How crude are the Thieve's World stories?
- Thread starter variant
- Start date
Particle_Man
Explorer
One dude paralyzes another with a poison and has him fed to his wild dogs while the paralyzed dude is still alive.
Gritty doesn't equate to obscene - it's referencing that it's more swords-n-sorcery than high fantasy. There are times that punches aren't pulled with things that happen to the characters but they aren't described in a graphic manner.
They're great books, IMO.
That having been said, the book that sets up the second series, Sanctuary can be somewhat disturbing. The book recounts through historical perspective and character flashbacks what life in the city is like when it's ruled by evil cultists. Again, most of the description leaves it to the reader's imagination to fill in the horror aspect. It's more of a "oh wow, that's horrible" than a gross-out, though, so I think you'd be fine.
And a lot of the stories aren't bad at all. They're more day-in-the-life type stories.
Nutshell summary, they're gritty because they're often about surviving physical, magical, and even mundane threats, not because of over-the-top depictions of gore.
Azgulor
They're great books, IMO.
That having been said, the book that sets up the second series, Sanctuary can be somewhat disturbing. The book recounts through historical perspective and character flashbacks what life in the city is like when it's ruled by evil cultists. Again, most of the description leaves it to the reader's imagination to fill in the horror aspect. It's more of a "oh wow, that's horrible" than a gross-out, though, so I think you'd be fine.
And a lot of the stories aren't bad at all. They're more day-in-the-life type stories.
Nutshell summary, they're gritty because they're often about surviving physical, magical, and even mundane threats, not because of over-the-top depictions of gore.
Azgulor
Crothian
First Post
The characters in there are rarely good. There is rape and slaughter. One of the characters you meet is a vivisectionist. I never felt it crossed any lines but if they were movies they would be R.
I really like the books though especially the first ones in the series and then the ones from the relaunch.
I really like the books though especially the first ones in the series and then the ones from the relaunch.
Squire James
Explorer
The vivisectionist is one of the few outright villains in the early books, and some scenes describing his lair are about as graphic as it gets. His part in the story is over fairly quickly, and those are the only parts I would describe as NC-17 material. The rest is pretty much rated R.
It seemed to be somewhat of a theme in those books that the same character that is portrayed as a hero by one story might be portrayed as a villain in another story. It seemed like each author "owned" a character or two, and that author's permission was needed (and rarely granted) to kill their character off.
It seemed to be somewhat of a theme in those books that the same character that is portrayed as a hero by one story might be portrayed as a villain in another story. It seemed like each author "owned" a character or two, and that author's permission was needed (and rarely granted) to kill their character off.
Steel_Wind
Legend
Thieve's world has its moments of grim n gritty, but it's not over the top or particularly descriptive of it.
Mostly tame, if you ask me.
Mostly tame, if you ask me.
David Howery
Hero
I rather liked the stories... right up to the appearance of that stupid 'avatar of a god' guy whose name I can't remember. I remember that I really hated him and his 'oh, I'm so full of angst, I can't die, no one understands me, boo hoo hoo, I think I'll kill a bunch of innocent people'...... it was bad enough he was in one story, but once he appeared, everyone else put him in their stories too....
Similar Threads
