Phoenix: Steven Brust

[silverflight8]

OK so I finished Phoenix and while I enjoyed Taltos enough to keep reading the next book in the omnibus, reading Phoenix has made me wild to find the other books. I REALLY enjoyed that one.

Incredibly scattered thoughts:

*I've clearly missed a ton about Cawti & Vlad's relationship and even so, that conversation at the end where they attempt to have a conversation again about the two of them was...well, I respected a lot out of Vlad (and honestly - Brust)

*If Kragar betrays Vlad in one of the books I'm gonna be so upset. Melestav :( Nooo

*The names of Vlad's various enforcers gives me great joy. Poor Sticks. Glowbug!

*I am so fond of Loiosh?? Not to mention, I want a dragon who can fly around and poison people and who I can psionically talk to! Life is so unfair. I don't want a pony. I want a dragon. (Dragons that can fly and carry me on their back also acceptable.)

"Two toughs in here waiting for you, boss. We're distracting them, but--yikes!"
"You all right, Loiosh?"
"Near miss, boss."
Why is Loiosh saying yikes adorable??? Also adorable - he called Vlad mama when he was a fledgling I guess but then substituted it for boss once Loiosh grew up.

*The fight scenes were awesome. So much fun. This is absolutely my jam.

*I don't think I ever want to call Vlad's bluff. He's pretty good at backing them up.
"Is there some reason I should answer you?"
"I'll kill you if you don't."
"You'd never make it out of here alive."
"I know."

*Aibynn made me laugh a lot. I love that Vlad honestly had no clue the entire book whether Aibynn was an amazingly good spy or literally just that obsessed with drums. Also Aibynn is obviously based off a real person (with exaggerations) but the combination of the always innocent demeanor, laid back attitude about everything from having to stay somewhere else because assassins are after his only friend in the country or being thrown into jail because a man fell out of a tree near him, and complete focus on drumming, it is so entertaining. Lmao at Sethra and the others examining gold Phoenix stone carefully and trying to figure out how it works and Aibynn answering Morrolan ("what do you call it?") with "In my land, we call it a rock". Probably an annoying character if he appears in every book but for this quantity, so much entertainment.

ANYWAY I have obtained Book of Jhereg, which is apparently Jhereg, Yendi, and Tekla so I'm reading those next!! I'm looking forward to finding out more about the world since I think these two books are further along in the series. I am damning next month's book club and have decided I'm not gonna even bother reading it - it's the Six of Crows book, there are eighty holds on fifty copies, and I haven't enjoyed a YA book (much less a YA book published in the last 10 years) in many years.

I'm mildly annoyed the library does not appear to have e-books of each of the books (how dare!) but I have to cross-reference a bit and check the other local library system. I'm pretty sure main library system has all the books, just some in physical copy. Looks like the e-books are available to buy if the library can't get them in electronic copy.

Comments

[sholio]

Oh, THAT'S which book Phoenix is! (They're kind of hard to remember from the names.) Yeah, that was a super fun one. :D Looking forward to your impressions of the next three! I love Vlad and his world so much. Loiosh calling Vlad "Mama" as a baby dragonlet is endlessly adorable. Actually, they're all adorable, if a bunch of - technically - thugs and killers can be adorable. (They can.)

I was underwhelmed by Six of Crows, and then just outright disliked the sequel. I think I'm in a minority here though.

[silverflight8]

lol I can see that, the book titles are not exactly that descriptive. I'm not sure why this one is actually called Phoenix, I think Vlad has the most problems with Jhereg, really. Vlad is swiftly becoming my fave. They're all adorable!! His office is behind an ever-running gambling room which is itself fronted by a herbalist shop!

I am clearing my reading schedule for these. I don't care to read about mushrooms or A Desolation Called Peace. I need more of these books in my brain. Ahhhhh

Honestly I haven't enjoyed a YA book in so so long. I even read one that was older than the current crop (Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons) and felt so meh about it. It's just not clicking with me these days, I guess. So I'm just not really reading them unless I have to, and since they're hard to obtain and book club happens in three days...yeah no thanks.

[ambyr]

Woo hoo! I always enjoy a vicarious read through this series.

[silverflight8]

:D it's so fun!

[ambyr]

Oh, and as far as titles go—they often have as much to do with “what House trait is Vlad embodying?” as “what House is Vlad interacting with?” So: Phoenix, because this is the book where Vlad sheds his old life and rises from the ashes, reborn.

[silverflight8]

Ah I see! Fortunately it looks like the books keep going after Phoenix and there are plenty in between Taltos and Phoenix where I think Vlad is still an assassin so I'm pleased about that.

[ambyr]

I think it is safe to say that even post-Phoenix, you can take the Easterner out of the Jhereg, but you can't take the Jhereg out of the Easterner...

[silverflight8]

yesssss

[azurelunatic]

I definitely need to check my library for these after I get done with my current books.

[silverflight8]

I'm enjoying them so much!

[hamsterwoman]

Belatedly catching up:

OK, I'm duly impressed that reading Phoenix right after Taltos without any of the other books actually works! Both that it makes sense, and that you were affected by the Vlad and Cawti stuff without ever having met Cawti or seeing anything of their relationship before this book. I know Brust was always trying to write these so they could be read as stand-alones, but I hadn't realized he had succeeded to this extent. Very cool!

I love Loiosh, both as a character (and his dynamic with Vlad, which is honestly one of my favorite relationships in the series) and just the idea of Loiosh, a bird-of-prey sized telepathic dragon, I mean!

Probably an annoying character if he appears in every book but for this quantity, so much entertainment.

He does not! :) And AHAHA, Aibynn -- I found him really annoying the first couple of times I read Phoenix, and then after a while it mellowed out into amusement, and now I almost like him in that book XD

Jhereg, Yendi, and Tekla so I'm reading those next!! I'm looking forward to finding out more about the world since I think these two books are further along in the series.

Further along than Taltos, but all take place between Phoenix (and were written before either).

Anyway, I'm so glad you enjoyed Phoenix as much as you did and are planning to read more! (or maybe already have by now). If you do run into a situation where you want e-copies of a Vlad book that you don't have access to through your libraries, I might be able to help out :) (If we lived in visiting distance of each other, I would have already handed you a stack of books to borrow, so I figure the electronic equivalent is also fine, if it's fine by you :)

[silverflight8]

I am writing an entry about the first three! I enjoyed them a lot too. I think the Morrolan-Sethra-Vlad-Aliera friendship adds a lot of richness to Taltos since you know how much they trust each other after Jhereg etc, but Taltos brings you to the beginning.

Any time there's a breakup that doesn't involve slurring one or the other parties, I'm impressed, haha. It seems such a low bar to clear and yet it's so rare.

YES in the way I wanted a dragon as a kid, I want a pet jhereg. The psionic contact is a bonus.

Honestly I may take you up on books 6-9 as the library somehow doesn't have them. I put in a request and it was approved but it might take a bit to acquire them, and I just want to barrel through all the books. Vlad just left the Organization and I must know what happens next....I love ebooks!

[hamsterwoman]

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on Jhereg-Yendi-Teckla!

I think the Morrolan-Sethra-Vlad-Aliera friendship adds a lot of richness to Taltos since you know how much they trust each other after Jhereg etc

Yeah, agreed. I do think Jhereg probably makes a better starting point for the series than Taltos for this reason, even though I love Taltos best. Knowing what they all come to mean to each other and reading those first meetings with all of the combinations going "can you believe this asshole" is such a joy :D

I do have Athyra, Orca, Dragon, and Issola in epub which I'm pretty sure is sharable! If you PM me your email, I'll send them right along :)

[silverflight8]

:D

Yeah I think one thing I'm really enjoying from these is the unreliable narrator aspect and the fun you can get from reading a little between the lines, and Taltos is great in that way because you know what's coming later and everything, so it's a little dramatic irony to enjoy. But I also really like re-reading, so it all works out :)

silverflight@live.com please! thank you!

[hamsterwoman]

The unreliable narrator is one of my very favorite aspects of this series -- and the more of it I read, the more I came to appreciate just how unreliable :))

Books sent! Let me know if you run into any snags with the files. Hope you enjoy!

[silverflight8]

It's so fun! :D

I got em - read Athyra yesterday. Thank you!!