VLAD THE ASSASSIN series
Steven Brust
All published by Ace 1983-1996; $5.99 paperback
JHEREG; ISBN 0-441-38554-0
YENDI; ISBN 0-441-94460-4
TECKLA; ISBN 0-441-79977-9
TALTOS; ISBN 0-441-18200-3
PHOENIX; ISBN 0-441-66225-0
ATHYRA; ISBN 0-441-03342-3
ORCA; ISBN 0-441-00196-3
Very Highly Recommended

As a young man, Vlad Taltos' father purchased a title within the House of
Jhereg, hoping that this would enable his son to rise above the second class
citizen status that humans own within the Dragaeran Empire. Unfortunately
this just made him more of a target for the long-living, tall, angular
Dragaerans (elves). But then again the upside through all the fights, was
that Vlad learned to take care of himself. His fencing ability is a puzzle
to the "hack and slash" Dragaerans, and his sorcery is sharp too for an
"Easterner", as the Dragaerans call humans, but his real ace in the hole is
his witchcraft as it's strictly a human skill. Lastly and most importantly
though, Vlad gained an extreme hatred for the vast majority of Dragaerans,
but this serves him well...you see Vlad is an Assassin.

This is an extremely well written series. Each story delivers a tight
self-contained plot with great characters, many of whom appear in more than
one adventure. The series in general is written in an non-chronological
fashion, especially the early entries, so reading them in a strictly
as-published fashion is not mandatory but certainly recommended. One thing I
really enjoy, yet many others seem to decry, is the fact that Vlad's
character is evolving as the series progresses. He is a very different man
by the time of ORCA than he was at the beginning. How this is bad is beyond
me, because otherwise the series would eventually have become a parody of
itself.

Anyways, read 'em and enjoy. There is enough action and intrigue to keep
most anyone happy and the universe-construct is second to none!