Maxima Library

Quick with both sword and wit, Vlad Taltos makes his way through the world of Dragaera as an assassin, aided by a small talent for magic and a lizard-like jhereg companion

Vlad Taltos tells the story of his early days in the House Jhereg, how he found himself in a Jhereg war, and how he fell in love with the wonderful woman, Yendi, who killed him.

Lord Vlad Taltos returns in the prequel to Jhereg, Yendi and Teckla in a fantastic adventure in which readers learn what really happened when Vlad found himself walking the Paths of the Dead.

In Steven Brust's sixth novel of the Vlad Taltos series, our "hero" (Vlad Taltos) attempts to come to terms with his role as an assassin, his "racism" and his job as a crime-lord. Vlad begins to realize that, perhaps, what he does for a living is wrong. He then confronts his weaknesses head on. Add to this the fact that everyone in the book is trying to kill him and you are in for the ride of your life.

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.

"So there I was, in a full-scale battle; that is, in a place where no self-respecting assassin ought to be." Dashing Vlad Taltos, the swashbuckling hero of Brust's popular Taltos fantasy series, makes his hardcover debut after seven mass market appearances (Athyra, etc.), with an early episode in his adventures. Vlad's cleverness and skill as an assassin have earned him a place in House Jhereg. They've also drawn to him some interesting friends and enemies, as well as acquaintances who can be called a little of both. At the request of Lord Morrolan, a powerful figure in House of the Dragon, Vlad traces the theft of an ancient artifact, a Morganti greatsword, to a rival Dragonlord, the Count of Fornia. Although Fornia's motivation in the crime seems transparent?he wants to start a war over the accusation of theft?Morrolan obligingly agrees to fight. And when Fornia sends a couple of bruisers to tell Vlad to stay out of the matter, the assassin's outrage leads him to join Morrolan's forces. While Morrolan and his military strategist coolly plan each phase of the conflict, Vlad gets a close-up look at the ugliness of war. It doesn't take him long to decide that the physical fighting is a cover for a more subtle battle, and that the Morganti greatsword is the key. As always, Brust invests Vlad with the panache of a Dumas musketeer and the colloquial voice of one of Roger Zelazny's Amber heroes. This is a rousing adventure with enough humor, action and sneaky plot twists to please newcomers as well as longtime series fans.

The dashing Lord Vlad Taltos returns in this ninth installment of the Taltos series (after 1998's popular Dragon, which some would consider a stand-alone story), in which the hero engages in more philosophical musing than muscle work. Still a renegade, Jheregan outcast and witch, Taltos must rescue, once again, his Dragonlord friends, Morrolan e'Drien and Aliera e'Kieron, this time from the powerful creators of Dragaera, the Jenoine. Accompanied by his faithful familiar, the funny pocket dragon, Loiosh, Taltos as usual relies on his psychic and magical strengths as well as his dazzling swordplay. But what sets this adventure apart from his others is the tone. The author starts off slowly, concentrating on setting up the relationship Taltos develops with Teldra, the Issolian chatelaine of Castle Black, whose gentle manners captivate Taltos and teach him new ways to deal with problems. The dangerous Jenoine utilize sleight of hand and massive illusions that Taltos and his friends have to crack in order to save Dragaera's source of amorphia (aka chaos) from the Jenoine and themselves. Fans will enjoy all the inside jokes and references to earlier books, but newcomers may feel a bit lost until Brust cranks up the volume midway and the story begins to crackle with easily understood tension. It stops just short of becoming a romance between Teldra and Taltos, leaving lingering doubts as to whether their "relationship" will ever end. Though not as meaty as some fans might wish, the novel provides more than adequate fantasy fare.

In this immediate sequel to Phoenix (1990), Brust’s series hero Vlad Taltos, fleeing the Jhereg, decides to look up kinfolk in a papermaking town in Fenario. Before he can do more than ask about them, however, they’re murdered. Professional assassin Vlad is not going to stand for that, but, no longer part of an organization, he must do his own detecting in a strange land whose customs he doesn’t know. Brust skillfully uses the minor characters to throw light on Vlad, making this a Vlad novel especially commendable to those contracting a first acquaintance.

In his new adventure, Vlad Taltos is still running from the Jhereg with a huge price on his head. Hearing that old friend Aliera e’Kieron has been arrested on a trumped-up charge and wondering why her comrades, starting with the empress, haven’t lifted a finger, he repairs to Adrilankha to investigate, narrowly skirting his enemies, encountering many well-wishing old friends, and then uncovering a complex political situation encompassing everyone from the empress to the Left Hand of the Jhereg. And he meets his son and has a bittersweet reunion with his ex. A good read for longtime fans and newbies alike.