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4.0étoiles sur 5
The Mines Of Behemoth, Déc 1 2003
I seem to remember the original book--Nifft The Lean--being quite a serious venture, whereas this sequel is mainly geared for laughs. And it's quite funny at times, what with the interaction between Nifft, his pal Barnar, and a hapless, limbless demon named Ostrogall who comes under the rogues' power and is naive enough to expect they'll play fair with him as he leads them around the MInes of Behemoth. There's also the delicious dickering that goes on between our thieving duo and those who have hired them to brave the Mines--a pair of Bunts (sister and brother), and Barnar's snivelling nephew Costard, all of whom end up down in the Mines with their sneaky hirelings, listening to endless excuses about why Nifft and Barnar will not share any of the bonus spoils they come across while seeking to steal magical pap secreted by giant bugs...like the marvellous Unguent of Flight!Once Nifft and Barnar trek underground--along with their ever-growing entourage of hangers-on--they turn out to be the smallest things going. Shea creates a gigantic subterranean landscape--and he needs to, to house all the insect leviathans he's got crawling around down there. Even if the biggest beasties don't notice them (still dangerous, because a giant that doesn't even note your existence may still squash you), the more serious threat comes from the various predatory parasites living on the carapaces of the behemoths. Lots of snapping mandibles and gluey, grasping tentacles to be avoided in this tale (and not everyone succeeds). Best bits: Nifft and Barnar's deliberate snubbing of a sort of "house rule" concerning how much Unguent of Flight one is allowed to take, and the chaos that results once the punishing curse is released; Nifft soliciting the female Bunt for more sexual favours, after he has repeatedly denied her part of the excess wealth he's accumulated while underground (he can't seem to understand why she connects the two situations--a thief is a thief, right?); and then there's the final fate of the smarmy demon, Ostrogall. The ending is perhaps too trite an exercise in comical karma, though, admittedly, Costard's and Bunt's mishandling of the Pap of Enlargement, once everyone who survived is aboveground again, is worth a few grins. Not as glorious as Nifft's earlier adventures, but very entertaining, and just as colourfully written.
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