Phoenix

core novel 1990 Dragaera

Record

First published	1990
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	4.16 (6,903 ratings, collected 2026-09-13)
Page count	245
First-edition ISBN	9780441662258

Synopsis

Phoenix finds Vlad still contending with the fallout of his marriage to Cawti, an Easterner assassin drawn toward revolutionary politics, even as he remains bound to the Jhereg organization's demands. A goddess asks Vlad to carry out an assassination on a distant island, and what should be a straightforward job triggers a chain of consequences that follow him home to Adrilankha. There he finds members of the Jhereg's ruling council displeased with how events on the island played out, putting him under new scrutiny from the organization he serves. At the same time, tension between the Empire and a foreign kingdom threatens to erupt into open war, and unrest tied to Cawti's revolutionary sympathies simmers in the city.

Where it sits

• Universe: Dragaera
• Series: Vlad Taltos core; position 5 of 17 in the series' recorded order
• Author: Steven Brust

Notes

• From the series record (Vlad Taltos): 17 novels (1983-2024) of a planned 19-book structure (17 House-named books + Taltos, named for the protagonist, + a final closing volume, The Last Contract, not yet written; Chreotha, the 18th, is also not yet written). Internal chronology is contested among fan sources and explicitly not recorded here, see the notes on Jhereg.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

• Publication order, within the series Vlad Taltos: position 5 of 17: previous Taltos (1988) · next Athyra (1993)

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Brust
• Lyorn Records
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(novel)

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