The Book of Dragon, by Steven Brust

[mrissa]

Review copy from Tor.

This is an omnibus of Dragon and Issola, and as such was a third or fourth reread of each for me. However, I haven't reread them in six years, which turns out to matter: I remember them well enough to know that Dragon is good and Issola is quite possibly my favorite Vlad book, but not so well that I was mumbling the lines along with the characters.

This is, by the way, the wrong place to start. There is no typical Vlad book, but the directions in which these are atypical lean heavily on preestablished relationships; you will not get the impact of the spearpoint without the rest of the spear. When we were in college, Dragon was the new exciting one and timprov tried starting there and can tell you: start somewhere else.

For fans of the series, this is a lovely omnibus edition, and the books hold up well after a decade or more. Dragon is still the incongruity of Vlad going to war, and the stylistic difference between it and Issola even in Vlad's own voice is a lovely contrast, a clear feeling of being in sure hands.

And I mean. Super magic weapons. Also alien monsters. Also Lady Teldra, Lady Teldra, Lady Teldra. What more could you want?

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I want more Lady Teldra, is what I want.

[aedifica]

Yes. (Also, it's been six years since Issola came out??)

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Ten.

[aedifica]

Now I'm really confused. I have a belief that I read it as soon as it came out AND a belief that I first read it after I moved to Minnesota, and apparently these beliefs are in conflict.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking it's time for a massive reread.