Most Popular Books by Steven Brust

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.

The bestselling Vlad Taltos fantasy adventure series comes to hardcover--to tell the tale of Vlad''s early life that fans have been awaiting for years.

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.

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. To Reign in Hell was Stephen Brust''s second novel, and it''s a thrilling retelling of the revolt of the angels, through the lens of epic fantasy. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Vlad Taltos, a sometime assassin currently on the run from his former associates, is tracked down in his jungle hideout by a most improbable party: Lady Teldra, the infinitely charming chatelaine of Castle Black. Teldra has come to enlist Vlad''s help. His friends Morrolan e''Drien and Aliera e''Kieron have vanished, and neither sorcery nor telepathy can find them.

Khaavren of the House of Tiassa is a son of landless nobility, possessor of a good sword and “tolerably well-acquainted with its use.” Along with three loyal friends, he enthusiastically seeks out danger and excitement. But in a realm renowned for repartee and betrayals, where power is as mutable as magic, a young man like Khaavren, newly come from the countryside, had best be wary. His life depends on it. And so does the future of Draegara.

The latest in the New York Times bestselling Vlad Taltos series, a wildly satisfying, swashbuckling adventure fantasy from a master of the genre

Vlad Taltos tells the story of his early days in the House Jhereg, how he found himself in a Jhereg war, and how he fell in love with the wonderful woman, Yendi, who killed him.

Quick with both sword and wit, Vlad Taltos makes his way through the world of Dragaera as an assassin, aided by a small talent for magic and a lizard-like jhereg companion.

A dark, sharp, unforgettable urban fantasy from the bestselling author of The Phoenix Guards. "The eponymous anti-hero, a suave and mysterious drifter . . . finds himself obsessed with two women, one a beautiful young dancer, the other a harsh taskmistress. . . . One offers him salvation, the second seeks to destroy him".--San Francisco Chronicle.

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.

Back in print after a decade, a stand-alone fantasy in the world of Steven Brust''s bestselling "Vlad Taltos" novels

A witty epic fantasy with assassins, crime families, and mythical beasts - Vlad Taltos is back in a new adventure! Fresh from the collapse of his marriage, and with the criminal Jhereg organization out to eliminate him, Vlad decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Fenario. All he knows about them is that their family name is Merss and that they live in a papermaking industrial town called Burz. At first Burz isn''t such a bad place, though the paper mill reeks to high heaven. But the longer he stays there, the stranger it becomes. No one will tell him where to find his relatives. Even stranger, when he mentions the name Merss, people think he''s threatening them. The witches'' coven that every Fenarian town and city should have is nowhere in evidence. And the Guild, which should be protecting the city''s craftsmen and traders, is an oppressive, all-powerful organization, into which no tradesman would ever be admitted. Then a terrible thing happens. In its wake, 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. Book eleven in the bestselling Vlad Taltos series by acclaimed author Steven Brust, Jhegaala is a swashbuckling fantasy adventure full of sorcery, swordplay, and tongue-in-cheek humor. Set in the same world as Brust''s beloved Dragaeran books, fans of epic fantasy won''t want to miss this action-packed tale. 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…

A new novel of the Incrementalists, the secret society of near-immortals that aspires to nudge the world into being just a little bit better.

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: The Khaavren Romances 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.

If you liked Susanna Clarke''s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell-or Christopher Priest''s The Prestige-or Iain Pears'' An Instance of the Fingerpost-here is a classic of magic-tinged adventure you may have missed.

"The Desecrator" is an original short story from the Draegaran Empire, by bestselling author Stephen Brust. This is a tale of the Hawklord Daymar, and of a particular Morganti blade. Vlad Taltos fans will enjoy new insight into Stephen Brust''s fantasy series. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Since his first Vlad Taltos novel in the mid-1980s, Steven Brust has gathered a loyal audience. With The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, originally published in 1987, Brust interweaves a traditional Hungarian folktale with the modern story of three young artists'' struggle against the world''s indifference. This underground cult novel will now be enjoyed by a wider and new generation of readers.

The first seven of Steven Brust''s Vlad Taltos fantasy novels have long been in print from Ace Books in a set of three trade paperback omnibuses. Now Tor, publisher of the series from book eight on, continues the series of omnibuses with The Book of Dragon, which includes Dragon and Issola. In Dragon, Vlad finds himself in the last place any self-respecting assassin wants to be: the army. Worse, he''s in the middle of an apocalyptic battle between two sorcerous armies, and everyone expects him to perform a role that they won''t explain. Vlad may kill people for a living, but this is ridiculous. All he''s got to rely on are his wits...and a smart-mouthed winged lizard. In Issola, Vlad''s aristocratic friends Morrolan and Aliera have disappeared, and according to the eldritch (but affable) Sethra Lavode, they may be in the hands of the Jenoine—the mysterious beings who made the world of the Dragaera Empire and its surroundings, and who may have come from somewhere else. Oh, well, what''s life without the occasional cosmic battle with beings who control time and space? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Stephen Brust continues the Khaavren Romances, his remix of Alexandre Dumas'' d''Artagnan Romances, with Five Hundred Years Later, extending his a fantasy twist to the original The Three Musketeers sequel. The heroes of The Phoenix Guards are reunited a mere five centuries later...just in time for an uprising that threatens to destroy the Imperial Orb itself! This is the story of the conspiracy against the Empire that begins in the mean streets of the Underside and flourishes in the courtly politics of the Palace where Khaavren has loyally served in the Guards this past half-millennium. It is the tale of the Dragonlord Adron''s overweening schemes, of his brilliant daughter Aliera, and of the eldritch Sethra Lavode. And it is the tale of four boon companions, of love, and of revenge...a tale from the history of Dragaera, of the events that changed the world. 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.

Back in print: a stylish fantasy thriller from two bestselling masters of the form

Two hundred years after Bragaera City was accidentally reduced to an ocean of chaos, the city''s residents struggle to rebuild the ancient empire and overcome an invisible enemy which threatens their future.

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?

All The World''s A Happy Stage. Until the knives come out... Lyorn is the next adventure in Steven Brust’s bestselling Vlad Taltos series Another Opening...Another Cataclysm? Vlad Taltos is on the run. Again. This time from one of the most powerful forces in his world, the Left Hand, who are intent on ending his very lucrative career. Permanently. He finds a hidey-hole in a theatre where the players are putting on a show that was banned centuries ago...and is trying to be shut down by the House that once literally killed to keep it from being played. Vlad will take on a number of roles to save his own skin. And the skins of those he loves. And along the way, he might find a part that was tailor-made for him. One that he might not want...but was always his destiny. 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.

The sequel to "The Paths of the Dead" and "The Lord of Castle Black" is the culmination of the bestselling epic begun with "The Phoenix Guards."

Tsalmoth is the next installment in Steven Brust’s bestselling Vlad Taltos series—hold on to your hats and get ready for another swashbuckling adventure! First comes love. Then comes marriage... Vlad Taltos is in love. With a former assassin who may just be better than he is at the Game. Women like this don’t come along every day and no way is he passing up a sure bet. So a wedding is being planned. Along with a shady deal gone wrong and a dead man who owes Vlad money. Setting up the first and trying to deal with the second is bad enough. And then bigger powers decide that Vlad is the perfect patsy to shake the power structure of the kingdom. More''s the pity that his soul is sent walkabout to do it. How might Vlad get his soul back and have any shot at a happy ending? Well, there’s the tale... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The first seven of Steven Brust''s Vlad Taltos novels have long been in print from Ace Books in a set of three trade paperback omnibuses. In Spring 2011, Tor put the next two Vlad books, Dragon and Issola, into print as a trade paperback entitled The Book of Dragon. Now we continue with the next two, collecting the New York Times-bestselling Dzur and Jhegaala into The Book of Dzur. In Dzur, Vlad is back in the great city of Adrilankha, with a price on his head. The rackets he used to run are now under the control of the mysterious "Left Hand of the Jhereg"—a 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 appears to be playing tricks with his memory. And the Great Weapon he''s carrying appears to have plans of its own.... In Jhegaala, Vlad decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Fenario, in a papermaking town called Burz. At first it''s not such a bad place, though the mill reeks to high heaven. But the longer he stays there, the stranger it becomes. Then a grisly murder takes place. And in its wake, far from Dragaera, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad has to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people...his own. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A tale from the world of Steven Brust and Skyler White''s novel The Incrementalists The Incrementalists are a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, communicate with one another across nations and time, and have a very modest mission: to make the world better, a little bit at a time. "Fireworks in the Rain" tells an original story not found in the novel but featuring some of the same characters. It serves as an equally beguiling introduction to these mysterious people...and to how they work their small but consequential changes on the modern world. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Years ago, Vlad Taltos came to make his way as a human amidst the impossibly tall, fantastically long-lived natives of the Dragaeran Empire. He joined the Jhereg, the Dragaeran House (of which there are seventeen) that handles the Empire''s vices: gambling, rackets, organized crime. He became a professional assassin. He was good at it. But that was then, before Vlad and the Jhereg became mortal enemies. For years, Vlad has run from one end of the Empire to the other, avoiding the Jhereg assassins who pursue him. Now, finally, he''s back in the imperial capital where his family and friends are. He means to stay there this time. Whatever happens. And whatever it takes. Hawk is the latest in Steven Brust''s New York Times bestselling Vlad Taltos series. "Watch Steven Brust. He''s good. He moves fast. He surprises you. Watching him untangle the diverse threads of intrigue, honor, character and mayhem from amid the gears of a world as intricately constructed as a Swiss watch is a rare pleasure." —Roger Zelazny At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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.

"Secret societies, immortality, murder mysteries and Las Vegas all in one book? Shut up and take my money." —John Scalzi The Incrementalists—a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations, races, and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, just a little bit at a time. Their ongoing argument about how to do this is older than most of their individual memories. Phil, whose personality has stayed stable through more incarnations than anyone else''s, has loved Celeste—and argued with her—for most of the last four hundred years. But now Celeste, recently dead, embittered, and very unstable, has changed the rules—not incrementally, and not for the better. Now the heart of the group must gather in Las Vegas to save the Incrementalists, and maybe the world. "Watch Steven Brust. He''s good. He moves fast. He surprises you. Watching him untangle the diverse threads of intrigue, honor, character and mayhem from amid the gears of a world as intricately constructed as a Swiss watch is a rare pleasure." —Roger Zelazny At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From Earth to the Moon to Mars to another solar system, Cowboy Feng''s Space Bar and Grille is always just a step ahead of whatever mysterious conspiracy is reducing whole worlds to radioactive ash. And Cowboy Feng''s may be humanity''s last hope for survival.

Vlad Taltos, an assassin, takes the side of the Teckla, peasants who are in revolt against the Empire and his own family, the House of Jhereg.