Agents and Adepts is a collection of 16 short stories penned by Kathryn Sullivan. All of the stories have previously been published in various tomes and are, as such, well written and easy to read. The stories vary in length from the short missive, 'Goodbye Jennie', to longer tales such as 'Someone Is Watching'.

I found all the stories very easy on the brain, easily read after a long day at work. Stories that did not tax the old grey matter too much that could be read while relaxing and switching off.

That said, although the content of each tale is there in plot, to me, there was a definite lack of character development or background information. I never fully felt that I knew the main protagonists - what made them tick, why they acted as they did, - which kind of jarred me from the fine premise of each story.

The feel that I had was that the stories are aimed at a younger audience, sooner than an adult market, where such matters would not be so critical. The stories certainly appear more child-friendly than most fantasy shorts I have read.

The stories themselves were first published during the 1980's and I am thinking that maybe, to make them more appealing to today's market, they should be updated and tweaked to give them a slightly harder edge. Don't get me wrong, there are some excellent ideas in there, but in today's Buffy style era, an octopus with serrated tentacles acting as a main antagonist somewhat loses late teen to adult reader credibility.

As a short story collection, this would be ideal for a youngster getting his or her first taste of fantasy as there is a lot in here that would appeal.

Synopsis
From EPPIE winner Kathryn Sullivan, sixteen stories of magic and offworld adventure. Here you'll find tales of wizards training apprentices and interstellar operatives protecting more primitive worlds. How one university copes with a student from very far away, and where do some wizards get their supplies? These are stories of agents of change and adepts in more than magic. Gathered here also are several tales from the Land of the award-winning The Crystal Throne from both the far past and the near present: "And Softly Follow," where a young man whose dreams foretell the future contacts the wizard Calada for help; "Horsefeathers," the story of a young girl who can talk with animals sent to find the feather of a horse; and "The Windkin," where tradition and love of knowledge clash.