Reviews

Dragon by Steven Brust

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cian124's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

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4.0

By publication order, which appears to be the standard reading order, this is book eight in the Vlad Taltos fantasy series. By internal chronological order, large parts of it take place before book one. In several respects, not just the internal chronology, it feels like a return to the start of the series. Spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

As in those early books, the story is narrated by Vlad Taltos, the assassin, with his characteristic wit and attitude. The feel of the book is fun, though with some bitter notes to it.

Unlike the previous books, much of the book concerns warfare, albeit in a high fantasy setting: warfare as seen by infantry troops. This lends it a different slant than the books that centered on assassination and intrigue. The waste of war came across well. There's one death in particular that had considerable heft.

I'm liking the series very much, and would rank "Dragon" roughly in the middle of the pack for quality ... which is to say, very good. Engrossing. Entertaining. Satisfying. I'll be going straight on to book nine.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

suzemo's review against another edition

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3.0

I've been rereading these in publication order, but in chronological order, this would have come before Jhereg.

In this particular book, we're reading two timelines that converge into the current framework chronology. My biggest issue with that is that there were no obvious breakpoints or formatting to let you know that the timelines switched, so it took a bit minute and some backtracking in the reading to get bearings. This pretty much happened every chapter, so it got annoying, but predictable.

This is the story of how Aliera got Pathfinder. A Dragon steals something from another Dragon and the Dragons go to war. Vlad enlists, partly because he wants revenge on a Dragon, partly because he works for another Dragon, and does his thing. It's alright. I got bored with the war part of it and the whole 'military camaraderie' thing. It does showcase Dragons and their mentality and gives us bonus Sethra Lavode, which I always appreciate.

Solid, but not one of my favorites in the series.

hagbard_celine's review against another edition

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3.0

Weird publication order continues!

shreela_r's review against another edition

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3.0

Such funny dialog kept me laughing out loud! But the timeline of the series was quite confusing, so just 3 stars. Also didn't enjoy the babbling cave-creature conversation - thankfully it wasn't very long. I guess I just enjoyed the banter (other than in the cave)!