Brust, Steven Books

Jhegaala (Vlad)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fresh from the collapse of his marriage, and with the criminal Jhereg organization out to eliminate him, Vlad decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Fenario. All he knows about them is that their family name is Merss and that they live in a papermaking industrial town called Burz.

At first Burz isn’t such a bad place, though the paper mill reeks to high heaven. But the longer he stays there, the stranger it becomes. No one will tell him where to find his relatives. Even stranger, when he mentions the name Merss, people think he’s threatening them. The witches’ coven that every Fenarian town and city should have is nowhere in evidence. And the Guild, which should be protecting the city’s craftsmen and traders, is an oppressive, all-powerful organization, into which no tradesman would ever be admitted.

Then a terrible thing happens. In its wake, far from Draegara, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad is going to have to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people: his own.

The Book of Jhereg

Steven Brust

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 91 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Vlad Taltos x 3! Three Steven Brust fantasy novels in one all-new edition-featuring intrepid assassin Vlad Taltos and his jhereg companion. A welcome addition to any fantasy fan's library, The Book of Jhereg follows the antics of the wise-cracking assassin Vlad Taltos and his dragon-like companion through their first three adventures-Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla. From his rookie assassin days to his selfless feats of heroism, the dauntless Vlad will hold readers spellbound-and The Book of Jhereg will take its place among the classic compilations in fantasy.
--A pocket-sized dragon-what's not to love?
--A collectible 3-in-1 edition featuring one of science fiction's most memorable heroes


"This whole series is entertaining and worth reading!" -Locus

"Engaging...written with a light touch...good stuff!" -Publishers Weekly

"Watch Steven Brust. He's good. He moves fast. He surprises you." -Roger Zelazny

"Hard to put down . . . fun to read!" -OtherRealms

"Imagine James Bond in a world of magic...exciting!" -Voya

Dzur (Vlad)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In which Vlad Taltos confronts the Left Hand of the Jhereg…and discovers the game has more players than he thought

Vlad Taltos, short-statured, short-lived human in an Empire of tall, long-lived Dragaerans, has always had to keep his wits about him. Long ago, he made a place for himself as a captain of the Jhereg, the noble house that runs the rackets in the great imperial city of Adrilankha. But love, revolution, betrayal, and revenge ensued, and for years now Vlad has been a man on the run, struggling to stay a step ahead of the Jhereg who would kill him without hesitation.

Now Vlad’s back in Adrilankha. The rackets he used to run are now under the control of the mysterious “Left Hand of the Jhereg”—a secretive cabal of women who report to no man. His ex-wife needs his help. His old enemies aren’t sure whether they want to kill him, or talk to him and then kill him. A goddess may be playing tricks with his memory. And the Great Weapon he’s carrying seems to have plans of its own…

Picking up directly where Issola left off, Dzur gives us Vlad Taltos at his best—swashbuckling storytelling with a wry and gritty edge.

Issola (Vlad)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Vlad Taltos story number nine 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In which Vlad gets caught up in a battle between Gods ...

This highly entertaining comic fantasy novel is number nine in the story of Vladimir Taltos. It is set shortly after "Orca" and is immediately followed by "Dzur."

If you have not previously read any of Steven Brust's "Vlad Taltos" novels or "Khaavren" romances, they are all set in a world of magic, where there are several intelligent species, including two types of men and women. Humans like ourselves are usually referred to as "Easterners," the other type of men and women call themselves humans but are usually referred to in the books as "Dragaerans" or occasionally as Elves. Dragaerans are much taller than humans, live 2,000 to 3,000 years or so, and then after death are eligible for reincarnation provided they have not annoyed a God too much or had their soul destroyed by a "Morganti" weapon or a "Great Weapon."

Morganti weapons are used between mortals when they are really angry with someone because they don't just kill you, but destroy your soul. "Great Weapons," are particularly deadly Morganti weapons which can even kill Gods. Tradition said that there are exactly seventeen Great Weapons.

In one of the earlier books, a powerful magician makes an ambiguous remark to Vlad, suggesting that he both is and isn't carrying a Great Weapon. Baffled Vlad asks if a partular item is a Great Weapon and gets the reply "Not Yet." In "Issola" we find out what this cryptic remark meant.

All Dragaerans belong to one of seventeen "Great Houses" named after animals of the fantasy world in which the novels are set. Nine of the ten novels featuring Vlad Taltos, including "Issola" are named after one of these great houses, usually also featuring a member of that house in a prominent role: if Steven Brust is planning to write a novel for each house we are about half way through the series.

Most of the great houses also have a preferred occupation. For examples: "Dragons" and "Dzurlords" are soldiers, "Tecla" are peasants, "Chreotha" are merchants, "Orcas" are sailors, pirates or - wait for it - bankers, and "Jhereg" are gangsters or assassins. Issola seem to be butlers, stewards etc: the Issola who gives her house name to this book is Lady Teldra, who is Lord Morrolan's seneschal and who is one of the nicest people in any of the Dragaeran novels.

The hero, Baronet Vladimir Taltos, is an assassin and minor sorcerer, who used to be a prominent crimelord within House Jhereg, but is now on the run from them after developing an unfortunate case of principles, which he tries very hard to hide. He has two companions, Loiosh and Rocza who are actual Jhereg - that is to say, they are small intelligent flying reptiles.

Taltos narrates these stories with a wonderful dry wit which is one of the best aspects of the novels.

Stven Brust makes some attempt to recognise that some readers might be new to this book and not have read the previous novels in the series. This does not IMHO make it a good idea to start with this book, but it is still sometimes useful in helping previous readers who don't have a memory like a computer to follow the complex plot. Those who have not read the previous books will still probably find "Issola" hard going.

Be warned, it is also quite a sad story - the ending is much more downbeat than any of the other Vlad Taltos books.


The books are not written in a regular chronological sequence: for example, the fourth novel, "Taltos" is a prequel set before the main action of any of the others, and Dragon, number eight by publication order is the second in chronological sequence, mostly set just after "Taltos." Indeed, Issola and the following book, Dzur, are currently the only ones which occupy the same place in publication and chronological order.

You will get most out of these books if you read them in something close to the "official" order.

If you are interested in these books, my recommendation would be to start with either the first book written, "Jhereg" or the chronologically first book, "Taltos." If you then decide to read the rest, I recommend that you follow something like the order the books were published. Here is a list of the books in publication order, with the chronological place of the main action of each book in brackets after:

1) Jhereg (4th)
2) Yendi (3rd)
3) Tecla (5th)
4) Taltos (1st)
5) Phoenix (6th)
6) Athyra (7th)
7) Orca (8th)
8) Dragon (2nd)
9) Issola (9th)
10) Dzur (10th).

If you enjoy the Taltos novels, you might be interested in another sequence of books which Steven Brust has set in the same country, but quite a few centuries earlier. These are something between a parody and a homage to the novels of Alexandre Dumas. He's called them the "Khaavren Romances" after the central character of the first two novels, who corresponds very closely to D'Artagnan. Obviously none of the human characters overlap, but some of the Dragaerans do: Khaavren himself meets Vlad briefly in "Tecla" and has a sort of offstage cameo in the Vlad Taltos book "Orca." Two of the major characters in the Taltos novels, Sethra Lavode and Lord Morrolan of Castle Black, are also important enough in the Khaavren novels to have books named after them.

The five Khaavren romances, in sequence, are

1) "The Phoenix Guards" (equivalent to "The Three Musketeers")
2)"Five Hundred Years After" (equivalent to "Twenty years after")

Then a trilogy "The Viscount of Adrilankha" (e.g. "The Count of Monte Cristo") which comprises

3) The Paths of the Dead
4) The Lord of Castle Black
5) Sethra Lavode

Overall I found both the "Taltos" novels and the "Khaavren Romances" very entertaining: I recommend both series and this book.

Editorial Review:

Okay, so maybe I've been living in the woods too long, where you can't even get a decent cup of klava first thing in the morning. So who should turn up but Lady Teldra, the courtly servant of my old friend the Dragonlord Morrolan?

Teldra wants my help, because Morrolan and Aliera have disappeared, and according to Sethra Lavode, it looks like they may be in the hands of the Jenoine. Do I want to mess with them? The guys who made this place? And I thought I had problems before...

Oh well, what's a little cosmic battle with beings who control time and space? It's better than hunkering down in the woods without even so much as a drinkable cup of klava.

The Book of Athyra (Jhereg)

Steven Brust

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Good, the Bad, and the Assassin 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The interesting thing about Steven Brust and his writing is how he has a completely different style for each story or series he writes (Read the Khaavren series, or 'To Reign in Hell', or everything he has written). With 'Athyra' and 'Orca', he actually changes style within a series.

'Athyra' picks up where 'Phoenix' ends. Phoenix, however, had a much more maudlin ending, with our hero leaving his friends and family behind. It makes sense that, for most of this book, and continuing in 'Orca', a depressing air hangs over the characters, but Vlad slowly comes to terms with who and what he is, and the final exchange between Vlad and Keira that ends 'Orca' shows some of his old wit returning.

These two tales aren't quite the 'stand alone' novels the rest of the series is made of, but well worth the read, just to keep you up to date on all things Dragaeran. By the way the books are titled, one hopes the series will run for eighteen volumes, but only time will tell.

Editorial Review:

The new two-in-one omnibus featuring two classic novels of Vlad Taltos and his winged jhereg companions-Athyra and Orca.

Vlad Taltos is a sorcerer and assassin without peer-as deadly at spell casting as he is with sword wielding. Accompanying him on his journeys are two leathery-winged jhereg who share a telepathic link with Vlad--and triple his chances against even the most powerful of enemies...

In Athyra, Vlad finds he's ready to retire himself and his jhereg companions, but the biggest hitters of the House of the Jhereg have something else in mind. In Orca, Vlad must repay a debt to a boy who saved his life-even if it means breaking a scandal big enough to bring down the House of the Orca, and possibly the entire Empire.

Dragon (Vlad)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Vlad Taltos is not your average sword-and-sorcery hero. He runs a territory for the criminal House Jhereg. He's a witch with a flying reptilian familiar as smart and sarcastic as any sidekick in literature. He's also a master assassin in Adrilankha, the capital of the Dragaeran Empire. (Dragaerans are tall, very long-lived elves; Vlad is an Easterner, or human.)

Steven Brust is not your average fantasy writer. Like his mentor, Roger Zelazny, he enjoys playing with time. Although Dragon is the eighth book about Vlad to be published, most of it takes place between Taltos, the first book chronologically, and Yendi; interludes and an epilogue occur after Yendi, but before Jhereg. Dragon tells the story of the oft-mentioned Battle of Barritt's Tomb, and how Vlad enlisted in a Dragon army (Dragons are the warrior Dragaerans) and learned that war is nothing like assassination.

Vlad is quick to let readers know the score. "I'll let you stay confused a little longer, and if you don't trust me to clear everything up, then you can go hang. I've been paid." Trust him. Dragon stands alone, but don't miss the others (after Jhereg come Teckla, Phoenix, Athyra, and Orca). It's a fast-moving, satisfying series. --Nona Vero

The Lord of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Book 2)

Steven Brust

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Book 4 of the Khaavren series-the plot thickens! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

As others have mentioned, this may be Book 2 of the Viscount trilogy, but it's actually book 4 of a series, and you DO need to read the previous 3 in order to appreciate this one.

I have noticed, as time goes by, that there is a pattern to opinions about the Khaavren series: those who started reading Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series first, and bought one of the Khaavren books because it was by Brust, don't seem to appreciate the Khaavren books as much. Those of us, on the other hand, who started on Brust with this series, or with some of Brust's other fantasies entirely, seem to enjoy the Khaavren books more. I believe it's a question both of writing style, and of one's definition of action. Thus, if you really, really like the Vlad Taltos books, and you expect these to be similar, it may be that you will be less than enchanted with these.

I believe that those who have read a lot of older literature - Dumas, as many have mentioned, and definitely Shakespeare - will enjoy this book, and the Khaavren series, more than the Vlad Taltos fans will, on average. (Of course, every reader has a unique background and a unique perspective - don't let me stop you from reading!!) Certainly a background of the Three Musketeers (and not the movie, people!) helps one appreciate what's going on here - but a knowledge of, say, the battles in Shakespeare's Richard and Henry plays, does not come at all amiss. And a comfort level with the intricate language of Shakespeare, as well as the overwrought prose of Dumas, gives one the stamina to follow Paarfi's extensive perorations.

Let me also mention that there's a dash of Romeo and Juliet in here, with lovers from different houses and their disapproving families. Those who feel that there is not enough action in this book, apparently do not consider a good heartbreaking love story to be action. But it is! So is the evolution of the magic taking place - if moving hundreds of warriors via magic/mental powers, over hundreds of miles, which has never been done before in this world, is not action, then what is? There are no slow moments if one is interested in emotion and magic as well as in swords and battle; there is always something happening between people.

As with previous books in the series, if you do like it, it has an effect on you: you talk funny for days afterward, if not weeks! Hey, if you are planning on taking the GREs or GMATs, this series is a terrific vocabulary builder!! There will be nothing in the verbal section that you can't handle, if you enjoy and appreciate Paarfi!

In short - if you already like this series, this volume is a must; if you like Dumas and Shakespeare, you'll like this; if you like Vlad Taltos, then start in on this series in cautious, easy steps.

Editorial Review:

With his bestselling novel The Phoenix Guards, Steven Brust took readers to a time a thousand years before the events of his popular Vlad Taltos novels. Its sequel, Five Hundred Years After, was hailed by Science Fiction Chronicle as the best fantasy novel of the year.

Now Brust has returned to the Khaavren epic, first with last year's The Paths of the Dead, and now with its direct continuation, The Lord of Castle Black...a novel that gives Vlad Taltos and Khaavren fans alike a new look at one of Brust's most popular characters, the Dragonlord Morrolan.

Along the way, we'll also encounter swordplay, intrigues, quests, battles, romance, snappy dialogue, and the missing heir to the Imperial Throne. It's an old-fashioned adventure, moving at a twenty-first-century pace.

The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Book 1)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The long-awaited sequel to The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After

Two hundred years after Adron’s Disaster, in which Dragaera City was accidentally reduced to an ocean of chaos by an experiment in wizardry gone wrong, the Empire isn’t what it used to be. Deprived at a single blow of their Emperor, of the Orb that is the focus of the Empire’s power, of their capital city with its Impe-rial bureaucracy, and of a great many of their late fellow citizens, the surviving Dragaerans have been limping through a long Interregnum, bereft even of the simple magic and sorcery they were accustomed to use in everyday life.

Now the descendants and successors of the great ad-venturers Khaavren, Pel, Aerich, and Tazendra are growing up in this seemingly diminished world, con-vinced, like their elders, that the age of adventures is over and nothing interesting will ever happen to them. They are, of course, wrong . . . .

For even deprived of magic, Dragaerans fight, plot, and conspire as they breathe, and so do their still-powerful gods. The enemies of the Empire prowl at its edges, in-scrutable doings are up at Dzur Mountain...and, unex-pectedly, a surviving Phoenix Heir, young Zerika, is discovered—setting off a chain of swashbuckling events that will remake the world yet again.

Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha)

Steven Brust

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

SETHRA LAVODE
Book Three of The Viscount of Adrilankha

She's the oldest person in the Dragaeran Empire, a military genius and master of sorcery whose own story stretches back to before the dawn of history. She's Sethra Lavode, the undead Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. Now, after a long absence, she's returned to take an active role in the Empire's affairs-and the affairs of her friends Khaavren, Pel, Tazendra, Aerich, and all their friends and relations.

Since the day Adron's Disaster reduced Dragaera City to a barren sea of amorphia, the Empire has been in ruins. The Emperor is gone, along with the Orb that was both his badge of office and the source of the magical power that in former times was practically a public utility. Trade has collapsed. Brigands rule the roads. Plagues sweep through the population. And an ambitious Dragonlord, the Duke of Kâna, has moved to rebuild the Empire-in his own name, of course.

Unknown to him, Sethra Lavode has already helped the Phoenix Zerika, true heir to the throne, retrieve the Orb from the Paths of the Dead. Sethra means to see Zerika on the throne. But making it so will entail a climactic battle of sorcery and arms...

Brokedown Palace

Steven Brust

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good for Brust fans. 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Not his best work, but it will be enjoyable to fans of his other works.

Excellent book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Steven Brust shows his quality as a writer again in this exciting book. Set in the East, but the same world as his Taltos books, we get a view of how the Easterners live, and what magic is like outside the Empire. Definitely worth buying and reading many times over.

Editorial Review:

Back in print after a decade, a stand-alone fantasy in the world of Steven Brust’s bestselling “Vlad Taltos” novels. Once upon a time…far to the East of the Dragaeran Empire, four brothers ruled in Fenario:

King Laszlo, a good man--though perhaps a little mad;

Prince Andor, a clever man--though perhaps a little shallow;

Prince Vilmos, a strong man--though perhaps a little stupid; and

Prince Miklos, the youngest brother, perhaps a little--no, a lot—stubborn.

Once upon a time there were four brothers--and a goddess, a wizard, an enigmatic talking stallion, a very hungry dragon--and a crumbling, broken-down palace with hungry jhereg circling overhead. And then…