Saturday, October 21, 2017

The King's Evil, by Elizabeth Bear

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(Fantasy Adventure) In service to her king, Lzi and her two companions come to an island that holds a treasure and a curse, but it seems some other people have got there before them. (11,852 words; Time: 39m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

"The King's Evil," by (edited by Gardner Dozois), appeared in (RSR review), published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: The plot is straightforward: Lzi gets the treasure for her king, killing the wasps and burning the undead king in the process.

The fight scene at the end is great.

If you think of this as a retelling of the story of the Mummy, it's amusing that the mummy is the victim, the counselor is the villain, and the grave robbers are the heroes.

Con: None of the characters is particularly sympathetic, and only Lzi is developed at all.

Ptashne just disappears at the end. That seems rather odd.

It’s a bit annoying that Lzi freezes helplessly during the fight scene. It’s a myth that women do that in response to an attack.

Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Elizabeth Bear Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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