Monday, October 6, 2008

Guinevere's Truth-Jennifer Roberson

Guinevere's Truth
Jennifer Roberson
Five Star, Nov 2008, $25.95
ISBN 9781594141508

These are twenty well written feminist fantasy tales from an author renowned as one of best authors of the sub-genre. The entries contain six from the 1980s; nine from the 1990s (including the title story), and the remaining five from this decade. Most of the early contributions were published in Sword and Sorceriss. The compilation runs much of the gamut of the genre with the emphasis obviously on heroines. Two of them “A Lesser Working” and “Guinevere's Truth” are intriguing Arthurian shorts and two others (“Of Honor and the Lion” and “Blood of Sorcery” have ties in the Chronicles of the Cheysuli realm. Although the tone is vast from humor to subtle irony to conflicting cultures; and the perspective can be from the heroine or a relative (female of course), fans of Jennifer Roberson will appreciate her short story compilation in which one overarching theme whether I be modern America, Cheysuli , or another realm is kick butt females.

Harriet Klausner

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