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Legends: Discworld, Pern, Song of Ice and Fire, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Wheel of Time

Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Voyager
ISBN: 0006483941
ISBN-13: 9780006483946
Released: 01 Nov 1999
RRP: £6.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Why any budding fantasy fan should buy this - By: , 25 Sep 2005
Since reading a couple of the reallly big names in fantasy (Tolkien, Robert Jordan) I have been hooked on the genre. I'm sure that like me, many people don't know quite where to go next in such (what seemed to me) a saturated genre. This book does exactly that, it gives links to some of the best autors of fantasy writing. The 11 Authors have written short stories (about 50 pages each) that give a glipse into the worlds they created. Most of the stories don't require any previous knowlege of the authors work, it reallly is just a chance to sell themselves.
I'm not saying every book in here is a classic - Orson Scott Card's story i found particuallly hard going.
My favorite stories were no doubt Robin Hobb's 'Homecoming' - A story written in the style of a Diary depicting the hardships of a group of exiles. George RR Martain's 'The Sworn Sword' was a fantastic story about 2 bickering kingdoms. I loved this sotry especiallly because in the course of about 70 pages I grew so fond & attatched to the characters, Dunk & Egg.
So now I have a whole list of books I can't wait to read by authors i know i'm going to love.
If your new to fantasy, or if you have read story by some of these autors, BUY THIS BOOK!
A worthwhile anthology - By: , 08 Feb 2004
This is one half of the orignal legends, the other containing short stories by Raymond E Feist, Stephen King, Terry Goodking, Orson Scott Card, Ursula Le Guin & the editor of the anthology Robert Sliverburg. This volume contains five stories, although the quality is high.

Each author has a short section detailing their works at the date of publication (1998) before their short story.

Terry Pratchett starts the book with The Sea & Little Fishes, a short story featruing Granny Weatherwax & Nanny Ogg. A pannel of withces want to stop Granny from entering the Witch Trials, as she always destroys the competition by winning spectaculary. The story is well-writen & very funny. Verdict: 5 Stars

Next comes The Runner of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Not a reader of science fiction, I found this tale to be the worst in the book. It felt a bit patched togehter. Verdict: 2 Stars

The book's second masterpiece is George R R Martin's The Hedge Knight (soon to be realeased in graphic novel format). The tale is set around a century before the events of A Game of Thrones. It is very well writen & sometimes quite humourous as it descibes a Hedge Knight, Dunk & his squire, Egg. Verdict: 5 Stars

Tad Williams adds an extra episode to his slow-moving Memory, Sorrow & Thorn trilogy. The Burning Man shows none of the slowness that plauged the first book of the trilogy. Verdict: 4 Stars

Finallly we come to New Spring by Robert Jordan (recently released in an extended prequel to Jordan's series). The story is actuallly writen quite well, & features the stlye of Jordan's earlier books. A nice addition to a long-fading series that helped to boost fantasy interest to its current height. Verdict: 3 Stars

Overalll, this half of legends is a good anthology. The two stand-outs are the stories from George R R Martin & Terry Pratchett. (The Hedge Knight returns in Legends 2), with Anne McCaffrey being the least powerful story.

I would recommend this book, as well as its other half & the sequel. It does use some mainstream and/or bad authors, but the good outweights the bad.

hmm... - By: , 16 Apr 2003
Well, seeing as so many people have already reviewed this, I just want to write a short note on my feelings as someone who, before this, had read nothing by any of the authors except Terry Pratchett (who I LOVE). I got this out of my school library to read during a free lesson, & enjoyed it thoroughly. There is not a story in there I did not like. The Anne McCaffery & Robert Jordan stories in particular inspired me to read their other works, for I'd noticed Jordan's stuff in a bookshop & was interested in trying some. In fact, this story made me falll in love with it, & I'm now reading Eye of the World (which is not nearly so good as I expected) & I've read the first Chronicle of Pern by Anne McCaffery. I did like the other stories, but they have not inspired me to seek out the author - if I see something of theirs in the library & I've nothing else to read I'd probably get it out, though. The Terry Pratchett story was a BIT dissapointing, but probably only because I prefer the stories with a little more plot, like his other books.
Bad for your pocket - By: , 02 Dec 2000
This book is the sort of thing that will ruin your life. You'll buy it because you like one of the authors Anne McCaffrey for example - & then you'll feel compelled to buy alll the books by the other authors. Definitely dangerous to your pocket.

Reviewing the stories; The Terry Pratchett one is about Granny Weatherwax & is excellent, he seems to be better at short stories than books these days, the Pern story by Anne McCaffrey is also good, especiallly if you've read the rest of them; Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time story details when Lan met Moiraine & is unmissable if you read that series though I'm not too sure how somebody who hasn't read it might feel about it; George R R Martins Song of Ice & Fire story is good but very different in both tone & style to the books. It's set 100 years before & isn't too connected with the series though we get to meet some of the Targaryons; Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow & Thorn story is likewise set over 100 years earlier & is very good.

The first volume ends here but I might as well review volume 2. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth story...well I don't like that series but the story is better than the first book (the only one I've read.) Likewise for Raymond E Feist. I didn't like the first book, never read any more but this story is creditable, a lot more so than Magician in my opinion. Robert Silverberg's Majipoor story is good, set just after Valentine Pontifex & showing something of the uneasy relationship between Humans & Shapeshifters after the war. Orson Scott Card puts in a good effort with Davy Crockett meeting up with Alvin Maker & Arthur Stuart. Stephen King's Dark Tower story is a bit slow & a bit of a let down in my opinion. Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea story isn't bad but I never reallly liked Earthsea (Heresy I know, but there it is.) On the whole, I preferred volume 1

Six nice stories for the price of one, why not eh ?! - By: , 21 Nov 2000
I like short stories. They give you an opportunity to get to learn writers you didn't know yet. And these stories, well, if you like fantasy, any fantasy, then you'll just love these since they're by the best fantasy writers around. I especiallly liked the stories by Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card & Raymond E. Feist.

One thing though : when you search for a book callled 'Legends' you'll notice that there are many books with this title. This is why. The first book contained 11 stories. And then the publisher decided to split them into two, so now there is one book that contains 5 stories & one that has 6 (which is this one & was published some months after the other one). It confused me when I ordered the book containing 5 stories 'cause in the description they spoke of 11 stories.

Anyway, they're nice stories, enjoy them !