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CJ Cherryh has been insanely prolific throughout her career and as a result I never really got round to either the Chanur or Foreigner books, despite having read most everything else. I dived into this with no preconceptions but I can't give an honest review without a brief disquisition on portraying alien races in fiction. Whilst I understand that the author has to give referents that readers can relate to, making aliens just be anthromorphised animals is a tad trite. In this case, the book is told from the viewpoint of a feline analogue (Decision at Doona has so much to answer for) and the only planetary biome described is suspiciously Terran like. This knocks me out of my willing suspension of disbelief as the odds of this are just astronomically against. I say this, accepting that this might just be a me thing. Apart from that, I enjoyed this. It had all the usual Cherryh motifs and tropes allied to a good story that pulled you along nicely. I will definitely be reading the rest so its a recommend. I will just have to deal with occasionally rolling my eyes at the cat people.

I picked this up based on a review by Mark Lawrence which actually made me roll my eyes. He was banging on about how he needed his fantasy to be heroic in scope and full of big battles etc. Basically the same old, same old that has put me off in recent years. Which is why he never got into Pratchett. You can see where the eye rolling came in. He did, however, give this a grudging thumbs up so I thought I should have a look. I am glad I did as this was very good. I am not entirely sure the resemblance to Pratchett is anything more than this book has a humourous layer over some of the harder stuff. If anything, when the writer is doing humour he reminds me more of early Tom Holt than Pterry but there are indeed giggles to be had within these pages. A solidly entertaining romp with some bite where there needed to be some. It's a recommend from me.

There are three tales in one in this book. Spread over different parts of the timeline but all involve the chasing of a McGuffin object that has cosmic significance. Each of the tales is enjoyable in it's own right and bear all the hallmarks of the series. One tale, however, is told in an antiquated and slightly pompous style which some may find a little grating. There is a point to that, of course. Whilst it is a slight bit of Dumas homage, Brust here borrows the style of writing from his Khaavren romances. Now, I bounced off those books because of that style of writing but the penny finally dropped for me on this re-read of Tiassa. It was a perfect way to reflect on the prejudices and self-involvement of the nobility. I mean, sure, they may be basically decent people engaged in public service but they are still arses in so many ways. All told this is good read, entertaining and comes in at a 4.5 now I see the point of the arch prose in one of the sections. Recommended.

This simply is a masterpiece. I took a few days with this one because I was savouring it. Unusually for these books, this follows straight on from the events in the previous. After all that cosmic powers guff and having been stuck in the wilderness for years, Vlad decides to go for a good meal. That, is the framing device for this novel and it is absolute genius. You are as interested in Brust's descriptions of the food and the tastes as of that meal you are about the fantasy mafia shenanigans that Vlad's ex-wife draws him in to. The beats of the meal become the beats of the story. Under all that is a disquisition about heroism and it's ramifications. I swear on this re-read (and I have read this book a few times) I still didn't know how it was all going to come together. Not through forgetting but just the sheer craft of how this tale is put together. This, is one of my favourite books ever and has made as positive an impression on me reading it now as it did when I first read it. An easy and obvious recommend.

We are now in a run on these books where the quality just does not dip until Vallista. This, like the book before, is another strong 4.5. Ostensibly this should be the most straightforward 'big fantasy' book of the series. Vlad is still running around in the wilderness avoiding the fantasy mafia, two of his powerful friends go missing and the most unlikely minor character comes to get him to help. Cosmic powers type shenanigans ensue. Gods and monsters battle for the fate of the world. Except, Brust skips by that lot as if to say, boring (because with Fantasy as a whole, it has largely become boring). I mean there's also a locked room thing going on with various Zelazny/Dumas type theatrics there but that's still just a side issue. That minor character that comes to the fore? She is all about courtesy, and courtesy is the meat of this. Brust does a good line in pointing out that courtesy is combat by any other means and when facing inscrutable ancient alien cosmic powers, courtesy might just be your best weapon. It's also a sad book at the end given the twist that gives Vlad the power up that has been hinted at since he just flat out stole an artifact from the undead wizard we have met twice before. Just excellent stuff even with all this going on. Recommended.