The Book of Taltos

by Steven Brust

Ace, 2002, 389 pp, $14.00

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The Book of Taltos is a omnibus of the Vlad Taltos novels Taltos and Phoenix. Taltos is one of the earlier novels and tells of Vlad’s days in the Jhereg (the crime syndicate) and the beginning of his association with Morrolan, Alerion, and Sethra Lavode. It’s a straight-forward, vigorous, and thoughtful adventure.

Phoenix is set later and is much more melancholy. Vlad and his wife are drifting apart – she, in spite of her own background in the Jhereg has come to disapprove of it, while Vlad (in spite of his own dislike of Dragarean prejudice against humans) disapproves of her activities in the human liberation underground.

This adventure leaves him on the run from the Jhereg and estranged from his wife.

It’s a good story, but just an episode — nothing is resolved.