The A'rak
core novel 2000 Nifft the Lean
Record
| First published | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.83 (120 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780671319472 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
The third novel in the Nifft the Lean series centers on the wealthy city of Hagia, whose prosperity for generations has rested on a pact struck with an immense spider-like entity called the A'rak. When the terms of that ancient bargain finally come due, the city faces the prospect of catastrophic ruin at the hands of the creature it once welcomed as a patron. Into this crisis come two outsiders drawn to Hagia's capital, Big Quay: Lagademe, a disciplined courier who leads a company of professional couriers known as Nuncios, and Nifft the Lean, an opportunistic and cunning thief. Strangers to one another at first, circumstance forces the two men into an uneasy alliance as they are drawn toward a confrontation with the monstrous A'rak, whose reawakened hunger threatens to destroy the entire nation that had depended on its favor.
Where it sits
- Universe: Nifft the Lean
- Series: Nifft the Lean core; position 3 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Michael Shea
Notes
- From the series record (Nifft the Lean): Picaresque sword-and-sorcery adventures of the thief Nifft; the World Fantasy Award-winning first volume is a linked story collection, the two later volumes are novels continuing the same character.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Nifft the Lean: position 3 of 3: previous The Mines of Behemoth (1997)
Sources
- Nifft the Lean series bibliography (specialised genre-fiction site)
- https://www.blackgate.com/2014/03/17/the-novels-of-michael-shea-the-arak/
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