Rating: 
Summary: Best Book Fantasy Short Stories!
Review: A really neat group of captivating stories -- it's not "just like Tolkien" but all are wonderful albeit in their own style.
Rating:
Summary: Carry it everywhere
Review: As other reviewers have said, these stories are not Tolkein-esque. They are, however, a fine example of Tolkien's LEGACY. DeLint and Bull write stories with a subtly of prose which gives me shivers. I have read these storiezs aloud to friends over the phone. If you are a fan of fantasy, then read this collection. It is the book I take when I don't want to pack a lot of books but still want a diverse read on trips. Thank you, Tolkein (and MAcDonald) for making modern fantasy possible.
Rating: 
Summary: Great in its own right..
Review: Don't be fooled: the stories are nothing like Tolkien and have nothing to do with him at all. If you can get past the exploitation of the name for marketing purposes, however, you can still enjoy the stories. McKiernan, Pratchett and De Lint are some of my favorite authors, and they don't disappoint here. Except for "Up the River Road," which is too dragging and pointless, the whole collection is highly enjoyable. Buy it, settle back, and prepare to get lost in the imagination.
Rating:
Summary: A glorious way to spend hours in another world
Review: I am more familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's works than I am with the works of the authors featured in this mesmerizing collection of stories. However, through their rich dialogue and descriptions, many of the authors have created a new fan.
It was refreshing to see humor in this often dark genre. Mike Resnik's "Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies" had me laughing out loud on the subway, as did Terry Pratchett's "Troll Bridge." One of Tolkien's strengths was his ability to transport you to places that, though sometimes frightening, invited your return. These vivid stories do the same, even Dennis McKiernan's jarring "The Halfling House" is told with enough lightly sprinkled wit and detail that the ending is one of the best parts of the story. Well done, group.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent read even if none of the stories are Tolkien-like.
Review: I found all of the stories well written and enjoyable, but then I did not assume that they would be done in a Tolkien-like writing style or would be based on Tolkien's works. If you are looking for stories that are reminiscient of Tolkien's Middle Earth, you will be sorely dissapointed. If you are looking for an tome of enjoyable fantasy fiction (that sometimes borders on science fiction) you will like this collection. The fact that the stories (although very good) did not live up to the title of the book prompted me to give it three stars rather than four. Caveat Emptor.
Rating:
Summary: From the best to the worst
Review: Like many collections of short stories, After the King is a mixed bag, but it contains a higher ratio of stories I liked than most do. Many of the best of the fantasy genre are here, including Pratchett, McKillip, Norton, de Lint, and Beagle. (And though this book is credited to Jane Yolen, she is mainly credited writes a introduction -- a good one. She also writes one of the below)"Reave the Just" by Stephen R. Donaldson was one of my least favorites -- there's hardly any magic, and none of the characters really connect. We have a besotted youth, a spineless widow, a sadistic suitor, and Reave the Supremely Uninteresting. But fans of Terry Pratchett -- and of Cohen the Barbarian -- will enjoy the wry and funny "Troll Bridge." The SF story "Long Night's Vigil at the Temple" by Robert Silverberg is spellbindingly written and uncomfortably plotted, on the subject of religion and bringing up intelligent questions about the basis of some of them. "The Dragon of Tollin" by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is a fairly average dragon story. Poul and Karen Anderson's "Faith" is an intriguing story simply by virtue of featuring some goblin POV. I found "In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells" bu John Brunner boring, obnoxious and poorly characterized. "The Fellowship of the Dragon" by Patricia McKillip is perhaps the best of the entire volume, with the poetic language and intriguing plotline. Tolkien would be proud. I found Harry Turtledove's "Decoy Duck" (what a horrible title) to be intriguing, though a little out of my grasp. Andre Norton's "Nine Threads of Gold" is haunting to the core. Charles de Lint's "Conjure Man" is equally haunting for different reasons, starting with a quote from Tolkien himself, and proceeding to a lesson about nature and life. The dedication is excellent. Emma Bull's "Silver or Gold" is a delightful story in the tradition of old fairy tales and myths. Similarly Karen Haber's story "Up the Side of the Air" is cute without being cutesy, the tale of a wizard who gets a new assistant -- who happens to be a little girl. Peter S. Beagle pens the story "The Naga," which is rather densely written but also in the tradition of old fairy tales and myths. Some readers may like the quirky contemporary story "Revenge of the Sugar Plum Fairies" by Mike Resnick, but I thought it was weird and mildly irritating. ("Number one on our hit list is Walt Disney"?) "Winter's King" by Jane Yolen is haunting and sad at the end, and much shorter than the surrounding stories. "Gotterdammerung" by Barry N. Malzberg was blah -- I didn't connect to anyone in it, and it was formatted and written somewhat oddly. "Down the River Road" by Gregory Benford is also fairly dull, stretched out over a charmless contemporary setting and divided into chapterettes. Judith Tarr redeems the ending with the haunting, poetically-ended "Death and the Lady." And finally, for some inexplicable reason Dennis McKiernan wrote a story as well: "Halfling House," one of the worst SF/F short stories I've ever read. A small warning: it contains his ripoff hobbits the "warrows," as well as various other short species staying in a tiny, dimension-traveling inn -- and a few clumsy Tolkien homages that made me wince rather than smile. Not to mention the incoherent ending. Before anyone buys this simply because it says that the stories are "in honor" of Tolkien, let me warn you: Most of these stories bear no resemblance to Tolkien's work -- whether for good or ill. Some are contemporary stories; some take place in the generic medieval settings, and some take place in specific medieval settings (complete with Viking names). Some are comedic, some tragic, some a combination of both -- several were introspective. Some of them are pure fantasy, no fantasy, mildly fantasy-like, or bordering on SF. A mixed bag, as I said before, but with several excellent stories. Even if you are not a fan of the authors, you may want to check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of storys I wish were true.
Review: My whole family has read this book and they want to read it all over again
Rating:
Summary: Tolkien Would Approve... Sometimes
Review: One might suspect that in "After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien," each story would have a distinctly Tolkien-esque feel. However, this is not entirely the case. Not every short story contained here is even traditional high fantasy, and sometimes it seems more like an issue of a fantasy or sci-fi magazine with assorted, mismatched tales. Of course none of this means much in the long haul, because there are some nice little gems hidden in this 500 page volume. I particularly enjoyed the hilarious "Troll Bridge," the suspenseful "Faith," "The Halfling House," the haunting 6 page tale called "Winter's King," and even "The Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies," though the latter was one that seemed out of place. Fantasy and science fiction fans alike will certainly find enjoyment here, whether it's comedy, adventure, or emotional yarns you prefer. Just don't expect Tolkien-esque fantasy from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: Tolkien Would Approve... Sometimes
Review: One might suspect that in "After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien," each story would have a distinctly Tolkien-esque feel. However, this is not entirely the case. Not every short story contained here is even traditional high fantasy, and sometimes it seems more like an issue of a fantasy or sci-fi magazine with assorted, mismatched tales. Of course none of this means much in the long haul, because there are some nice little gems hidden in this 500 page volume. I particularly enjoyed the hilarious "Troll Bridge," the suspenseful "Faith," "The Halfling House," the haunting 6 page tale called "Winter's King," and even "The Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies," though the latter was one that seemed out of place. Fantasy and science fiction fans alike will certainly find enjoyment here, whether it's comedy, adventure, or emotional yarns you prefer. Just don't expect Tolkien-esque fantasy from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Fantasy Short Stories!
Review: Short stories whose quality varies tremendously. Certainly none of the stories ranks as an all time classic. Worse, the connection to Tolkien's works is vague at best... "Authors writing in their own distinctive style but still somehow being evocative of J.R.R."? Please! That is a lame pretense. This book is clearly a marketing ploy. It serves the same purpose as the Amazon.com lines reading "If you've read this book, you might enjoy..." Only, to their credit, Amazon.com is straightforward about it.
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