Share for friends:

Read The Book Of Athyra (2003)

The Book of Athyra (2003)

Online Book

Author
Genre
Series
Rating
4.22 of 5 Votes: 3
Your rating
ISBN
0441010105 (ISBN13: 9780441010103)
Language
English
Publisher
ace

The Book Of Athyra (2003) - Plot & Excerpts

Vlad is out of his normal environment. Instead of being a powerful assassin and a member of a criminal organization. He is alone, far away from his big cities, with only his jhereg companions.Athyra: Vlad Taltos doesn't believe in coincidence so when a man that he once knew dies just as he arrives in a small town, where no one should expect him, he becomes suspicious. He befriends a local boy, Sven, to help him. Sven is learning to be a healer, so the contrast to Vlad is interesting. He has family and other duties but he is drawn to Vlad regardless of the skepticism and outright suspicion with which the other villagers view Vlad. Never before has Vlad so desperately needed help. We see him at his most vulnerable. Even Rocza warms up to Sven eventually. Vlad must hunt a man for the second time.Orca: These two pair very naturally. Vlad is still traveling with Sven because something happened at the end of Athyra. Sven was left damaged. You couldn't be sure if it was physical or mental or both. So he finds a woman who can help but she also needs help of her own. She is in danger of losing her home so they make an arrangement to help each other. Vlad calls in an old friend and it is so good to see a familiar face. Kiera is a cool character that we don't get to see a lot of, so it is nice to see some more of her. The novel is mostly told as an almost retelling of the events to Cawti. You learn some very exciting things, about why Kiera introduced herself to Vlad to begin with and a little of what Cawti has been up to in his absence. Don't expect any overly happy endings but it is very interesting.Original Review on my Website

ORCA review first, then the omnibus. ORCA was not really that enjoyable. Even though it tied up loose ends from ATHYRA, and it returned to Vlad's POV, it slogged through a lot of financial intricacies which didn't really generate much excitement. There were three good things about it, however:1. It left me feeling better about a character from earlier books whom I'd grown to dislike.2. Chapter 13 should be required reading by anyone who wants to understand just what caused the 2008 fiscal crisis in our world. Prescient, since Brust wrote ORCA in 1995. Probably my favorite part of the story.3. I found out a revelation which was truly jaw-popping, in terms of the series, and it came before the ending, so readers who Turn To The End To See How It Comes Out will be foiled. Ira Levin would've been proud.Overall, though, I'd give this one three stars. A shame. Wish it'd been better.Now the omnibus: the weakest of the three I've read yet, but with some enjoyable moments for this who love the series. If I could, I'd give it three and a half stars, but as it is, I'll stick with three. Hoping the next one, DRAGON, is more enjoyable.

What do You think about The Book Of Athyra (2003)?

Athyra gets 3 stars, Orca gets 5. Athyra was somewhat difficult to get into, being that it's from an entirely new character's perspective, and Vlad/Loiosh banter is one of my favorite things about this series. However different it was, it still isn't an unpleasant read, though it contained far too much philosophy for my tastes. Orca, while mostly from Kiera's perspective, is whole other boat, because it's already a character you've known and (if you're like me) adore. It also has one (or two, if you're bad at guessing) huge reveals at the end, which I fucking loved. Brust is really good at throwing a surprise or two in and still making you go, "It all makes sense now!"
—Heather

Athyra - 2/28/14 - I read the first two of this series some time last year. And the next two a month or so ago. So when I made my last Amazon order, I got the next 4. This one? This one's making me wish I hadn't. I don't mind the change in perspective from Vlad to someone else. But the story is just so damned boring. Nothing much happens. The boy isn't interesting in the least. The age thing is confusing me. Perhaps they've explained it in previous books and I've forgotten, but still. I'm reading Orca now and it's better, but not great. I'll probably stop reading this series for a while after I finish it and try the next two later. Ug.Orca - 3/1/14 - /sigh What the hell? Is it me? I loved the first 5 of this series. So much that when I did my last book ordered, I went ahead and bought the next two volumes (4 books total). I'm regretting that now. So this one still has Savn from Athyra, but he's broken. Maybe it's because I didn't really care about his character in the previous book, but I found this one incredibly tedious. It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through to get Mother's house back when she really didn't seem like, in the beginning, she was going to be able to help Savn at all. I'm putting the next volume in this series away for a while. I already own it, so I'll probably attempt to read it, but it won't be for a while. Here's hoping it's better when I finally get to it.
—Jenn

There's two books in this edition-- Athyra and Orca. I'll comment on each seperately.Athyra was my favorite of the two. I really liked the change in point of view character and the completely different pace of this novel. It was interesting to get an outside look at Vlad from the perspective of someone on the outside of his world, far outside. Of course, I've never been really into the whole gangster/assassin lifestyle thing anyhow, so I didn't miss it at all.As for Orca, it was also from a different point of view-- at least part of the time. This was the main problem for me, because I often got lost when the POV transitioned and I would end up confused and would have to backtrack and re-read stuff to get things straight, and I find that annoying. The story in and of itself was good, but that POV switch thing really started annoying me and pulled me out of the story.I'm giving it a 4 for Athyra, Orca would get a 3, maybe a 3.5 if half stars were allowed.
—Jeanene

Write Review

(Review will shown on site after approval)

Read books by author Steven Brust

Read books in series Vlad Taltos

Read books in category Fiction