Margaret's Reviews > Tsalmoth

Ah, so glad to have another Vlad Taltos tale. At first, I was delaying reading this installment (Vlad Taltos, bk 16) because suddenly he's getting married and he's HAPPY. (Both of these seemed somewhat out of character to me.)

Then, when I finally picked up the book, I realized that his bride-to-be is none other than his longtime flame Cawti.

Cawti, I remember. I like Cawti. Cawti is a fellow Easterner (human race), Jhereg clan, and assassin. Suddenly I was totally on board to read this book!

So, the book opens with a Tsalmoth clan man who had borrowed money from Vlad suddenly turning up dead. All Vlad can think of is how to get his 800 Imperial golds back. (The Tsalmoth had borrowed 1,000 but had already made his first $200 payment.)

I like the way this book was structured. The wedding plans/wedding ceremony had the chapter headings. Like it was the A story and not Vlad's dogged pursuit of the 800 golds he was owed (allegedly the B story). And yes, the quest to get Vlad's golds back takes up the entire book. That said, I very much enjoyed this tale / Vlad Taltos installment.

The Vlad Taltos books are told in first person by our (sometimes unreliable) narrator Vlad himself. Yes, MAYBE you could pick up this book without having read the first 15 but you will definitely regret it.

Easterners are witches. But Vlad and Cawti don't live in Eastern lands.

Instead, they live in the Dragaeran Empire, almost entirely populated with Dragaerans, a very long-lived race (yes, multiple hundreds of years).

Dragaerans are sorcerers. Two completely different types of magic.

As you would have discovered in the first 15 Vlad Taltos books, Vlad has powerful friends/allies including very powerful sorcerers. Vlad does his best to take care of his business but when he gets outclassed magically, it is very good to have friends.

Highly recommended for fantasy fans, series fans, and plenty of character-driven action, not to mention the wedding!

Can't wait for the next Vlad Taltos book Lyorn [clan] due to be released next month (April 2024)!