Posts Tagged ‘steven brust’

Book Review: Tiassa by Steven Brust


30 May

Tiassa is very different from most of the Vlad novels in that very little of it is told from Vlad’s point of view. This does not make it bad, just different. The story is still Vlad centric, but it details what would normally be behind the scenes actions that Vlad never sees and isn’t really aware of. It’s good, but I love Vlad’s voice so I was kind of disappointed.

It also reminds us of the fact that we’re hearing these stories because Vlad is telling them to someone, recording them. We learn this is as a favor to Sethra.

Men who can write strong female characters


14 Aug

Writing characters of the opposite sex is one of the biggest challenges writers face. It is too easy to fall into stereotypes. I was never able to get more than 100 pages into the first Wheel of Time book because Jordan’s female characters just bugged me too much.

So I want to give a shout out to three male authors who manage to write women I like, or can at least relate to. L.E. Modesitt Jr, in his Recluse series, Steven Brust in the Vlad novels, and David Drake, both in his sci-fi Lt Leary books and his fantasy novels.

My Favorite Books: Orca by Steven Brust


20 Jul

As a series, Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels are my favorite. I buy them in hardback as soon as they are released.

Orca, though not the first book in the series, was the first Vlad book I read. In Orca, two very important bits of information are revealed which are meant to cause a reader to go back and rethink the earlier books and inform the future ones– but the books are not written in chronological order, making it so that the reader needs to remember not only what they know now, but also what the characters know at this point.

My Favorite Books – Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust


04 May

Cowboy Feng’s is not the best Steven Brust book. It’s not the best non-Vlad Brust book. It may not even be (by the author’s own admission) a good book. But it was the first Brust book I ever read, and I still love it.

The book does have some editing problems that can cause confusion, but they aren’t deal breakers.

Cowboy Feng’s is a restaurant that is a time machine, only its time travel can only be triggered by a nuclear blast. The characters are real and easy to care about. You want them to survive, to outlive nuclear war.

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