Taltos

Taltos by Steven Brust is the first in his Vlad Taltos series chronologically. It's confusing, but good. He published the story in a different order so some of the confusion exists only because things are explained as they were written. By the time he got to Taltos he had already described many of the things in previous releases. Because this is a made up world he uses creatures and characters unfamiliar with our real world.

But really, it's not a problem and doesn't take away from the story. The story moves quickly and is very entertaining. Vlad is an assassin and crime boss. He also has skills in both sorcery and witchcraft. Political intrigue abound in the stories. I'm glad my brother told me about these books. They are a great deal of fun to read.