Review: Tiassa
Steven Brust’s Tiassa is one of his more fun Vlad Taltos novels. It also features characters from his other Dragaera novels for good measure.
Structurally it’s really three novellas from different periods in Vlad’s life, including some future period that I don’t think I’ve seen yet. Two of those intersect with characters from his Musketeer-inspired novels as well. In terms of incident, the novellas are fairly light stuff. Vlad and the cast solve some problems and perform some derring do. All in a day’s work, and probably fairly enjoyable for someone’s first Taltos novel.
If you’ve been reading a while, there are little hints dropped about a variety of little ongoing mysteries in the series, and the characterization continues to develop across the distributed timelines. This is all what you bargain for if you’re a long term fan.
Perhaps because the plot is so generic for a Taltos novel, I couldn’t help but notice how much fun it is to watch these characters think through a problem before they get to the point where they have to fight about something. They’re willing to fight, and any fight is a wild card, but the clear emphasis on planning is a little joy.
Anyway, recommended if you are a Brust or Taltos fan, though if not this is a pretty good place to jump on.