{"id":196,"date":"2006-02-17T19:53:18","date_gmt":"2006-02-18T02:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=196"},"modified":"2021-09-22T18:21:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T22:21:04","slug":"the-paths-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/196","title":{"rendered":"The Paths of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Paths of the Dead<\/a><\/em> (2002) Steven Brust<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For me, Steven Brust books are like potato chips; I can’t read just one.<\/p>\n

And so, having recently finished all the Vlad Taltos book, The Phoenix Guards<\/em>, and Five Hundred Years After<\/em>, there was nothing to do but read The Viscount of Adrilankha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Paths of the Dead<\/em> starts 156 years after Adron’s Disaster, and the events of Five Hundred Years After<\/em>. It is still the Interregnum. Sorcery either does not work, or is strongly limited, travel is dangerous, and various lords are attempting to consolidate power and reform the Empire with themselves at the helm.<\/p>\n

It also follows the histories of several individuals, some of whom we already have the pleasure of knowing. We meet Morrolan as a youth, and witness the events to which we have read allusions in the various Vlad Taltos books. We meet Zerika, whom we have met in passing in other books, but here we learn of how she regained the Orb. And we have some small dealings with our friends from previous books: Khaavren, Tazendra, Aerich, and Pel; however, we spend more time with the son of Khaavren and Daro: Piro, the Viscount of Adrilankha for whom the series is named.<\/p>\n

Plus Sethra Lavode. And The Necromancer. And various Gods.<\/p>\n

The main focus, however, switches between Morrolan, Piro, and towards the end, Zerika. We spend some time with the other characters, but the focus is primarily upon Morrolan and Piro.<\/p>\n

I have to admit that as much as I like Khaavren, I prefer Morrolan to Piro. And I can also read about Tazendra. Not that there’s anything wrong with Piro, I just don’t care about him quite as much as I do his father, his father’s friends, and Morrolan. This could, however, just be a quirk on my part.<\/p>\n

The style in Paths of the Dead<\/em> is that of the Khaavren Romances, the over the top style of Paarfi of Roundwood, historian and romantic. Although the writing style is far different from the Vlad books, and the dialog is commensurately changed as well, I still have a strong sense of Morrolan in his speech, even if it reads quite differently than his speech in the Vlad books. So kudos to Steven Brust, that he can completely switch styles of writing and still keep the sense of Morrolan that I love so much.<\/p>\n

Consider the following:<\/p>\n

“It has come to my thoughts that if we should continue warning their victims of impending raids, (the raiders) may take it ill.”
\n“That is possible, my lord. As I consider it, I think it is very possible.”
\n“So I had thought.”
\n“Do you thin, well–do you think we ought to stop giving these warnings?”
\n“Oh no!” said Morrolan. “I certainly would suggest nothing as drastic as that!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That passage (and the bit that follows) amuses me to no end. <\/p>\n

Another positive is that I really like the cover of this book. Despite the fact that the man on the cover doesn’t at all like I imagine Piro to look, I still find the whole thing fascinating, and love looking at it. There’s something about the way he’s crouching down, holding his sword, and looking straight at you, that seems to be perfect.<\/p>\n

If you have not yet read any of Steven Brust’s Dragaera novels, this is an excellent place to start. Although you might not take the same joy out of coming across favorite characters that long time readers have, you will have a pleasure denied to us, which is not knowing how things will turn out in the end, and getting to be surprised at the turn of events.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Paths of the Dead (2002) Steven Brust For me, Steven Brust books are like potato chips; I can’t read just one. And so, having recently finished all the Vlad Taltos book, The Phoenix Guards, and Five Hundred Years After, there was nothing to do but read The Viscount of Adrilankha. The Paths of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,291,39],"tags":[150,129],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-sword-sorcery","tag-necromancer","tag-steven-brust"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":390,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/390","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":0},"title":"Five Hundred Years After","author":"Michelle","date":"June 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Five Hundred Years After (1994) Steven Brust Because I re-read Phoenix Guards, I had to follow it up with Five Hundred Years After But really, I'm not going to re-read any of the Vlad books until I get my copy of Dzur when it comes out in paperback in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":1},"title":"Paths of the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"January 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust Tor (2002) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am considering buying the next book in the series in hardback, just so I don't have to wait. (I hate waiting.) Still undecided on that, though, because as I have said once or twice before,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2800,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2800","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":2},"title":"The Desecrator","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Desecrator (2011) Steven Brust This is a short story set in Dragaera. It features both Daymar and the Dzur Zungaron\/Telnan. It's only a dollar! If you've read Steven Brust, you know you want it! Published by Tor","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/desecrator.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":3},"title":"Lord of Castle Black","author":"Michelle","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Lord of Castle Black, Book Two of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Steven Brust Tor (2003) I knew that it was going to be a good book when I was laughing out loud reading the first page of the introduction. \"We have been informed by those to whom we have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1562,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1562","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":4},"title":"Phoenix Guards","author":"Michelle","date":"December 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Phoenix Guards (1991) Steven Brust Not feeling up to starting anything new (and hoping for a big pile of Christmas books) I decided to reread Steven Brust's Phoenix Guards I love that book.","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/389","url_meta":{"origin":196,"position":5},"title":"Phoenix Guards","author":"Michelle","date":"June 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Phoenix Guards (1991) Steven Brust In the mood for re-reading favorites, I just finished Phoenix Guards. Phoenix Guards is one of the books that falls into my \"pretty much perfect\" category.","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}