Art of War: Anthology for Charity

Short story anthologies are almost always a great way to get a good introduction to a lot of different authors and this one here is an absolute cracker! 40 stories on the theme of war by a who's who of the best fantasy authors out there today. Added to that this is all for a fantastic cause as all money raised is going to MSF.

The short stories themselves are on the whole extremely good - probably one of the best quality collections I have read. They all provide a great bite sized chunk of story (I found them the perfect length to read on my 20 minute bus ride to work). As with any collection there are some variability in quality (and peoples taste may vary) but I found there were very few stories I actively disliked compared to the ones I enjoyed. Generally I found the ones by the authors I knew already to be easier to read, but this often because I am already familiar with their writing style/worlds.

The theme of war can be a bit bleak, but the way you digest the collection can help here - again a short story collection is great for just taking one story at a time.

Buy this for the good charity cause if nothing else, but the stories themselves are excellent too!