Iorich

Vlad Taltos, Book 12

By: Steven Brust

Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

House Jhereg, Dragaera's organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There's a big price on his head in Dragaera City. Then he hears disturbing news. Aliera - longtime friend, sometime ally - has been arrested by the Empire on a charge of practicing elder sorcery, a capital crime.

It doesn't make sense. Everybody knows Aliera's been dabbling in elder sorcery for ages. Why is the Empire down on her now? Why aren't her powerful friends - Morrolan, Sethra, the Empress Zerika - coming to her rescue? And most to the point, why has she utterly refused to do anything about her own defense?

It would be idiotic of Vlad to jump into this situation. He's a former Jhereg who betrayed the House. He's an Easterner - small, weak, short-lived. He's being searched for by the most remorseless killers in the world. Naturally, that's exactly why he's going to get completely involved....

©2009 Steven Brust (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

great... except

the story was amazing, as always, but most of the female voices sound the same as always. Besides that good performance.

Such an awesome series!

Just do it. You'll thank me later. Original. Complex but easy to follow. If you were a PoliSci major you will adore it. Breath of fresh air.

Just enjoy the smart!

Steven Brust is great at all of the things that make a truly enjoyable, satisfying fantasy novel. Of course, this means that he could write a truly excellent modern mystery, or pulp fiction, or whatever else. At it's core, his writing is just very smart. But I am grateful that he chose to pursue his craft in fantasy stories. He and Bernard Clark are very well matched. You can imagine the two of them sharing, (or perhaps vying for) the smartest assed guy in the room title.

Classic Vlad

This is the Vlad fans have waited for after many years journeying in a self-imposed exile. The story is compelling with the usual twists and the complications of family.

I'm a bit biased now, so...

Don't know why you would even be reading this, if you read the rest of the series.
Because of this series:
-Steven Brust is in my top 5 favorite Authors
-Bernard Setaro Clark is my favorite narrator. I even hear his voice as Vlad when reading a physical copy now

It's about as good as it gets.

was a really good book is kind of slow towards the

really enjoyed the book overall it was a great story line towards the end there was a lot of excitement a lot of trauma a lot of political banter back and forth and it was really good I really enjoyed it

Always a great series

The deleted scenes at the end were hilarious. Thank you sir Stephen for that! It mad my high!

always great

love the whole series. great read and as always great . Steven Brust is the best.

Pronunciation

When Steven Brust began this series he included a guide to the correct pronunciation of the different houses and names that appear in the stories. The narrator would have been well served to have been made aware of this before recording his performance. I’m afraid his mispronunciations were distracting and served to reduce my enjoyment of the story.

Flying monkeys would make more sense

“Umm…”
The most accurate part of the book summary warned “it doesn’t make sense” and that repeatedly proved true. There were so many nonsensical things, particularly in the politics of why Aliera got arrested, was put on trial, refused to comment, got released, etc. More so than most books in this series, the plot relies upon convoluted mysteries, folks withholding information for no good reason, and a faceless Them to be the villain. Indeed, one of the things I’ve yearned for in this series is a Moriarty, a villain with personality, and dialogue, and, well, a face and a name.

“Heh.”
This is a skippable installment, except for those wishing to spend chapters watching Vlad Junior grow, yearning to catch up on Jhereg business with Kraagar, or thinking what this series needed was even more non-verbal, one-syllable lines from Vlad.

Q: “Please tell us your official position with respect to the empire at the time of the incident”
A: “Warlord, although in point of fact my respect for the empire is, at this moment, under something of a strain”
Q: “The witness is reminded that she may be held in contempt.”
A: “The feeling is mutual.”
Even if the overall plot was confusing, I did find the trial transcripts, and the legal machinations, to be a cheeky sendup of legal loopholes. They just weren’t enough to win me over, especially with the blah blah empire politics.