Product Description

Return to the notorious and amazing worlds created by some of fantasy's most famous authors, as they tell new tales set in their bestselling series with "Legends". In this second volume, Robert Jordan presents a stunning prequel to his bestselling series "The Wheel of Time" with "The Wheel of Time: New Spring". In "Discworld: The Sea and the Little Fishes", Terry Pratchett relates an amusing incident in "Discworld". And in "Tales of Alvin Maker: Grinning Man", Orson Scott Card spins another compelling yarn of "Alvin Maker".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #790860 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-01
• Released on: 1998-10-21
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Audio Cassette

From Library Journal
These are Volumes 2 and 3 of the four planned unabridged audiobook programs that together comprise the new fantasy anthology Legends: Stories by the Masters of Modern Fantasy, edited by Silverberg (see Vol. 1, Audio Reviews, LJ 11/1/98). The anthology contains new and original works from famous writers of epic fantasy, with each set in an established fictional universe. Conveying this large anthology as four separate volumes, containing two to three stories each, is a double-edged sword: it allows the consumer to pick and choose only the programs that appeal but makes the entire work rather pricey. Volume 2 contains Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time: New Spring," Terry Pratchett's "Discworld: The Sea and Little Fishes," and Orson Scott Card's "Tales of Alvin Maker: The Grinning Man." Volume 3 adds Terry Goodkind's "The Sword of Truth: Debt of Bones," Ursula K. Le Guin's "Earthsea: Dragonfly," and Tad Williams's "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn: The Burning Man." Frank Muller, Sam Tsoutsouvas, and Kathryn Walker are the skilled and imaginative readers here. Although the performances and production are impeccable, the stories vary somewhat, if not in quality then in the facility with which they engage a listener who is uninitiated to the corresponding epic cycle. The packaging provides one- to two-line descriptions, but other contextual material available in the printed book (e.g., the introduction by Silverberg, listings of all the books in the series to date) are absent. Still, both volumes are recommended for all fantasy fiction collections.AKristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Robert Silverberg has won five Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, and the prestigious Prix Apollo. He is the author of more than one hundred science fiction and fantasy novels -- including the best-selling Lord Valentine trilogy and the classics Dying Inside and A Time of Changes -- and more than sixty nonfiction works. Among the sixty-plus anthologies he has edited are Legends and Far Horizons, which contain original short stories set in the most popular universe of Robert Jordan, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, and virtually every other bestselling fantasy and SF writer today. Mr. Silverberg's Majipoor Cycle, set on perhaps the grandest and greatest world ever imagined, is considered one of the jewels in the crown of speculative fiction.

From AudioFile
These imaginative novellas are beautifully read. Robert Jordan's "New Spring" exemplifies the sword and sorcery genre. Sam Tsoutsouvas, whose incisive, manly voice is exciting to begin with, delivers this with great dignity and solemn music. "The Sea and Little Fishes" posits a village holding its annual witch contest. By giving this humorous trifle a distinctly Celtic flavor and a mischievous lilt, narrator Kathryn Walker adds more wit than readers would find in the raw text. "Grinning Man" comes from the tall-tale school. An itinerant blacksmith with psychic power and his African-American sidekick encounter Davy Crockett. Slipping a Kentucky accent over his distinctive cadences, Frank Muller sounds as if he's whittling on his front porch while telling this story. Consistent among these offerings are a rare attention to atmosphere and the music of the prose, undoubtedly the contribution of producer/director Rick Harris. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

The second and third batches of intriguing stories in the Legends anthology
Well for starters, Amazon has the links for these ALL screwed up and I could only get to Volume 2 through a backwards method. And since the links are messed up, I can't load a review of Legends Volume 3 where it belongs, WITH Volume 3. So I'm going to review that at the bottom of this one. So this review is actually for parts 2 AND 3 of the Legends anthology.

Legends Volume 2--
New Spring by Robert Jordan

This was very hard to follow for new readers of the Wheel of Time series.

The gist seems to be that a great hero/leader, The Dragon, has been reborn and there are many who want to find him for different reasons. The evil Black Aja sisters want to destroy him and are going around murdering anyone young man they think may be the dragon. The rest of the Aja, and their allies, are looking for him to protect him and aid him in learning his abilities.

At least I think that is what it was about, and I listened more then once. I did grasp the idea of the Dragon and I understood there are different sects of the Aja, defined by their color. What the difference between them is I have no idea. I can only assume that is explained in the full length novels in the series.

The Sea and Little Fishes by Terry Pratchett

It is the time for the annual town fair, of which the favorite event is the witch competition. Granny Weatherwax has always one and this year people don't want her to participate. At the same time, Granny decides to go on a "friendly" binge, at the advice of her friend Nanny Og. But her attempts to be friendly backfire when everyone assumes she's only doing that to try and cause trouble.

I liked this story, even not having read anything else by this author. I especially loved Granny, in spite of her gruff and less then friendly attitude. She rang true to me, probably because everyone can think of at least one grumpy elderly person they know. Even though she is not the nicest of people, readers know there is more to her then meets the eye or else Nanny would not be friends with her.

The Grinning Man by Orson Scott Card

Alvin Maker and his young companion are passing through when they come across a young man, Davey Crockett grinning down a grizzly bear. it turns out the bear wins the match and that means Crockett becomes his "pet." So they travel around and bump in to Alvin again in a small village with a crook for a miller.

This story was somewhat corny, but amusing. Alvin seems like an intriguing fellow and will make readers want to know more about him, possibly reading other books in the series by this author. I especially liked the entirely different perspective given in to the person of Davy Crockett, and loved the idea of his relationship to the bear.

Legends Volume 3--
Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind

A young woman goes to the high wizard of her land in order to seek his aid in rescuing her family from the rival land. She calls the wizard on a "Debt of Bones" between her mother and his father when he refuses, only to find that after he grudgingly agrees, this debt is not what she expected at all.

Interesting story that I enjoyed and was fairly easy to follow. There are a couple twists in the story to shock readers. I enjoyed visiting this world and would not be opposed to a future visit.

Dragonfly by Ursula K Le Guin

A young girl who desires to be trained in the ways of the wizards heads off on a journey with a former student of the wizards, in the hopes she can convince the wizards to break with tradition of only teaching boys, so she can learn magic. When she gets there, nothing goes as she hoped and she discovers a shocking secret about her lineage.

Not a bad story but confusing in many parts. Also, this author desperately needs a better editor as she's extremely repetitive and has a tendency to overuse words and phrases to the point it gets very annoying. It also gives a good glimpse in to the "politics" of the Earthsea world and how women are valued and thought of there.

The Burning Man by Tad Williams

To be honest I had no clue what this story was about. Something about a man who appears in fire but I couldn't even quite figure out why he appeared. I tried listening to this story a couple times and could not get in to it at all and had no clue what was happening. I finally gave up.

I tried to listen to this one three times and could not grasp it at all. this could be due to the fact I like to listen to books when driving so occasionally I miss things, but with almoste very other book I've "read" this way, I always come away with far more understanding of what happened and why then I did of this story.

If readers have not tried Tad Williams' works before, this is not the story with which to start. However, those who have read other books set in this world will likely understand and follow it much better then newcomers would.

Nearly Great
This is a very good book. There are a lot of great authors in it and it's a very long book. The story from Terry Pratchett was wonderful in it. It's probably the best short story that I've ever read of his. I was disappointed that the Stephen King short story wasn't new. It's an oldy but a goody. Over all, I would buy it again if I had to. Once again, all the authors are great to good and there are a wide arrange of different takes on the fantasy genre.

Excellent for all lovers of fantasy.
An unexpected birthday present, I was very happy to recieve this book. I was familiar with about half of the authors in the book, and their worlds, and so began with their stories. I was in no way disappointed in the other author's, however, and thoroughly recommend this book to any who have ever enjoyed immmersing themselves in a world created by another. Each world has a brief but concise synopsis, enough to fill you in on all the background necessary for the story. These stories were enough to make me read some of the previously unread author's books. Good stuff.