Rating: 
Summary: How many yendi does it take to sharpen a sword?
Review: Another excellent Vlad Taltos book. (My personal, second favorite, if you care).... Vlad gets tied up in a deep, twisted plot, and in the meantime dies, falls in love, and is his regular badass self. A great story, full of magic and action.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Vlad, possibly the most necessary volume of all
Review: Don't get me wrong. Yendi is not my favorite Vlad novel, nor does it hang together stylistically as well as, say, Athyra, but this is the most characteristic of the series. If you are only ever going to read one Taltos novel, this should be it. It has the most complex plot of them all, and its massive scope gives the reader an excellent overview of Dragaeran society and history without bogging one down in pedantry. As with most of the early novels, Morrolan, Aliera and Sethra are all through this one, and as they are (or ought to be)everyone's favorite characters, that's incentive enough to pick this volume up. Future readers:Look for the allusion to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Enjoy; there's no way you couldn't.
Rating: 
Summary: Brust's excellent storytelling continues
Review: I was completely enthralled with "Jhereg," and eagerly began "Yendi" immediately upon finishing it, looking forward to once again being thoroughly immersed in the world Brust adeptly weaves around the reader. I was definitely not disappointed.I was a bit confused for the first few paragraphs, until I realized that "Yendi" is actually a prequel to "Jhereg," taking place earlier in time. Vlad is just getting started in the organization, and naturally encounters some resistance in the process. While the formula is somewhat the same (mystery unravelled at the last second, after much intrigue set in fantasy world,) it works exceptionally well. Vlad's voice flows easily, and the words just kind of glide through the reader's head - as the pages turned, pictures and scenes formed in my head without my really being aware of having read the sentences. This is the mark of a truly gifted yarn-spinner. The same wit, humor, and clever banter that was so successful in "Jhereg" is liberally sprinkled through "Yendi," as well, and the characters are highly-believable. The world Brust has created is vivid, and he doesn't go to extreme lengths to try to justify everything and explain all of the rules, spoon-feeding the reader, holding our hands through this thought processes; rather, he drops hints, and uses context to convey items of import. Sometimes, he flat out tells us "it's none of your business," or "that is a story for another time," or "you really don't need to know all of it, but." It's great stuff, and I love his voice. He gives small nods to current culture icons such as Monty Python in places, and uses modern language instead of pained, stilted "Hie thee hence, lass!" "Evermore, milady" and other such stuffs, making it a much easier, more believable story and setting. A conflict within the House of Jhereg has Vlad being tossed hither, thither and yon, caught right up in the heart of things - would you expect anything less? In the process, he meets two of the land's best assassins, is killed by one of them, falls wildly in love, and of course hatches a plot so clever you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. Loiosh has a bit more to say in this volume, but is still mostly confined to one-liners - I do wish Brust would give Vlad and his familiar a more substantial relationship. The co-stars in the story have depth, great lines, and play crucial parts in the Vlad's life and in the plot in general. A very entertaining next step in what will hopefully prove to be a great series. I'm tackling "Teckla" immediately!
Rating:
Summary: Brust's excellent storytelling continues
Review: I was completely enthralled with "Jhereg," and eagerly began "Yendi" immediately upon finishing it, looking forward to once again being thoroughly immersed in the world Brust adeptly weaves around the reader. I was definitely not disappointed. I was a bit confused for the first few paragraphs, until I realized that "Yendi" is actually a prequel to "Jhereg," taking place earlier in time. Vlad is just getting started in the organization, and naturally encounters some resistance in the process. While the formula is somewhat the same (mystery unravelled at the last second, after much intrigue set in fantasy world,) it works exceptionally well. Vlad's voice flows easily, and the words just kind of glide through the reader's head - as the pages turned, pictures and scenes formed in my head without my really being aware of having read the sentences. This is the mark of a truly gifted yarn-spinner. The same wit, humor, and clever banter that was so successful in "Jhereg" is liberally sprinkled through "Yendi," as well, and the characters are highly-believable. The world Brust has created is vivid, and he doesn't go to extreme lengths to try to justify everything and explain all of the rules, spoon-feeding the reader, holding our hands through this thought processes; rather, he drops hints, and uses context to convey items of import. Sometimes, he flat out tells us "it's none of your business," or "that is a story for another time," or "you really don't need to know all of it, but." It's great stuff, and I love his voice. He gives small nods to current culture icons such as Monty Python in places, and uses modern language instead of pained, stilted "Hie thee hence, lass!" "Evermore, milady" and other such stuffs, making it a much easier, more believable story and setting. A conflict within the House of Jhereg has Vlad being tossed hither, thither and yon, caught right up in the heart of things - would you expect anything less? In the process, he meets two of the land's best assassins, is killed by one of them, falls wildly in love, and of course hatches a plot so clever you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. Loiosh has a bit more to say in this volume, but is still mostly confined to one-liners - I do wish Brust would give Vlad and his familiar a more substantial relationship. The co-stars in the story have depth, great lines, and play crucial parts in the Vlad's life and in the plot in general. A very entertaining next step in what will hopefully prove to be a great series. I'm tackling "Teckla" immediately!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable light read
Review: If you can't get your hands on Taltos, Yendi is a great place to delve into this series. Much nicer writing and more background than provided in Jhereg, it packs in plenty of action and involves all the likeable characters you could want. Combines elements of mystery, mob, and fantasy in a delightful style. The only real negative is some huge inconsistencies with Jhereg and a couple internal conflicts -- Brust needs an external reader to point these thing out before he goes to print.
Rating:
Summary: Great plot, great humor, great world, great book...
Review: In which Vladimir Taltos, an assassin and minor
crime boss, has to defend his territory. In the process, he falls in love with another assassin, this one hired to kill him, and uncovers a plot dealing with the succession of the Dragaeran Empire...
Rating: 
Summary: The weakest in the series but a still enjoyable read
Review: The second novel in the Taltos-Dragaera series, _Yendi_ falls before _Jhereg_ and after _Taltos_ time-wise. It provides some interesting background on how the series' protagonist, Vlad, met his wife, and provides plenty of twists, turns and intrigue to go with it. However, I felt that of all the Taltos novels, this one was by far the weakest, with a forced plot, awkward dialogue and some truly silly things. This impression is heightened because the novels preceding (_Jhereg_) and following (_Teckla_) it are of much higher quality. On the other foot, Brust's worst is still a cut above most author's best. Definitely read it, but don't judge the series by it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, everyone needs this book
Review: This entire series is incredible. Everyone should be forced
by law to own them all. This one is 1st person narrative by
Vladimir Taltos, assassin/sorceror/Easterer in the Dragaeran Empire. This novel is set before the first one in the series,
_Jhereg_, but you need to read _Jhereg_ to understand it.
In this one Vlad meets, is killed by, and falls in love with his
wife, Cawti(yes it happens in that order), and takes on a Jhereg that
wants his territory. A conspiracy thats been going on for about 500 years
is uncovered and Vlad is forced to stop it. Fast moving plot.
Wonderful writing style and excellent characters.
Rating:
Summary: the best in the taltos series
Review: This one was so good that I missed reading it and subsequently read it an additional time just to savor it. Yendi takes place in the earlier days of Taltos's life, and speaks of a major Jhereg war that he started. I liked the "palace intrigue"/behind the scenes power struggles that occurred throughout the book. I even had to sit down about halfway through just to catch up to what was going on, which i consider a good sign. There's even an amusing Monty Python reference hidden in there. Brust's writing style was getting better around this time, there is an improvement in style between this one and Jhereg. He fixes some of the details of the Taltos universe (for example, there are ways you can never be resurrected without using a soul killing dagger) and gets into character development, telling more about how Vlad's past made him the Boss he is today. Too bad its Brust's least favorite. So, if you liked the first one, and don't mind slightly-confusing tales of aristocratic power struggles, then definitely pick this one up.
Rating:
Summary: the best in the taltos series
Review: This one was so good that I missed reading it and subsequently read it an additional time just to savor it. Yendi takes place in the earlier days of Taltos's life, and speaks of a major Jhereg war that he started. I liked the "palace intrigue"/behind the scenes power struggles that occurred throughout the book. I even had to sit down about halfway through just to catch up to what was going on, which i consider a good sign. There's even an amusing Monty Python reference hidden in there. Brust's writing style was getting better around this time, there is an improvement in style between this one and Jhereg. He fixes some of the details of the Taltos universe (for example, there are ways you can never be resurrected without using a soul killing dagger) and gets into character development, telling more about how Vlad's past made him the Boss he is today. Too bad its Brust's least favorite. So, if you liked the first one, and don't mind slightly-confusing tales of aristocratic power struggles, then definitely pick this one up.
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