The Phoenix Guards (Mass Market Paperback)

by Steven Brust (Author) "IT HAPPENED THAT on the sixth day of spring, in the first year of the reign of His Imperial Majesty Tortaalik I of the House..." (more)
Key Phrases: hundred orbs, captain grunted, silver orbs, Lord Adron, Lord Garland, Dragon Wing (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Brust's ( Phoenix ) latest does not involve the hero of his ongoing Vlad Taltos series, but it is set in the same world, Dragaera, 1000 years earlier, and shares the wit and exhuberance of the Taltos books. Khaavren, a young swordsman, sets out to join the Imperial Guards under the recently ascended Phoenix Emperor. On the way to the capital, he falls in with three other aspiring Guards, and they form an inseparable quartet of flashing blades and impeccable manners. Unwittingly, Khaavren and company are soon enmeshed in secret plots reaching from the Imperial Palace to the far borders of the empire, with only their skill, wits and blind luck to see them through. In self-conscious homage to the works of Alexandre Dumas and Raphael Sabatini, Brust blends snappy, playful dialogue with circuitous narrative passages. Although the plot's naked contrivance verges on parody, Khaavren and his friends are charming, albeit shallow, heroes whose adventure should win Brust more readers, if his adopted style does not throw them off.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Fantasy set on the world Dragaera (like Brust's paperback ``Vlad Taltos'' yarns), consciously modeled on Dumas, Sabatini, et al., complete with an irritatingly intrusive author, thudding bodies on every page, and chunks of impenetrable description like those William Goldman happily omitted from The Princess Bride. Four young noble warriors--Khaavren, Aerich, Tazendra, Pel- -meet and, united in their resolve to join the Emperor's elite Guards, become fast friends. In a plot of inordinate convolutions, including a surprise addendum where they are faced with summary execution, the swashbuckling quartet becomes involved in an attempt to overthrow the weak but good-hearted Emperor, though they are never sure whose side they or anyone else is on. The Dumas imitation isn't nearly as appealing as Brust seems to think: where light brushstrokes are required, he lays it on with a trowel. Still, the dialogue is snappy and amusing, the scenario holds many attractions (a preponderance of sword over sorcery; warriors are female as often as male, and attack the opposite sex without a qualm; the survivors live for thousands of years), and a certain charm shines through despite Brust's efforts to pretend that he's really someone else. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (June 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812506898
• ISBN-13: 978-0812506891
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #720,400 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Khaavren Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice change of pace, November 20, 2000

By	the_smoking_quill (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

The brief review: I had a slight smile on my face the entire time I read this book. It is, as a reviewer of the Three Muskateers might have once said, "charming."

To elaborate: Brust is very well (some might say "over") educated and knows how to turn a phrase. The plot moves along briskly; the characters, while not fleshed out too thoroughly, do have distinct and effective personalities. I was, at first, a bit lost about the world's/realm's infrastructure of Houses and about the characteristics of each (and what animals the fantasy names correlate to). However, I've not read the Vlad Taltos series, which apparently sheds some light on those matters.

This is not a book to be read at breakneck speed, as the dialogue must be savored and as there are plot details that could otherwise be missed. That said, even if one does commit to reading each excruciatingly polite phrase that the characters utter, there are still times when one wants to throttle them for not getting to the point. Brust plays this game nicely, but he perhaps goes to the well one too many times. Nevertheless, in two words, as the wonderfully pompous narrator might say, this is an amiable sabre-and-sorcery frolick, and I plan to check out Five Hundred Years After, the next book, very soon. (Closer to 3-1/2 or 3-3/4 stars, but 4 is certainly not a stretch.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flashing swords and genteel words make for a great story, August 25, 1998

By	"ragabash" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

I have just finished The Phoenix Guards and I must say it has held me in thrall. I find my own speech patterns have been affected by the lovely turns of phrase and linguistic curiosities with which Mr. Brust has peppered his novel. Mr. Brust uses the third-person (Nearly-omniscient) point of view to craft a tale that is witty, cunning, and entertaining. The story is told as a written history collected by all-seeing, all-knowing Dragaeran historians. There are no dry spots. My only complaint is that, despite voliminous explanation to the contrary, I have no idea when in the Jhereg-series timeline all of this takes place (except for the vague timeframe of "Prior to Adron's disaster"). BTW: you get to meet Adron E'Kieron on stage towards the end, which is a treat.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dumas with Dragaerans, April 3, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

There are those who are disturbed by Brust's practice of twisting classic works through several alternate dimensions; I am always amazed at how well he does it. The rhythms of the dialogue, the descriptions, the characters -- they are similar but not the same, as though viewed through a glass that distorts and reveals simultaneously. It is a walk along a very cunning tightrope -- not alienating those who love the classic while satisfying those who love the fantasy. As one who has adored the unabridged Dumas since childhood, I confess myself well satisfied. As a reader of fantasy for several decades, I find myself, again, amazed.