Hawk

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Probably my favorite Vlad book. So far, of course, but Phoenix is done and it probably won’t be so much more my favorite over time vs. when it came-out: time will tell, of course.

In Hawk, Vlad makes some decisions and we see lots of people that we like. Not all, maybe; I’m starting to accept that might not be possible in a single book in Vlad’s universe. Dad comes close with this one, though.

Our hero considers things that interests us, and doesn’t dwell overly on the many fine people who desire his especially permanent death. He also takes on more sorcerous power then we have noticed him to have done. He seems to have a pretty good time with that.

His next project as regards Vlad is Valista, something he may or may not be working on at this very minute. Even though it’s Saturday afternoon. He says his boss is a dick , as though that were an excuse.  I won’t say I interviewed him, but I did get permission to run this review and may have attempted to collect facts overtly.  Stalkings by sexy fangirls never came up.  He is clearly having no fun at all.

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Pre-orders available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

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Site administrative account, so probably Corwin, Felix or DD-B.

64 thoughts on “Hawk”

  2. Well, this is a dirty trick. Getting us all agitated waiting for the book to be released in October? Should be a fun read.

  3. From Amazon – “Years ago, Vlad Taltos came from the East, to make his way as a human amidst the impossibly tall, fantastically long-lived natives of the Dragaeran Empire.”

    *raises eyebrow*

  5. I’ve just send the following through Amazon’s “contact us” page:

    ————————————————————————————

    Significant errors on the pre-publication page for _Hawk_ in Brust’s Vlad Taltos series (http://www.amazon.com/Hawk-Vlad-Taltos-Steven-Brust/dp/076532444X/)

    The description of the book begins:
    —-
    Years ago, Vlad Taltos came from the East, to make his way as a human amidst the impossibly tall, fantastically long-lived natives of the Dragaeran Empire. He joined the Jhereg, the Dragaeran House (of which there are seventeen) that handles the Empire’s vices: gambling, rackets, organized crime.
    —-

    […] I was just reading his blog, an entry about _Hawk_ posted by his son Corwin (http://dreamcafe.com/2014/04/12/hawk/), and one of the commenters (http://dreamcafe.com/2014/04/12/hawk/#comment-19275) quoted the first sentence of the paragraph above, adding “*raises eyebrow*”.

    Indeed. 1: Vlad Taltos did not come from the East: he was born in the Empire. The Dragaerans call his people (who are humans as we think of them) “Easterners” because the humans’ homelands are east of the Empire, much as (many) British and Americans call people of Asian descent “Orientals”.

    2. Vlad did not join the Jhereg; his father did, and Vlad was thus born into the Jhereg.

    Please correct these errors. They reflect badly on you.

    Sincerely,
    Mark A. Mandel

  6. I didn’t want to read so much, because I’m only on the second book, but I just had to comment… I LOVE this cover! So beautiful!

  8. I’m rereading The Phoenix Guards right now and this post has made me incredibly excited. I’m off to the website for my local SF bookshop* to order it right now. I could almost wish it were October now except I’d hate to miss the summer**.

    *Local bookshop, even though I may not get it as quickly as some, because use it or lose it.

    **I’m in the UK so looking forward to summer is definitely the triumph of hope over experience.

  9. From Amazon I would expect “Impossibly tall female warrior natives” but we’re talking about Drageran stories, not ancient Greek…..Sorry, had to make the bad joke!

  10. This is where I ask for an excerpt from Hawk and Steve, being Steve, posts the word “the” or “Vlad,” or even, “Shut up, Loiosh!”

    Anyway, I’d say I’m even more excited for HAWK now, but I was already ridiculously excited!

  13. Steve I am not sure I understand the comment.

    “Isn’t it just? I less than three Steve Hickman”

    I am assuming this is an Open Office glitch.

    And I agree the cover is breathtaking.

  14. Cass: You know, less than three? Means love? Isn’t that what the kids on the interwebs are saying?

    Just for you, Dennis, here’s the first page:

    .a a a a a adult after ago Aliera Aliera all among an and and and and and and and and are All as asshole at Black bloodthirsty But can case Castle combat command considered course cousin dangerous Daymar Daymar The decide decisions Descin different different do doing don’t Dragonlords drank drank drunk during Dzur Empire Enchantress except finished five four from fully getting go good Great have having having host House Houses Houses I I I I I I in in in is it Jhereg just know know Lavode less library like make maybe more more more Morrolan Morrolan Morrolan’s most Mountain Necromancer of of of of of of of of of of officially or or or or or our out part passage point powerful preposterous pulled really recall remember rituals said Sethra Several some some something sorcerers started stories story talked Teckla telling test that the the the the the the the the the the the the the The the them there there they they they’re thing think think through to told told tough various was was was we we we We we were what whatever when which white wine with years You you you you you’re

  19. dshiatt: That’s how I deliver my manuscripts to the publisher. Teresa puts them in order. I thought everyone knew that. Would random order be better? *innocent look*

  23. Among Bloodthirsty combat decisions, except fully Great Houses, is Jhereg. Know, like Morrolan’s Necromancer of Preposterous Rituals, several test various wine years.

    And now the Necromancer has been changed to the ‘Necromancer of Preposterous Rituals’ in my mind and I’m wondering if she tests for wine years, why she can’t test for brandy.

    That said. Daymar. Twice on the first page. Yay!

  25. Also, the whole excerpt only has one period in it, which means it must be one single sentence. Wow. It is almost like something Paarfi would do

  26. Preordered two copies. Please tell me that Lady Teldra “wakes”. Feel free to lie.

  27. Lady Teldra wakes up, realizes she’s just a collection of gender signifiers, and goes back to sleep. You’re welcome.

  29. Cass Marshall: In case you didn’t decipher skzb’s so-called explanation:
    less than three
    =
    <3
    =
    a heart
    =
    love

  30. I am pre-ordered. Actually, I have been for more than two weeks. I had just finished rereading Tiassa (your books are worth rereading and I recommend it any other of your fans) and was searching the interwebs like a man lost in the desert turns up an empty water bottle and found it available for pre-order on B&N. It didn’t have the fantastic cover art on it yet though.

  31. karlsoap you gotta re-read all of the good books otherwise you will run out. (at least in my experience that is the case)

  32. “Stalkings by sexy fangirls never came up. He is clearly having no fun at all.”

    Am I the only one troubled by this? If the sexy fangirls aren’t coming up with what he needs to have fun, maybe we should find some. White silk would go with his hat (does he already have knickers?), or maybe fishnet with a seam in back for formal wear, while a light glittery beige would surely meet his daytime needs.

    Oh, wait, wait…

    Never mind.

  33. Hey, it was just starting to get interesting….

    (Okay, it’s midnight here and I’m tired. What’s *your* excuse?)

  34. It’s 2:05am here, I’m wiped, and there’s a cat sitting on my stomach and forearms trying to step on my touchpad, but I never need an excuse.

  35. “Okay, it’s midnight here and I’m tired. What’s *your* excuse?”

    It was about midnight in Houston, too, and we morning people don’t do well at that time. My only excuse is that my brane’s homophone barrier was razed, and all sorts of nonsense strings entered this world.

  37. skzb

    Well, clearly this is a textbook example of nepotism, which I intend to investigate in depth, in parallel with my genealogical research.

    How would you feel about a second cousin, third time removed, possibly, on my paternal great, great, great graddfather’s side, when it comes to getting the nepotism working in my favour?

    With special reference to ‘Hawk’ in particular…

  38. I was in the library of Castle Black getting drunk with five of the most powerful sorcerers in the Empire, four of them Dragonlords: our host Morrolan, Morrolan’s cousin Aliera, the Necromancer, Daymar, and Sethra Lavode, the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. We were having some really good white wine and telling stories.

    Morrolan and Aliera told of when they . . . through some of the more bloodthirsty rituals.

    Several years ago, I more or less officially pulled out of the Jhereg after I was an asshole during the . . . can make it tough . . . which was among the more preposterous decisions . . . make you think you know what you’re doing and decide to go and do something dangerous.

    “I don’t know that I told the story. . . .” said Daymar.

    I considered the point. All the various Great Houses except the Teckla have part of whatever. . . .

    But we drank and we talked, and of course we drank.

  42. I hope very much that Hawk will be getting an Audible release as well, because I much prefer to listen to books rather than read them.

  44. It would be wonderful if you could get the Audible people to record that alphabetized page as well.

  45. Pingback: Hawk Links | mpls.cx
  46. Pingback: Hawk Links | mpls.cx

  49. For reference, Vlad on technology: “Wheelbarrows are, no doubt, fine machines; but they’re still machines. And as far as I’m concerned, mechanical devices have no reason to exist except to do a bad job of something sorcery can do a good job of.” – Hawk (bottom of page 250)

    My friends and I have always had discussions about why technology never progresses in Dragaera. This quote gives some decent insight.

  50. SKZB – I hope you wrote a computer program to rearrange the words within the first page. That would take a while to do without one.

  52. skzb
    14 April 2014 at 3:25 pm
    Cass: You know, less than three? Means love? Isn’t that what the kids on the interwebs are saying?
    Just for you, Dennis, here’s the first page:
    .a a a a a adult after ago Aliera Aliera all among an and and and and and and and and are All as asshole at Black bloodthirsty But can case Castle combat command considered course cousin dangerous Daymar Daymar The decide decisions Descin different different do doing don’t Dragonlords drank drank drunk during Dzur Empire Enchantress except finished five four from fully getting go good Great have having having host House Houses Houses I I I I I I in in in is it Jhereg just know know Lavode less library like make maybe more more more Morrolan Morrolan Morrolan’s most Mountain Necromancer of of of of of of of of of of officially or or or or or our out part passage point powerful preposterous pulled really recall remember rituals said Sethra Several some some something sorcerers started stories story talked Teckla telling test that the the the the the the the the the the the the the The the them there there they they they’re thing think think through to told told tough various was was was we we we We we were what whatever when which white wine with years You you you you you’re

    Having read Hawk, I can tell that those are indeed the words on the first page. As a computer engineer, I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something like this without writing a bit of software to do it for me. It would probably take me an hour or two without, and probably only ten or twenty minutes to write the program. Although, since you are a writer, the reverse might be true for you.

  55. Just bought Hawk. And just read the prologue. Now I won’t be able to read the rest of it without Jeffrey Donovan’s voice in my head.

  56. Okay sorry guys just re-read Hawk. Question. Spoilers if you haven’t read it.

    Vlad can prevent them from doing one thing with massive psychic energy but can’t keep them from shackling him. He explains it right in the text, but I still don’t get it. Help?

  58. The way I read it is that being manacled was part of the plan, so why prevent it?

    Another explanation could be that he is able stop them from attaching the manacles, but, just like if they extended the paralysis spell to stop his heart and he kept it being using psychics, he might not be able to stop a Morganti dagger at the same time.

  59. Having thought about it some more, I’m doubling down on “part of the plan.”

    The sooner they get him restrained, the sooner they’ll drop the paralysis spell. And if they can’t restrain him and can’t maintain the paralysis, they might get creative and figure out something he’s not equipped to escape from (as opposed to the manacles, which he can deal with).

  60. Vlad was going to pretend to be asleep, but he was not pretending to be paralyzed. And since Poletra wanted it Morganti, they couldn’t stop his heart with sorcery. I surmise that if you stab a corpse with a Morganti blade, the soul will be safe in the Paths and be none the worse for wear.

  61. I will say that it is because Vlad anticipated, planned, and ultimately bet his life that the Jhereg would follow Standard Procedure, and you can read his glee that at every turn they did exactly that. If he had attacked the chains or in fact done anything overtly creative, they they would switched to one of those alternate plans that he so feared. The delicious part is that even when they could tell that they were mesmerized by Standard Procedure, they did not change their course. By not attacking he kept them thinking like Hawks, and thusly maintained his complete control over their actions and choices.

  62. Could there be a possibility that Vlad’s psychic energy shield in some sense was guarding his soul but not his body?

    Also, Vlad could not move if he was genuinely paralyzed, did he drop the euphonium on purpose to make it appear that he was? Perhaps the psychic block could prevent one guy from stabbing Vlad with a Morganti blade, but that took all the concentration he had?

    Clearly Vlad did want to be shackled so he could escape through the window, whether he was only pretending to be paralyzed or not…

  63. Re-reading “Hawk” at the moment, and it once again struck me that the opening of the Prologue so reminds me of that light hearted spy show set in Miami that I am unable to read the words without “hearing” the sound and cadence of Jeffrey Donovan’s voice in my mind.

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