Book 43: Legends: Short novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy

this book was interesting. It features eleven short stories by people who made the fantasy genre popular. Or, at least it tries. All these stories were set in series the authors selected made famous.

My favorite stories were “The Hedge Knight” by George R. R. Martin, “The Burning Man” by Tad Williams, “Dragonfly” by Ursula K. Le Guin, and “The Runner of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey. Other stories, however, were a lot weaker, including Silverberg’s own contribution, “The Seventh Shrine” which was a murder mystery I found unreadable because of its trite, stupid dialogue, and flat, boring characters, and Robert Jordan’s contribution, “New Spring”, which had both of those qualities in abundance, plus misogyny to boot.

The book is great for people looking for new authors to explore, and provides new material by favorite writers, too. Recommended in spite of some of the really craptacular stories.