Definitely not a fun book, but still a good one, Teckla is primarily concerned with the growing discord in Vlad and Cawti's marriage over her involvement in a group of Easterners and Teckla who are rebelling against the Empire. As I said in my review of Yendi, the way that Brust deals with the relationship hardly makes for great literature, but somehow the simplicity of Brust's style, despite Vlad's flippant voice, accurately conveys the awkwardness and heartbreak of the failing relationship. And in writing about Vlad's marriage, Brust deals--in an unexpectedly serious way--with ideas about loyalty, love, and the purpose of one's life.

Now for the bad stuff: although random, out-of-the-blue plot elements were much less prevalent than in previous books, they still cropped up, to my annoyance. Vlad also shows an almost shockingly amoral side at one point: see page 136 for his "solution" to the problems in his life. And, finally, too many plot patterns are repeated in this book. As in the previous two books, Vlad again is pursued by an enemy who seeks to control his territory, he again avoids death many times, he again hires another group of enforcers, and so on. While Vlad's daily life was exciting the first two times around, it's becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish certain chapters of Teckla from similar chapters in the first two books; in fact, at one point I confused the name of Vlad's mortal enemy in this book with his mortal enemy in the previous book. And I just realized that I no longer remember the plot of Yendi. Hmm.

Nevertheless, Teckla is definitely the most mature and thought-provoking Vlad Taltos book so far, and worthy of a read.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu