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Need a list of fantasy books that have thievery in them
- Thread starter MEG Hal
- Start date
johnsemlak
First Post
Could you be a little more specific?
To answer the question, just a few obvious ones...
-Theives World series (duh)
-Lankhmar stories featuring the Grey Mouser.
-In many of Howard's Conan stories Conan is basically a thief.
To answer the question, just a few obvious ones...
-Theives World series (duh)
-Lankhmar stories featuring the Grey Mouser.
-In many of Howard's Conan stories Conan is basically a thief.
Zander
Explorer
The Hobbit - Bilbo steals treasure from Smaug who originally stole it from the dwarves. Bilbo stole the ring from Gollum. Gollum (Smeagol) stole it from (Deagol) which IIRC is in The Book of Lost Tales.MEG Hal said:
For other acts of thievery, I would need to check my books but I don't have them to hand.
Last edited:
CCamfield
First Post
The Hobbit! 
I'm trying to remember a trilogy I read in the past couple of years which involves a young man somewhat accidentally apprenticed to a master thief and spy... but I can't remember who it was OR the title...
City of Bones, by Martha Wells, has a character who is a dealer in antiquities but also used to work as a thief, and of course some of that occurs in the book.
Death of the Necromancer, also by Martha Wells, is about a gentleman thief and his friends who have a run-in with dark forces in a semi-Victorian setting
Bridge of Birds (Barry Hughart) has some excellent and very funny heists and swindles in it, despite not being "about" thieves.
Since this is for a fantasy encyclopedia, I think you have to say SOMETHING about Terry Pratchett. He parodies the Thieves' Guild concept in that when someone from the guild of Ankh-Morkpork steals from you, they have to hand you a voucher which means the guild can't steal from you for a certain amount of time. Well-to-do citizens just get the messy business out of the way by paying an annual "subscription", etc.
I'm trying to remember a trilogy I read in the past couple of years which involves a young man somewhat accidentally apprenticed to a master thief and spy... but I can't remember who it was OR the title...
City of Bones, by Martha Wells, has a character who is a dealer in antiquities but also used to work as a thief, and of course some of that occurs in the book.
Death of the Necromancer, also by Martha Wells, is about a gentleman thief and his friends who have a run-in with dark forces in a semi-Victorian setting
Bridge of Birds (Barry Hughart) has some excellent and very funny heists and swindles in it, despite not being "about" thieves.
Since this is for a fantasy encyclopedia, I think you have to say SOMETHING about Terry Pratchett. He parodies the Thieves' Guild concept in that when someone from the guild of Ankh-Morkpork steals from you, they have to hand you a voucher which means the guild can't steal from you for a certain amount of time. Well-to-do citizens just get the messy business out of the way by paying an annual "subscription", etc.
Speaks With Stone
First Post
The Jhereg books are predominately about an assassin.
nikolai
First Post
Read this. And look for the bit about the "thieves' tale".
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/main/classicsdunsany
A thief trying to steal something is one of the classic S&S motivations, the other being vengence. It is a big subsection of the quest motif. In terms of classic books: lots of Conan stuff by R. E. Howard feature this motivation (The Tower of the Elephant is the classic example), also look at Ashton Smith's stuff. Other big names are Fritz Leiber (Fafhed and the Gray Mouser stuff, a huge influence - thieves guilds, the lot) and Jack Vance (Cugel the Clever).
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/main/classicsdunsany
A thief trying to steal something is one of the classic S&S motivations, the other being vengence. It is a big subsection of the quest motif. In terms of classic books: lots of Conan stuff by R. E. Howard feature this motivation (The Tower of the Elephant is the classic example), also look at Ashton Smith's stuff. Other big names are Fritz Leiber (Fafhed and the Gray Mouser stuff, a huge influence - thieves guilds, the lot) and Jack Vance (Cugel the Clever).
jerichothebard
First Post
One of the characters in the Belgariad, Silk, is a thief-ish sort.
Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series features a thief - in the first book, two thieves, one of whom dies a very messy plot-device style death after screwing up a pick-pocket attempt.
And of course, there is Robin Hood. Can't forget him! I personally like Robin McKinley's version of the story, though there are many others.
Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series features a thief - in the first book, two thieves, one of whom dies a very messy plot-device style death after screwing up a pick-pocket attempt.
And of course, there is Robin Hood. Can't forget him! I personally like Robin McKinley's version of the story, though there are many others.
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