A review by redheadbeans
Issola by Steven Brust
5.0
It's probably really ironic that this is one of my favorite of the "Vlad Taltos" books. The reason is a spoiler so I'm not going to write it here. It's a close tie with "Orca", which makes more sense.
I'd been waiting for Brust to go into Lady Teldra's life/personality, and this is sort of what we got in the book. Her relationship with Vlad is cute and quite humorous. Brust always makes me burst out laughing early and repeatedly in these books and he's in top shape for "Issola". Most of my favorite quotations in the series come from this book. Lady Teldra is an interesting character once she's allowed more of the spotlight and I liked how she 'stood' up to Vlad and we get to see how the other characters react to her as more than an ornament.
The plot is fun and Vlad is up to his mischief back with the regular gang than wandering on his own. This book marks a big change in recent plot developments, so be prepared. Overall I love it.
My suggestion isn't to start with this book, but rather at "Jhereg". While you could pick up any of the books as stand-alone and publishing order is different than chronological order, I don't think a lot of this book would make any sense if you read it first, second or even third. It's a good treat when you get to it in chronological order, though. And of course read the rest of the series. I love it to bits.
I'd been waiting for Brust to go into Lady Teldra's life/personality, and this is sort of what we got in the book. Her relationship with Vlad is cute and quite humorous. Brust always makes me burst out laughing early and repeatedly in these books and he's in top shape for "Issola". Most of my favorite quotations in the series come from this book. Lady Teldra is an interesting character once she's allowed more of the spotlight and I liked how she 'stood' up to Vlad and we get to see how the other characters react to her as more than an ornament.
The plot is fun and Vlad is up to his mischief back with the regular gang than wandering on his own. This book marks a big change in recent plot developments, so be prepared. Overall I love it.
My suggestion isn't to start with this book, but rather at "Jhereg". While you could pick up any of the books as stand-alone and publishing order is different than chronological order, I don't think a lot of this book would make any sense if you read it first, second or even third. It's a good treat when you get to it in chronological order, though. And of course read the rest of the series. I love it to bits.