This, the fifth book in Brust’s “Vlad Taltos” series, picks up
immediately after Teckla. The initial plot concerns an
extremely odd bit of “work” that Vlad does for a most unusual
client–Verra, the Demon-Goddess. And as such, it takes us to some
interesting places we’ve not seen before.

But mostly, this is the book in which the tensions, the doubts, and the
self-examination begun in Teckla begin to ripen. This is the
book where Vlad decides what’s really important to him, and just how far
he’s willing to go in pursuit of it. It’s not an entirely satisfying
book–Vlad and Cawti remain estranged–but it’s got some pretty nifty
moments.