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

by Steven Brust (Author) "Just because they really are out to get you doesn't mean you aren't paranoid ..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Saint Martin's Press Inc.; New edition edition (31 Jan 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0812589173
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812589177
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 291,871 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #11 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Brust, Steven

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Product Description

Review
No mere plot summary can describe accurately the fun and adventure that naturally seem to follow Vlad Taltos."-"Voya""As always, Brust invests Vlad with the panache of a Dumas musketeer and the colloquial voice of one of Zelazny's amber heroes."-"Publishers Weekly"

Product Description
Brust returns to the world of Vlad for a swashbuckling tale that sheds long-delayed light on the very fundamentals of Dragaera and its origins. Vlad Taltos, a sometime assasin currently on the run from his former associates, is tracked down in his jungle hideout by a most improbably party: Lady Teldra, the infinitely charming chatelaine of Castle Black. Teldra has come to enlist Vlad's help. His friends Morrolan and Aliera have vanished. Vlad once rescued Morrolan and Aliera from the realm of the gods, but now it looks as if they are in the hands of the Jenoine: the powerful beings who long ago were the makers of Dragaera and the masters of its gods.
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Just because they really are out to get you doesn't mean you aren't paranoid. Read the first page
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In true keeping with the series, 17 Sep 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Issola (Vlad Taltos Series) (Hardcover)
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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Vlad Taltos story number nine, 31 Jan 2007
By Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
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" and is immediately followed by "Dzur."

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 destroy your soul. "Great Weapons," are particularly deadly Morganti weapons which can even kill Gods. Tradition said that there are 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 partular 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. Ten of the eleven novels 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 half 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 any of the other Vlad Taltos books.


The books are not written in a regular chronological sequence: for example, the fourth novel, "Taltos" is a prequel set before the main action of any of the others, and "Dragon", number eight by publication order is the second in chronological sequence, mostly set just after "Taltos." The most recently published book, "Jhegaala" was set just after the action of "Phoenix", which places it in 7th place in chronological sequence and pushes "Athyra," "Orca", "Issola" and "Dzur" back one place in that sequence.

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 the first book written, "Jhereg" or 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).

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 corresponds very closely to D'Artagnan. Obviously none of the human characters overlap, but some of the Dragaerans do: Khaavren himself meets Vlad briefly in "Tecla" and has a sort of offstage cameo in the Vlad Taltos book "Orca." 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 Count of Monte Cristo") which comprises

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

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