This is the seventeenth book in the Vlad Taltos series which has been going since the early 80s, so… 40 years? I think that’s pretty unique — I mean, there’s been many fantasy book series that have gone on for decades, but not quite this coherently. It’s basically the story of one single guy over a couple handfuls of years, and it’s basically the same now as when it started.
Which means that this is yet another book about a wise-ass hyper-competent guy trying to work himself out of some problem or another, while keeping the repartee going.
And it’s still fun, after all these years. There are other older fantasy/science fiction authors that are still publishing, and I’m picking up their books and not expecting much, but the Dreaded Brain Rot has not set in with Brust. And there’s only two more books to go before he wraps up the series, so *crosses fingers*.
That said, while this book was a really enjoyable read, it felt a bit like Brust was purposefully using this book as a kind of breathing space before (presumably) kicking things into high gear for the last two novels, where things are going to become highly apocalyptic, by the looks of things. I don’t think it’s by chance that Brust has Vlad Taltos take a large number of naps in this book.
Oh, I didn’t mention what this one was about? It’s about Vlad Taltos hiding out in a theatre while they’re rehearsing a play, I mean a musical. So we also get all these lyrics to what sounds like the best written musical ever!
Lyorn (2024) by Steven Brust (buy new, buy used, 4.41 on Goodreads)