Rating: 
Summary: His skill continues to grow
Review: Intriguing book, much better I thought than Daughter of Regals; technically the quality of the writing and the inbuilt compassion surpassed anything he has done before. It was simultaneously simpler and more complex than the gap seris. Emotions seemed more natural rather than forced. I especially enjoyed Reave the Just for its intimation that justice is not a gift but something to be earned. In a way by any othe name was very similar, incidently to other readers who was the usurper, was he Reave again, or given the Satanic content was he the angel from Unworthy of an angel; I'd welcome any thoughts.Also excellent were the killing stoke and the vampire story, weakest were science fiction and the accursed......... Overall excellent effort, I look forward to the next fantasy novel along the same lines.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Sadly, this is my least favourite of Donaldson's works. I adored the Gap and Covenant works, liked the Daughter of Regals set a lot and Mordant's Need slightly less. However, there is very little here of his usual standard. I did however like 'The Kings of Tarshish shall bring Gifts', which stuck with me for a long time. The Nahia mindset from 'The Killing Stroke' was interesting too, but none of the other works appealed.
Rating:
Summary: Oh bugger! He used 'exigency' AGAIN?
Review: So so short stories. 'Penance' is the standout. But as someone said in their review of 'This Day All Gods Die' can we please get him an editor and make him stop using 'exigency'? Also stop with the 'execration' already. I'm only grateful that my all time favorite overused Donaldson word 'celerity' appears to be on vacation here. Use 'speed' or 'quickness' for Christsakes! Did is mother whack him with a Thesaurus when he was a baby? That would explain a lot.
Rating:
Summary: A return to the past
Review: Stephen Donaldson finally returns to fantasy writing after a ten year break. It is a truly a welcomed return after his uneven "Into the Gap" science fiction series. Once again Donaldson writes with passion and wonderful characters. Most of the characters are flawed, but that makes the stories even better. The book is very serious in tone and captures his mood very well. There is only one clunker in the mix, although the various stories will not be for everybody. My personal favorite is "Reave the Just" who deals out "justice". An added bonus is donalson writes a note to his readers what has happened to him and why he dissappeared for so long from the literary world. The reader also finds out his writing was also a part therapy for him and does explain why so many of the stories are brooding in nature. This is an excellent collection and should not be missed. If you are a Donalson fan, shame on you if you missed this set of stories. I hope he writes more along these lines.
Rating:
Summary: A return to the past
Review: Stephen Donaldson finally returns to fantasy writing after a ten year break. It is a truly a welcomed return after his uneven "Into the Gap" science fiction series. Once again Donaldson writes with passion and wonderful characters. Most of the characters are flawed, but that makes the stories even better. The book is very serious in tone and captures his mood very well. There is only one clunker in the mix, although the various stories will not be for everybody. My personal favorite is "Reave the Just" who deals out "justice". An added bonus is donalson writes a note to his readers what has happened to him and why he dissappeared for so long from the literary world. The reader also finds out his writing was also a part therapy for him and does explain why so many of the stories are brooding in nature. This is an excellent collection and should not be missed. If you are a Donalson fan, shame on you if you missed this set of stories. I hope he writes more along these lines.
Rating:
Summary: A return to the past
Review: Stephen Donaldson finally returns to fantasy writing after a ten year break. It is a truly a welcomed return after his uneven "Into the Gap" science fiction series. Once again Donaldson writes with passion and wonderful characters. Most of the characters are flawed, but that makes the stories even better. The book is very serious in tone and captures his mood very well. There is only one clunker in the mix, although the various stories will not be for everybody. My personal favorite is "Reave the Just" who deals out "justice". An added bonus is donalson writes a note to his readers what has happened to him and why he dissappeared for so long from the literary world. The reader also finds out his writing was also a part therapy for him and does explain why so many of the stories are brooding in nature. This is an excellent collection and should not be missed. If you are a Donalson fan, shame on you if you missed this set of stories. I hope he writes more along these lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow, Depressing
Review: Stephen Donaldson is one of the more talented writers in the field today. However, maybe because he is so talented, his books often taken on different styles or tones. Unlike most authors, Mr. Donaldson can write two books, on the same topic, and you would think that two different people wrote it. For example, his most recent success has been the "Gap" Series. I didn't like them. (I only read two) I loved "A Mirror of Her Dreams" and its sequel and the first portion of the Thomas Covenant series. So for me, his writing is hit or miss. Here, "Reave the Just" was a miss. In "Reave the Just" we have a collection of short stories with no connection, except the author. These stories range from a Djinn (Genie) who haunts a vain man, to a holy vampire, and an immature King who loves to dream. There are others. "Reave the Just" is the first story of this collection. "Reave the Just" is about a person who pretends to know a famous knight, in order to impress a pretty girl. He learns that famous knights oftentimes have infamous enemies. Enemies who may strike at those knights through their friends or allies. He also learns that when you speak the name of the devil, he may appear. But mostly, he and his "love" learn that sometimes heroes are just famous people and sometimes even little people can be heroic - sorta. The problem for me, with this story, and the ones that followed, was their tone. They were all very depressing. Mr. Donaldson writes in the beginning that one of these stories was written when he was going through a divorce. I can believe it. Even the "heroic" stories were very sad. The stories also take a little bit to long to develop. While some of the ideas were interesting, none of them seemed to pan out, for me. To be truthful, I only read 5 of 8 stories. I kept hoping that something would happen, that the "other" Donaldson would appear. He does not. (in the first 5) If you like the Gap novels, for example, maybe you will like this book. Otherwise, I would steer you to his other books mentioned above. They are much, much better.
Rating:
Summary: Slow, Depressing
Review: Stephen Donaldson is one of the more talented writers in the field today. However, maybe because he is so talented, his books often taken on different styles or tones. Unlike most authors, Mr. Donaldson can write two books, on the same topic, and you would think that two different people wrote it. For example, his most recent success has been the "Gap" Series. I didn't like them. (I only read two) I loved "A Mirror of Her Dreams" and its sequel and the first portion of the Thomas Covenant series. So for me, his writing is hit or miss. Here, "Reave the Just" was a miss. In "Reave the Just" we have a collection of short stories with no connection, except the author. These stories range from a Djinn (Genie) who haunts a vain man, to a holy vampire, and an immature King who loves to dream. There are others. "Reave the Just" is the first story of this collection. "Reave the Just" is about a person who pretends to know a famous knight, in order to impress a pretty girl. He learns that famous knights oftentimes have infamous enemies. Enemies who may strike at those knights through their friends or allies. He also learns that when you speak the name of the devil, he may appear. But mostly, he and his "love" learn that sometimes heroes are just famous people and sometimes even little people can be heroic - sorta. The problem for me, with this story, and the ones that followed, was their tone. They were all very depressing. Mr. Donaldson writes in the beginning that one of these stories was written when he was going through a divorce. I can believe it. Even the "heroic" stories were very sad. The stories also take a little bit to long to develop. While some of the ideas were interesting, none of them seemed to pan out, for me. To be truthful, I only read 5 of 8 stories. I kept hoping that something would happen, that the "other" Donaldson would appear. He does not. (in the first 5) If you like the Gap novels, for example, maybe you will like this book. Otherwise, I would steer you to his other books mentioned above. They are much, much better.
Rating: 
Summary: An uneven collection of entertaining stories
Review: Stephen Donaldson's latest book is an uneven collection of entertaining stories. Seven of the eight are fantasies, some set in medieval Europe, others in a fictitious medieval Muslim world, still others in realms of outright fantasy. The writing is sometimes portentous, but more often clear and unobtrustive. Of the stories he offers, few linger with the reader after the book is closed.
Rating:
Summary: Shorter, but still Stephen R. Donaldson
Review: Stephen R. Donaldson is, in my opinion, certainly the greatest fantasy writer ever to set pen to paper. I feel a little guilty saying this, because of course I love Tolkien. But Donaldon's works are deeper, more moving, and - despite often being harsh and burtal in spots - more positive and optimistic. Where Tolkien revels in the glory days of the past, Donaldson looks to the future. I enjoyed the short stories in Reave the Just because they are thematically and stylistically closest to his early works, mainly the Thomas Covenant books which I still think are by far his best. If you liked Covenant, these give you a sort of condensed shot of many of the things that make his earlier novels appealing. From the fool who falls in love with a lady and looks to the legendary Reave the Just to save him - only to find out that Reave's power is rather unusual and in the end he has to save himself; to the man who is cursed by a genie to have all the people close to him die horribly, this is classic Donaldson, but with a cleaner style honed by experience. I also liked the variety; the stories in this collection are not cookie-cutter fantasy but explorations of a variety of different themes and ideas, approached in different ways with real imagination. Also worthy of note, what made the Gap and Covenant series hard to read for many people was not so much the violence, which could be frequent and graphic, but the rape - which was neither, but obviously could still be rather difficult to tackle. There is no sex of any kind in any of these stories, which should make them much more accessible. While I "enjoyed" his most recent Gap series, in many ways those books reached a level of brutality I can't deal with repeatedly. These stories have backed off to being more typical fantasy fare with the Donaldson trademarks of un-heroic, often disadvantaged characters trying somehow to come to terms with difficult situations or tortured existances. Aragorn son of Arathorn, heir to Elendil they most certainly are not. I enjoyed this book quite a bit and highly reccomend it.
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