
Liavek: Spells of Binding
core collection 1988 Liavek
Record
| First published | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Original language | |
| Work type | collection |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.14 (102 ratings, collected 2026-08-27) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780441481910 |
Synopsis
Spells of Binding, the fourth volume of the Liavek shared-world anthology edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly, brings together further stories and poems by a range of contributing fantasy authors, exploring darker material than the earlier, more lighthearted volumes while remaining set in the trade city of Liavek on the Sea of Luck. The book continues to draw on the series' established magic system, in which every Liavekan is born with a set quantity of birth luck that must be invested each year into an object in order to be used for spellcasting, a practice that leaves its practitioners exposed to real danger when that investment goes wrong. Several contributions in this volume were developed collaboratively between authors, extending storylines and characters introduced across the series' earlier books within the same shared continuity.
Where it sits
- Universe: Liavek
- Series: Liavek core; position 4 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Emma Bull
- Author: Will Shetterly
Notes
- From the series record (Liavek): A five-volume shared-world anthology series created and edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly, with contributions from Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, Steven Brust, Megan Lindholm, Pamela Dean, Charles de Lint and others, several already credited elsewhere in this canon under their own separate universes.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Liavek: position 4 of 5: previous Liavek: Wizard's Row (1987) · next Liavek: Festival Week (1990)
Sources
← Liavek dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.