Hawk

June 15, 2015
Brust's 14th Vlad Taltos fantasy novel (after Tiassa) is another taut, entertaining tale of the human assassin/witch and his life among the 17 clans of the Dragaerans. After a series of assassination attempts spoils Taltos's opportunity to visit his son, he decides he needs to find a way to keep the Jhereg assassins off his back for good. Remembering something that the Hawklord wizard Daymar once mentioned, he concocts a plan involving a new business opportunity that's potentially lucrative enough to buy off his pursuers. New readers could find better starting points, but longtime fans will enjoy a plethora of returning characters, with Vlad's former partner Kragar getting the largest page count (and some nice character development). Brust certainly delivers everything readers have come to expect: mouthwatering descriptions of food; snarky dialogue between Vlad and his familiar, Loiosh; and the occasional pop-culture reference (fans of the TV show Leverage have one to look forward to). But he never lets any of the trappings get in the way of his meticulous plotting and a narrative voice that's both rich and arch.

September 15, 2014

Vlad Taltos has a price on his head. It isn't the first time, but what's new is that the entire Jhereg organization--thieves, assassins, vicious criminals all--has committed to removing him from the board. It will take all of Vlad's considerable ingenuity to come up with a plan that will get the Jhereg off his back permanently. VERDICT For new readers, joining a series 14 books in (most recently 2011's Tiassa) isn't easy, but there could be worse places to jump in than in this tale that brings together old enemies and friends and demonstrates how carefully a crook like Vlad can construct a caper when his life is on the line. Brust's familiar casual conversational style and smart-alecky banter (mostly with his flying familiar Loiosh) will appeal to those who enjoy Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden but want a more exotic setting.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
In the fourteenth Vlad Taltos novel, Vlad is back home after years of self-imposed exile from the Dragaeran Empire's capital. He knows he's putting his life on the linethe House of Jhereg still wants him dead for turning traitorbut he's had enough running around. It's time to take a stand. The long-running Taltos series (the first book, Jhereg, was published more than 30 years ago) has racked up an impressive fan base, all of whom will be lining up for this latest installment. Amazingly, though, this one can also be read as a stand-alone. Newcomers will have no trouble picking up the bare-bones background, thanks to a brief prologue, and because Brust's writing style is fairly unadornedthis isn't one of those fantasy series with impenetrable nomenclature and interminable made-up languageit's easy to get caught up in Vlad's story. The author's approach to the material, layering fantasy/sf motifs on top of organized-crime/thriller elements, works superbly, and it's hard to imagine a newbie who won't immediately begin tracking down earlier installments in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)