CT: Everybody Loves A Rogue

Happy Friday all! 

I don't know about you but I have neeeeeeded this weekend in a bad way. So I thought we'd kick off the weekend and celebrate surviving another week by talking about one of my favorite new reads, Rogues, a short story collection edited by George R. R. Martin. 

My older sister Coco recommended Rogues to me right at the height of the first season of Game of Thrones. I was completely obsessed, and when I realized that this book didn't have anything to do with Game of Thrones, I have to admit that I put it aside. Which was, dear readers, a serious mistake. 

Rogues is crazy fun. In his introduction to the collection, Martin explains that "everybody loves a rogue" and he's 100% right. The Han Solos, the Indiana Jones', the Lara Crofts- we love the rule breakers and the rebels. I'm the girl who fell in love with Robin Hood in all his various forms from a young age. 

This book features stories from a dream team of fantasy, science fiction, and thriller authors. Neil Gaiman gives us a little taste more of Neverwhere with a story about the Marquis de Carabas. Gillian Flynn chases down characters that keep you guessing and shock you with their capacity for cruelty. Connie Willis (what a genius) does the slapstick comedy/conspiracy thriller that she does like no one else. Which is part of why I love collections like this. You get A+ writers doing what they love. 

The real superstar for me here, though, was Joe Abercrombie. I'd never read any of his work before, but his story Tough Times All Over kicked off the book and it set such a high bar that I literally put the book down for the night so I wouldn't judge everything else against him. The story winds and turns through a fantastically dense world as thieves compete to steal a mystery package. Martin describes the story as "a deadly game of Button, Button, Who's Got The Button" and that's a better description than I'll ever manage. It's cinematic and compelling from moment one, and the world is completely spun with intriguing and unique characters. I haven't been this completely satisfied by a short in a long time. After I finished the collection, I kept finding myself coming back to read Abercrombie again, wanting to spend just a few minutes more in Sipani. 

Overall, this is one of the strongest sets of stories I've ever read. They're all different, in tone and genre and character, but they all dance the line of fun and danger that we all love in a Rogue. I can't recommend it enough. 

Happy Reading!

CT