Another visit to Sanctuary (the fifth), which follows the arrival of the Beysib traders/invaders/exiles at the end of the previous collection, Storm Season.
This anthology of short stories advances the history of Sanctuary, but as there are the departures of Tempus and the Stepsons, as well as the Beysib arrivals, the tales feel more disjointed, although the overall narrative arc is maintained.
So enjoyable as another episode in the continuing saga, but not as satisfying as previous books.

My Kindle version, read over 35 years after my original reading, does not have a new story heading for "Votary" by David Drake, which starts at page 382 of my Kindle omnibus edition, and is very annoyingly missing the final story, “Mirror Image" by Diana L. Paxson. ( )

By this point in the Thieves World series, I'd started to lose interest. The story lines were either getting too focused on individuals, or too divergent, and just a little strange. Still a great collection of authors, including Drake, Abbey, Paxson and Cherryh. This is the last book of the series I purchased, though I do think I read #6 at some point. ( )

F/SF