The Book of Jhereg

I love the cunning, wit, and charm of the one-and-only Vlad Taltos. Though he’s an assassin, he’s never cruel or wicked; he merely does what he needs to appease the “mafia-feeling” organization he works for. He’s almost more a swashbuckling rogue than a killer.

In his interactions with his familiar, Loiosh, you see his more nuanced side, the morality beneath the magic and swordplay. And few fantasy worlds I’ve ever visited have been as rich and colorful as those created in the Vlad Taltos series. 

In Dragaera, the fortunes of the seventeen Great Houses are determined by the Cycle, which elevates royalty, merchants, artisans, wizards, the mob, and even peasants as it turns.

The Cycle takes thousands of years to turn… but Dragaerans live thousands of years. Easterners, like Vlad Taltos, are lucky to see a hundred, and they can’t be members of the Great Houses. Except the House of the Jhereg, which sells titles.

They’re the mob; and Vlad, Baronet of Taltos, is an assassin. JHEREG and its many sequels are constantly exploring the social dynamics underlying this situation; as an Easterner with a… show more.

Why do I want to be friends with Vlad? In this often LOL funny series, Vlad is an "Easterner" (a human) assassin who practices witchcraft and communicates psionically with his sarcastic familiar, Loiosh, (a miniature-dragon-like creature). Vlad's enemies—Dragaerans (elves, only don't try to tell them that) are sorcerers. That puts Vlad at a disadvantage. But Vlad's witchcraft often baffles his enemies. He also uses a rapier, which gives him a more flexible fighting style than his enemies' hack & slash methods. Not only that, he has an appreciation for good food, which is enormously attractive. As his friend I'm pretty… show more.

This novel introduced me to a villainous character that was supposed to be the hero. The first-person perspective was perfect to allow me to see why he was the way he was and to understand what made him the hero. The author then filled in the rest of the world, slowly, allowing the connections to new characters to build at a natural pace. Before I knew it, I had a picture in my mind of the world the character lived within, and it was filled with variety and depth that kept drawing me back for more.

The first novel in Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels features a young assassin armed with witchcraft and a reptilian familiar whose bite is not half as sharp as his wit, traversing a complicated realm of people called Dragaereans.

The action is fast, the dialog realistic and fun, and this is why Brust has made this list. Not only did he spark the dream, but he made a lifelong fan.