Hawk (novel)

Last updated
Hawk
Front cover of Hawk by Steven Brust.jpg
First edition
Author Steven Brust
Cover artist Stephen Hickman
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series The Vlad Taltos novels
Genre Fantasy novel
Publisher Tor Books
Publication date
October 7, 2014
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages320 (1st ed., hardback)
ISBN 978-0-7653-2444-3 (1st ed., hardback)
813/.54
Preceded by Tiassa  
Followed by Vallista  

Hawk is the fourteenth book in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. It was published in 2014. [1] Following the trend of the series, it is named after one of the Great Houses, and the personality characteristics associated with that House are integral to its plot.

Contents

Plot summary

An assassination attempt against Vlad Taltos, which takes place in his hometown of Adrilankha during a visit to his young son and estranged wife, nearly succeeds. In response to the attempt, Taltos decides that he will no longer run from the Jhereg criminal organization that placed a price on his head, and sets in motion "all sorts of intricate plots and schemes that guess, second-guess and third-guess his adversaries (often incorrectly)". [2]

Noting the protagonist's characteristically unreliable first-person narration, another reviewer notes, "This being Vlad (and Brust), the plan is typically complex and convoluted and really doesn't matter all that much, partly because Vlad doesn't really fill the reader in on everything that’s happening. But if it helps, it involves a Hawk egg, a wand, and a euphonium." [3]

In a review of the book, science fiction writer Cory Doctorow points to "two seemingly irreconcilable facts: a son that Vlad wants to be around, and a city where he is a dead man walking. There's only one way to resolve it, and that's to find a way to buy off, intimidate, or otherwise manipulate the Jhereg into forgiving him for committing the cardinal sin of betraying them to the authorities (without dying first)." [2]

To execute his complex scheme, Taltos calls upon numerous old friends, including Daymar, an academic expert in sorcery from the House of the Hawk. [3]

Critical response

Doctorow's review in Boing Boing cites the story as "one of those jeweled Brustian timepieces of a caper" with "great feel and rhythm," likening the story to The Sting for its build to a satisfying climax. [2]

Related Research Articles

Steven Brust American fantasy and science fiction author

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.

Cory Doctorow Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author

Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden American editor and writer

Teresa Nielsen Hayden is an American science fiction editor, fanzine writer, essayist, and workshop instructor. She is a consulting editor for Tor Books and is well known for her weblog, Making Light. She has also worked for Federated Media Publishing, when in 2007 she was hired to revive the comment section for the blog Boing Boing. Nielsen Hayden has been nominated for Hugo Awards five times.

Dragaera is the fictional world in which a series of novels by Steven Brust is set. The word "Dragaera" can refer to the planet, the Dragaeran Empire, or its former capital, Dragaera City.

<i>Dzur</i> (novel) 2007 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Dzur is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the tenth book of the Vlad Taltos series, originally published in 2006 by Tor Books. It takes place immediately after Issola, the previous novel. The novel was originally intended to be called Tiassa, after another Dragaeran House. The book entered The New York Times Bestseller list for Hardcover Fiction on August 22, 2006.

<i>Teckla</i> 1987 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Teckla is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the third book in his Vlad Taltos series. Originally printed in 1987 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 1999 in the omnibus The Book of Jhereg along with Jhereg and Yendi. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses in Brust's fantasy world of Dragaera and features that House as an important element to its plot.

<i>Jhereg</i> (novel) 1983 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Jhereg is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, part of his Vlad Taltos series, originally published in 1983 by Ace Books. Ace later republished it in 1999 as part of the three-book omnibus, The Book of Jhereg. Marvel Comics adapted the story into a graphic novel titled Steven Brust's JHEREG in 1987.

<i>Yendi</i> (novel) 1984 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Yendi is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the second book in his Vlad Taltos series; it is a prequel to the first novel, Jhereg. Originally printed in 1984 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 1999 in the omnibus The Book of Jhereg along with Jhereg and Teckla. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses in Brust's world of Dragaera and features that House as an important element to its plot. Yendi is Brust's least favorite book.

<i>Phoenix</i> (novel) 1990 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Phoenix is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the fifth book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Originally published in 1990 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 2002 along with Taltos in the omnibus The Book of Taltos. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses and features that house as an important element to its plot.

<i>Taltos</i> (Brust novel) 1988 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Taltos is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the fourth book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Originally published in 1988 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 2002 along with Phoenix as part of the omnibus The Book of Taltos. It does not follow the trend of being named after one of the Great Houses of the Dragaeran Empire, and instead takes its title from its protagonist. Due to the series being written out of chronological order, the events of this book are actually the earliest in the series' timeline.

<i>Orca</i> (novel) 1996 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Orca is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the seventh book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Originally published in 1996 by Ace Books, it was republished in 2003 along with Athyra in the omnibus The Book of Athyra. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses and features that House as an important element to its plot.

<i>Dragon</i> (Brust novel) 1998 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Dragon is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the eighth book in Vlad Taltos series, published in 1998 by Tor Books. It is both the second and fourth book of the series in chronological order, largely occurring after Taltos and before Yendi, with brief interludes taking place shortly after the events of Yendi. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses in Brust's fantasy world of Dragaera and features that House as an important element to its plot.

The Khaavren Romances are a series of fantasy novels written by Steven Brust and set in the fictional world of Dragaera. The novels are swashbuckling adventure stories involving war, intrigue, and romance. They are heavily influenced by and homage the d'Artagnan Romances written by Alexandre Dumas. The series is written by Brust in the voice and persona of a Dragaeran novelist, Paarfi of Roundwood, whose style is a tongue-in-cheek parody of Dumas, matching both his swashbuckling sense of adventure and his penchant for tangents and longwindedness. The Khaavren Romances books have all used Dumas novels as their chief inspiration, recasting the plots of those novels to fit within Brust's established world of Dragaera. The first five books in the cycle are inspired by the Musketeers books, while 2020's The Baron of Magister Valley uses The Count of Monte Cristo as a starting point.

The Viscount of Adrilankha is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, published in three volumes. Collectively, the three books form the third novel in the Khaavren Romances series. It is set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Like the other books in the series, the novel is heavily influenced by and homages the d'Artagnan Romances written by Alexandre Dumas, and is written by Brust in the voice and persona of a Dragaeran novelist, Paarfi of Roundwood, whose style is a tongue-in-cheek parody of Dumas, matching both his swashbuckling sense of adventure and his penchant for tangents and longwindedness. The book's format and title correspond with The Vicomte de Bragelonne, the multi-volume third book of the d'Artagnan Romances. The Khaavren Romances books have all used Dumas novels as their chief inspiration, recasting the plots of those novels to fit within Brust's established world of Dragaera. The first five books in the cycle are inspired by the Musketeers books, while 2020's The Baron of Magister Valley uses The Count of Monte Cristo as a starting point.

<i>Jhegaala</i> 2008 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Jhegaala is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the eleventh book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. It was published in 2008. Following the trend of the series, it is named after one of the Great Houses and usually features that House as an important element to its plot.

<i>Iorich</i> 2010 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Iorich is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the twelfth book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. It was published in 2010. Following the trend of the series, it is named after one of the Great Houses and usually features that House as an important element to its plot. The Iorich are renowned for their quest for justice and the rules of law. Initially released in hardcover, rather than being followed by a normal mass-market paperback, a trade paperback was released.

<i>Tiassa</i> 2011 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Tiassa is the thirteenth book in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. It was published in 2011. Following the trend of the series, it is named after one of the Great Houses and features that House as an important element to its plot.

<i>Athyra</i> 1993 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Athyra is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the sixth book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Originally published in 1993, by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 2003 along with Orca in the omnibus The Book of Athyra. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses and features that House as an important element to its plot.

<i>Vallista</i> 2017 novel in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

Vallista is the fifteenth book in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. It was released in October 2017. Following the trend of the series, it is named after one of the Great Houses, and the personality characteristics associated with that House are integral to its plot.

<i>Good Guys</i> (Brust novel)

Good Guys is an urban fantasy novel by the American writer Steven Brust published in 2018. It is about a fictional society in which magic exists, which is dominated by a magic-regulating bureaucracy, The Foundation. The Foundation requests paperwork for even the smallest actions, and characters in the novel are trapped in lengthy procedural investigations.

References

  1. Brust, Steven (2014). Hawk . Tor Books. ISBN   9780765324443.
  2. 1 2 3 Doctorow, Cory (October 7, 2014). "Steven Brust's "Hawk" - a new Vlad Taltos book!". Boing Boing . Archived from the original on 2015-01-16.
  3. 1 2 Khanna, Rajan (November 6, 2014). "A Slippery Tightrope: Hawk by Steven Brust". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-22.