Heroes Wanted
Multiple Authors
4.5 out of 5 stars
Each taking place in either a fantasy setting or a medieval level of technology, this anthology of 19 short stories all focus on the theme of heroism. What qualities does a hero possess, and how does one become a hero? There’s a young dwarf who builds a dragon to honor her father and help fight against another dwarven clan who attacked them, and two men in the middle of a job who agree to help a woman they later realize is a ghost. There’s also a man and a woman from a mostly evacuated village who decide to go beg the king to not destroy their village; an old hero who finds new hope and a new will to try to be a hero again; and a man’s decision to save a woman’s life brings him in contact with the gods. These are just five of the stories where the hero isn’t always who you expect.
The foreword worked perfectly to set me up to think about the theme of heroism in each story, and what message each author is trying to convey. With a few exceptions, most of the characters in these stories aren’t a typical hero. In the first one, the main character is told that a hero is often times someone who is in the right place at the right time and makes the right choice, which I think applies really well to many of these characters.
Some of these stories also left me wanting more. And others hinted at some intriguing backstory. The one I was most intrigued by was the one that I mentioned earlier, where to men end up helping a ghost. The men are in the middle of trying to track someone down, and the woman mentions a group called the Riyria, which these men are part of, but very little information about any of this is given, I was left very curious, and I liked the characters, so I wished there was more.
Generally, all of the stories were well written, but some could have been better, which is why I’m rating this anthology 4.5 out of 5 stars. As a warning some of these stories were gory and are in the dark fantasy genre.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $0
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0825H8H5T
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)