About the Book
She's the oldest person in the Dragaeran Empire, a military genius and master of sorcery whose own story stretches back to before the dawn of history. She's Sethra Lavode, the undead Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. Now, after a long absence, she's returned to take an active role in the Empire's affairs--and the affairs of Khaavren, Pel, Tazendra, Aerich, and all their friends and relations. Since the day Adron's Disaster reduced Dragaera City to a barren sea of amorphia, the Empire has been in ruins. The Emperor is gone, along with the Orb that was both his badge of office and the source of the magical power that in former times was practically a public utility. Trade has collapsed. Brigands rule the roads. Plagues sweep through the population. And an ambitious Dragonlord has moved to rebuild the Empire--in his own name, of course. Unknown to him, Sethra Lavode has already helped the Phoenix Zerika, true heir to the throne, retrieve the Orb from the Paths of the Dead. Sethra means to see Zerika on the throne. But making it so will entail a climactic battle of sorcery and arms. "Sethra Lavode," Book Three of The Viscount of Adrilankha, is an epic fantasy--told with all the swashbuckling flair for which Steven Brust is known.
About the Author :
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in a family of Hungarian labor organizers, Steven Brust worked as a musician and a computer programmer before coming to prominence as a writer in 1983 with "Jhereg," the first of his novels about Vlad Taltos, a human professional assassin in a world dominated by long-lived, magically-empowered human-like "Dragaerans."
Over the next several years, several more "Taltos" novels followed, interspersed with other work, including "To Reign in Hell," a fantasy re-working of Milton's war in Heaven; "The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars," a contemporary fantasy based on Hungarian folktales; and a science fiction novel, "Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille." The most recent "Taltos" novels are "Dragon" and" Issola." In 1991, with "The Phoenix Guards," Brust began another series, set a thousand years earlier than the Taltos books; its sequels are "Five Hundred Years After" and the three volumes of "The Viscount of Adrilankha": "The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, "and" Sethra Lavode."
While writing, Brust has continued to work as a musician, playing drums for the legendary band Cats Laughing and recording an album of his own work, A Rose for Iconoclastes. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where he pursues an ongoing interest in stochastics.
Review :
"Includes all the action, romance, and pathos of its predecessors.There''s no denying Brust''s fine pacing and worldbuilding and his sheer pizzazz."
"Includes all the action, romance, and pathod of its predecessors "The Phoenix Guards," "Five Hundred Years After," "The Paths of the Dead," and "The Lord of Castle Black."..There's no denying Brust's fine pacing and worldbuilding and his sheer pizzazz." --"Booklist "on "Sethra Lavode"
"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
"Steven Brust might just be America's best fantasy writer!" --Tad Williams
"Delightful, exciting and sometimes brilliant, Steven Brust is the latest in a line of great Hungarian writers, which (I have no doubt) includes Alexandre Dumas, C.S. Forester, Mark Twain, and the author of the juciest bits of the Old Testament." --Neil Gaiman
"Brust is incapable of writing a dull book." --"Booklist "on "Paths of the Dead"
"Filled with high adventure, intrigues, a great deal of good humor and moments of genuine hilarity...It's rare for a book over 400 pages to seem as short as this one. It's even rarer to find one that seems likely to satisfy such a broad range of reader expectations, humor, adventure, intrigue, and wit all in the same package." --"Science Fiction Chronicle" on "Five Hundred Years After"
"As always, Brust invests Vlad with the panache of a Dumas musketeer and the colloquial voice of one of Zelazny's Amber heroes. This is a rousing adventure with enough humor, action and sneaky plot twists to please newcomers as well as longtime series fans." --Publishers Weekly on "Dragon"
"A splendid caper that welcomes newcomers, while existing fans will pounce." --Kirkus Reviews on "Dragon"
"No mere plot summary can describe accurately the fun and adventure that naturally seems to follow Vlad Taltos." --VOYA on "Issola"
