The Shield Road

Very interesting inter-woven collection of short stories. I picked this up because I was a bit tired of 800 pages-long fantasy tomes part of never ending 10 books series and I was told this could have been up my street. And it definitely was what I was looking for. I was so pleased that after years I could finally read fantasy without the 800 pages commitment. I don't want to spoil much in this review but if you like action, magic, some monsters here and there and a bucolic setting this is for you. What I liked about these stories is that they keep the reader in the dark about many aspects of the world, the magic system, races etc. There is no need to explain everything, even in a complex world like the one in The Shield Road. For example, I loved the Bladekins figures, their skills and ethics and although I would have loved to read more about them I think knowing this little is enough.
The structure of The shield road reminds of what fantasy used to be before Tolkien set the modern standards: short stories sharing a world and few characters showing up here and there. Think about Jack Vance and his Dying Earth's first book where there is a common theme, common world and some characters but they can be read independently.
I got lost a couple of times here and there in some stories, but overall it was a well written collection and I highly recommend it to people like me that love fantasy but are tired of Bible-like books. I'm looking forward to reading a sequel!