sholio | Taltos

Reread Taltos today because I was in the mood for it, after talking to

sovay about characters being rescued from the afterlife made me remember that's the plot of this book. I have a lot of Vlad feels now. Vlad, you are the worst at hating Dragaerans, you just are.

I feel like this book is the platonic ideal of what I want from a book of this type.

- Ancestral enemies forced to work together, reluctantly becoming friends.
- Banter and snark.
- Self-sacrifice as a core element of the plot.
- Awesome female characters (not so central in this one as in some other books in the series, but still excellent and very much not treated differently from the male characters)
- Weird, cool worldbuilding.
- Moral dilemmas.
- Three interwoven timelines that are all interesting, engaging, and related to the current plot in ways that only gradually become apparent in an "oh, THAT'S what that was all about" kind of way. (Seriously, I don't know how the structure of this book works so well. I never found myself skipping any of the sections or getting lost even with the frequent scene and time jumps.)

There are other books in the series I love - most of them, actually, except for a few in the middle - but this one is probably my enduring favorite. I mean, "enduring" given that I only read the whole series for the first time a couple of years ago.

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Reread Taltos today because I was in the mood for it, after talking to sovay about characters being rescued from the afterlife made me remember that's the plot of this book.

Nobody told me that about this book!

(I have read and enjoyed Brust's Dragon, gift of

rushthatspeaks, but never followed it into the rest of the series.)

You know, I thought about asking in the other conversation if you'd read this, but don't seem to have gotten around to it. I think there's a good chance you'd like it, especially if you didn't bounce off Brust's style in Dragon. (I gather that the series' blend of high fantasy and detective/mafia/noirish tropes is not everyone's cup of tea.)

Anyway, it's a good one to read on its own because it's unusually self-contained for this series, as it takes place chronologically before most of the other books, and several of the main characters meet for the first time in this book. It also has a really interesting structure and hits a bunch of tropes that go straight to my id.

I think there's a good chance you'd like it,

I've met katabases I didn't particularly care for, but I wouldn't expect Steven Brust to write one.

especially if you didn't bounce off Brust's style in Dragon. (I gather that the series' blend of high fantasy and detective/mafia/noirish tropes is not everyone's cup of tea.)

Nah. I've been reading less high fantasy in recent years than I grew up on, but I am certainly not allergic to it.

Anyway, it's a good one to read on its own because it's unusually self-contained for this series, as it takes place chronologically before most of the other books, and several of the main characters meet for the first time in this book.

I'll check it out when I get the chance! Being dropped into the middle with Dragon, for what it's worth, worked out just fine. That one also had a temporally braided structure as I recall.

I remember enjoying the early books in this series a lot! I drifted away after the falling-out stuff happened with Vlad and Cawti in the later books, alas - it felt too much like watching a divorce train-wreck and that stopped being fun. But I still have nostalgia.

Ha, yeah - I was warned about that ahead of time and glad to be, because that would have been really brutal otherwise; in fact it was pretty brutal anyway! I feel like the series really dips in quality in the middle (there's at least one I haven't read, and a couple I had to drag myself through), but then the last couple of books were back in good form, and I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.

Taltos is fantastic. The structure is so good, and the central plot is so weird and interesting.

Yeah, I think it's a combination for me of the structure being extremely well done, and the author basically having reached into my head and pulled out exactly the set of iddiest tropes and plot twists that I would want from a book about enemies on a rescuing-someone-from-the-afterlife road trip.

Also, I am very glad that you introduced me to this series. I think it was probably my favorite new-to-me book discovery that year! Which is especially interesting since I had tried to read one of the books some ways back - late 90s, I think - and bounced off it completely. I don't remember which one it was, but I do remember being terribly confused and putting it down after just a couple of chapters.

That bulleted list is a lot of the reasons why it's my favorite, too. Especially those first 3 :D

I also find the three timelines really deftly done! (although I also know people who found them disorienting the first time around, and having reread it with an eye to that, I can definitely see how that can be).

I've been thinking it's time for a reread for me, too... :)

You should!! We can talk about it! :D (Icon love!)

Yeah, I suppose having read the book before makes the timelines a little more comprehensible, but I don't remember being confused the first time around either, and I remember being pleased with myself on the first read for figuring out what the chapter-introducing scenes were a couple of chapters before the actual reveal (not the specific thing he was doing, but at least in general what it related to). I think in particular I noticed that I wasn't tempted to skip over any of the sections this time, even to get to my favorite parts, because everything else was so interesting too.

I noticed that I wasn't tempted to skip over any of the sections this time, even to get to my favorite parts, because everything else was so interesting too.

Oh yeah, same! Like, when I think about rereading Taltos, the scenes I'm looking forward to revisiting are all in the main timeline, but once I start reading, I'm never tempted to skip the flashbacks or the spell framing device, because it's all so good and feeds into each other so neatly! I've reread Taltos at least half a dozen times by now, and that never changes.

(and thank you, re: icon :D I'm always so happy when I have a reason to use one of my Dragaera icons :D)

If I remember correctly, I bounced off the series upon first starting because it was 2020 and I wasn't feeling like reading about assassins (which I gather was the main character's job) but I feel like this is a book I need to go back to this year or at the very least Soon-ish because it seems really fun.

You know, it was really interesting reading Taltos as my reintroduction to the series after not having read it in a couple of years, because I'm now going back and reading the first book, and while I did really love the first book when I read it, I'm actually thinking that - especially if you bounced off the first time - Taltos might be a better introduction. I think you get a better feel for the protagonist's sympathetic side much earlier, and it also focuses less on the assassin aspect. The first book starts out with a few chapters that are basically the hero setting up a hit, and I can see how it would be offputting, especially if you weren't in the right frame of mind for it. I think he comes across more appealing and sympathetic right off the bat in Taltos.

I will consider this! I do think my tolerance for this would be way higher now than it was back then. It feels like one of those books where if I get into it I'll really enjoy it, but at the time I couldn't get past the way he's introduced due to my frame of mind. So yeah, on my "to try again" list for sure :)

Well this sounds relevant to my interests!!

I really love it! I loved it just as much as a reintroduction to the series (since it's been a couple of years since I read it) as I did when I read it on the heels of the previous few books on my first read-through. It's a really strong book and very iddy for me.

I, for one, am very excited to hear that :))

Taltos

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