If i had to pick my favourite book out of the Vlad Taltos series... well, i couldn't. They're all great. But Taltos would certainly be in the top three. It takes a truly daring and masterful mind to not only tell a great story, but tell it in a way that is convoluted and out of order, yet makes sense in no other way.

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If you want to know more specifically about why Steven Brust is my favourite authour, read the introduction to my e-pinion on Jhereg.

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Taltos

Written: Fourth
Chronologically: First


I know i've already said it twice before, but I'll say again that i personally don't like when reviews give away the plot or give spoilers. So this e-pinion will focus on my specific impression of the book while being as not specific as possible (and actually with Taltos, that will be a bit easier). What this e-pinion does spoil, however, is how the structure of the book fits together. If you don't want to know about it before you read the book, jump down to Content, or just read one of the other e-pinions instead.



THE MIDDLE IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END


Taltos is not a straightforward book. The story is straightforward enough, I suppose, but it is the design of the storytelling that is unique and is the book's greatest strength. The book essentially follows two time lines in Vlad's history simultaneously. The first time line is the present, which is the main plot. The second time line is the past, which is background into Vlad's character.

I have to admit that the first time i read this one, i didn't like it so much. Brust jumps back and forth between the two time lines throughout the book which can make the first read a bit confusing. I found myself wanting to stay with the present, getting impatient and annoyed when it was interrupted by the past. Now, after having read it numerous times, I think the time jumping is essential to the book's structural strength. It's the trick that Brust uses to hook the reader into the book (which he also does successfully in Dragon). It's like Brust teases the reader by saying, "you want more of the story? well, you're just going to have to wait a bit longer." He creates a sense of suspense just by interrupting the plot.

Thus, the structure of the book is what makes it so strong, and how he handles it is a true stroke of genius. The time jumps are not arbitrary. Brust carefully decides when and how to move from the past to the present. Not only that, but how these two time lines then connect truly shows how Brust is a master because the end of the past time line then segues to how the book begins.

In other words, if you want to label the chronological time in the book from 1 to 11 (with 1 being the earliest), Brust tells the story in this order:

6 -- 1 -- 7 -- 2 -- 8 -- 3 -- 9 -- 4 -- 10 -- 5 -- 11

And at point 5, he ends it with, "... until a certain button-man named Quion had to ruin it all." which is how point 6 (or the beginning of the book) starts.


ENOUGH ABOUT THE STUPID TIME LINES - WHAT ABOUT THE CONTENT?


It's easy to use a time jumping idea as a gimmick - the thing that holds the book together, thus sacrificing the substance of the book. Books that do that make you go "Oh that's neat" the first couple of times you go through it, but then as that discovery is no longer new, the interest in the book fades away because there isn't any real substance within the book. Not so with Taltos. Even after I got accustomed to the way Brust told the story, the actual content of both time lines make me go back and read it over and over again.

For those who have already had a taste of the Vlad universe by reading a couple of the other books, the past time line is absolutely priceless. It's the first time in Brust's writing history that the reader gets truly in depth to Vlad's psyche. A lot of questions get answered about how and why Vlad is who he is, from early childhood memories to the first time he does "work", to... well... a lot of other things that i don't want to give away. While some of his past gets hinted at in the books written previous to this (Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla), none of them offer the wealth of information about Vlad like Taltos does.

The present time line does this also, but not so much about Vlad himself as much as Vlad's relationship with other central characters in his universe (Morrolan, Aliera, and Sethra, for example). This is put over top of a great story and plot line. While it isn't a mystery like Jhereg or Yendi, it is still compelling with signature Brust action, humour, and wit.

The book is refreshing in its story, style, and originality. It is one of Brust's experiments, pushing his own boundaries and rules, and it comes off without a hitch.


SO DO I READ THIS FIRST OR WHAT?


Since this is the first chronological book in the Vlad series, it's worth a couple of extra key-clacks to give my opinion on how to read the Vlad series.

there's a lot of debate about whether or not people should read the Vlad series in written or chronological order. Personally, i think that those that want a good introduction to the series should read Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla, and Taltos in written order. After that, i don't think it matters what order you read the books in, though i recommend chronological.

The reason i think written order is a better choice is that although Taltos gives you a background to Vlad's history, the other books give you a better background to Brust's universe and vocabulary. The first three written books help to establish an identity to Dragaera in a way that I think that Taltos doesn't do. In a way, it assumes that you understand at least a bit about the Dragarean universe. As a result, i think some of the humor, subtleties, and descriptions in Taltos would get lost without that establishment.

Of course, i could be biased - I'm only conjecturing that it would do that because I read it that way. But I still feel that it's a better choice. I feel like the other books are a history to this book, even if the events take place later. An analogy: if a movie contains a flashback scene, i don't want to see the flashback first. Other things have been established in the present that the past relies upon.

If anyone who has read the series disagrees with me on this one, i'd love to argue with you. :)



Recommended: Yes