About the book: 2002 / Different Houses of the Empire compete in the struggle for power. Vlad Taltosh, due to circumstances, falls into a web of intrigues and conspiracies related to the struggle of different clans, and in order to survive, he becomes a hired killer. A hunt begins for him, and he is forced to defend himself with all available and inaccessible means. He gets a lot of help from a strange creature he has tamed - a flying lizard with human intelligence. And who, if not a talking flying lizard, could be Taltosh’s friend in this strangest of worlds? Order of writing of the series by Brust: Djareg, Yendi, Tekla, Taltosh, Phoenix, Atira, Orka, Dragon, Isola Chronological order of events: Taltosh, Yendi, Dragon, Djareg, Tekla, Phoenix, Atira, Orca, Isola.