5/5: some authors are fine wines, and some age like’em, and Steven Brust is both of those things. Tsalmoth is my new favorite Vlad novel since my last new favorite Vlad novel. It succeeds at being a standalone novel while putting a significant corner piece in place in the #WhatWouldVladDo puzzle.

A wedding, a wedding, there was going to be a wedding! Vlad and Cawti are getting married, but being a minor boss in the Elf Mafia means that things will happen when the stuff is going on. As they plan their wedding day, someone who owes Vlad a significant investment sum has taken a shine (he’s dead) and Vlad is displeased. He does, after all, have his wedding to Cawti to consider. But when Vlad’s soul is convinced to go take a walk on the wild side, things have to get a bit more intense than that. Can Vlad teleport, walk, be sarcastic, eat enough meals, and genuinely be threatening enough as he unravels plots within plots alongside plots? Can he do all of this and reorient his projection to this non-astral plane? Find out in Tsalmoth: the steady and often-hilarious inbetweenquel sequel we’ve waited 6 years since Vallista for (but a couple of decades for, in actuality.)

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Books, for the ARC of my most anticipated read of 2023, of the latest entry in my favorite book series by one of my all-time favorite writers, and yet another different adventure in a genre that is not typically this exciting, subtle, or funny.

Lots of love and good cheer to Steven Brust for pulling off another successful Vlad caper that is somehow more mature and measured than even the last without dulling any of the previous entries in the hands of his readers, nor Vlad’s hands in Cawti’s. Non-spoilers: thanks for making me laugh way too loud at that bit in chapter 13 about yendis.