on imaginative worlds, and worth
investing your time in. (At time of review, it was also all of 99p on Kindle - give it a try!)
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