Rating: 
Summary: Now that the series is published....
Review: The full VofA series (Paths of the Dead, Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode) has now been published. So I am submitting a new review.There is one thing you must know about this book: it is incomplete. If you buy this thinking it is one book of a trilogy, you will find it disappointing. The pace is slow, dozens of characters are introduced and then ignored, and almost all of the plot threads are left hanging. Worst of all, there is hardly any Brustian sharp and painful character growth. But ... if you get the whole VofA series and read it as though it is one novel, you will probably not mind any of this. Because all the flaws have to do with this book being nothing but the setup for the payoff that comes later. And if you actually get the payoff by reading the other books, that works. No one would read "The Fellowship Of The Ring" and attempt to treat it as a work in isolation from rest of The Lord Of The Rings. The same should be true of this book. This part of the full novel deals mainly with the Interregnum, the new empress, and (as described) the Paths of the Dead.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining for Dumas/Brust Fans
Review: The Paths of the Dead is the first volume of the new The Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy, which itself is a sort of sequel to the earlier The Phoenix Guard and Five Hundred Years After, those volumes in turn being homages to the Three Musketeers work of Dumas. The current novel, as with the other two above-mentioned works, takes place in the Draegera of the past, at least relative to Brust's other ongoing series, the Vlad Taltos saga. The first two books related events leading up to Adron's Disaster, and the new trilogy promises to deal with the Interregnum after the death of the Emperor, the loss of the Orb, and the fall of the Empire. Since Draegerans (who call themselves humans but, to us, are the elves, as named by the Easterners, who we would understand as being a bunch of quarrelsome and less advanced Hungarians) can easily live to be a thousand years old or more, barring disease or mishap, we get to see some familiar figures from the Taltos series, such as Morrolan and Sethra Lavode, the mysterious undead Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. In any case, the volume to hand sets in motion the quest to recover the Orb from the Paths of the Dead, the afterworld ruled over by a pantheon of assorted and not-quite-omnipotent nor omniscient deities. We meet again with Khaavren, Pel, Aerich, and Tazendra (essentially D'Artagnan, Aramis, Porthos, and...uh...the other guy--Athos?), and are introduced as well to Piro, Khaavren's son, and a bunch of other members of the new generation who will be leading the effort to re-establish the Empire. Most of the fun is in the dialogue, which is meant to be a tip of the hat to the style found in the work of Dumas. A typical exchange might go like this: "If I might make so bold, I believe that you have conceived a plan."
"Well, and if I have?"
"You would do me the utmost honor if you were to condescend to share it with me."
"Bah, it is but a trivial notion."
"And yet, you can perceive that I have the keenest interest in hearing it."
"Then I shall share it with you."
"And you would be right to do so."
"Very well, you wish, then, to hear of my notion?"
"Shards! I have been asking for nothing else this past hour!" And so on. Also amusing is the imperturbable aplomb with which all of the characters, regardless of rank and degree, meet all challenges and encounters. Even as one side regards the other prior to the battle, all participants display nothing but the utmost courtesy and have but seemingly little regard for the coming bloodshed and violence. This is only one aspect of Draegeran sensibilities. Being so long-lived, they think nothing of basically walking out the door to undertake a journey of several years, and it might be fifty or a hundred years between visits from friends. I've enjoyed Brust's work (other than the terrible Freedom and Necessity, an epistolary novel he banged out with Emma Bull) for years now. I haven't read it since 1984, but I recall that his To Reign in Hell, his take on Milton, was really great, and it's finally back in print. And the Taltos series is pretty good, if somewhat intricate by now, since it's up to something like ten volumes. Good stuff, and I await the paperback arrival of the next volume. Be aware, though, that a passing familiarity with other Brust works would be helpful, along with a high tolerance for Dumas.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Follow up to The Phoenix Guards and 500 Years After
Review: This book is great, and is such a change of pace from other fantasy books. If you like Alexander Dumas, or Stephen Brust's other two romances, you will love this book. If you do not like thought provoking conversation and very little fighting with a plot revolved around multiple levels of intrigue, this book may not be for you. The main source of enjoyment to be found in this book by me is the narrator of this story, a historian named Parfi. Some of my favorites of his in this novel are the chapter heading, "How the author, Forced Against His Will to Write of the Viscount's Travels, Attempts, for the Sake of the Reader, To Make Travel Interesting," and the sentance, "... a small, stuffy basement, which would have been damp, smelly, close, and dark, were it not, in fact, well-lit, which prevented it from being dark." So to sum up, if you hate run on sentances and prefer characters to get to the point, do NOT buy this book. But if you are looking for a change of pace that just puts a smile on your face and keeps it there, this book is what you have been looking for, although I would suggest reading "The Phoenix Guards," and "500 Years After," first, as they are gems in their own right, and the information held within them will help one to understand some of the subtleties held within this book, although this book stands on its own. See, i have been reading this book for hours straight, and i am now beginning to write in run on sentances. I love this book!!
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