kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)
[personal profile] kate_nepveu

Last one; I really hadn't meant to spend my night doing this.

Thieves Guilds and Other Criminal Societies

The Thieves Guild is a common staple in fantasy novels. Terry Pratchett's Discworld books parody it; Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora critiques it; and Steven Brust's Taltos novels examine a more modern Mafia-style version. What's good, bad, interesting, boring, otherwise worth talking about when it comes to this idea?

Date: 2007-05-27 04:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] janni.livejournal.com
The first fantasy novel with a thief with official sanction that I read and actually believed in was Megan Whelan Turner's The Thief, and he wasn't part of a guild, though he was in something of an inherited position.

Date: 2007-05-27 12:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] antonia-tiger.livejournal.com
Or, in SF, Herbert's use of BuSab. in Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment and one or two short stories. But that's more a case of the rebel being a formal part of a non-criminal system.

Date: 2007-05-27 11:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] janni.livejournal.com
In The Thief the character in question does have formal government sanction (well, by his government, anyway); but he also still pretty much does the work he does alone (but it does have larger political implications).

January 2025

S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags