Five Hundred Years After (1994) Steven Brust

If you have read the Vlad Taltos books, then you already know the outcome of Five Hundred Years After: Adron’s disaster, which lead to the Interregnum. But what we don’t know, is the story that leads up to Adron’s disaster. Why did Adron act in the manner he did? What was the involvement of those who called Adron friend. What about the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain, Sethra Lavode?

All of these questions, and more, does this book answer, as well as the question of, what happens to those for who we have come to have interest, even feelings, and by this I mean Khaavren and Aerich and Tazendra and Pel.

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The Phoenix Guards (1991) Steven Brust

As is typically the case, once I finished reading the Vlad Taltos books, I felt myself consumed by an overwhelming desire to go back and re-read the other Dragaeran books. That is to say, mention of characters and events in the Vlad Taltos books whetted my appetite for re-reading about events of The Phoenix Guards and the following books.

Let me just say: I love Steven Brust’s writing.

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Dragon (1998) Steven Brust

I really like Dragon. It’s fun, it’s well-written, and I particularly like some of the observations that Vlad makes about life and war.

For the most part, Dragon takes place soon after Taltos, however, a few parts of the story take place after Yendi. And if you think that’s confusing, you’re right.

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Orca (1996) Steven Brust

Set about a year after Athyra, Vlad has wandered into Northport in search of a sorcerer who might be able to cure Sven, the Teckla boy who lost his mind during the events of Athyra. He finds one, however, her price is keeping her from being evicted from her house. To do this, Vlad has to enlist the help of Kiera the Thief, and hope that she holds their friendship higher than the needs of the Jhereg.

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Athyra (1993) Steven Brust

Once you get past the fact that it is not written from Vlad’s point of view, Athyra is a very good book. The story is told from the point of view of Sven. It’s not first person like the other Vlad books, but we know Sven’s thoughts and feelings and impressions as he eventually meets Vlad. It also has several passages from the point of view of Rocza, which I found very interesting. After all, unlike Liosh, she came to Vlad full grown, and is still a wild creature.

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Jhereg (1983) Steven Brust

Comfort reading. Those books that you reach for when you’re feeling low, because you know they’re guaranteed to take you away from whatever is bothering you.

That’s the place that Steven Brust holds in my library.

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Yendi (1984) Steven Brust

Yendi is the second book in Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series, however, in the time line it comes before the first book, Jhereg. Instead of taking off from where Jhereg left off, we go back in time, to when Vlad met Cawti, his future wife.

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Teckla (1987) Steven Brust

In case you were thinking that I love absolutely everything that Steven Brust has written, this book is the proof that I don’t.

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Taltos (1988) Steven Brust

With great relief I picked up Taltos, which again tells some of Vald’s history, and returns to the tone of the first two books. Taltos is fun and amusing, especially as Vlad and Morrolan get to know each other and learn to work together. It is also interesting to see Vlad’s first impressions of Morrolan and Sethra.

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Phoenix (1990) Steven Brust

Chronologically, Phoenix follows Teckla. Verra, the demon goddess, has “work” for Vlad. She wants the king of Greenaere killed, and she refuses to say why. Vlad and Cawti are still at odds, with no reconciliation on the horizon, as Cawti’s actions with the revolutionary group continue to place her in danger, and Vlad’s opposition to anyone harming her places him at odds with the Jhereg.

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And again I don’t know what to read next. As I won’t be getting any new books any time soon, I feel like I should hoard the new books I have, and go back and re-read some old favorites.

Hmm… I have been meaning to re-read Steven Brust‘s Vlad Taltos series…

The Golden Key (1996) Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliot

At 889 pages, The Golden Key is a very long book. Admittedly, I have not had a lot of time for reading, but even so, more than a week for me to read a book is really slow. Part of the reason is that the first third of the book was slow going. There are a good number of foreign words sprinkled through the story, and I didn’t find the glossary until I was nearly finished. As much as I hate flipping back a forth, checking the glossary from the start would have this book far easier to read. Well, that and a better knowledge of Latin/Spanish.

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Hunter’s Oath (1995) Michelle West

I had a strange time reading this story. I liked the characters, I enjoyed the story, I loved the writing, I wanted to know what happened. But I wanted to finish it so I could read something else. I just wasn’t in the mood for this story.

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The Best Books I Read this Year:
In Camelot’s Shadow by Sarah Zettel
A Sorcerer’s Treason by Sarah Zettel
Sorcery & Cecelia -OR- The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski
The Swan’s War by Sean Russell
The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn
The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

These are the books that have stuck in my mind througout the year, that I have given or recommended to others, or that I can’t wait to read again. This list does not include books that I reread, otherwise Swordspoint would have been here.

Favorite Movies/TV Shows I Saw this Year:
Batman Begins
The Corpse Bride
Firefly
Iron Monkey

Favorite Places I Visited:
Newport Aquarium, Newport, KY
National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD

Cookbooks I Use Most Frequently:
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook by King Arthur Flour
Luscious Lemon Desserts by Lori Longbotham
Cookwise by Shirley O. Corriher
The All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking by Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, and Irma S. Rombauer
1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles
Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies by Alice Medrich

ADDENDUM the First:
Excluding any books I read today, I read 150 books this year. The power of Excel tells me that this averages out to 12.5 books a month. This also counts The Great Book of Amber as a single book and not ten separate books.

The Thief’s Gamble (1999) Juliet E. McKenna

In the past, I have refused to pick up a series unless I can get all the books in that series. Because there’s little worse than starting a series and then not being about to find the rest of it. However, because I can now order books on-line, and have them delivered to my door at little or no additional cost, I realized that I can start taking a chance on a single book, with the knowledge that I can order the rest of the series even if I can’t find the books locally. So, I picked up The Thief’s Gamble because it looked interesting (and also because the series is completed).

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Sorcery & Cecelia -OR- The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (1988) Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

After putting down a book that looked promising but I found only annoying after the first several chapters, I picked up Sorcery & Cecelia, which I’d put on my wish list because I thought it looked interesting. I thought that I’d just read a couple of chapters before going to sleep, however at midnight I found myself thinking, “just one more chapter and then I’ll go to sleep” until I’d read half the book.

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Preacher Vol 1 Gone to Texas (1996) Garth Ennis

First, a disclaimer. I’m squeamish. In fact, I will walk out of the room during particularly violent scenes in movies, and haven’t watched a horror movie since I was in high school. (Why? Because graphic violence gives me really unpleasant dreams.) Thing is, it all depends upon how the violence is presented as to whether it bothers me or not. Although I had to turn away a couple times, I didn’t really have a lot of problems with Snatch. Sin City bothered me quite a bit. For the end of The Last Samurai and Braveheart I just got up and left the room. Fight Club bothered me in places, but I still liked it. So it’s hard to tell what is going to bother me, and what isn’t.

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Wizard’s First Rule (1994) Terry Goodkind

Michael has been reading Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series for several years now, and has mentioned repeatedly that he thought I should read it. So, with two weeks off from work, I decided I’d read the first book, just to see.

It’s good, and it’s interesting, but I definitely did not like it as much as Michael did.

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