Jhegaala (Steven Brust) (2007): Vlad Taltos visits his homeland while on the run from the Organization. This wasn't the book I expected (road trip with personal development and witty Jhereg). If it developed the "transformation" theme associated with the title, it was the transformation of the village Vlad visits, which I wasn't as invested in. The ( Read more... )

Not a great month for fiction; guess it's time for a nonfiction binge.

The Exile Kiss (George Alec Effinger) (1992): Third book chronicling Marîd Audran's rise as Friedlander Bey's lieutenant and presumptive heir. This time, kingpin and lieutenant are thrown into Arabia's Empty Quarter and must restore themselves to the city while fighting a ( Read more... )

Sethra Lavode (Steven Brust): The final volume of the "Viscount of Andrilankha" sort-of trilogy. People die. People live. The novel pretty much filled expectations without overflowing them. The cover art is astonishingly bad.

The Afterword is astonishingly incomprehensible, and if someone could shed some light on it I'd appreciate it.

( Instead of commentary, quotes, because Brust's dialogue is a delight. Massive spoilers are inevitable. )

Books under cuts have big honking spoilers and lots of direct quotes. You've been warned.

Teckla, Steven Brust: Reread, because I was irrationally stressed, and because I haven’t reread Teckla since my first time though a couple years ago. Still relatively grinding for a Vlad story, other than a very few scenes. Kept me occupied while waiting for ( Read more... )

. . . so maybe I read a little bit more than I think I do. I’m chalking September’s long list up to that hurricane-shaped thing that came through in the middle of the month.

Putting all comments behind cuts, regardless of length, for formatting and to save friends pages.

( The Paths of the Dead, Steven Brust. In Which the Writer Enacts the Dance of Fangirl Glee. )