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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. i picked this up because i enjoyed baker's in the garden of iden. the book is a collection of short stories/novellas that follow the same group of characters; similar themes and plot tie them all together, but it's not really a single novel. the characters themselves were likable and amusing; the book tends towards what i call 'fluffy' fantasy (exemplified by such authors as mercedes lackey) but is a little more grounded than that. setting is generally pseudo-18th or 19th century, if i had to put a name to it; world building is minimal and not particularly crucial to the plot. some fun playing with religious mythos and history which always gets me. this was a while ago so i don't remember much about the writing style, only that it didn't particularly annoy me. verdict: fun to read, doesn't hook you into any enormous series and make you feel obligated to read a zillion other books, doesn't require or provoke any particular mental gyrations. (  ) ladyrae | Oct 8, 2008 |  gwyneira | Jun 30, 2008 | While I liked the earlier Company books better than this, I found this one more enjoyable than the later books in the series. All-in-all, a world to which I'd like to see Baker return. (  ) TadAD | Jun 20, 2008 | I know I read this, but I can't remember anything about it except I didn't like it as much as The Company stories. ( ) auntdodi | Sep 25, 2007 | Anvil of the World by Kage Baker was interesting. I didn't find it quite as engaging as her Company series, but it had it's moments. The book almost seems like three stories put together to make a novel. They all center around a character named Smith. The one problem with using Smith for a name is she had several characters all going by Smith. It was a bit confusing in the beginning until I got more familiar with the characters. **Caution Spoiler's ahead** In the first segment Smith is the caravan master for a group heading from the farming town of Troon to the city of Salesh by the sea. He must safely shepherd the group through the wilderness fighting off assassination attempts as he goes. In the second segment he's now a hotelier with the former cook from the caravan train as his chef in the restaurant potion. The various other workers for the caravan are now porters in his hotel. Smith must solve the mystery of a murder in his hotel before the end of the festival, or he'll have all sorts of trouble with the local authorities. In the third segment Smith is wisked off to a monastery, by the lordling from the caravan, to rescue the lordling's sister. Each story was interesting in it's own right, but as a whole the plot seemed disjointed. There didn't seem to be much of a connection from the beginning of the book to the end other than the use of the same characters. I suppose many find this sort of day in the life prose interesting. I prefer stories that are driven more by a single plot with various side plots adding depth to the characters. Ms. Baker's world building is sound, and each segment was enjoyable. I did find the end segment to be a bit preachy, but not so much as to detract from the book. ( ) Antares1 | Sep 4, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400)
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