Hawk

Feels more like the earlier novels

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

“My heart gave a thump. It had been doing that a lot lately. I wished it would stop. I mean stop giving random thumps, not, you know, stop.” ~Vlad Taltos

Note: This review contains spoilers for previous novels in the series.

Hawk is Steven Brust’s fourteenth (and latest) novel about Vlad Taltos, a charming assassin living in Dragaera. Over the past 31 years, fans of this series have been through a lot with Vlad and Loiosh, Vlad’s flying reptilian familiar.

We first met Vlad when he was at the top of his game, running the Jhereg criminal organization of Adrilankha. Then he married Cawti, who also used to be an assassin but later became a social revolutionary. The change in her worldview was too much for the marriage to handle and they separated, but that didn’t stop Vlad from betraying the Jhereg in order to save Cawti from being executed. The Jhereg want revenge and have been hunting Vlad for years while he wandered around the Dragaeran Empire. Meanwhile Cawti gave birth to Vlad’s son, which he didn’t know about until later.

Now, Vlad wants his life back. He wants to return to his city and be able to visit his son (now eight years old) without worrying about the safety of his son, Cawti, or himself. So Vlad hatches a plan to make peace with the Jhereg. He thinks he has discovered a new form of sorcery that he can offer to the Jhereg — something that will make them rich and powerful — in return for their promise to call off his assassination. Will it work? Or will he just expose himself and get killed?

After watching Vlad brood for a long time, it’s great to see him come out in the open, face his fears, take charge of his destiny, and once again become the smart assassin he used to be. It’s great to be back in Adrilankha among Vlad’s friends and associates (including a couple of interesting new characters). For these reasons, Hawk feels more like the earlier novels in which Vlad was witty, clever, and full of life. His voice is once again breezy and ironic, and he’s fun to listen to, even when he’s just walking down the street….

…which is fortunate since Vlad does a lot of just walking down the street in this story. Until the very end, the pace is slow and leisurely, but that’s okay since it’s actually amusing just to listen to Vlad bicker with Loiosh, or wish he had a name that starts with “The,” or lament that his cloak doesn’t billow dramatically when he walks down the street.

I’m glad Vlad’s back. I’m not sure when we’ll see the next VLAD TALTOS novel, but I look forward to it. I listened to the audio versions of this series which were produced by Audible Studios. Hawk is almost 9 hours long, though I increased the playback speed as I usually do. Bernard Setaro Clark is an excellent narrator and this is one of those cases where I enjoyed the book more because of the reader’s performance. I wouldn’t think of reading these any other way.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good one

I read the rest of the series, this was my first audiobook, and I loved it. Loiosh was funny, Vlad was snarky! It was just right. Now I need to go back and listen to them all!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great story, poor voice acting

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am a long time reader of Brust's Vlad Taltos series and have come to love each and every book However, Hawk was my first time listening to one of the books of the series. I have to say that I'm very disappointed in the acting. I never expected Vlad to sound like a Ken doll and for Loiosh to sound like Speedy Gonzalez. The only voice that Setaro Clark seemed to do well was Morollan e'Drien. I'm definitely going to finish the book, but I'll stick to reading them next time.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bernard Setaro Clark’s performances?

possibly, but definitely not this genre.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Back on track. And super-dope.

Felt like the story was meandering a bit for a while. This brings us right back to where Vlad should be.

every book is amazing

amazingly well performed, amazing story, coukd stop listening to it! im excited for the last book out!!

great audio book

I love the story very good audio performance fantastic riding fantastic storytelling. it had me laughing multiple times

I have loved this series for years!

I have read every one of these books, but loiosh sounds like triumph the insult comic dog from t.v. it took a while to accept. otherwise I love the vlad taltos novels and have read them for years. I discovered them in the early 90s and am very pleased he has kept producing more novels in the series!!! please keep them coming!!!

brilliant

again Brust does it. brilliantly written, exciting and entertaining. love his work an he is one of thr best fantassy writers out there

my review for Vladimir's last book

in the end I felt like the very end of the book was anti-climactic I feel the ending was unclear if this is the last book in the series then maybe the author was intending to leave the book open to the reader or the ending to their own imagination I can appreciate this but realistically I would have loved to a solid conclusion or some kind of closure to the series but maybe I'll listen to it again and see what I missed in the previous 14 books and try to get a deeper understanding of the story

Series should have ended already, author tired

What disappointed you about Hawk?

This series started well, became passable a while back, and by the time it got to Hawk the author is just beating a dead horse trying to finish off every house. He probably regrets having so many houses almost as much as I regret listening to this one.

What could Steven Brust have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Stop the series earlier and focus on something else.

How could the performance have been better?

The voice actor really overplayed it, Vlad in particular was hammed up and was just an obnoxious brat.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, tedium.

Any additional comments?

End the series Brust. Please. Before it gets worse.