β Scribed by Peter S Beagle
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Beagle's novella, set in the world of 1991's The Innkeeper's Song, is an intimate take on the relatively common fantasy conceit of a powerful band of recluses. Following an encounter with three assassins, the wanderer Soukyan decides it is time to return to the monastery from which he had long ago escaped and take revenge on those who sent the killers. Beagle hints that Soukyan's world stretches far and wide but mostly focuses on a small area where various organizations have institutionalized murder and torture. Thoughtful, well-rounded characters make an intriguing contrast to scenes of bloody brutality. Readers familiar with The Innkeeper's Song will love this tie-in, while newcomers will both enjoy the tight focus and find plenty of incentive to seek out related works that further explore this complex, fully realized setting.
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Beagle returns to the world of his acclaimed The Innkeeperβs Song (1993) with this novel of Soukyan, the wandering fugitive from the Hunters. When their latest attack takes an unusual shape, it arouses Soukyanβs curiosity to the point of returning to the weird and sinister monastery where she was raised. Her disguise is quickly penetrated, and a gaggle of mad monks prepares to sacrifice her to the Hunterβs Tree, where Hunters grow like peapods. This is the secret of the monastery, an inexhaustible supply of assassins. Soukyanβs death is to revive the dying tree, but instead she brings it to a fiery end before fleeing. The quality of Beagleβs prose, characterization, and world building (without the aid of maps or glossaries) is as superlative as ever, and he manages to compress a full-fledged story into an amazingly small space. Masterpieces, let all take note, do not have to be lifted with both hands. --Roland Green
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