A skilled assassin is tasked with taking the life of a foreign king, sparking tension between his home empire and the target nation. As civil rights movements gain momentum, the protagonist's own marriage is put to the test, forcing him to make life-altering choices.

Phoenix

Steven Brust's fantasy series follows Vlad Taltos: a short-statured, short-lived human in an Empire of tall, long-lived Dragaerans.http://us.macmillan.com/series/vladThis is one series set in Steven Brust's Draegaran world.Of the ordering, the author notes:One of the questions I'm most often asked is: "In what order would you recommend reading thes…