Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collections
Publication
EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing (2005), Edition: 1, Paperback, 288 pages
Description
Between the covers of this "double-faced flipover" book, you_ll find two complete collections of Tanya Huff_s comical short stories featuring Magdelene (the world's most powerful and laziest wizard) and Terazin (a top-notch thief). "Stealing Magic is charming, funny, and once again proves that Huff has no regard for the conventions and boundaries of genre... -- the genre is turned on its head, and to hilarious effect. The Magdelene stories in Stealing Magic are certainly some of the few _high fantasy_ short works that I have enjoyed recently." - Challenging Destiny Stealing Magic is both appealing and amusing, and belongs in everyone's fantasy collection.
User reviews
LibraryThing member SimonW11
These S&S short stories are rather badly proof They are laid out like an Ace Double with stories about Magdelene at the front and you flick the book over to read the rather shorter collection of four Terazin Stories. Terazin is the best thief in Oreen, Which means she finds herself manouvered by
Magdelene? She is the worlds most powerful wizard. Her interests are Hunky men and taking things easy. She does not seem to have adventures so much as deal with minor inconviences. Lets pause and listen to her dealing with a dragon.
"Well?"
Go on, Shoo!
She never seems to break into a sweat though she would be the first to say sweat looks good on the right torso.
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the Guild into taking all the difficult job, The ones that are likely to involve magic.Magdelene? She is the worlds most powerful wizard. Her interests are Hunky men and taking things easy. She does not seem to have adventures so much as deal with minor inconviences. Lets pause and listen to her dealing with a dragon.
"Well?"
Go on, Shoo!
She never seems to break into a sweat though she would be the first to say sweat looks good on the right torso.
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LibraryThing member plappen
This book consists of 2 separate sets of fantasy stories, with different back-to-back covers (reminiscent of the old Ace Doubles).
On one side are stories of Terazin, top-notch thief. To join the Thieves' Guild, one does not simply knock on the front door and ask for an application. It is necessary
Going the other way are stories of Magdalene, the world’s most powerful (and laziest) wizard. She is an apprentice to Adar, a castle wizard. She unknowingly dismantles his most powerful spells like they don’t even exist. She gains Adar’s powers, just before he is turned into a pile of gray ash, and decides to leave the castle. Traveling with H’sak, a demon trapped inside a mirror, she finds that the most bucolic villages have the most unique customs concerning wizards, like welcoming them with axes or chains and manacles. It doesn’t help that Magdalene, a redhead with a very healthy libido, doesn’t wear a pointy hat like normal wizards. She is summoned to various kings and wizards, and her attitude is like, "Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with."
I really enjoyed these stories. They’re lighter, fast reading, and they show that Huff is a veteran fantasy author. The reader won’t go wrong with this strong, well done group of stories.
On one side are stories of Terazin, top-notch thief. To join the Thieves' Guild, one does not simply knock on the front door and ask for an application. It is necessary
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to break into the building and make it to the inner sanctum deep underground, avoiding the traps set up along the way. Terazin does so, and is given an initiation test. She must bring the braided hair of Swan, a famous female warrior who will not take kindly to getting a sudden haircut. Other stories feature Terazin finding herself in the middle when it comes to internal Thieves' Guild politics.Going the other way are stories of Magdalene, the world’s most powerful (and laziest) wizard. She is an apprentice to Adar, a castle wizard. She unknowingly dismantles his most powerful spells like they don’t even exist. She gains Adar’s powers, just before he is turned into a pile of gray ash, and decides to leave the castle. Traveling with H’sak, a demon trapped inside a mirror, she finds that the most bucolic villages have the most unique customs concerning wizards, like welcoming them with axes or chains and manacles. It doesn’t help that Magdalene, a redhead with a very healthy libido, doesn’t wear a pointy hat like normal wizards. She is summoned to various kings and wizards, and her attitude is like, "Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with."
I really enjoyed these stories. They’re lighter, fast reading, and they show that Huff is a veteran fantasy author. The reader won’t go wrong with this strong, well done group of stories.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
More fun Huff stories. All the thief ones are in Relative Magic, so I didn't read them here - just checked to make sure there wasn't a new one. I'd never read the Madelene stories - I like her, I'd like to read more. Looking at them in publication order rather than internal chronology is
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interesting too - watching her world fill out. Show Less
LibraryThing member misura
One book, two heroines, so I suppose I ought to divide this review in two parts as well. Generally though, the one word that comes to mind is: delightful.
Magdalene is the world's most powerful wizard. She's also quite cheerfully interested in having sex, fearless, wise and disinclined to get mixed
Terazin is a thief who, in the first story, meets and falls in love with a mercenary. (A female one, I should perhaps add.) Her stories are less whimsical, but none the less enjoyable for that.
If you're tired of epic quests and your typical sword & sorcery-story, this book's the perfect in-between snack.
Magdalene is the world's most powerful wizard. She's also quite cheerfully interested in having sex, fearless, wise and disinclined to get mixed
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up in plots, conspiracies or epic quests to save the world. Especially the last story (Why Wizards Shouldn't Make a Council and All Get Together to Set Down Rules for All Other Wizards) is simply brilliant.Terazin is a thief who, in the first story, meets and falls in love with a mercenary. (A female one, I should perhaps add.) Her stories are less whimsical, but none the less enjoyable for that.
If you're tired of epic quests and your typical sword & sorcery-story, this book's the perfect in-between snack.
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LibraryThing member noneofthis
Eh. The stories in this book were amusing, but not much more than that. I had read several of them before in Huff's other collections, and I frankly liked them better then. This might have been because I'm not terribly enamored with the Magdelene and Terazin characters and reading a whole book of
I love Huff's tendency of prefacing the stories in her collections with information specific to each of them, but that tendency was regrettably absent here. Instead, Huff wrote an Author's Afterward and stuck it at the end of each of the character sections. This could have been nice way of slipping in that information in a slightly different manner, but the two Afterwards were word-for-word identical and this was pretty disappointing.
I also thought the flip-style format of 2005 edition was gimmicky, unnecessary, and distracting. This edition, however, included two additional stories than did the 1999 edition, so it's still the edition I'd recommend reading.
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their stories was a bit much for me.I love Huff's tendency of prefacing the stories in her collections with information specific to each of them, but that tendency was regrettably absent here. Instead, Huff wrote an Author's Afterward and stuck it at the end of each of the character sections. This could have been nice way of slipping in that information in a slightly different manner, but the two Afterwards were word-for-word identical and this was pretty disappointing.
I also thought the flip-style format of 2005 edition was gimmicky, unnecessary, and distracting. This edition, however, included two additional stories than did the 1999 edition, so it's still the edition I'd recommend reading.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
Setting aside the irritatingly quirky format (this book contains two sets of unrelated stories, bound back-to-back and flipped upside down, which... no) this is a solid collection. I was slightly disappointed to figure out that the thief side consists of the four Terazin stories from Relative
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Magic, and one of the wizard stories I'd read... somewhere else, but the rest of the wizard set was charming and funny and entirely worthwhile. Show Less
Language
Physical description
288 p.; 8.06 inches
ISBN
1894063341 / 9781894063340
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Huff |