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absconder's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
hawkeyegonzalez's review against another edition
4.0
Dragon doesn't really do much to progress the overall series, but it is a great read nonetheless. It is interesting to see Vlad in the role of a soldier rather than an assassin as he helps Morrolan fight against a rival Dragonlord.
For me, the most interesting part was the introduction of the Serioli, a strange and ancient race whose msagic not only surpasses that of the Dragaerans, but they also created the Morganti and Great Weapons. I hope we see more of them in the future.
For me, the most interesting part was the introduction of the Serioli, a strange and ancient race whose msagic not only surpasses that of the Dragaerans, but they also created the Morganti and Great Weapons. I hope we see more of them in the future.
irusu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
whalleyrulz's review against another edition
4.0
It's been a while. It was nice to get back into this series.
Dragon, by Steven Brust, is (as always) an exploration as to what makes up the house the book is titled after. Dragons, in the Taltos series, are military minded, follow their own honor codes, and believe nothing is better than obeying orders. They're essentially Klingons, but without the anger issues. In this book, Vlad winds up fighting inside a squadron of Morollan's army, against an incredibly dangerous wizard, in a battle he has no idea why he's fighting. Worse, he's been given a special mission and it has been made abundantly clear - he is not to assassinate. What's an assassin to do?
I'll tell you what he's to do: explore war. Explore what it is to be a soldier. Have a terrifying time writing about what it's like to be shoulder-to-shoulder with a group of people who are completely comfortable with dying for someone else's cause.
And oh god, the timeline. I would kill to have that level of control over my own writing. Dragon bounces seamlessly through Vlad's experiences in the Battle of Baritt's Tomb, the aftermath, and years later, with no confusion whatsoever. You know what's happening at any point. You know who the people are. You get giddy little moments of glee, knowing how Vlad will be closer friends with some of these characters later.
If you like the Taltos series, this is (as usual) a fantastic book. There's nothing new here; Brust is a fantastic writer. If you haven't read any books in the Vlad Taltos series, this would be a good "first book" despite being book number 8 - Brust writes his books completely out of sequence, and he experiments with how he tells stories each time. This isn't the best one I've read, but each and every one is fantastic.
Dragon, by Steven Brust, is (as always) an exploration as to what makes up the house the book is titled after. Dragons, in the Taltos series, are military minded, follow their own honor codes, and believe nothing is better than obeying orders. They're essentially Klingons, but without the anger issues. In this book, Vlad winds up fighting inside a squadron of Morollan's army, against an incredibly dangerous wizard, in a battle he has no idea why he's fighting. Worse, he's been given a special mission and it has been made abundantly clear - he is not to assassinate. What's an assassin to do?
I'll tell you what he's to do: explore war. Explore what it is to be a soldier. Have a terrifying time writing about what it's like to be shoulder-to-shoulder with a group of people who are completely comfortable with dying for someone else's cause.
And oh god, the timeline. I would kill to have that level of control over my own writing. Dragon bounces seamlessly through Vlad's experiences in the Battle of Baritt's Tomb, the aftermath, and years later, with no confusion whatsoever. You know what's happening at any point. You know who the people are. You get giddy little moments of glee, knowing how Vlad will be closer friends with some of these characters later.
If you like the Taltos series, this is (as usual) a fantastic book. There's nothing new here; Brust is a fantastic writer. If you haven't read any books in the Vlad Taltos series, this would be a good "first book" despite being book number 8 - Brust writes his books completely out of sequence, and he experiments with how he tells stories each time. This isn't the best one I've read, but each and every one is fantastic.
rachela1eaf's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite Vlad Taltos book, but I did have some fun. The back-and-forth really didn't work for me in this book--in the first half, I didn't have the context to care about the flash-forwards, and in the second half, I was too concerned about the tension in the future to care about what was happening in the flash-backs. But I did like seeing Vlad's relationships develop with some new characters, and his characteristic snark made up for a lot of the boring bits.
rdominick's review against another edition
3.0
A more complicated framing story than most and plenty of distractions left me feeling like I missed some stuff, but various articles about the book online say that I didn't. The second of the "here's how I got involved with all these folks" stories. Not my favorite entry, and not just because it does nothing to address the double-what?! from the end of Orca.
This is the last one I read back in the day, so now I'm going to start on the ones I haven't read: Issola, Dzur, Jhegala, Iorich, Tiassa.
This is the last one I read back in the day, so now I'm going to start on the ones I haven't read: Issola, Dzur, Jhegala, Iorich, Tiassa.
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