thistlechaser's review
4.0
If you never encountered or don't remember much of Elfquest, it was a series of graphic novels about "elves" (aliens) who crash on Earth the World of Two Moons. The first elves were tall, delicate things, not at all adapted to live on the harsh Earth World of Two Moons. They could also do magic. One of those early elves shapeshifted herself into one of Earth the World of Two Moons' creatures: a wolf. She then bred with real wolves, hoping to make her own race more able to survive through the introduction of bloodlines from a native species. And from that, the Wolfriders were born. Wolfriders and their generations long war with the humans of that planet.
The graphic novel series centered around the eleventh generation chief, but each previous generation had a chief as well. The Blood of Ten Chiefs is an anthology, a story about each of those previous ten leaders.
There were some really big name authors in this book!
"Pendulum" - Richard Pini
"Coming of Age" - Lynn Abbey
"Plague of Allos" - Piers Anthony
"Swift-Spear" - Mark C. Perry & C. J. Cherryh
"Tale of the Snowbeast" - Janny Wurts
"The Deer Hunters" - Allen L. Wold
"Tanner's Dream" - Nancy Springer
"The Spirit Quest" - Diana L. Paxson
"Lessons in Passing" - Robert Lynn Asprin
"Night Hunt" - Diane Carey
Unlike most anthologies I've read, almost all of stories in this book were quite good. One I didn't finish, two I was bored with but finished, but all the rest were good. Maybe surprisingly, Piers Anthony's was one of the weakest for me (I just didn't believe his characters acted like reasonable people). C. J. Cherryh's (with Mark C. Perry, not sure why he got top billing) was easily the strongest of them all, and I was still thinking about it even after finishing all the others after it.
I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I had liked Elfquest back long, long ago (the early 80s!), I hadn't at all expected it to hold up now.
There were four other anthologies in this series, but sadly none of the rest seem to be available in ebook format. (I suspect this one isn't officially out in ebook format either, it had a few mistakes that made it seem scanned.)
The graphic novel series centered around the eleventh generation chief, but each previous generation had a chief as well. The Blood of Ten Chiefs is an anthology, a story about each of those previous ten leaders.
There were some really big name authors in this book!
"Pendulum" - Richard Pini
"Coming of Age" - Lynn Abbey
"Plague of Allos" - Piers Anthony
"Swift-Spear" - Mark C. Perry & C. J. Cherryh
"Tale of the Snowbeast" - Janny Wurts
"The Deer Hunters" - Allen L. Wold
"Tanner's Dream" - Nancy Springer
"The Spirit Quest" - Diana L. Paxson
"Lessons in Passing" - Robert Lynn Asprin
"Night Hunt" - Diane Carey
Unlike most anthologies I've read, almost all of stories in this book were quite good. One I didn't finish, two I was bored with but finished, but all the rest were good. Maybe surprisingly, Piers Anthony's was one of the weakest for me (I just didn't believe his characters acted like reasonable people). C. J. Cherryh's (with Mark C. Perry, not sure why he got top billing) was easily the strongest of them all, and I was still thinking about it even after finishing all the others after it.
I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I had liked Elfquest back long, long ago (the early 80s!), I hadn't at all expected it to hold up now.
There were four other anthologies in this series, but sadly none of the rest seem to be available in ebook format. (I suspect this one isn't officially out in ebook format either, it had a few mistakes that made it seem scanned.)
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