Need a list of fantasy books that have thievery in them

[Nifft]

The Incompleat Nifft and The A'Rak by Michael Shea

Seconded. Great books. Good enough to steal the name.

Pyramids, by Terry Pratchett, has some thief-ish scenes.

-- N

 

[Krieg]

What no mention of Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny?!

Going farther back who can forget the tale of Ali Baby & the forty thieves?

 

[FireLance]

Going back even further, I guess there's Prometheus and that whole fire thing. There are also plenty of trickster-type characters in mythology and folklore: Coyote, Raven, Anansi, the little tailor, etc.

 

[fourthmensch]

I was asked to do short essay on this for a fantasy encyclopedia and who better to get some examples from then you guys!

Thanks in advance!

How broadly are you defining fantasy?

Because several Tom Robbins books spring to mind, especially Still Life With Woodpecker. They have some very weird/fantastical elements in them, but are certainly not classic "fantasy."

I'm sure I can think of some others too, but I don't want to clutter up your list if you are more interested a narrower focus.

 

[Agemegos]

I'm amazed that no-one mentioned Jack Vance's Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga

 

[cool hand luke]

stephen brust's Jhereg series features a highly complex thieves guild type operation, with one of the main characters (Kiera) being the best thief alive.

 

[afreed]

I was going to cite God Stalk, but someone already did!
I don't know what the nature of the essay is, but you might want to consider looking at Robert Irwin's The Arabian Nights: A Companion, which has a chapter discussing real medieval thieves and how thieves are represented in the Nights. (And if the essay is for John Clute's book, the Arabian Nights should be mentioned, regardless.]
Hope this helps!

 

[rogueattorney]

I'm amazed that no-one mentioned Jack Vance's Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga

Actually, they were named on the first page. But, I'd like to third these two. Cugel was THE prototype for the D&D thief (with a little help from the Grey Mouser), and also, in my opinion, the best literary representation of the Chaotic Neutral alignment of all-time.

R.A.

 

[Henry]

Moved to the Books Forum.

In fact, Hal, I'd be hard pressed to name a fantasy adventure series that DOESN'T involve thievery somewhere along its lifespan.

My contribution? The lovely Myth-Adventures Series by Robert Lynn Aspirin (Asprin?) It's basically a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road To..." imitation but with fantasy characters who are non-stop thieves and con-men for the first half of the series.

 

[Vaxalon]

EDIT: not appropriate for the "no politics" rule. Sorry.

-Henry