Most Popular Books by Steven Brust

Back in print after a decade, Brokedown Palace is a stand-alone fantasy in the world of Steven Brust''s bestselling Vlad Taltos novels. Once upon a time...far to the East of the Dragaeran Empire, four brothers ruled in Fenario: King Laszlo, a good man—though perhaps a little mad; Prince Andor, a clever man—though perhaps a little shallow; Prince Vilmos, a strong man—though perhaps a little stupid; and Prince Miklos, the youngest brother, perhaps a little—no, a lot-stubborn. Once upon a time there were four brothers—and a goddess, a wizard, an enigmatic talking stallion, a very hungry dragon—and a crumbling, broken-down palace with hungry jhereg circling overhead. And then... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In which Vlad Taltos finds himself, much to his surprise, at the fateful Battle of Baritt''s Tomb Marching through mud just isn''t as much fun as they say. After years of surviving in Adrilankha by practicing the trade he knows best—killing people for a living—suddenly Vlad Taltos finds himself in the last place any self-respecting assassin wants to be: the army. Worse, he''s right in the middle of a apocalyptic battle between two sorcerous armies, and everyone expects him to play a role they won''t explain. All Vlad''s got between him and the worst kind of death is his wits. Oh, and a smart-mouthed winged lizard... Dragon is Steven Brust at his best—a swashbuckling fantasy adventure. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Khaavren, Pel, Aerich, and Tazendra meet again after five hundred years, just as an uprising in Dragaera threatens the Imperial Orb and begins to change their world.

A snarky, irreverent tale of secret magic in the modern world, the first solo standalone novel in two decades from Steven Brust, the New York Times bestselling author of the Vlad Taltos series Donovan was shot by a cop. For jaywalking, supposedly. Actually, for arguing with a cop while black. Four of the nine shots were lethal—or would have been, if their target had been anybody else. The Foundation picked him up, brought him back, and trained him further. "Lethal" turns out to be a relative term when magic is involved. When Marci was fifteen, she levitated a paperweight and threw it at a guy she didn''t like. The Foundation scooped her up for training too. "Hippie chick" Susan got well into her Foundation training before they told her about the magic, but she''s as powerful as Donovan and Marci now. They can teleport themselves thousands of miles, conjure shields that will stop bullets, and read information from the remnants of spells cast by others days before. They all work for the secretive Foundation...for minimum wage. Which is okay, because the Foundation are the good guys. Aren''t they? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Full of swordplay, peril, and swashbuckling flair, Steven Brust''s Vallista is a treat for longtime fans of this popular fantasy series, a deep dive into the mysteries of Dragaera and all within it. Vlad Taltos is an Easterner—an underprivileged human in an Empire of tall, powerful, long-lived Dragaerans. He made a career for himself in House Jhereg, the Dragaeran clan in charge of the Empire’s organized crime. But the day came when the Jhereg wanted Vlad dead, and he’s been on the run ever since. He has plenty of friends among the Dragaeran highborn, including an undead wizard and a god or two. But as long as the Jhereg have a price on his head, Vlad’s life is...messy. Meanwhile, for years, Vlad’s path has been repeatedly crossed by Devera, a small Dragaeran girl of indeterminate powers who turns up at the oddest moments in his life. Now Devera has appeared again—to lead Vlad into a mysterious, seemingly empty manor overlooking the Great Sea. Inside this structure are corridors that double back on themselves, rooms that look out over other worlds, and—just maybe—answers to some of Vlad’s long-asked questions about his world and his place in it. If only Devera can be persuaded to stop disappearing in the middle of his conversations with her... Vlad Taltos Series 1. Jhereg 2. Yendi 3. Teckla 4. Taltos 5. Phoenix 6. Athyra 7. Orca 8. Dragon 9. Issola 10. Dzur 11. Jhegaala 12. Iorich 13. Tiassa 14. Hawk 15. Vallista At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Steven Brust''s first three novels featuring assassin Vlad Taltos and his jhereg companion were collected in one volume as The Book of Jhereg. The Book of Taltos continues the adventure with books four and five in the series -Taltos and Phoenix. Vlad Taltos is an assassin unlike no other. Not only is he quick with a sword, but he also possesses a gift for witchcraft conjuring. The latest addition to his already formidable arsenal is a leathery-winged jhereg who shares a telepathic link with Vlad -making him twice as deadly The adventures chronicled in Taltos and Phoenix find Vlad accepting a job in the Land of the Dead, but a living human being cannot walk the paths of the dead and return, alive, to the land of men. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the Demon Goddess is willing to rescue him - if Vlad is willing to grant her a favor in return.

House Jhereg, Dragaera''s organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There''s a big price on his head on Draegara 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... In Iorich, Steven Brust has crafted a complex and intriguing Vlad Taltos adventure. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Book of Jhereg and The Book of Taltos collected the first five novels of Steven Brust’s highly imaginative fantasy series that Locus praised as “entertaining and worth reading.” The Book of Athyra features books six and seven in the series—Athyra and Orca. Vlad Taltos is a sorcerer and assassin without peer—as deadly at spell casting as he is with sword wielding. Accompanying him on his journeys are two leathery-winged jhereg who share a telepathic link with Vlad—and triple his chances against even the most powerful of enemies… In Athyra, Vlad finds he’s ready to retire himself and his jhereg companions, but the biggest hitters of the House of the Jhereg have something else in mind. In Orca, Vlad must repay a debt to a boy who saved his life—even if it means breaking a financial scandal big enough to bring down the House of the Orca, and possibly the entire Empire…

From the vaults of Dragaeran history and the mind of master fantasist Steven Brust—a tale of betrayal and vengeance that is not at all a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo Reader, you will undoubtedly have had the misfortune of consuming the rotten fruit of fallacies that we—Paarfi of Roundwood (esteemed historian of House of Hawk and exquisite artisan of truths)—"borrow" our factual recount of Dragaeran history from some obscure fellow who goes by the name Al Dumas or some silly nomenclature of that nature. The salacious claims that The Baron of Magister Valley bears any resemblance to a certain nearly fictional narrative about an infamous count are unfounded ( we do not dabble in tall tales. The occasional moderately stretched? Yes. But never tall). Our tale is that of a nobleman who is betrayed by those he trusted, and subsequently imprisoned. After centuries of confinement, he contrives to escape and prepares to avenge himself against his betrayers. A mirror image of The Count of Monte Cristo, vitrolic naysayers still grouse? Well, that is nearly and utterly false. Also by Paarfi of Roundwood: 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha I) 4. The Lorde of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha II) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha III) At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The time is the Beginning. The place is Heaven. The story is the Revolt of the Angels—a war of magic, corruption and intrigue that could destroy the universe. Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure. Originally published in 1984, Steven Brust''s To Reign in Hell is a retelling of Satan''s revolt against Heaven with much more sympathy for Lucifer and his allies. Heaven is threatened by the reemergence of a cataclysmic event, a wave of energy that can destroy life and result in the loss of many angels. In preparation for this Fourth Wave, the angel Yaweh consults the angel Satan. A plan to build Earth, a new and larger Heaven that would be equipped to withstand the disaster is constructed. Satan questions the plan because doing so will sacrifice the lives of other angels, much like the Fourth Wave itself threatens to do. Charged with convincing their fellow angels to lay down their lives, Satan has reservations about their right to ask for such a sacrifice. This doubt, and the questioning of ethics, opens the door for a devious figure to manipulate Satan, developing a heavenly war. This re-examination of Paradise Lost calls morality and villainy into question through the lens of epic fantasy is a prescient early classic with an enduring legacy and a formative text of the genre. With an introduction by the late, great Roger Zelazny, author of Lord of Light and Nine Princes in Amber.

An extraordinary novel of magic and mystery from two of fantasy''s most electrifying young authors. This wild romp leads readers through every corner of mid-nineteenth-century England, from the parlors of the intellectual elite to the dens of the underclass. Not since Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has there been such a profusion of guns, sword fights, family intrigues, women disguised as men, secret societies, occult pursuits, philosophical discussions and sheer adventure!

Continuing the swashbuckling epic begun in The Paths of the Dead Journeys! Intrigues! Sword fights! Young persons having adventures! Beloved older characters having adventures, too! Quests! Battles! Romance! Snappy dialogue! Extravagant food! And the missing heir to the Imperial Throne! In the swashbuckling, extravagant manner of The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After, and The Paths of the Dead, this is an old-fashioned adventure--moving at a twenty-first-century pace. The Interregnum is over. To everyone''s astonishment, Zerika, a very young Phoenix, has coolly emerged from the Paths of the Dead, carrying with her the Orb, which everyone had thought was lost in Adron''s Disaster. The Orb is the heart of the Dragaeran Empire, the source of all its magic--and the infallible sign that Zerika is the new Empress. But not everyone is happy to hear the news. It''s been 250 years since Adron''s Disaster, and power vacuums never stay that way for long. Kâna, a Dragonlord, has been expanding his holdings. He now controls almost half the area that was once the Empire -- in effect, the Empire re-created, with himself on the throne. Among those opposing him is a young Dragonlord named Morrolan - the same Morrolan familiar to every reader of the Vlad Taltos adventures. Until recently, Morrolan was an orphan raised among Easterners, unaware of his lineage, but it has belatedly come to his attention that he''s a high-ranking Dragonlord, and now he means to act like one. And from Sethra Lavode he has received a gift of immense significance and power: Blackwand, a magical artifact in the form of a sword. He''ll find plenty to do with it. The Khaavren Romances, set in the world of Vlad Taltos''s Dragaera: 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 1) 4. The Lord of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 2) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 3) The Baron of Magister Valley [standalone] At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Okay, so maybe I''ve been living in the woods too long, where you can''t even get a decent cup of klava first thing in the morning. So who should turn up but Lady Teldra, the courtly servant of my old friend the Dragonlord Morrolan? Teldra wants my help, because Morrolan and Aliera have disappeared, and according to Sethra Lavode, it looks like they may be in the hands of the Jenoine. Do I want to mess with them? The guys who made this place? And I thought I had problems before... Oh well, what''s a little cosmic battle with beings who control time and space? It''s better than hunkering down in the woods without even so much as a drinkable cup of klava. In Issola, Stephen Brust delivers another swashbuckling fantasy adventure for Vlad Taltos. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Khaavren of the House of Tiassa arrives in the heart of the Draegaran Empire with only his good breeding and his "tolerable" swordsmanship to protect. But when he joins the rambunctious Phoenix Guards, he and his rowdy comrades must save the Empire from collapse . . . and invasion.

The latest in the New York Times bestselling “Vlad Taltos” series: on the run far from Draegara, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad is going to have to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people: his own.

In which Vlad Taltos confronts the Left Hand of the Jhereg...and discovers the game has more players than he thought Vlad Taltos, short-statured, short-lived human in an Empire of tall, long-lived Dragaerans, has always had to keep his wits about him. Long ago, he made a place for himself as a captain of the Jhereg, the noble house that runs the rackets in the great imperial city of Adrilankha. But love, revolution, betrayal, and revenge ensued, and for years now Vlad has been a man on the run, struggling to stay a step ahead of the Jhereg who would kill him without hesitation. Now Vlad''s back in Adrilankha. The rackets he used to run are now under the control of the mysterious "Left Hand of the Jhereg"—a secretive cabal of women who report to no man. His ex-wife needs his help. His old enemies aren''t sure whether they want to kill him, or talk to him and then kill him. A goddess may be playing tricks with his memory. And the Great Weapon he''s carrying seems to have plans of its own... Picking up directly where Issola left off, Dzur gives us Vlad Taltos at his best—swashbuckling storytelling with a wry and gritty edge. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From bestselling fantasy author Steven Brust comes this paranormal novel of immortality—and its price... Born over a century ago, Agyar was once a frivolous young man, before he found unwanted immortality in a woman''s blood-red lips. Now he goes from woman to woman, and decade to decade, finding himself at last in an Midwestern college town, where he must choose between the seductions of salvation—and of destruction. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Long ago, one of the gods fashioned an artifact called the silver tiassa. To Devera the Wanderer, it''s a pretty toy to play with. To Vlad Taltos, it''s a handy prop for a con he''s running. To the Empire, it''s a tool to be used against their greatest enemies—the Jenoine. To the Jhereg, it''s a trap to kill Vlad. The silver tiassa, however, had its own agenda. Steven Brust''s Tiassa tells a story that threads its way through more than ten years of the remarkable life of Vlad Taltos—and, to the delight of longtime fans, brings him together with Khaavren, from The Phoenix Guards and its sequels. Khaavren may be Vlad''s best friend—or his most terrible enemy. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.