Book Review: The Vlad Taltos Series by Steven Brust

Continuing my tradition of reading only first person narratives, the Vlad Taltos series is awesome. Out of 14 books in the series, I found only two a bit weak. There is another spin off series called “The Khaavren Romances”, but since they’re set in a different age, I didn’t feel particularly keen to try them out.

Vlad Taltos. Assassin and detective. Very dangerous when cornered. And his smart alec winged familiar. This series has a large number of memorable characters like Morrolan, Sethra Lavode, Kiera the thief, and Kragar. All of whom are Taltos’ friends and none of whom are “human”. They’re Dragaerans, the in-world name for elves. Vlad himself is human though or as the Dragaerans call them, “Easterners”.

These are more like detective novels than anything else. Despite Vlad’s terrifying combat and assassin skills, he prefers to avoid fights whenever he can and relies on forethought and planning. But he has a violent core streak and an absolute confidence in his ability to take out anyone if necessary – even if they’re Dragaerans who are much bigger and stronger than humans.

The wit and humor in this series stands out wonderfully, often taking the form of hilarious barbs from Loiosh – Talto’s familiar. And gotta give this series props for a realistic love story that ends the way most real life ones do.

There’s a lot for Anupa to read once she finishes with the Iron Druid Chronicles. But I’ll make sure she gets to this eventually :)

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