ORCA
Vlad Taltos #7
Steven Brust
Epub-313 pages
2 Stars
Fantasy

Vlad tries to save an old ladies land in exchange for healing the boy who helped him from the previous story. In the process, corruption is found to the top level, but nothing can be done about it. And we find out that Keira is Sethra Lavode and that Vlad has a son by Cawti, who he doesn’t know about.

I actually enjoyed this more than most of the previous Vlad books. Maybe because Vlad was a side character? Anyway, typical light fluff. The ending, which I’m sure was supposed to be a huge surprise for hardcore fans, just left me feeling like “so what?”.

Phoenix
Vlad Taltos #5
Steven Brust
Fantasy
3 Stars
epub, 189 pages

one nice thing about a shorter book, you don’t get bogged down in anything.

Vlad helps save the Empire from invasion and from being torn apart from internal strife, but he also separates from his wife and takes off in exile to start a new life as a “not an assassin”.

Taltos
Vlad Taltos #4
Steven Brust
Fantasy
2 Stars
epub, 161 pages

the story of how Vlad made some Dragaeran acquaintances and got his spell breaking gold chain, as well as walked the paths of the dead and brought back the heir to the Throne.

Teckla
Vlad Taltos #3
Steven Brust
Fantasy
3 Stars
epub, 144 pages

Vlad’s wife Cawti takes up with revolutionaries who want to overthrow the system and make things more “fair” for Easterners[humans]and Teckla, the grunt of the Draegons. Too much talking by the head revolutionary for my taste. Vlad should have just wasted him right in the beginning. Oh well.

Yendi
Vlad Taltos #2
Steven Brust
Fantasy
3 Stars
epub, 167 pages

a complicated plot between Draegons involves Taltos. Very shallow, quick wit remarks and lots of turf war style fighting seem to be the hallmarks of this series.

Jhereg
Vlad Taltos #1
Steven Brust
Fantasy
3 Stars
epub, 208 pages

the first in a series in a world where humans and reptilian’ish humaniforms coexist, but not peacefully.

Vlad Taltos is a human who lives among the Draegon. He becomes an assassin and works his way up the ranks, basically being a mob boss. This reminded me of a murder mystery in a fantasy setting from the Mafia’s point of view. Interesting.