- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Ace (MM) (Jan 11 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0441001963
- ISBN-13: 978-0441001965
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #490,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels are wildly and deservedly popular. Here Vlad--wanted all over the Empire, and trying to elude capture--aids a young boy who saved his life and probes the secrets of the House of the Orca.
Ingram
With the help of his two jhereg, sorcerer and former assassin-for-hire Vlad Taltos takes on the corrupt House of the Orca as he sets out to uncover a huge financial scandal.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Following the Money Trail,
By
This review is from: Orca (Paperback)
Vlad Taltos, if nothing else, is a man who remembers and repays his debts, even it that means killing everyone in sight and destroying the Empire in the process. This book follows directly after Athyra (though it is not really necessary to have read that book before trying this one), a book which introduced the character of Savn, a Teckla lad who manages to save Vlad's life. This book is about how Vlad tries to repay that action. Savn was left with a severe case of 'battle fatigue' at the end of the prior book, and Vlad finds a healer who might be able to help Savn, but the healer is facing eviction as her property is involved in a holding company bankruptcy. Vlad and Kiera the Thief, in tracing back the financial paperwork, come across an apparent murder of a very high-flying scam artist who has built a financial pyramid that is threatening to come apart like the proverbial house of cards, and in the process possibly leading the Empire into civil war and anarchy. The plot is convoluted and involves much of the House of Orca as the financial dealers of the Empire, with heavy involvement by the Jhereg and the Phoenix Guards, but there is little real action. Instead, we are treated to a rather tortured discourse on why moral compromise is sometimes necessary to preserve free trade, and a lesson in economics that might have been lifted right from an Economics 101 textbook. On the brighter side, this book sees a return to first person narration, by both Kiera and Vlad, as opposed to the third person voice of Athyra that so marred that book. Along with this first person style comes also Brust's typical ironic bursts of humor and sly satirical digs. Cawti, Vlad's estranged wife, is seen by indirection here, in letters from Kiera to her, and some of what she is feeling about her hunted husband comes through, and showing a possible indication of where this series might be headed in the future. There is revelation in the last ten pages of this book about the real identity of a certain personage, that will obviously be necessary to know about before reading later books in this set, but I thought this revelation was not really set up properly. There just weren't enough clues planted earlier to where this revelation didn't come as a shock, and at least at first I had real difficulties believing it. But I think, upon reflection, that this item can be worked into something very major in later books, and bodes well for the continuation of this set. Clearly a necessary book to read for continuity, with too little action and only a small amount of character rounding-out, but not the best of the series, which for my money is Teckla, the book where character and internal moral questions predominate. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
2.0 out of 5 stars
Vlad's Guide to Financial Swindles,
By
This review is from: Orca (Paperback)
In this plodding tale of Vlad, much talking is done about a banking financial swindle happening. Like Vlad investigates Enron, but not that much fun. In order to help Savn, who saved Vlad previously Vlad must help out an old lady with the power to possibly heal Savn. This leads to the investigation of the financial swindle.Vlad and Kiera play Joe Hardy and Nancy Drew, except again, it really isn't that fun. The book is dialog heavy and as exciting as my accounting textbook, maybe less so. As others have said, the revelation in the last 10 pages is the only payoff for reading the book. Not worth it in my opinion.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another good book by Brust,
By Holly A. Tornay (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Orca (Paperback)
Another excellent book in the Vlad series by Brust. Like Athyra, Brust writes in a voice other than Vlads, though he does throw in some 2nd hand Vlad told from another point of view. On a first read, I thought this was not as good as the first five books, but better than Athyra and overall a good work. THEN, after finishing the series I went back and re-read Taltos. I HIGHLY recommend anyone that reads the entire series do this, all I can say was Taltos is VERY COOL! after reading Orca and the rest of the series (but especially Orca and Issola), and that makes this book VERY COOL as well. However, for anyone that might think it a good idea to start with this book, I would recommend reading the series from the beginning in publication order before reading this book or Athyra, or you'll just be lost.
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