I don't mind at all; I just hope my journal won't be a disappointment since it's going to be mainly non-Dragaera stuff, at least until the next book comes out! I'm going through your Dragaera tag right now, btw. :D

I think it's interesting that I had never read these books before, because I'm a bibliophile who is exactly the right age to have encountered these in the 80s, and I read all the other usual fantasy from that era as one does (Lackey, McCaffrey, Zelazny, etc) but I had somehow missed out on Brust completely. I kinda vaguely knew of it, and even tried to read a random book in the series in the 90s (I absolutely do not remember which one now), and bounced off completely. I also somehow came away with the idea of Vlad as precisely the type of asshole loner hero that I'm not really into.

... and then I borrowed the first book from rachelmanija and fell hard. Particularly for the delightful discovery that Vlad is the exact opposite of a loner antihero; he's one of the most gregarious people-person SFF protagonists that I've found in awhile. These books are an absolute delight, and I'm so glad to have found them, and also to have people to talk to them about! :D

ETA: And yes, I agree about Lyorn! It's a definite departure for Vlad, and therefore promises to be a lot of fun.