Giant Bones

Rating:
Summary: good stuff, but flawed
Review: As usual, Mr. Beagle proves what a master he is at world-creation and character-generation (and his prose is lovely, as usual). Also as usual, the resolutions of the story just never merit their fabulous build-up. (The last three stories are somewhat better in this department than the first three--esp. "Giant Bones" and "Choushi-Wai's Story", tho' you'd expect more spice from any story with Lal and Soukyan in it, even if they are in their 80s, right?) The most glaring example of this was the third story, "The Tragical Historie of the Jiril's Players"--which was really, really good (pretty funny, too)...until the ending! I mean, the build-up is great, but you're so amused and interested in the Players, you kinda wish they'd play a larger role in the outcome! Oh, well. Anyway, despite all this (and they do get better as they go along), it's rare I've read a collection of worth-while fantasy short stories...but this is a good one!

Rating:
Summary: Six Unique Voices - Six Lovely Stories
Review: Set in the world of his previous book, "The Innkeeper's Song," Beagle presents six stand-alone fairy tales in this charming collection. All but one from first person perspective (Lal and Soukyan's last hurrah), Beagle continues to weave strange twists on old forms: the girl who would rather marry a thief, the powerful magician who had no love for power, two old mercenary partners who find a need for reconciliation, and - my favourite - the actors who are privy to a most unusual theatrical performance! As delightful and lyrical as these tales are, however, Beagle's world is bleak, leaving all his characters to live in a catch-as-catch can world. Beagle also feels no need to shrink from or tidy-up the language of his characters, as the first story eminently proves. While this excellent ear for the "voices" of the five story-tellers in this wonderful collection is more than appropriate but necessary to each story, young children who loved "The Last Unicorn" would be advised to wait a few years before delving into this enjoyable anthology.

Rating:
Summary: Like an evening of the very best storytelling...
Review: Since all the stories in "Giant Bones" are either framed by some kind of first-person narrative or directly recounted by a participant-with the exception of "Lal and Soukyan," thus giving that story a particular distinction-reading the book is like nothing so much as spending an evening with a rich and peculiar cast of characters. The narrators are as varied as the tales they tell: an old woman paying a scribe to set down the truth, an old man in an inn telling stories with his friends, a traveling player commiserating with a fellow actor, the professional storyteller Choushi-wai regaling an audience with her favorite tale, and an impatient father recounting the family legend to his son. Each story has its own particular scope, from a disaster of a theatrical production to the clash of a power-hungry queen and a back-country magician, told in vivid, sympathetic prose to which is added the particular pungency of each narrator. Nor does the third-person style of "Lal and Soukyan" do anything to diminish its power. It's not exactly a sequel to "The Innkeeper's Song," as it answers almost none of the questions that the book's ending leaves for the readers to ponder, but it is a welcome reappearance for two beloved characters. By its very ending it seems to preclude any further "sequels" but regardless of its place in any kind of story cycle it's a very good short story and stands quite well on its own. More, it and the other the other five stories flesh out the world which was sketched so vividly, if not explored in depth, in "The Innkeeper's Song." Either as a sequel-of-sorts or as a stand-alone collection, "Giant Bones" is very good. And what more do you want out a book, anyway?