Taltos
core novel 1988 Dragaera
Record
| First published | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.20 (8,401 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 181 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780441182008 |
Synopsis
Taltos returns to Vlad's earlier years, weaving together his impoverished, discrimination-scarred childhood as an Easterner in Adrilankha, his rise within a Jhereg crime syndicate, and a present-day mission that draws him back to Sethra Lavode's stronghold on Dzur Mountain and to his patron Morrolan. The book opens with one of Vlad's own enforcers stealing from him and fleeing, a betrayal that sets Vlad on Morrolan's trail and into Sethra's orbit. Kiera, a thief who has mentored and befriended Vlad since his youth, also figures into the unfolding events. As the narrative moves between Vlad's boyhood memories and the unfolding present-day mission, involving theft, rescue and dangerous magic, the threads gradually draw together, exploring how Vlad's outsider status shaped the man he has become and what stakes now draw him into Sethra and Morrolan's world.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragaera
- Series: Vlad Taltos core; position 4 of 17 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Steven Brust
Notes
- From the series record (Vlad Taltos): 17 novels (1983-2024) of a planned 19-book structure (17 House-named books + Taltos, named for the protagonist, + a final closing volume, The Last Contract, not yet written; Chreotha, the 18th, is also not yet written). Internal chronology is contested among fan sources and explicitly not recorded here, see the notes on Jhereg.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Vlad Taltos: position 4 of 17: previous Teckla (1987) · next Phoenix (1990)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Brust
- Lyorn Records
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taltos_(Brust_novel)
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