Hawk: A New Novel Vlad Taltos

Another enjoyable Vlad book. You know all along that it is being setup as a sleight of hand, and are just trying to figure out what the next twist is going to be. But it's is good to see Vlad stop being mopey and contemplative and resume being active.

Hawk (Vlad) Nice change of pace from my favorite fantasy author, however, the guy has been lazy, and needs to finish the series before he gets too old, and dies on us....

The first novels in the Vlad series were truly great. We learned about Vlad, the world he lives in, his friends and family, and Vlad actually grew. The last few and especially this one seem to be very stretched chapters of the story. Something that should have been at most a few chapters was stretched out into a book. The writing itself is still excellent hence the three stars. I do like Steven Brust's ability to create the scenes and dialog. Now a few chapters are stretched into a full-length novel just to set up a cliff hanger so you'll buy the next one. Nothing really changes for Vlad and he is no closer to seeing his family. No forward movement in his life.

Small venomous (and VERY sarcastic) flying lizards? Check
A VERY angry Organization that makes most of the Mob look like wanna-bes? Check.
A BIG bounty on his head? Check (Oh and that bounty? His soul destroyed. They want it THAT way.)
Too long spent in one place? Check.
A semi-sentient weapon that GODS fear? Check.
Double, triple and quadruple crosses? Check.
His ex-wife won't let him see his kid with assassins hanging around? Check

All of this... Oh and one other thing...

Vladamir is now ANGRY. Check. Um... Angry master assassin with a Great Weapon... You might want to RUN.

Things... are about to get rough. Rough enough even Morrolan of Castle Black and Sethra Lavode herself are starting to get worried... But not... so much for VLAD. For EVERYTHING else.

YES! Another Jhereg novel and YES Brust delivers!

I've been looking forward to a return to Dragaera for some time. Unfortunately, this part of the cycle doesn't satisfy the itch.

When reading this, I kept wondering when things would start happening, when it would read like a Brust book. This never really happened. Sure, there was a resolution, but the time it took to get there was tedious and repetitive. The whole book should have been a subplot.

Another thing I thought missing were characters. All his more powerful friends only made cameo appearances. It's like he knew he had to have Morrolan, Aliera, Sethra, etc. in the book, and forced them in. Yes, it was nice to see Kragar again, but I wish we had checked in on the others.

Given such a weak entry in the Cycle, I have to wonder if Mr. Brust has run out of things to say about the world of Dragaera, and in particular Vlad. If so, I wish he'd just let it go until he's ready again.

Hawk (2014) is the Fourteenth Fantasy novel in the Vlad Taltos series, following Tiassa. The initial volume in this sequence is Jhereg.

In the previous volume, Vlad received a silver tiassa from a child goddess some years before. In the course of events, certain powers were attributed to the figurine. It became a valuable object to the Empire.

Later, Vlad lent money to Byrna, who neither paid back the loan nor paid interest on it. After one of his men was hurt trying to collect the money, Vlad decided to personally confront Byrna.

Vlad received a message from Byrna calling for a meeting. Vlad showed up and found someone else waiting for him. The man called himself the Blue Fox and acted as a negotiator for Byrna.

Later, the Blue Fox asked Vlad to concoct a plot against the Imperial revenue agents. Vlad agreed and produced an elaborate scam to divert the Imperial agents. In this production, the silver tiassa was used as bait. Afterward, Vlad confronted the Blue Fox with his real purpose.

In this novel, Vladimir Taltos is an Easterner and a former Jhereg, but is now hunted by the Jhereg leadership. He is also the Imperial Count Szurke. Vlad has two Jhereg familiars -- Loiosh and Rocza -- who act as scouts and observers.

Cawti is the estranged wife of Vlad. She and Vlad have a child named after his father.

Norathar e'Lanya is the Dragon heir. She is a former partner of Cawti.

Kragar is the former chief of staff of Vlad. When the Jhereg council put a price on his hear, Vlad left his position to Kragar and fled.

Demon is a Jhereg. He is a member of the ruling council.

In this story, Vlad is on his way to visit his son in Southern Adrilankha. Loiosh warns him that Jhereg stakeouts are keeping an eye on Cawti's house. Moreover, an Imperial Guardsman also is leaning against the house.

The Guardsman was probably sent by Norathar to protect Cawti and Vlad's son. The Jheregs are waiting for Vlad to appear. They obviously want to kill him.

Vlad has a tough time escaping from the Jheregs. Someone seems to have an instrument that points toward him. Vlad alsoms runs into another Jhereg waiting in ambush.

Even with his amulet, the Jheregs keep finding him. Vlad is tired of running from them. Vlad needs a way of buying off the Jheregs.

Vlad comes up with a way to settle his feud with the Jheregs. He contacts Demon and interests him is his plan. Demon gives him a tentative agreement pending the final meeting.

Vlad starts rounding up items to use to eavesdrop on psychic communications. He contacts various friends and associates for the items. He also works out ways to protect himself from betrayal.

This tale takes Vlad in disguise to various part of Adrilankha. He has made a deal with Demon, but other Jheregs are still looking for him. He uses Kragar's office as a base for his operation.

Vlad gets almost everything right. The next installment in this sequence has not yet been announced on the store.

Highly recommended for Brust fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of foreign planets, local criminals, and a little magic. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

This, the latest Vlad Taltos novel, is something of a mixed bag.

Story-wise, it is one of the strongest of the entire Taltos series. We find out much more about one of the most enigmatic characters of the entire series (yeah, one guess which one). We reenter the mean streets of Adrilankka. We have a long-anticipated moment that was laid down several novels ago. And we end on a cliffhanger that promises an even bigger resolution. No complaints there.

Stylistically, it's a bit rougher, though still head-and-shoulders above so many other modern novels. The occasionally-chatty narration style from Vlad has been cranked to maximum, to the point where it's intrusive. As always the author's wordcraft is excellent, but to borrow an analogy near and dear to Vlad himself, just because a little bit of a spice makes the stew taste good doesn't mean that dumping the whole jar in makes it better. It's too "folksy", at least compared to the other books. Given the size of the series to date, a stylistic break like this is jarring. This isn't so bad that it's critical, but when you have experienced near-perfection from a series, this kind of slip calls attention to itself.

There are also a few characters who are notable for their absence, particularly given the subject matter. However, this is a matter strictly of opinion on my part, as the author will certainly know better in this regard. This book is also very much a "part one of two" effort, so the telling of this particular story isn't over and there is yet time. A note: "Hawk" and its sequel-to-be "Vallista" will be much more tightly bound together than the "Issola"/"Dzur" pair.

If this were a review of the print version of "Hawk", I'd stop here, give it four stars, and say "nonetheless I can't wait for the next one!" (which is true). But I have the audiobook, and as my review is based upon the audiobook I need to comment on that.

If you don't want preconceptions about the reading, stop now.

Lord, I never thought I would ever, under any circumstances, have anything negative to say about a reading by Bernard Sotero Clark. He has been magnificent... until now.

The reading is riddled with errors. The reader mispronounces major recurring character names through much of the first half of the book. He voices major characters with the wrong character voicing (making character A sound like character B and vice versa when compared to the other readings he has done in this series). And the first half of the reading just plain sounds like he was at once tired and overstimulated... like he recorded it while sick but on a lot of coffee... and no, I'm not referring to the voicing of Vlad's spoken dialog early on. There is no subtlety in the reading this time; inflections are applied with a broadsword not a stiletto . Morrolan is not "strong"; instead, his lines are practically shouted. Kiera sounds much more like Cawti or calm-Aliera from previous readings; there is none of the light neo-Irish lilt that marked her before. Even Loiosh is voiced oddly in a too-much-enunciation kind of way.

The list goes on. It's almost like this reading was a rush job, and it seems like the reader didn't have time to go back and review his previous readings for consistency and continuity. Even the audio quality itself could be better; the microphone is "hot" throughout the first half of the book (on the verge of clipping and distortion from being set oversensitive). If this were my first exposure to the audiobook versions of the Vlad Taltos series it wouldn't be much of an issue, but the previous novels' readings have set a gold-standard for audiobooks of this sort. It's a let-down, and one that I never expected could happen with this team.

Please, Bernard, you can do better.

Overall "Hawk" is a solid continuation of the Taltos series, and I absolutely will be with this series to the end. Minor writing issues might be attributable to the author's penchant for experimenting stylistically; more significant audiobook issues will simply be done better in future books as the reader returns to his best-in-the-business delivery. Fans of this series have a good experience waiting; newcomers shouldn't be starting with this book anyway, so what's the worry?

Onwards and upwards.

EDIT: promoting it to four stars, as the bulk of the audience will be consuming this novel in print rather than as an audiobook, and it's certainly a four-star novel.

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

“My heart gave a thump. It had been doing that a lot lately. I wished it would stop. I mean stop giving random thumps, not, you know, stop.” ~Vlad Taltos

Note: This review contains spoilers for previous novels in the series.

Hawk is Steven Brust’s fourteenth (and latest) novel about Vlad Taltos, a charming assassin living in Dragaera. Over the past 31 years, fans of this series have been through a lot with Vlad and Loiosh, Vlad’s flying reptilian familiar.

We first met Vlad when he was at the top of his game, running the Jhereg criminal organization of Adrilankha. Then he married Cawti, who also used to be an assassin but later became a social revolutionary. The change in her worldview was too much for the marriage to handle and they separated, but that didn’t stop Vlad from betraying the Jhereg in order to save Cawti from being executed. The Jhereg want revenge and have been hunting Vlad for years while he wandered around the Dragaeran Empire. Meanwhile Cawti gave birth to Vlad’s son, which he didn’t know about until later.

Now, Vlad wants his life back. He wants to return to his city and be able to visit his son (now eight years old) without worrying about the safety of his son, Cawti, or himself. So Vlad hatches a plan to make peace with the Jhereg. He thinks he has discovered a new form of sorcery that he can offer to the Jhereg — something that will make them rich and powerful — in return for their promise to call off his assassination. Will it work? Or will he just expose himself and get killed?

After watching Vlad brood for a long time, it’s great to see him come out in the open, face his fears, take charge of his destiny, and once again become the smart assassin he used to be. It’s great to be back in Adrilankha among Vlad’s friends and associates (including a couple of interesting new characters). For these reasons, Hawk feels more like the earlier novels in which Vlad was witty, clever, and full of life. His voice is once again breezy and ironic, and he’s fun to listen to, even when he’s just walking down the street….

…which is fortunate since Vlad does a lot of just walking down the street in this story. Until the very end, the pace is slow and leisurely, but that’s okay since it’s actually amusing just to listen to Vlad bicker with Loiosh, or wish he had a name that starts with “The,” or lament that his cloak doesn’t billow dramatically when he walks down the street.

I’m glad Vlad’s back. I’m not sure when we’ll see the next VLAD TALTOS novel, but I look forward to it. I listened to the audio versions of this series which were produced by Audible Studios. Hawk is almost 9 hours long, though I increased the playback speed as I usually do. Bernard Setaro Clark is an excellent narrator and this is one of those cases where I enjoyed the book more because of the reader’s performance. I wouldn’t think of reading these any other way.

Quick review. Wow! After 14 books and Vlad is still getting better! Stayed up way to late but read it in one sitting, literally could not put it down. Vlad is back and making more waves than ever!

Full review. There were some wonderful elements in this story, specifically Vlad being forced to take a few days to mend and during that time he recalls a few different conversations which separately would not mean much to almost anyone. But as we know Vlad is not anyone. He thinks he has found a way to get right with the organization, to get the monumental price taken off his head. And all he needs to do is borrow a magic lock pick, a device that prevents sleep, an enchanted musical instrument, a magical egg, the help of a few friends and more than a little luck. But as we have watched Vlad grow over the years and the two things he almost always has going for him is good friends and luck.

The majority of this story is set back in Adrilankha with a short visit to Dzur Mountain. As we know because of the Phoenix stones that Vlad wears in an amulet that no eastern magic nor sorcery can be used against him or to detect him. Because of the stones there is a lot of walking. Someone has made the price on Vlad's head personal, and the number of attacks and their brute force is getting increasingly dangerous. While recovering from one of these, Clad has a spark moment and comes up with a plan. Pulling together memories from his grandfather's fencing lessons, drinking sessions with Kiera the their and Daymar. Vlad asks a favor and sets up a base of operations in his old offices with Kragars and the help of many others he just might be able to pull it off again.

This was a wonderfully written novel. With ever novel by Steven Brust I read I appreciate his skill as a writer more. I have been reading his books for over 30 years now and eagerly anticipate each new one and as of yet none have failed to entertain. This one was addictive; I did not sleep in order to stay up reading. It is one of the best of the Vlad books. An amazing book in a great series!

Hawk is a great addition to the Vlad Taltos series. You definitely will want to read all (or at least most) of the other books first in order to fully understand and appreciate this one; it brings a conclusion to one of the major plot points that has been central to many of the last Vlad Taltos books.

As always, I loved the Vlad/Loiosh interactions, and I got a kick out of the absurdity of Vlad's solution to his problems (anything that involves a magical euphonium deserves kudos in my mind). My one complaint was that I would have liked to see more of some of the reoccurring characters like Morrolan and Sethra. They were in the book, but I would love to see them in more scenes.

Overall, this is a funny and suspenseful book that actually moves Vlad's story forward, which hasn't really happened in some of the recent books in the series.

The intro to the TV show Burn Notice. :) Good show! The text not in quotes is the main character, Michael Westen, introducing himself and kinda giving a short history into what has happened to him and what the show is based on.

My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy.
Until, “We got a Burn Notice on you. You’re blacklisted.” *Whistle*
When you’re burned, you’ve got nothing. No cash, no credit, no job history.
You’re stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in. “Where am I?” “Miami.”
You do whatever work comes your way.
You rely on anyone who’s still talking to you.
A trigger-happy ex-girlfriend; “Should we shoot them?”
An old friend who’s informing on you to the FBI. “You know spies - bunch of bitchy little girls.”
Family too – “Hey, is that your mom calling again?” – If you’re desperate…
(Mom) “Someone needs your help Michael.”
Bottom line, as long as you’re burned, you’re not going anywhere.

Excellent story, well earning of a place among the best of the Taltos stories. However, there are a couple of points. First, Brust is quite slow as a writer. I doubt I'll be alive to read the next. Heck, Brust might not be alive to write it...he takes so long. Second, he makes them too short. As one reviewer mentions, there's a...lack, would be the best term, of the usual interpersonal relations between Vlad and his friends. Everything is this happens, then that, then that, then here's the culmination. The wit is there, the action is there. There's just a lack of inter-action.

The Taltos books are likely Brust's biggest earners in the literary field, and I bet he resents that somewhat: that likely accounts for why they're so sparse in release as well as why - in the last few - he doesn't seem to have placed as much care in the stories. They get written because they earn a lot of pocket money for him, rather than that his readers enjoy them so much more than his other works/attempts. Still, it's good and entertaining: worth the price.