MINES OF BEHEMOTH

Rating:
Summary: Sadly dissappointing
Review: Having read the classic "Nift the lean" I licked my lips with anticipation when I heard that there was a sequeal/prequeal.I opened the pages expecting something akin to "The Demon Sea" sadly that was not the case. I found the writing surprisingly difficult to read lacking the usaul Jack Vance verve and wit combined with a Clark Ashton Smith imagery. Still other Michael Shea fans may disagree, how ever for me it was disappointment becaue I know Michael Shea is an exceptional writer.

Rating:
Summary: The Mines Of Behemoth
Review: I seem to remember the original book--Nifft The Lean--being quite a serious venture, whereas this sequel is mainly geared for laughs. And it's quite funny at times, what with the interaction between Nifft, his pal Barnar, and a hapless, limbless demon named Ostrogall who comes under the rogues' power and is naive enough to expect they'll play fair with him as he leads them around the MInes of Behemoth. There's also the delicious dickering that goes on between our thieving duo and those who have hired them to brave the Mines--a pair of Bunts (sister and brother), and Barnar's snivelling nephew Costard, all of whom end up down in the Mines with their sneaky hirelings, listening to endless excuses about why Nifft and Barnar will not share any of the bonus spoils they come across while seeking to steal magical pap secreted by giant bugs...like the marvellous Unguent of Flight!

Once Nifft and Barnar trek underground--along with their ever-growing entourage of hangers-on--they turn out to be the smallest things going. Shea creates a gigantic subterranean landscape--and he needs to, to house all the insect leviathans he's got crawling around down there. Even if the biggest beasties don't notice them (still dangerous, because a giant that doesn't even note your existence may still squash you), the more serious threat comes from the various predatory parasites living on the carapaces of the behemoths. Lots of snapping mandibles and gluey, grasping tentacles to be avoided in this tale (and not everyone succeeds).

Best bits: Nifft and Barnar's deliberate snubbing of a sort of "house rule" concerning how much Unguent of Flight one is allowed to take, and the chaos that results once the punishing curse is released; Nifft soliciting the female Bunt for more sexual favours, after he has repeatedly denied her part of the excess wealth he's accumulated while underground (he can't seem to understand why she connects the two situations--a thief is a thief, right?); and then there's the final fate of the smarmy demon, Ostrogall.

The ending is perhaps too trite an exercise in comical karma, though, admittedly, Costard's and Bunt's mishandling of the Pap of Enlargement, once everyone who survived is aboveground again, is worth a few grins.

Not as glorious as Nifft's earlier adventures, but very entertaining, and just as colourfully written.

Rating:
Summary: Not the original Nifft
Review: My first exposure to Michael Shea was in 'Nifft the Lean'. It is an excellent book which throughly grabbed my imagination. I looked forward to more Nifft stories. Unfortunately, 'Behemoths' is nothing like the former book. It is written in the first person in a very stilted style which I found difficult to read. Or maybe what I found difficult was believing that this was the same Nifft protrayed in the earlier work? In either case before I got very far into the book I was wishing a fatal accident on Nifft or his companion. Anything to end the incipid dialogue.

For those who want to read Michael Shea at his best go pick up 'Nifft The Lean'. Leave this one to collect dust.

Rating:
Summary: Not the original Nifft
Review: My first exposure to Michael Shea was in 'Nifft the Lean'. It is an excellent book which throughly grabbed my imagination. I looked forward to more Nifft stories. Unfortunately, 'Behemoths' is nothing like the former book. It is written in the first person in a very stilted style which I found difficult to read. Or maybe what I found difficult was believing that this was the same Nifft protrayed in the earlier work? In either case before I got very far into the book I was wishing a fatal accident on Nifft or his companion. Anything to end the incipid dialogue.

For those who want to read Michael Shea at his best go pick up 'Nifft The Lean'. Leave this one to collect dust.

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Imaginative Fantasy Entertainment
Review: Shea is one of the most underappreciated fantasy authors alive. This book will delight serious fans of the fantastic with its outrageous landscapes, bizarre creatures, vivid prose and plentiful black humor. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Imaginative Fantasy Entertainment
Review: This is a fantasy novel of magnificent, sweeping scope. It is full of collossal, grotesque images that long remain to haunt the reader--much like those in Nifft the Lean. I would put it up there with The Worm Ouroboros. I hope more people give this book a chance, so that it gets the recognition it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: a classic of epic fantasy
Review: This is a fantasy novel of magnificent, sweeping scope. It is full of collossal, grotesque images that long remain to haunt the reader--much like those in Nifft the Lean. I would put it up there with The Worm Ouroboros. I hope more people give this book a chance, so that it gets the recognition it deserves.