I became aware of the book by word-of-mouth, and was expecting a classic anthology of short stories in the fantasy genre, with high-end artwork. I wasn't disappointed in that respect. However, I wasn't expecting much more than that - I should have, because I was in for a pleasant surprise.

First of all, the different mythologies of the world are cleverly used and combined to create a unique, coherent fantasy universe, with its main characters, plots, factions, and of course an underlying intrigue/mystery that will probably lead you to buy all the other books :-)

Secondly, most of the short stories are well written, funny, creative, and sometimes quite mad. Randy Lindsay's Coyote's Tale is a good example. You will see how Coyote, the Native American Trickster God, follows three young Norse gods, abducts the slave girl they brought along, sneaks into their secret keep and steals back a great totem under the very nose of all the nordic gods and... but I don't want to spoil the story.

Have you heard about Mordecai, the bat-man, and his stalactapipe organ? Or about the secret war between Mafdet, goddess of the cats, and Anubis, the jackal-headed god? How D'Molay, a freelance thief and main character of the whole intrigue, stole the Orb of Ra and somehow managed to stay alive and avoid being caught in another feud between gods?

Mythic Tales: City of the Gods merely hints at the many mysteries of the fantasy world created by M. Scott Verne and Wynn Mercere. If you play RPGs, I've heard you could even buy a campaign book complete with maps.
You will also find a short story by Edgar Allan Poe and one by Bram Stoker in the anthology. While I enjoyed reading both, I think they should not have been included in the book, because they are unrelated to the City of the Gods, and their style and general tone is quite out of place in an otherwise rather cheeky anthology. I much prefer the verve of Ken St. Andre (who is, inter alia, the creator of the Tunnels & Trolls RPG) or the humor of Jefferson P. Swycaffer, to take but two examples.

All in all, solid quality and a good buy.