#104 Steven Brust : Dragon

[bellinghman]

Steven Brust : Dragon

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Tor,U.S.; New Ed edition (30 April 2000)
ISBN-10: 0812589165
Category(ies): Fantasy

I took time out from reading The Book of Taltos in order to read this. The Book of Taltos is a compilation of two Vlad Taltos books - this book appears chronologically between them. Since I've not yet finished The Book of Taltos, this review comes first.

Here, Vlad the Assassin ends up in exactly the wrong place for one whose metier is killing by stealth - in the middle of a battle. How he ends up there - well, that's his own pigheadedness. But he's certainly beginning to make seriously good political capital with the Lord of Castle Black, Morrolan. And if he also ends up on the right side of Sethra Lavode, well, that can't be bad either. In the meantime, he learns how to be a soldier, and there is a fine portrayal of grunt-level logistics and the mess that is war if you're light infantry. Structurally, the story runs as twinned time lines - the battle itself, with the feints and alarums surrounding it, and the main story of how Vladimir ended up in that situation.

Another of the entertaining Vlad Taltos stories.

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

(Part of the problem is that I am reading them all close together - if I had been reading them at publication intervals, it would be different.)