I Read Books: The Mammoth Book Of Dark Magic

 

The Mammoth Book Of Dark Magic

23 fantasy short stories revolving more or less around dark magic (it had previously been published under the name The Mammoth Book Of Sorcerer’s Tales, and in the US as The Mammoth Book Of Black Magic). Published in 2004, it has some stories written for the volume and some old and classic tales (the Ralph Adams Cram dates back to 1895). The majority are from the 80s and 90s, mostly by authors still publishing (still in print for a couple who have since died).

There’s some fairytale-like ones, some urban fantasy, some high fantasy. A couple of the big names have stories of their better known characters, as do some of the smaller ones. As a round up of sorcerous fantasy it shows a wide range of the possibilities. Not all of them are that dark, which is probably refreshing.

Read This: Lots of good stories of magic
Don’t Read This: It’s just wizards causing trouble 23 times