{"id":188,"date":"2006-02-05T17:45:58","date_gmt":"2006-02-06T00:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=188"},"modified":"2021-05-30T21:32:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T01:32:21","slug":"taltos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/188","title":{"rendered":"Taltos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taltos<\/a><\/em> (1988) Steven Brust<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With great relief I picked up Taltos<\/em>, which again tells some of Vald’s history, and returns to the tone of the first two books. Taltos<\/em> is fun and amusing, especially as Vlad and Morrolan get to know each other and learn to work together. It is also interesting to see Vlad’s first impressions of Morrolan and Sethra.<\/p>\n

I was beginning to get downright irritated, as well as frightened, by how close (Morrolan’s) guesses were. I mean, what a pompous, supercilious jongleur. But the thought came to me that he was a pompous, supercilious jongleur with a very powerful Morganti blade, and he was a sorcerer, and I was in his keep. I resolved to stay polite.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Taltos<\/em> is set before Yendi<\/em>, and tells of Vlad’s first meeting with Morrolan and Sethra Lavode. And during the telling of that tale, he reminiscences about his youth, the tutoring he received in fencing and witchcraft he received from his grandfather, how he started working for the Jhereg, and how he started taking “work.”<\/p>\n

Although Vlad discusses in detail his work as an enforcer and then an assassin, the tone of the book is far lighter than than of Teckla<\/em>. Perhaps because in fantasy you’re used to people getting killed (especially if you’re reading a book about an assassin). It may also have to do with the presence of Morrolan, Sethra, and Aliera. Although Vlad starts out hostile towards Morrolan and Sethra (with good reason), you can see him being to trust the two of them, and eventually Aliera, and how their eventual friendship will develop.<\/p>\n

As always, the dialog and storytelling were excellent, and as an added bonus, I quite enjoyed this story. It is also interesting to continue to learn bits and pieces of Krager, who is amusing, as well as an enigma.<\/p>\n

However, as much as I liked this book, I again hate the cover. Who is this guy? This clean-shaven brunette? It can’t be Vlad, who is extremely proud of his moustache, since the Drageran’s can’t grow facial hair. The colors aren’t quite as obviously bad, although he looks as if he’s wearing white and brown. (Black and gray. Jhereg colors are black and gray.)<\/p>\n

If you have not read any of the Vlad Taltos series, this would be an acceptable place to start, as this is the earliest book in the time line.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taltos (1988) Steven Brust With great relief I picked up Taltos, which again tells some of Vald’s history, and returns to the tone of the first two books. Taltos is fun and amusing, especially as Vlad and Morrolan get to know each other and learn to work together. It is also interesting to see Vlad’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,2,291,41,39],"tags":[129,245],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-reread","category-sword-sorcery","tag-steven-brust","tag-vlad-taltos"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/siQkW-taltos","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":0},"title":"The Vlad Taltos Novels","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The Vlad Taltos Novels by Steven Brust Longer reviews for individual books can be found on my Steven Brust page. When I recommend fantasy books, this series is at the top of my list. The books are relatively quick to read, and is written in the tone is that of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/Jhereg.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":186,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/186","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":1},"title":"Yendi","author":"Michelle","date":"February 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Yendi (1984) Steven Brust Yendi is the second book in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, however, in the time line it comes before the first book, Jhereg. Instead of taking off from where Jhereg left off, we go back in time, to when Vlad met Cawti, his future wife. Yendi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/Yendi.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":192,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/192","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":2},"title":"Dragon","author":"Michelle","date":"February 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Dragon (1998) Steven Brust I really like Dragon. It's fun, it's well-written, and I particularly like some of the observations that Vlad makes about life and war. For the most part, Dragon takes place soon after Taltos, however, a few parts of the story take place after Yendi. And if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":193,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/193","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":3},"title":"Issola","author":"Michelle","date":"February 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Issola (2001) Steven Brust Issola, for reasons about which I am not quite clear, is one of my favorite Vlad books. I think it's because I like Lady Teldra so much, but it could also be the fact that Vlad is back to spending time with with Morrolan and Aliera\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/02\/Issola.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":4},"title":"Sethra Lavode","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Sethra Lavode: Book Three of the Viscount of Adrilankha by Steven Brust Tor (2004) The conclusion to the Viscount of Adrilankha series finishes the story of Empress Zerika\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s restoration of the Empire and the final end of the Interregnum. It also continues the story of Piro (the actual Viscount for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":196,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/196","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":5},"title":"The Paths of the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"February 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Paths of the Dead (2002) Steven Brust For me, Steven Brust books are like potato chips; I can't read just one. And so, having recently finished all the Vlad Taltos book, The Phoenix Guards, and Five Hundred Years After, there was nothing to do but read The Viscount of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Paths-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}