Helpful Score: 2
My first book by this author, who's described as a "cult favorite." Never heard of her before, but I thought this was a quite entertaining fantasy in the classic vein (think Thieves' World) but with a vein of darker elements running through it... (maybe a little Storm Constantine, Tanith Lee, Meredith Ann Pierce...)
From the wilderness, the young woman Jame arrives at the city of Tai-Tastigon... unfortunately during the inauspicious night of the Feast of Dead Gods, when all sorts of formerly-worshipped horrors walk the streets freely.... Luckily, most of the rest of the time, the many gods of the mazelike city are safely "en-templed" (I LOVE the concept of having to keep your god locked up in its temple!)
Although Jame remembers little of where she came from, or what she has been doing for the last few years, she knows that she is one of the possibly-alien Kencyr, that her high-blooded family was killed, and she has a mission to find her brother, and restore the heirlooms that are his birthright to him. However, it seems a hopeless task, and Jame soon finds herself caught up in the complex life of the city - apprenticed to a master thief, and living at a bustling inn that unfortunately is being harassed by the competition next door... not to mention catching the interest of more than one man, and also being fascinated my the riddles of Tai-Tastigon's many gods...
A fun read, with a good mix of the classic and the original....
From the wilderness, the young woman Jame arrives at the city of Tai-Tastigon... unfortunately during the inauspicious night of the Feast of Dead Gods, when all sorts of formerly-worshipped horrors walk the streets freely.... Luckily, most of the rest of the time, the many gods of the mazelike city are safely "en-templed" (I LOVE the concept of having to keep your god locked up in its temple!)
Although Jame remembers little of where she came from, or what she has been doing for the last few years, she knows that she is one of the possibly-alien Kencyr, that her high-blooded family was killed, and she has a mission to find her brother, and restore the heirlooms that are his birthright to him. However, it seems a hopeless task, and Jame soon finds herself caught up in the complex life of the city - apprenticed to a master thief, and living at a bustling inn that unfortunately is being harassed by the competition next door... not to mention catching the interest of more than one man, and also being fascinated my the riddles of Tai-Tastigon's many gods...
A fun read, with a good mix of the classic and the original....
