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Rating: 
Summary: Brust Is Among the Best
Review: Before Robin Hobb's "Farseer" series and before HBO's "The Sopranos," there was Steven Brust and his protagonist, Vlad Taltos. Vlad is a mob member and an assassin, as well as a member of a racial minority, in a complex and deeply dysfunctional society. Dragaera is a world where very long-lived elves wielding powerful sorcery, short-lived humans, a host of other intelligent species and even gods exist in a uneasy, unhappy state of intermittent war and uneasy peace. Vlad lives in a part of the world where the elves rule, and his people, for the most part, live in squalid slums. He takes his hatred for his oppressors and turns it into a career, and assassinates elves at the behest of other elves. He becomes a minor mob boss in the Jhereg, the criminal underground operated by the elves. All of this is accepted behavior in Brust�s vividly imagined world. Yet as the two novels in this book show, Vlad's best friends are all among his oppressors. He may loath the Dragaerans in general, but he comes to value them individually as friends and colleagues. Cynical and noble, murderous and ethical, cold-blooded and warm-hearted; he is a mass of contradictions and yet a self-consistent whole. In addition to a fascinating protagonist set is an complex world, Brust experiments with literary forms. Whether it�s a homage to Dumas � as in "The Phoenix Guards" and "Five Hundred Years Later" � or interlocked chronologies as in "Taltos" in this volume, he uses those techniques to inform his narrative. Brust is a fine writer, with a nice sense of irony and narrative structure. Finally, the stories here are a part of the evolving story of the puzzle that is Vlad Taltos. If you enjoy this book, you should also read "The Book of Jhereg," an earlier collection of Vlad Taltos novels. I enjoy the Vlad Taltos stories very much; I think you will too.
Rating:
Summary: Brust Is Among the Best
Review: Before Robin Hobb's "Farseer" series and before HBO's "The Sopranos," there was Steven Brust and his protagonist, Vlad Taltos. Vlad is a mob member and an assassin, as well as a member of a racial minority, in a complex and deeply dysfunctional society. Dragaera is a world where very long-lived elves wielding powerful sorcery, short-lived humans, a host of other intelligent species and even gods exist in a uneasy, unhappy state of intermittent war and uneasy peace. Vlad lives in a part of the world where the elves rule, and his people, for the most part, live in squalid slums. He takes his hatred for his oppressors and turns it into a career, and assassinates elves at the behest of other elves. He becomes a minor mob boss in the Jhereg, the criminal underground operated by the elves. All of this is accepted behavior in Brust's vividly imagined world. Yet as the two novels in this book show, Vlad's best friends are all among his oppressors. He may loath the Dragaerans in general, but he comes to value them individually as friends and colleagues. Cynical and noble, murderous and ethical, cold-blooded and warm-hearted; he is a mass of contradictions and yet a self-consistent whole. In addition to a fascinating protagonist set is an complex world, Brust experiments with literary forms. Whether it's a homage to Dumas ' as in "The Phoenix Guards" and "Five Hundred Years Later" ' or interlocked chronologies as in "Taltos" in this volume, he uses those techniques to inform his narrative. Brust is a fine writer, with a nice sense of irony and narrative structure. Finally, the stories here are a part of the evolving story of the puzzle that is Vlad Taltos. If you enjoy this book, you should also read "The Book of Jhereg," an earlier collection of Vlad Taltos novels. I enjoy the Vlad Taltos stories very much; I think you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: great characters and fast paced writing style
Review: Brust has a fast paced writing style, and there is a catch to each of the novels in the series. The characters are a little one dimensional, but are nevertheless pretty entertaining.
The plots are clever, and all focus on the main character and narrator, Vlad Taltos, an assassin and mob boss, who also works as a witch and a security specialist. The narrative in the first book, Taltos, jumps back and forth between a couple different time periods, which keeps the story fresh, not always easy in a first person narrative.
If you liked the first installment, this one is definitely worth picking up as well.
Rating:
Summary: Worth picking up
Review: I liked this book. It was well written over all with wonderful dialogue and intersting characters. The main character, Vlad, lives up to his bad-ass name, he's a sort of Mob boss assassin (of course) who seems to get mixed up with some odd characters. Followed by a short trip into death, some blood, a few twists a couple turns and he's back to being his bad-ass mob-boss self. I recommend all of Steve Brust's books, Vlad is an enticing character and draws you along. I wanted to hate him, but found it very, very difficult to do so. A must read
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Fantasy Series
Review: Mr. Brust is a very fine storyteller. His plot construction techniques and style are sharp, witty, intelligent and engaging. His characters are believable not only because they are flawed, but also because their lives are not composed of epic quests, but of real lives. Whether or not Mr. Brust is aware of it or not, he has also done something very unique in the fantasy field. He has utilized American influence as much as European taking elements of organized crime drama and detective stories in a world of very strange creatures and even stranger people. I've read seven of the Vlad Taltos books and have not read a single one that I did not enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Combo of two great Brust novels
Review: Taltos happens to be one of my favorites, showing favorite characters back before their friendship with non-stop fun and action. But I also really enjoyed Phoenix and the continuation of Vlad's moral growth -- especially that he doesn't miraculously transform into somebody else, he just finds new traits within himself. Both are immensely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Two good entries in the series
Review: This volume contains the first and fifth books (chronological order in the series, not publishing date) in the continuing series of Vladimir Taltos adventures by Steven Brust. Taltos is all of the following: a sometime assassin, mobster, witch, philosopher, swordsman, noble, and detective who lives a stranger-in-a-strange-land scenario as what we would consider a normal human in a nation of 6.5 or 7-foot tall humanoids (Draegerans) who often have numerous magical abilities. The books, other than "Taltos" are named for the houses of the 16 noble classes and one peasant class in the society Taltos lives in. Here are the books in chronological order, not publishing order, with the books in the "Taltos" compendium in CAPS: TALTOS 4.5* -- Brust's funniest of the series, loaded with deadpan humor. This is a simple tale that establishes the beginnings of Taltos' relationships with many of the recurring characters of the other books. In regular paperback form it's 180 pages and you can read it in a few hours. Well-paced, good resolution of the three plotlines Yendi 4* -- complex and satisfying for a short book, humorous Jhereg 5* -- the first-published and best of the bunch, gives useful background and is the real starting point of the series Teckla 2* -- maudlin and introspective without much context or reason for the tone PHOENIX 4* -- picks up the pace after Teckla and re-establishes some of Taltos' business arrangements (he's an assassin and a small-time mob capo), has a complex and twisting plotline and has more of the humor of the first three books. Nonetheless, it still has some of the pall from the Teckla woven throughout the story. Dragon 4* -- published 8th, returns to form of witty banter, smart introspection and twisty plotting of earlier books Athyra 1* -- meandering and depressing; only book not told from Vlad Taltos' first-person point of view, actionless and largely themeless Orca 4* -- better plotting and pacing for this Athyra follow-up, plus intricate mob-financing issues explored by Taltos in unmasking Orca-house mob syndicate Issola 4* -- Newest entry is a philosophical stemwinder about the history of Vlad-world and the purposes of the g*ds. Therefore, Issola is not the place to start but it is a solid addition to the series if you've read some of the others. Overall the Taltos 2-in-1 is a good place to start, but you should think about getting it with the Jhereg 3-in-1 compendium (Jhereg, Yendi & Teckla) because the five stories together have a continuous narrative arc and Phoenix will make much less sense if you haven't read the three Jhereg-compendium novels.
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