The Phoenix Guards
core novel 1991 Dragaera
Record
| First published | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.09 (5,319 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 491 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780312851576 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Phoenix Guards opens the Khaavren Romances centuries before Vlad Taltos's era, narrated in the ornate, digressive voice of an in-universe historian modeled on Alexandre Dumas's swashbuckling style. It follows four impoverished young nobles who arrive in the capital hoping to join the Emperor's elite Phoenix Guards: Khaavren of House Tiassa, Aerich of House Lyorn, Tazendra of House Dzur, and Pel of House Yendi, who quickly become inseparable companions. Seeking glory for their new battalion, the four set out to hunt down a notorious murderer named Kathana, only to discover that several powerful figures at the Imperial Court have their own, conflicting stakes in what happens to her.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragaera
- Series: The Khaavren Romances core; position 1 of 6 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Steven Brust
Notes
- From the series record (The Khaavren Romances): 6 novels (1991-2020), narrated in-world by the fictional historian 'Paarfi of Roundwood' in a deliberately florid Dumas-pastiche style, set centuries before the Vlad Taltos sequence. Books 3-5 form 'The Viscount of Adrilankha' trilogy within the sequence. Publication order equals internal chronological order throughout (no divergence, unlike the Vlad Taltos sequence).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Khaavren Romances: position 1 of 6: next Five Hundred Years After (1994)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Brust
- Lyorn Records
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_Guards
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