Issola (Vlad Taltos - Jhereg S.) [Mass Market Paperback]

Issola has everything that I've come to love in the Taltos books: magic, fighting, intrigue, and Vlad's dry humor and whit. It continues where Orca left off, the continuation of Vlad's life sans Jhereg. The story is well told and we get to see Vlad join some old favorite characters. Momentous events occur in this latest installment, answering some questions whle leaving you with some new ones, as a good story should. Fans of Steven Brust should really enjoy this story.

In which Vlad gets caught up in a battle between Gods ...

This highly entertaining comic fantasy novel is number nine by publication order, or tenth in chronological sequence, in the story of Vladimir Taltos. It is set shortly after "Orca (Jhereg S.)" and is immediately followed by "DZUR (Vlad Taltos)."

If you have not previously read any of Steven Brust's "Vlad Taltos" novels or "Khaavren" romances, they are all set in a world of magic, where there are several intelligent species, including two types of men and women. Humans like ourselves are usually referred to as "Easterners," the other type of men and women call themselves humans but are usually referred to in the books as "Dragaerans" or occasionally as Elves. Dragaerans are much taller than humans, live 2,000 to 3,000 years or so, and then after death are eligible for reincarnation provided they have not annoyed a God too much or had their soul destroyed by a "Morganti" weapon or a "Great Weapon."

Morganti weapons are used between mortals when they are really angry with someone because they don't just kill you, but normally destroy your soul. "Great Weapons," are particularly deadly Morganti weapons which can even kill Gods. Tradition said that there are, or will be, exactly seventeen Great Weapons.

In one of the earlier books, a powerful magician makes an ambiguous remark to Vlad, suggesting that he both is and isn't carrying a Great Weapon. Baffled, Vlad asks if a particular item is a Great Weapon and gets the reply "Not Yet." In "Issola" we find out what this cryptic remark meant.

All Dragaerans belong to one of seventeen "Great Houses" named after animals of the fantasy world in which the novels are set. Twelve of the thirteen novels published to date featuring Vlad Taltos, including "Issola," are named after one of these great houses, usually also featuring a member of that house in a prominent role: if Steven Brust is planning to write a novel for each house we are about two thirds of the way through the series.

Each of the animals for which the great houses are named epitomises two characteristics, and the houses tend to have a preferred occupation to which those characteristics are relevant. For examples Dragons symbolise war and conquest, Dzur (which look a bit like tigers) represent heroism and honor, hence Dragaeran members of House Dragon and House Dzur tend to be soldiers. "Tecla" look like mice and symbolise cowardice and fertility: members of House Tecla are peasants. "Chreotha" represent Forethought and ensnarement, and members of that house are merchants. The Orca (Killer Whale) represents Brutality and Mercantilism: members of that house are sailors, pirates or - wait for it - bankers, and "Jhereg" representing Greed and Corruption are gangsters or assassins.

Issola look a bit like Flamingoes, and represent Courtliness and Surprise. Members of House Issola seem to be butlers, stewards etc: the Issola who gives her house name to this book is Lady Teldra, who is Lord Morrolan's seneschal and who is probably the nicest person in any of the Dragaeran novels.

The hero, Baronet Vladimir Taltos, is an assassin and minor sorcerer, who used to be a prominent crimelord within House Jhereg, but is now on the run from them after developing an unfortunate case of principles, which he tries very hard to hide. He has two companions, Loiosh and Rocza who are actual Jhereg - that is to say, they are small intelligent flying reptiles.

Taltos narrates these stories with a wonderful dry wit which is one of the best aspects of the novels.

Stven Brust makes some attempt to recognise that some readers might be new to this book and not have read the previous novels in the series. This does not IMHO make it a good idea to start with this book, but it is still sometimes useful in helping previous readers who don't have a memory like a computer to follow the complex plot. Those who have not read the previous books will still probably find "Issola" hard going.

Be warned, it is also quite a sad story - the ending is much more downbeat than most of the other Vlad Taltos books.

The books are not written in a regular chronological sequence. For example, the fourth novel, "Taltos," (also published as "Taltos the Assassin" and with "Phoenix" in the double volume "The Book of Taltos: Contains the Complete Text of Taltos and Phoenix) is a prequel set before the main action of any of the others. Similarly, "Dragon", number eight by publication order, is the second in chronological sequence, mostly set just after "Taltos." The eleventh published book, "Jhegaala" was set just after the action of "Phoenix", which placed it in 7th place in chronological sequence and knocked "Athyra," "Orca", "Issola" and "Dzur" back one place in that sequence. The most recently published book, "Tiassa" is a story told in three novella length parts with two interludes, and these five sections include both two of the chronologically earliest passages in the Vlad Taltos story and the most recent update in his story - the inclusion of the latter being the reason "Tiassa" has been described as coming last in the chronological order given below, but this is very much a matter of opinion!

You will get most out of these books if you read them in something close to the "official" order.

If you are interested in these books, my recommendation would be to start with either "Jhereg" which was the first book written, or with the chronologically first book, "Taltos." If you then decide to read the rest, I recommend that you follow something like the order the books were published. Here is a list of the books in publication order, with the chronological place of the main action of each book in brackets after:

1) Jhereg (4th)
2) Yendi (3rd)
3) Tecla (5th)
4) Taltos (1st)
5) Phoenix (6th)
6) Athyra (8th)
7) Orca (9th)
8) Dragon (2nd)
9) Issola (10th)
10) Dzur (11th)
11) Jhegaala (7th)
12) Iorich (12th)
13) Tiassa (13th).

If you enjoy the Taltos novels, you might be interested in another sequence of books which Steven Brust has set in the same country, but quite a few centuries earlier. These are something between a parody and a homage to the novels of Alexandre Dumas. He's called them the "Khaavren Romances" after the central character of the first two novels, who is a member of House Tiassa serving in the personal guard of the Dragaeran ruler, and is rather like a comic mix of D'Artagnan and Sherlock Holmes.

Obviously none of the human characters overlap between the Khaavren and Taltos books, but several of the Dragaerans do. The older Khaavren himself meets Vlad briefly in "Tecla" and at greater length in the most recent Vlad Taltos book, "Tiassa" when he investigates an attack on an imperial nobleman called Count Szurke, which is the name by which Vlad is by that time known. Two of the major characters in the Taltos novels, Sethra Lavode and Lord Morrolan of Castle Black, are also important enough in the Khaavren novels to have books named after them.

The five Khaavren romances, in sequence, are

1) "The Phoenix Guards" (equivalent to "The Three Musketeers")
2) "Five Hundred Years After" (equivalent to "Twenty years after")

Then a trilogy "The Viscount of Adrilankha" (e.g. "The Viscount of Bragelonne") which comprises

3) The Paths of the Dead
4) The Lord of Castle Black
5) Sethra Lavode

I wait with interest to see if we will get something like "The Dragaeran in the Iron Mask."

Overall I found both the "Taltos" novels and the "Khaavren Romances" very entertaining: I recommend both series and this book.

Another great book in the series. It answers some questions, yet generates even more. Definitely a good thing. By reintroducing characters it is interesting to see how Vlad has been changed by recent events. The new characters that are introduced are fascinating and we learn more about some of the recurring ones as well. Brust once again falls into the trap of concentrating a lot of complex exposition into small amounts of space, one section I had to read 3 times and still not really grasp all the details.