Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz
Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
"I loved making the acquaintance of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. If you haven't met them yet, you are in for a treat. They are the best partnership in the world of fantasy since Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser." -- George R.R. Martin, co-editor of "A Cargo of Ivories" New York Times bestselling author Garth Nix's exciting adult debut: a new collection including all eight stories--plus a never-before-published story--featuring Sir Hereward and his sorcerous puppet companion Mister Fitz, gathered in one magical volume for the first time ever! Sir Hereward: the only male child of an ancient society of witches. Knight, artillerist, swordsman. Mercenary for hire. Ill-starred lover. Mister Fitz: puppet, sorcerer, loremaster. Practitioner of arcane arts and wielder of sorcerous needles. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: godslayers. Agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World, charged with the location and removal of listed extra-dimensional entities, more commonly known as gods. Together, they are relentless travelers in a treacherous world of magic, gunpowder, and adventure. Compiled for the first time ever, these eight magical stories--plus an all-new tale, "The Field of Fallen Foe"--featuring fabulous, quintessential Garth Nix protagonists Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz comprise a must-have adult fantasy collection for fans and those about to discover the witch knight and his puppet sorcerer for the first time.
Series
Featured Series
0 released books#1-9 in Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz
Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz is a 0-book series first released in 2006 .
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3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Sir Hereward, born to an insular community of witches, and Mister Fitz, a sorcerous wooden puppet, are sworn to eradicate malevolent godlets. A collection of stories of their adventures.
Review
I've had mixed success with Garth Nix. I loved what I read of his Old Kingdom series and one or two other books borrowed from friends. I was less taken with his Left Handed Booksellers ofLondon novel. And I've read three Hereward and Fitz stories before in an earlier collection and .. shrugged. I found them to be well written but very reminiscent of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. In his introduction to this collection, Nix acknowledges that inspiration, along with others.
Those three earlier stories form the first three in this collection as well, along with half a dozen more. The tripling of content hasn't really changed my mind – these stories are all of a piece, and probably best read separately, with some separation.
They're all well written, fun, and interesting. Nix does a good job of presenting all the context needed to read them as standalone pieces, without making it boring for those reading the collection all at once, and that's a harder job than it sounds. As I noted previously, Nix is also probably a better writer than Leiber, and it's nice to see a writer use the occasional odd word correctly (and with the feeling that he actually knows it rather than resorting to a thesaurus), though his usage stumbles a bit in one of the later stories. The stories are well put together for what they are. However, they simply aren't much – they're light, pleasant fantasy fare, but not that memorable. That was a problem for some of Leiber's stories as well, but he often managed to work in a little pathos to give the thing a little more body. I'd have liked to see some of that here.
If you're a fan of Nix, or haven't read Leiber, or just want some easy reading, I recommend this. If you know Leiber well, you could see these as an homage and continuation, but you may also feel it's very familiar ground.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
