Heroes Wanted: A Fantasy Anthology

A nice albeit very short short story featuring [a:Michael J. Sullivan's 2063919 Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1433443335p2/2063919.jpg] Hadrian and Royce (Riyria). It is part of the Riyria Chronicles. There's so little actual story, I won't summarise it here. Suffice it to say you won't be disappointed even though there's a slight deja-vu feeling...Thankfully, the “[b:Heroes Wanted 49013656 Heroes Wanted A Fantasy Anthology Laura M. Hughes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575091464l/49013656.SX50.jpg 74436003]” anthology which it is part of can be gotten for free from Amazon fairly often and so you have nothing to lose. Four out of five stars for a happy reunion with Riyria!Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam

Read 6 stories (30%). Enjoyed not one of them. 2 started very well, but eventually fizzled out into boredom. The rest not even that. None was terrible, all had ok or good writing, but I simply lost hope for the anthology as a whole.

I have been reading a lot of fantasy short stories recently. There is definitely an art to condensing everything needed into a short form. They are also great for introducing you to new authors. Most anthologies have a theme running through - this one is themed on what it means to be a hero. The heroic super character is an oft used fantasy trope, but the stories contained here take a much more nuanced look at the idea of heroics. They focus on the small things, the beginnings and the ideals. I have read a few of Laura M. Hughes short stories before, and have been thoroughly impressed. She takes that deft grasp of what makes a good short story and has managed to curate a fantastic collection of good up and coming authors works in this collection. Her own contribution ‘Ratman' doesn't disappoint either, a great story about redemption and turning weakness into strength. ‘Half-breed' and ‘Fresh off the boat' were two others that I found particularly memorable, but there were no especially weak stories in this collection.

These are all young, new authors and if this is the future of fantasy we have a lot to look forward to! This collection is also a steal, being free on amazon. Definitely check it out!