Tiassa (Vlad Taltos) [Hardcover]

Steven Brust (Author)

Book Description

Series: Vlad Taltos | Publication Date: March 29, 2011

Long ago, one of the gods fashioned an artifact called the silver tiassa. To Devera the Wanderer, it was a pretty toy to play with. To Vlad Taltos, it was a handy prop for a con he was running. To the Empire, it was a tool to be used against their greatest enemies--the Jenoine. To the Jhereg, it was a trap to kill Vlad.

The silver tiassa, however, had its own agenda.

Tiassa will cover more than ten years in Vlad's life--and, to the delight of longtime fans, will bring him together with Khaavren, from The Phoenix Guards and its sequels. Who may be Vlad's new best friend--or his most terrible enemy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 18th novel (after 2010's Iorich) in Brust's sprawling Dragaera fantasy series is a wonderful return to form, setting assassin hero Vlad Taltos in a contest of wits and wills against imperial guard captain Khaavren, the formidable protagonist of 1992's The Phoenix Guards. On the run from his former employers, the Jhereg, Vlad swings back into town for a surreptitious visit to his family and finds himself wanted all over again by Khaavren, who is chasing a magical silver statue of a tiassa. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, full of plots, counterplots, unlikely disguises, swordfights, and mistaken identities. Fans will love the full cast of favorite characters and the resolution of longstanding plots and mysteries, and like most of Brust's books, this witty, wry tale stands well alone and is very accessible to new readers. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

"Dzur gives us Vlad Taltos at his best."

--Cinescope

 

"Fresh, snappy, and terribly likeable…Dzur shows you what heroic fantasy can be."

--Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

 

“Steven Brust may well be America’s best fantasy writer.”

--Tad Williams

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (March 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765312093
• ISBN-13: 978-0765312099
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in a family of Hungarian labor organizers, Steven Brust worked as a musician and a computer programmer before coming to prominence as a writer in 1983 with Jhereg, the first of his novels about Vlad Taltos, a human professional assassin in a world dominated by long-lived, magically-empowered human-like "Dragaerans." Over the next several years, several more "Taltos" novels followed, interspersed with other work, including To Reign in Hell, a fantasy re-working of Milton's war in Heaven; The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, a contemporary fantasy based on Hungarian folktales; and a science fiction novel, Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille. The most recent "Taltos" novels are Dragon and Issola. In 1991, with The Phoenix Guards, Brust began another series, set a thousand years earlier than the Taltos books; its sequels are Five Hundred Years After and the three volumes of "The Viscount of Adrilankha": The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode.While writing, Brust has continued to work as a musician, playing drums for the legendary band Cats Laughing and recording an album of his own work, A Rose for Iconoclastes. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where he pursues an ongoing interest in stochastics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best by far, but not a total waste..., March 31, 2011

By 

John S. Dean "John" (Sturtevant, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tiassa (Vlad Taltos) (Kindle Edition)

I've loved the series since I bought the just published "Jhereg" ages ago. I've done the ups and downs as we rode the roller coaster as the morality changed after Brust's own personal experiences with killings. So I guess this shouldn't be too much of a shocker, but it is a bit of a disappointment...

We spent years with the buildup of spellbreaker, and finally the great weapon is created... and then....

I keep waiting for more about the *after*, because I've been so curious. But this one again jumps in time, forwards, backwards, forwards... Pre marriage, post marriage.

And while the parts written from Vlad's point of view are as enjoyable as ever, as others have mentioned, there's not a lot of that...

We get to learn a little more about Devera, but beyond that, there just didn't seem that much here that moved the story forward at all, nor did it really fill in any big questions anywhere else.

I'm beginning to feel like I did mid way through the sword of truth series, where things just stalled so horribly and we had to wade through the morass in fear we might miss the couple good pages in a book... I'm NOT saying that this is at that point, but it's certainly nearing it...

Steven Brust is one of the four or five authors I ever recommend to others, but I'm getting to the point now where I feel I need to specify certain books so that people don't get the wrong impression. I'd rather have them learn about the author from the incomparable Jhereg than thinking this is the epitome of his writing...

So let's hope that we get back on track with the engaging stories again, because when he's hot, no other author compares...

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A love-letter to Brust fans, April 1, 2011

By 

Joshua W Epp (EL PASO, TX, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tiassa (Vlad Taltos) (Hardcover)

Tiassa, Brust's thirteenth novel, is one of the most ambitious to date. It incorporates a myriad of writing styles from his past Dragaera works; the typical Vlad first-person, the third-person character-per-chapter narrative used in Brokedown Palace, and as much of the book focuses on Khaavren and his family, a bit more of Paarfi. This book is by no means a stylistic exercise, however; it has a focal point that stays very focused on the plot, and the way the story is presented actually gives a new way of looking at things. It was especially interesting to see, during the course of an investigation, the way Khaavren and a number of those in his employ measured Vlad's worth with a sense of begrudging respect, or the way Norathar and Cawti feel towards one another/the Empire, how idiotic Piro's 'benevolent highwayman' schtick appears in Vlad's world, etc.

I've seen other reviewers claim that this book does nothing to further the story, a criticism I honestly would've lodged against Iorich, which, while a decent read, did little to advance the overall plot or provide opportunity for character growth. Tiassa not only sheds some light on some things that have been alluded to in past books (Devera, the Issola bard, the box he talks to) but also drops some HUGE hints toward the future of the series, one in particular stated almost outright by a certain Imperial official.

If I have to levy a criticism against it, it would be that it is definitely not the best place to jump into the series (though arguably that has been true for several books at this point) and it does heavily incorporate characters (and the ridiculously, hilariously overwrought writing style) of the Khaavren romances, which I adore, but could be confusing even to long-time readers if they've never strayed outside of the main Vlad series. Chronologically, it's all over the place; it jumps from events happening just after Yendi to around the same time as Dragon to slightly before (or after) Iorich.

Its a great book for long-time fans of Brust, and definitely one of the best in the series, both in terms of story and general writing. Not to be missed.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular, March 29, 2011

By 

Shawn P. Cooke (East Northport, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tiassa (Vlad Taltos) (Hardcover)

Okay, well that was just a Taltos fanboy's dream.

Fair warning, I've liked pretty much every book in this series, even Jhegaala, which was too convoluted and ponderous for me to get much of a buzz from. But this makes up for it fifteen times over. We get tantalizing hints at longstanding questions, not to mention the reappearance of fan-favorite characters... and a certain fan-favorite narrator.

This is not a good entry point into this series. It was written for people who have read both the last twelve Taltos novels as well as the five Phoenix Guards books. Anyone else might well be lost. But read them. You're in for a treat.