Taltos: Steven Brust

[silverflight8]

I finished the first half of Book of Taltos which (after some wikipedia-ing) I think was originally published as a novel, and I've got the omnibus, where Taltos is paired with Phoenix. Normally you can just tell from the whole outside packaging but when I read in ebook I have no idea how long anything is and I skip the frontismatter anyway :P

I enjoyed it a lot! It's about Vlad, an Easterner (human) who lives in Dragaera (elf city) and who gets roped into a very dangerous rescue mission with someone he's basically just met.

One thing I really enjoyed is the utter deadpan of the narration, which is first person from Vlad. Especially because he's an assassin. There's so much where Vlad is describing what's going on, and what he thinks is going to happen, it's a ridiculous situation and very dangerous, and then he just goes, "So then I just nailed [killed] him." Everything is so casual, even when it's clearly a ton of work to go about killing his target, or it's life-or-death. I really am into super competent characters, so this was Excellent. Vlad also has a way of understatement at all times, so it's fun to read between the lines and think about what he's actually saying. A lot of what he says isn't what he feels - either because he doesn't want to admit it or he just wants to tell you something entertaining, I suppose. The prose is otherwise pretty light on description and the writing is very transparent/modern - there's not a lot to look at there. The interest is mostly in what happens and how Vlad talks about it, and it was really entertaining.

The other interesting thing was the three storylines - past, present, future. Each chapter is fairly short and mostly has all three happening. It took me until awhile into the book to realize the 'past' parts were gonna show up in each chapter, and then near the end I realized how the 'future' sections linked in. Eventually the 'present' and 'future' sections joined up, and I really enjoyed that. It's gave the book a different dimension and I also think it was a great way to explain something (magic working) which is hard to explain without infodumping and not have it bog down the action, which is reaching a climax at that particular point. I also quite like the device generally - I think the last time I read it was Ancillary Justice (which is exceptional), but where the two lines of the story met was such a great moment, and you really understood what was going on.

Also for some reason I kept reading this at the very end of the day when I was almost asleep so I probably will find a lot more to enjoy in the re-reads. Now reading Phoenix!

Comments

[sholio]

Oh, I really love those books, and Taltos is probably my single favorite of the bunch! I read them in a different order (basically they were published in non-chronological order, so Taltos is chronologically one of the first but was one of the middle books that I read), but in the case of Taltos it really hit my enemies-working-together narrative kink, and I loved the way the interweaving storylines fit together, especially that penny-drop moment when you realize what all the little opening segments were all about. Also, I just really enjoy the series overall, and Vlad as a protagonist as well as all the side characters. I hope you continue to like it! :D

[silverflight8]

I tried to figure out the timeline and gave up lol. I decided I'd just go with chronological (doesn't help there are tons of omnibuses) and so far it's been fun!

Yes I love that! It makes you consider the previous segments in a whole new light, and it's so fun.

The competence is everything. Seriously.

[ambyr]

I am fascinated by the idea of starting the series with Taltos! I guess it is technically Vlad’s first appearance within the internal chronology, but so much of what makes it work for me is knowing in advance how Vlad and Morrolan’s relationship progresses. And skipping ahead from there to Phoenix…well, I look forward to hearing if it’s coherent at all!

[silverflight8]

Haha I wasn't really sure about which one to start with, and the preface to Taltos had Brust talking about how he tried to write them so you could enter at any point, so I kinda just went for it. I think it's probably more satisfying re: Morrolan since it sounds like he's in the other books? But it was still pretty fun to read anyway. :D

[hamsterwoman]

Super excited to hear you read and enjoyed it! Taltos is my favorite of the series, and/but the competence and Vlad’s voice and narrative structure tricks you enjoyed here are all staples of the series.

I am a little apprehensive as to whether Phoenix will work well as the second book you read. I like it a lot, but I think it relies pretty heavily on Teckla, which relies pretty heavily on at least Jhereg or Yendi. If you have access to “Book of Jhereg”, I would suggest reading that first before going back to Phoenix (it is an omnibus containing Jhereg-Yendi-Teckla, which are the first three in publication order; you could also read them in chronological order Yendi-Jhereg-Teckla, since you started with chronologically-first Taltos.)

(If you don’t have access to Book of Jhereg, and can read ePub files, I can help with that :)

[silverflight8]

The competence, I love the competence so much. It's honestly one of the narrative tropes that I just love so much. (So many favourite characters who are good at swordfighting...)

I will look up Jhereg! I'm a little at sea about all the houses, honestly - I kept thinking Orca was referring to actual orcas esp as they were on a boat - but Phoenix is good so far. Actually - looks like the library has ebook copies!

[helicoprion]

I read some unremembered number of Vlad Taltos books maybe ten years ago, and I remember being impressed and entertained. More recently I read a couple of Brust's Dumas pastiches set in the same universe, and they were delightful. So this is reminding me I wanted to give the Vlad books a reread!

[silverflight8]

Re-reading is the best! <3 I hope you enjoy!