Who's playing with whom?

Book Review:  Orca by Steven Brust

Still on the run from the Jhereg, Vlad seeks help for Savn.  It's been a year since the events of Athyra and Savn has been mostly catatonic since he saved Vlad's life by using a Morganti weapon to kill his own lord.  On the outskirts of Northport, a Tsalmoth hedge wizard (whose name Vlad can't pronounce) agrees to help, no questions asked, but asks that Vlad help her in return.  She's being evicted from the home she shared with her husband and she wants to stay.

Who actually holds the deed to the land is much more difficult to determine than it should be.  Vlad pulls in Kiera the Thief to help.  The land appears to be connected to a prominent financier who recently died under suspicious circumstances.  With the paperwork Kiera lifts from his home, they determine that Fyres was a master con artist -- he appeared to be wealthy but his companies were shells -- so many loans were involved from various banks and Houses that the inevitable defaults will have serious consequences for the Empire.  

The seventh book in the series brings us back into the twisted political intrigue of the Dragaeran Empire.  I wasn't all that invested in figuring out the connections between Fyres, the banks, the tenants, etc -- I knew Vlad would eventually spell it out for us -- so I just enjoyed watching him and Kiera in action.  We see a lot more of Kiera this time -- she's present throughout the entire story and narrates most of it.  It was interesting seeing Vlad through her perspective, "Sometimes I forget just how devious he is and how good he is at improvising, and his skill at calculating odds and pulling off improbable gambits.  Sometimes he thinks he's better at these than he actually is, and it is likely to get him killed one of these days."  

We not only see Vlad through Kiera's perspective, but we also see something of her relationship with Cawti.  They remain in contact and through this we learn that Cawti misses Vlad but still believes they can't be together.  And Kiera knows things about each of them that she chooses not to share, some things because they aren't ready to share them with each other, but some things for her own reasons.  Although we learn a lot about Kiera in this book, including her reason for watching over Vlad, her motivations remain mostly mysterious.

Scenes to look forward to:  Vlad tries to disguise himself as a Dragaeran, which involves shaving his mustache, wearing a wig, and swaggering in ridiculously high platform boots.  Big reveals about Kiera and Cawti. 

Everything is worth examining

Book Review:  Athyra by Steven Brust

More than two years have passed between the events of Phoenix and Vlad's arrival in a farming community far from the city.  He's still in hiding from the Jhereg and he's lost a finger somewhere along the way.  His arrival is quickly followed by the mysterious death of a local -- a local who years before had helped Vlad sneak into a certain nearby Athyran necromancer's castle.  Coincidence?  Vlad thinks not.  He determines to take out Loraan, once and for all.  That is, if the villagers don't take him out first.  It seems too big of a coincidence to them, that one of their own dies of no obvious causes, days after an Easterner is seen in town.

The sixth book in the Vlad Taltos series is . . . different.  It's narrated by a young Teckla named Savn.  After a chance meeting on the road, Savn becomes fascinated with Vlad.  He chooses to spend time with the Easterner, despite the cold looks the other villagers give him.  And for the first time in his life, he questions things he had always assumed to be true.  

It's interesting to see Vlad from someone else's perspective but it sets a much slower pace for the story.  Savn is young and thoughtful.  He's intrigued by Vlad and troubled by Vlad's past as an assassin.  He's likeable but lacks Vlad's charisma.

Loiosh is also mostly silent this time around, although we are treated to the thoughts of his mate, Rocza -- for me this was one of the most interesting parts of the story.  Again, we're given a different perspective of Vlad.  To Loiosh, Vlad is a parent -- to Rocza, Vlad is the Provider.  She doesn't mind doing things for him, most of the time, but she's mainly in it for the treats -- and Loiosh.

Not as much world-building this time although we do learn that there is blue sky above the strange overcast of the Empire.  And the overcast is apparently poisonous -- both Rocza and Loiosh hold their breath until they are well above or below it.  

I'm waiting for the next book, Orca, to come in from interlibrary loan.  Although I missed Vlad's narration this time, I'm anxious to see what happens with Savn.  And I'd love to see what's happening with Cawti, Noish-pa, Kragar, and others.

The bridge between worlds hangs on lyre strings

Book Review:  Olympus Bound by Jordanna Max Brodsky

Six months have passed since Selene and her friends thwarted Saturn's ritual on the Statue of Liberty.  Believing it best for him, she allowed Theo to believe she died in the effort.  She mourns his absence and the deaths of her siblings while remaining focused on finding Saturn and ending his threat once and for all.

Theo mourns Selene desperately.  He researches ancient rituals in the hopes of resurrecting her.  They will meet again and it will be painful for both of them; he feels betrayed and she realizes that she didn't do him any favors.  As with the other two books, however, there's a larger story in play.  Saturn has Zeus and he's planning to sacrifice him.  Selene and the remaining gods gather at Mount Olympus for the first time in centuries. 

This is an outstanding trilogy.  Brodsky merges religion, mythology, ancient mysteries, and science into an insightful and compelling storyline.  Her characters are layered and utterly believable.  We meet Athena in this book and I loved the story Brodsky created for her.

I admit that I thought it was best for Theo and Selene to part in the second book.  He's a mortal and she's a goddess -- even if she wasn't carrying millennia of baggage, age will come between them sooner rather than later.  Ruth seemed a better fit for Theo and Flint (aka Hephaestus) seemed a better fit for Selene.  Love is not logical, however.  Brodsky has convinced me that Theo and Selene belong together.  I highly recommend this trilogy.

Some prayers may be better left unanswered

Book Review:  Phoenix by Steven Brust 

                                                                                                                          

When Vlad finds himself ambushed in South Adrilankha, he offers up a prayer to the Demon-Goddess Vera.  She answers.  As it turns out, she wants him to assassinate someone for her.  Vlad's been considering getting out of the business but how does one refuse a goddess?

The assassination begins a war between the Empire and the sleepy outlying nation of Greenaere.  The Empire begins drafting humans and Teckla into its army, which adds to the growing uprising within the Empire.  Cawti is arrested twice.  To save Cawti's life, Vlad goes against his House.

I love this series.  I love the characters, the world-building, the fast-paced plots. 

Cawti has changed dramatically since we first met her, but so has Vlad.  He finally acknowledges that while he may have hated all dragaerans to begin with, most of his close friends are of that race.  He's genuinely friendly to the Orca sailing him from Adrilankha to Greenaere (regular beatings by Orca youth during his childhood inspired, or at least deeply contributed to his early hatred of dragaerans).  He's come a long way but where will he go next?

While Teckla showed us the beginnings of a rift between Vlad and Cawti; Phoenix shows the deepening of that rift.  Their relationship struggles are sparingly told and heartbreakingly real.  They love each other but it's not enough, at least in this book. What will she do with South Adrilankha?  Can they find their way back to each other?


The world-building in this series continues to be exceptional.  Each book reveals or hints at something new.  This time we discover that there are different types of stones which block sorcery and psionic communication -- I wonder what Morrolan and Aliera will do with that information.  We also learn that there are legends of strange lands beyond the sea, perhaps even beneath it.  And while Noish-pa refers to dragaerans as elves, Vlad finds himself referred to as a dwarf by the dragaerans on Greenaere.

We don't learn as much about the House of Phoenix as we have about other Houses in other books -- after all, there is only one living member and she's the Empress of the Empire.   We learn more about her though, and how she regards her role in the scheme of things.

Found again. What's a girl to do?

Book Review:  Vanished by Karen Olson

Tina Adler's been found again.  She's been living quietly off the grid in Charleston, South Carolina, painting watercolors for a local gallery.  The Feds are no longer looking for her but Tony deMarco is -- he may have gotten his money back but he still wants her taken out.  Fearing she's been recognized, she does a little internet sleuthing and discovers that her love interest, Zeke Chapman, may be in danger.  She and his friend Spencer travel to Paris to try and figure out what's going on.

Eh.  I'm losing interest in the series.  It's more of the same -- Tina has found a new place along the ocean to lie low and a new art gallery to pay her cash for her landscapes.  She gives in to the temptation to go online, the bad guys start chasing her again, and there are brief scenes with her and Zeke.  There are too many easy getaways and vague situations -- I'm still unclear on what exactly happened with Zeke and Adrianna.  What's he doing for her and what's he doing for the FBI?  Adrianna's going after Tina because she can't get her hands on Zeke but Tina overheard her (or her minions) grilling Zeke?  What?

Tina clearly has a thirst for hacking, a target on her head, and a desire to be with FBI agent Zeke Chapman.  At this point, four books in, I don't know why she doesn't work for the Feds -- she could hack to her heart's content, have some protection from deMarco, and cozy up with Zeke.  It's all well and good that she wants to be by the ocean, painting and bicycling, but surely something could be arranged.

Manhattan has many secrets. Some are older than the city itself.

Book Review:  Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky

It's been 3 months since Selene (Artemis), a few of her fellow Greek gods, and a Professor of Classic Mythology, worked together to uncover a cult trying to resurrect the Eleusinian Mysteries.  She's in a foul mood -- she hasn't punished a wrongdoer in at least a week, and it's December in Manhattan -- all of the hallmarks of Christmas are grating on her nerves -- she has a lot of rage to vent.  She is enjoying getting cozy with Professor Theo Shulz, however.  When he's not singing or humming Christmas carols, that is.  Or joking about sex.  She says that she spent enough time being what mankind imagined, and now she will decide who she is -- but she's not entirely sure it works that way.  Her powers are already significantly diminished from what they were when men believed in her.  What happens if she chooses to let go of her chastity, one of the main attributes men imbued her with?

That's a question she'll have to come back to.  Another cult has made a sacrifice, a man sprawled atop Wall Street's Charging Bull statue, surrounded by a variety of ritualistic symbols.  When she and Theo receive the call from Detective Freeman, Selene assumes the worst -- that her fellow gods are replicating the methods used by Orion, in the hopes of regaining their former powers.  She's wrong -- this time it's the gods who are being sacrificed.  But by whom and why?

Aside of Selene's choice of punishment for a rapist, which seems likely to have consequences for the bears involved (which she should have considered), I really enjoyed this book.  The mystery is excellent.  What I loved though is that Brodsky again writes her characters true to the original myths but allows for believable growth and regret.  All of the gods have acted rashly and criminally over the millennia and this storyline confronts them with their misdeeds.

I may not have bought the quick romance between Selene and Theo in the first book, The Immortals, but I bought the relationship struggles they face in this book.  Utterly and completely.  And I was happy with the way things were between them at the end.  We'll see what happens in the next book, Olympus Bound.  It's checked out and on my nightstand at home!

The Greek Gods are alive and well and living in Manhattan

Book Review:  The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky

When people stopped believing in the gods, the gods began to diminish.  They still walk among mortals though.  Artemis now goes by the name Selene DiSilva and she calls Manhattan home.  Her powers may be greatly diminished but she can still handle mortals.  Or can she?  As the story begins and she intervenes to save yet another woman from an abusive man, she finds herself wondering if this is the fight she won’t win.  She does win, but just barely.  Has she finally grown so weak that a mere man can defeat her?  As troubling as that thought is, Selene soon discovers there’s something that frightens her even more.  Someone is trying to resurrect the Eleusinian Mysteries and they are upping the ante by using human sacrifice.  Selene suspects that it’s one of her fellow gods, trying to regain former powers.

This is the first entry in the Olympus Bound series and it’s intriguing.  I liked Brodsky’s interpretation of not only the histories of the Greek gods, but also what they would be like if they were among us today.  And I appreciated Selene’s observations about her fellow gods, particularly Persephone.

The mystery was okay — the gods don’t really hide themselves all that well but why should they bother?  No one believes in them anyway.  I had most of the bad guys figured out but not the main one.  That one caught me by surprise but in a good way.  The tension level was excellent.

The romance, and yes, there is one, sort of — that didn’t really work for me.  Let me amend that.  I felt the romance of Artemis and Orion.  Brodsky sold that very well.  Selene and this guy, not so much.  Aside of the glimpses of her past with Orion, Selene is a pretty icy character.  During her heyday, she may have allowed herself to care about her handmaidens, but these days she keeps everyone at an emotional distance.  She protects women but she doesn’t care about any one of them individually.  I would expect that countless years of only exposing herself to the worst of men would have hardened her against them particularly.  Yet somehow,  while trying to figure out the next move of a fellow immortal intent on sacrificing human lives for godly power, she finds herself drawn to a man she originally suspected of murder?  Over the course of a few books, maybe.  All in the same book though?  Which took place in something like 10 days?  It felt rushed.  Not a deal-breaker though.  

Originally posted on my wordpress blog on January 12, 2017.  Reposting it here as I'm preparing to review its sequels, Winter of the Gods and Olympus Bound.