Orca [Paperback]

Steven Brust (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996

With the help of his two jhereg, sorcerer and former assassin-for-hire Vlad Taltos takes on the corrupt House of the Orca as he sets out to uncover a huge financial scandal.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels are wildly and deservedly popular. Here Vlad--wanted all over the Empire, and trying to elude capture--aids a young boy who saved his life and probes the secrets of the House of the Orca.

Review

Vlad is an engaging, wisecracking, hard-boiled sort of character ... bright, bracing, with an appealing sardonic edge. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Ace (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441001963
• ISBN-13: 978-0441001965
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #625,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Real Let-down From Others In The Series, October 28, 2000

By 

"loiosh54honestreviewer" (Shelton, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orca (Paperback)

This book took a turn in the series with Vlad trying to cure Savn(The Teckla boy) by doing a favor for a healer. He investigates a murder of an Orca called Fyres to save her land. It is good, but went really downhill from Phoenix, Teckla, Jhereg, and Yendi. Most of the time it is Kiera's point of view which, is all well and good, but sometimes in the story it goes back to Vlad's point of view. When you listen to Vlad again it gets a better but in some points it really excells when he's thinking about all that happened. My personal favorite parts are the interlude with Cawti and Kiera and the REALLY twisted ending where a secret is revealed. Overall, it's well written but it's a bit of a let-down from the other amazing books (especially Phoenix, which is the best book in the series, though not my favorite) But it does open the door for a pending reconsiliation between Vlad and Cawti. So one thing you can be sure of is: the next book, Issola, will have a 94% chance of being the next great cornerstone in the series, if not the book after that. It will be enjoyable for readers of Steven Brust, but not newcomers to Vlad Taltos. If you're going to first buy a Taltos book, buy Taltos, Yendi, and Jhereg first. You don't have to, it's just suggested. But if you don't, you'll be really confused about the others. Then after reading those three go to Dragon, Teckla, Phoenix, Athyra, and Orca in that order. These books are really enjoyable but it gets weaker in this one. But don't be discouraged, the next book WILL be good. In anycase, if you haven't read these books yet, I and anyone else whose read these, would advise you to do so as soon as possilble. I do not lie so take this seriously. Thank You for taking the time to read this!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Following the Money Trail, June 14, 2003

By 

Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orca (Paperback)

Vlad Taltos, if nothing else, is a man who remembers and repays his debts, even it that means killing everyone in sight and destroying the Empire in the process. This book follows directly after Athyra (though it is not really necessary to have read that book before trying this one), a book which introduced the character of Savn, a Teckla lad who manages to save Vlad's life. This book is about how Vlad tries to repay that action. Savn was left with a severe case of 'battle fatigue' at the end of the prior book, and Vlad finds a healer who might be able to help Savn, but the healer is facing eviction as her property is involved in a holding company bankruptcy. Vlad and Kiera the Thief, in tracing back the financial paperwork, come across an apparent murder of a very high-flying scam artist who has built a financial pyramid that is threatening to come apart like the proverbial house of cards, and in the process possibly leading the Empire into civil war and anarchy.

The plot is convoluted and involves much of the House of Orca as the financial dealers of the Empire, with heavy involvement by the Jhereg and the Phoenix Guards, but there is little real action. Instead, we are treated to a rather tortured discourse on why moral compromise is sometimes necessary to preserve free trade, and a lesson in economics that might have been lifted right from an Economics 101 textbook. On the brighter side, this book sees a return to first person narration, by both Kiera and Vlad, as opposed to the third person voice of Athyra that so marred that book. Along with this first person style comes also Brust's typical ironic bursts of humor and sly satirical digs. Cawti, Vlad's estranged wife, is seen by indirection here, in letters from Kiera to her, and some of what she is feeling about her hunted husband comes through, and showing a possible indication of where this series might be headed in the future.

There is revelation in the last ten pages of this book about the real identity of a certain personage, that will obviously be necessary to know about before reading later books in this set, but I thought this revelation was not really set up properly. There just weren't enough clues planted earlier to where this revelation didn't come as a shock, and at least at first I had real difficulties believing it. But I think, upon reflection, that this item can be worked into something very major in later books, and bodes well for the continuation of this set.

Clearly a necessary book to read for continuity, with too little action and only a small amount of character rounding-out, but not the best of the series, which for my money is Teckla, the book where character and internal moral questions predominate.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Continuity, Enjoyable but not Special, December 16, 2001

By 

John Cosby (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orca (Paperback)

After years of reading everything Brust wrote, I didn't pick this book up at first. I held off until I needed a good dose of Vlad. While this wasn't off-putting enough to cure an addiction, it wasn't potent enough to make deepen the dependency, either.

Followers of Vlad Taltos, Jhereg assasin, human in a land of giants, sorceror and witch, will have to read this one. Too much was left hanging by Vlad's last adventure (in his-time, not publisher-time). Brust continues to emphasize Vlad's complexity as a cold-blooded killer who will do anything for friends or people he feels obligated to. The continuity and backstory for some of the supporting cast was useful too - it confirmed things I'd guessed when I read "Athyra," "Teckla," and "Dragon." New readers should NOT pick this one up first - go back and buy "Jhereg," the only true introduction to the series.

All in all - I enjoyed it, but it doesn't stand alone. In fact, a working knowledge of "The Phoenix Guard" and "Five Hundred Years After" helps explain the character of Lord Khaavren. If you're following Vlad's career, this is the next stop, and something tells me it's going to be a prerequisite for "Issola." The wit and humor are still there, as are the mannerisms of a complex, alien culture. The evolution of Vlad Taltos continues - and now I want the next book. The addiction's no deeper - but it hasn't gone away.