Man. I love reading series, because you get the continuity of setting, and characters grow and change and develop over time and you get to see the outcomes of those as well. It’s I guess like the difference between a snapshot and a film. Or more accurately, between a film and a lifetime. But every time I need to review a book in a series, and that series has gone on longer than a trilogy or so, well, those times make me pretty frustrated. Because it’s virtually impossible to provide much information that isn’t rife with spoilers. I’m sure this isn’t the first and won’t be the last time I make such a complaint, but it bears saying.

Anyway, though, Tiassa, which title in the Vlad Taltos series has been one of the most anticipated of which I am aware, thanks to the main character of the Khaavren Romances series that parallels Vlad’s own being from the Dragaeran House of Tiassa. This either makes perfect sense to you if you’ve read either series or none whatsoever if you have not. So you see my dilemma. But if you have, you won’t want me to say much more, and if you have not, I think I can pretend like I would be telling you what to think about the book, sure, beyond the obvious statement that you need to go read Jhereg instead. See, there’s this guy, Vlad Taltos, who has at various times in his life been a crimelord, an assassin, a husband, a defender of the world, and a man on the run. And a number of other things as well. He lives in an empire peopled mostly by another species who deem him a second class citizen on good days. And these books tell the story of his life and/or the empire in which he lives. This particular book tells a story about a silver tiassa statue[1] and the swath it cuts through various events in Vlad’s life and through the future of the Empire. Also, Vlad and his fellow guest narrator each have fantastic narrative voices, which are not to be believed ever, even though sometimes they accidentally present an accurate picture of events.

You know, I really think I’m going to start re-reading these books. It has been way too long on most of them, and I’ve forgotten way too much, and it will be by-gum worthwhile. (Yeah, I have no idea when either, nor whether the previous statement will result in anything like accuracy. Which is not unlike listening to Vlad, come to think of it.)

[1] The Houses of the Empire are named after and share certain traits with animals that have been previously anthropomorphized by the Empire’s progenitors.