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.

[ambyr]

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

[azurelunatic]

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

[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 :)