assassins’ guild but immediately threatened by up-
sets within that organization and the efforts of his
latest target to avoid his fate. In Teckla(1987) he
gets caught between a growing rebellion by the
lower classes, who view him as one of the despised
nobles, and the entrenched aristocracy, who sus-
pect of him of being a traitor to their class. A vam-
pire sorceress and her minions test his wits and his
courage in Taltos(1988), one of the more inventive
fantasies in recent years, and in Athyra(1990)
Vlad is thinking about retiring with his accumu-
lated wealth and taking it easy for the rest of his
life. Unfortunately, assassins tend to accumulate
enemies, and they have a less pleasant future
planned for him. Orca(1996) has a frustrated Tal-
tos associating himself with a group of questionable
merchants. Brust then returned to his protagonist’s
younger days for the next in the series, Dragon
(1997), but Issola(2001) continues the story, this
time forcing him to temporarily suspend his retire-
ment to rescue a pair of friends.
The Taltos books, which have been reissued in
omnibus volumes, are straightforward fantasy ad-
venture with a touch of Alexander Dumas. There
is more than a touch of Dumas in the opening vol-
umes of his second series, the Khaavren novels,
which are set in the same alternate universe. The
Phoenix Guards(1991) is a swashbuckling tale of
swordplay, chases, battles, and clever adventures
told in a sparkling and highly literate style. Five
Hundred Years After(1994) provides more of the
same. The Khaavren series was later extended by
three very idiosyncratic fantasies, The Paths of the
Dead(2002), The Lord of Castle Black(2003), and
Sethra Lavode(2004). A cataclysm changes the
world, and in the generations that follow, a sor-
cerer returns from the dead.
Brust’s remaining fantasies include Brokedown
Palace(1986), a low-key fantasy adventure related
to the Khaavren books. Gypsy(1992), written with
Megan Lindholm (who is better known as Robin
HOBB), is a contemporary fantasy involving a gypsy
with magical abilities and his interaction with a
local crime figure. Freedom and Necessity(1997),
written with Emma Bull, is a sometimes murky
novel about a missing man who reappears with no
memory but with magical abilities. Agyar(1993)
also uses a contemporary setting. The protagonist is
a benevolent vampire, although that term is never
mentioned anywhere in the text, who makes friends
with a ghost from the Civil War period. Brust’s
strongest assets are his ability to tell a fast-paced
and inventive story enlivened by just the right
amount of humor, an element generally absent from
his contemporary fantasies, which are for the most
part of less interest.Bunch, Chris(1943– )
During the 1980s Chris Bunch and Allan Cole col-
laborated on a series of military science fiction ad-
ventures that became quite popular, so it was not
until the 1990s that they tried their hands at fan-
tasy with the Anteros trilogy, consisting of The Far
Kingdoms(1993), The Warrior’s Tale(1994), and
Kingdoms of the Night(1995). The series opens with
a coming-of-age story as a young warrior takes pas-
sage to unknown distant lands in search of wealth
and adventure, finding little of the former but
plenty of the latter. The second volume introduces
a female warrior as protagonist, further exploring
their magical world, but the final title reverts to
Anteros, now growing old, who discovers that what
he thought were the Far Kingdoms are only a mask
concealing the really distant lands, which stand as a
bulwark against evil sorcery. Although very tradi-
tional in theme and style, the Anteros stories
achieved considerable recognition for their clean,
crisp, imaginative plotting and narration.
Cole and Bunch parted ways shortly there-
after, and Bunch produced his own trilogy, The Seer
King(1997), The Demon King(1998), and The
Warrior King(1999). The two major characters are
a soldier and a wizard who make common cause
when each narrowly survives a murder attempt.
The setting is a typical fantasy kingdom, but
Bunch takes the story in a slightly different direc-
tion by assuming that with the collapse of the old
order, even a magical realm might evolve toward a
more democratic form of government. The result is
a sort of constitutional monarchy, although the
new king promptly begins to abrogate the safe-
guards in the second title, and the two former
friends become mortal enemies. Although the wiz-
ard is eventually killed and the threat averted, he
returns from the dead in the final volume for oneBunch, Chris 39