AID∴N's Reviews > Issola

A rather lore-heavy entry into the ongoing saga of Vlad Taltos.

I've seen other reviewers knock Issola for straying too far from the noirish roots of the series and while I see where they are coming from, I disagree. The appeal of the Vlad Taltos novels for me has always been that they so rarely tread the same ground twice, and especially from Teckla onward, each new entry has always presented something similar yet different. And while each novel appears as a mostly self-contained story, each sits atop a rich sediment of backstory and the nonchronological format of the series has always lent itself to telling a big story in a creatively unusual way.

But at least considering this particular venture: this is essentially the story of cosmic conflict that is already quite familiar to epic fantasy, told mostly through the interactions of two wildly divergent characters conversing on the different ways they interact with the world they both must inhabit. For all the world-breaking implications of the plot, this is a small, intimate novel focused on the nuances of personality- which is something exceedingly rare in adventure fantasy.

I thought Athyra marked an important maturation for both Vlad and the series and here, with Issola, that trend continues. Nine books in, the series is smarter and more humane than it's ever been.

Plus Vlad now has a badass new sword.