A review by wmhenrymorris
The Book of Athyra: Contains the Complete Text of Athyra and Orca by Steven Brust

For some reason I had it in my head that these are the boring middle books of the series, but I'm wrong. The emotional intensity and complex social and economic politics (in Athyra hpyer-local, in Orca empire-spanning) found in these two novels makes them pulse with energy and meaning. But maybe they're better read close in time to the previous books and the ones that follow in order to have that effect. In other words: a big part of their power is their embedded-ness in the overall story rather than what they are on their own.