Steven Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author best known for the Vlad Taltos novels, a long-running sequence about an Easterner assassin navigating crime, politics, sorcery, and friendship in the Dragaeran Empire.
His bibliography presents an unusual reading-order problem. The Vlad books were deliberately published out of chronological sequence, and several volumes contain stories from more than one period of Vlad’s life. Brust also writes historical romances set centuries earlier in Dragaera, plus unrelated fantasy, science fiction, contemporary supernatural fiction, and collaborative novels.
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The reliable first choice is Jhereg. It introduces Vlad, Loiosh, the Jhereg criminal organization, and the Dragaeran Empire in the order Brust originally chose to reveal them.
First, Decide Which Steven Brust You Want
Brust’s books divide into four main reading experiences.
Vlad Taltos
Begin with Jhereg for witty first-person fantasy involving assassinations, criminal schemes, magical resurrection, political conflict, and a protagonist whose version of events is not always complete.
The series is approaching its conclusion but is not yet finished.
The Khaavren Romances
Begin with The Phoenix Guards for swashbuckling adventure written in the elaborate voice of the fictional historian Paarfi of Roundwood.
These books take place centuries before Vlad and imitate the structure and style of Alexandre Dumas.
The Incrementalists
Begin with The Incrementalists for contemporary speculative fiction about a secret society whose members preserve memories across generations.
The series was co-written with Skyler White.
Standalone Fiction
Begin with To Reign in Hell for a reinterpretation of the revolt in Heaven, Agyar for supernatural literary fiction, or The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars for a novel about art and creative struggle.
The Vlad Taltos Books in Publication Order
Publication order is the recommended order for first-time readers.
The novels move backward and forward through Vlad’s life, but each new book expects readers to know information revealed in earlier publications. Reading chronologically can expose relationships, identities, and historical outcomes before Brust intended.
Jhereg
- Jhereg (1983): Vlad accepts a contract to assassinate a powerful man whose refuge inside Castle Black makes an ordinary killing nearly impossible.
The novel introduces Vlad as a human, or Easterner, living among the taller and extremely long-lived Dragaerans.
He belongs to House Jhereg, which combines a legal Great House with an organized criminal network. Vlad runs gambling and protection operations while also working as a professional assassin.
His familiar Loiosh, his wife Cawti, and his powerful friends Morrolan, Aliera, and Sethra Lavode become central to the series.
Yendi
- Yendi (1984): Vlad’s attempt to defend his criminal territory against a rival Jhereg operation leads to betrayal, romance, and a scheme more complicated than a simple gang war.
The story takes place before Jhereg and shows how Vlad met Cawti.
Its mystery depends on deception, hidden loyalties, and the Yendi talent for plans within plans.
Reading it second establishes immediately that the series will not follow a straightforward timeline.
Teckla
- Teckla (1987): Vlad becomes involved with an Easterner revolutionary movement while political violence begins damaging his marriage to Cawti.
The conflict is more personal and ideological than the assassination plots of the opening books.
Cawti’s commitment to the movement forces Vlad to confront his own wealth, criminal authority, and relationship with the oppressed Easterners of Adrilankha.
The novel begins one of the series’ most important emotional changes.
Taltos
- Taltos (1988): A younger Vlad undertakes a dangerous journey through the Paths of the Dead after accepting an assignment connected to Morrolan and Aliera.
The book reaches back to Vlad’s early career and explains how several of his most important friendships began.
It also reveals more about Dragaeran death, resurrection, the gods, and the supernatural geography beneath the Empire.
Although it is one of the earliest books chronologically, it works better after readers already know the people Vlad is trying to help.
Phoenix
- Phoenix (1990): Vlad accepts a politically sensitive assassination while the Easterners’ rebellion and his conflict with Cawti move toward a breaking point.
The Demon Goddess Verra becomes directly involved in his choices.
Vlad’s actions place him between the Empire, the Jhereg, the revolutionaries, and people he cannot protect without changing his own life.
The conclusion permanently alters his status in Adrilankha and begins the wandering period developed in later novels.
Athyra
- Athyra (1993): Vlad arrives in a rural village where a young apprentice named Savn becomes fascinated by the dangerous Easterner stranger.
Unlike most of the series, much of the novel is told from Savn’s perspective.
Vlad is injured, isolated, and being hunted, while local prejudice makes it difficult for Savn to decide whether he is helping a criminal or resisting a greater evil.
The change in viewpoint allows readers to see how alarming Vlad appears to people who do not know him.
Orca
- Orca (1996): Vlad and Kiera the Thief investigate a financial conspiracy while trying to save a family from losing its home.
The case begins with property and debt but widens into corruption involving powerful institutions.
The novel combines Vlad’s account with Kiera’s perspective and reveals information that changes the reader’s understanding of a long-established character.
It should not be read early despite taking place during Vlad’s exile.
Dragon
- Dragon (1998): Vlad joins Morrolan’s army during a war and discovers that military service is more tedious, confusing, and lethal than heroic stories suggest.
The book uses several timelines, including Vlad recounting the campaign from a later point in his life.
Its central conflict begins with theft and honor before expanding into full battlefield chaos.
The novel examines the House of the Dragon, military command, friendship, and Vlad’s limited patience for conventional warfare.
Issola
- Issola (2001): Vlad is pulled into a conflict involving the Jenoine, beings whose power threatens Dragaera’s gods and the structure of the world itself.
Lady Teldra accompanies him and becomes much more than Morrolan’s courteous servant.
The scale expands sharply beyond criminal and imperial politics, revealing deeper history behind Dragaera, the gods, and sorcery.
The ending has lasting consequences for Vlad and for the weapon he carries in later books.
Dzur
- Dzur (2006): Vlad returns secretly to Adrilankha and attempts to help a friend while eating an elaborate series of meals at Valabar’s restaurant.
The meal structure runs alongside a dangerous investigation involving the Jhereg, the Left Hand, and people connected to Vlad’s past.
The book shows how much the city has changed during his absence and how much danger he still faces there.
It begins a run of novels increasingly focused on unresolved threats from the Jhereg organization.
Jhegaala
- Jhegaala (2008): Shortly after leaving Adrilankha, Vlad travels to the Eastern land of Fenario to investigate his mother’s family.
His search places him inside the politics of a small town where several factions are hiding information.
Vlad has fewer resources than usual and cannot depend on the social rules he understands in the Empire.
The book explores his human ancestry and the difficulty of returning to a culture that is supposedly his own.
Iorich
- Iorich (2010): Vlad returns to the Empire after learning that his friend Aliera has been arrested on charges connected to the use of forbidden sorcery.
The case draws him into Dragaeran law, imperial procedure, and the political purpose behind apparently straightforward charges.
Vlad must investigate without exposing himself to the Jhereg assassins still hunting him.
The novel uses the Iorich association with justice while questioning whether law and justice are actually the same thing.
Tiassa
- Tiassa (2011): Three connected stories follow a silver tiassa and show different stages of Vlad’s life through changing viewpoints and narrative styles.
The first section concerns an early scheme involving Vlad and a missing object.
The second moves to another period and another narrator, while the final section adopts Paarfi’s expansive historical voice.
Because the stories occupy different moments, Tiassa cannot be placed neatly at one point in a strict chronological list.
Hawk
- Hawk (2014): Vlad decides that constantly hiding from Jhereg assassins is no longer acceptable and begins constructing a plan to force the organization to leave him alone.
The scheme requires information, misdirection, criminal expertise, and help from several long-standing allies.
Rather than responding to a contract or emergency, Vlad sets the plot in motion himself.
The novel brings his conflict with the Jhereg into a new phase and changes the conditions of his exile.
Vallista
- Vallista (2017): Vlad explores a mysterious house whose rooms, occupants, and history do not follow ordinary rules of space or time.
Devera appears as his guide while the building’s design becomes the central puzzle.
The novel draws on the Vallista association with construction and creation, but its mystery also reaches into Dragaera’s ancient past.
Readers should know the events of Issola and the later Vlad books before entering the house.
Tsalmoth
- Tsalmoth (2023): A younger Vlad prepares to marry Cawti while trying to recover money owed to him by a man who has inconveniently died.
The apparently minor debt leads into a complicated criminal investigation.
Set between Vlad’s earliest adventures, the novel revisits his relationship with Cawti before the marriage difficulties shown in Teckla and Phoenix.
It was published late in the sequence and is best read late, despite its early position in Vlad’s life.
Lyorn
- Lyorn (2024): Vlad hides inside a theater while the Left Hand of the Jhereg attempts to locate and kill him.
The theatrical company is staging a politically sensitive musical, allowing performance, censorship, history, and criminal danger to overlap.
Vlad must solve his immediate survival problem while recognizing signs of changes that may affect the Empire far beyond the theater.
As the latest published novel, it belongs after Tsalmoth in a first reading.
Chreotha
- Chreotha (Forthcoming): The planned eighteenth Vlad Taltos novel will take its title from the Dragaeran House associated with patience, traps, and intricate construction.
Steven Brust has confirmed that the book remains part of the final sequence.
He was still writing the remaining Vlad material in his latest substantial progress updates.
No official publication date had been announced by August 7, 2026.
Status: Confirmed, unpublished.
The Last Contract
- The Last Contract (Forthcoming): The final Vlad Taltos novel is intended to conclude the long story that began with Jhereg.
Brust has been writing it alongside the remaining work on Chreotha.
The author has publicly indicated that The Last Contract will be the final volume rather than another intermediate House-titled adventure.
No confirmed publication date had been announced by August 7, 2026.
Status: Confirmed final novel, unpublished.
Is the Vlad Taltos Series Complete?
No.
Seventeen novels have been published, ending currently with Lyorn.
Two more books are planned:
- Chreotha: The remaining House-titled novel.
- The Last Contract: The conclusion of Vlad’s story.
Brust’s official updates indicate continued progress, but neither book has a scheduled release date.
Why There Are More Books Than Dragaeran Houses
The Dragaeran Empire has seventeen Great Houses.
Most Vlad novels are named after one House, animal, or associated archetype. However, the complete plan contains nineteen books because Taltos is named for Vlad himself and The Last Contract provides the conclusion outside the standard House-title pattern.
The published sequence has also used some House names before their corresponding chronological stage becomes clear.
Readers should not attempt to arrange the novels according to the repeating Dragaeran Cycle on a first reading.
Vlad Taltos Chronological Order
A completely precise chronology is difficult.
Dragon contains material from more than one period, Tiassa is divided among different eras, and several novels are narrated retrospectively. The date on which Vlad tells a story is not always the date on which its main events occurred.
A practical approximation is:
- Taltos (1988): Vlad’s early relationship with Morrolan and Aliera begins.
- Yendi (1984): Vlad fights a territorial war and meets Cawti.
- Tsalmoth (2023): Vlad prepares for marriage while investigating an unpaid debt.
- Dragon (1998): Vlad serves in Morrolan’s army, although the book uses multiple timelines.
- Jhereg (1983): Vlad accepts the assassination that introduced the series.
- Teckla (1987): Revolutionary politics strain Vlad and Cawti’s marriage.
- Phoenix (1990): The conflict forces Vlad to leave his established life.
- Jhegaala (2008): Vlad travels through Fenario early in his exile.
- Athyra (1993): Savn meets the hunted and injured Vlad.
- Orca (1996): Vlad and Kiera investigate financial corruption.
- Issola (2001): The Jenoine conflict changes Vlad’s weapon and responsibilities.
- Dzur (2006): Vlad returns secretly to Adrilankha.
- Iorich (2010): He investigates Aliera’s imprisonment.
- Hawk (2014): Vlad acts against the Jhereg hunting him.
- Vallista (2017): He enters Devera’s impossible house.
- Lyorn (2024): He hides in a theater while facing the Left Hand.
- Tiassa (2011): Its sections belong at different points and cannot occupy one reliable position.
- Chreotha (Forthcoming): Exact placement should remain unconfirmed until publication.
- The Last Contract (Forthcoming): Expected to provide the concluding stage.
This is a rereading tool, not the preferred first order.
The Recommended Vlad Taltos Order
Read the published novels exactly as they appeared:
- Jhereg (1983): Vlad accepts a nearly impossible assassination contract.
- Yendi (1984): An earlier gang war reveals how he met Cawti.
- Teckla (1987): Revolutionary politics transform Vlad’s marriage and loyalties.
- Taltos (1988): His early friendships with Morrolan and Aliera are explained.
- Phoenix (1990): Vlad’s position in Adrilankha collapses.
- Athyra (1993): Savn encounters Vlad during his exile.
- Orca (1996): A financial mystery reveals a major character secret.
- Dragon (1998): Vlad recounts his experience of war.
- Issola (2001): The conflict expands to the Jenoine and the gods.
- Dzur (2006): Vlad returns to Adrilankha for food, friendship, and danger.
- Jhegaala (2008): He investigates his Eastern family background.
- Iorich (2010): Dragaeran law becomes the center of a rescue attempt.
- Tiassa (2011): One object links several periods and storytelling voices.
- Hawk (2014): Vlad tries to end the Jhereg hunt.
- Vallista (2017): An impossible house becomes a temporal and architectural mystery.
- Tsalmoth (2023): Young Vlad investigates a debt before his wedding.
- Lyorn (2024): Theater and political history conceal Vlad from the Left Hand.
- Chreotha (Forthcoming): Read when published.
- The Last Contract (Forthcoming): Finish the series with the planned conclusion.
The Khaavren Romances in Order
The Khaavren Romances take place in Dragaera centuries before Vlad’s time.
They are presented as historical works by Paarfi of Roundwood, a fictional Dragaeran author with an elaborate, confident, and not always dependable narrative voice.
The books pay tribute to Alexandre Dumas. Long conversations, formal challenges, sword fights, digressions, and exaggerated courtesy are central to the style.
The Phoenix Guards
- The Phoenix Guards (1991): Khaavren leaves home seeking adventure and forms friendships with Aerich, Tazendra, and Pel as they enter imperial service.
The four companions join the Phoenix Guards and become involved in court politics, duels, conspiracies, and threats against the Empire.
The structure echoes The Three Musketeers.
It is the correct first Paarfi novel.
Five Hundred Years After
- Five Hundred Years After (1994): Five centuries later, Khaavren and his companions return to action as political instability and conspiracy threaten the Dragaeran Empire.
The enormous time gap is possible because Dragaerans can live for thousands of years.
Old friendships remain recognizable, but the Empire and the characters have changed.
The novel leads toward the catastrophe that begins the Interregnum.
The Paths of the Dead
- The Paths of the Dead (2002): Zerika begins a quest to restore the Empire by entering the Paths of the Dead and attempting to recover the Imperial Orb.
Khaavren’s son Piro and a new generation become involved in the political disorder of the Interregnum.
This is the first volume of the larger work titled The Viscount of Adrilankha.
It ends with the restoration attempt still incomplete.
The Lord of Castle Black
- The Lord of Castle Black (2003): Morrolan returns from the East and becomes involved in the effort to restore imperial power.
Characters familiar from the Vlad novels enter Paarfi’s historical narrative in earlier stages of their lives.
The book continues directly from The Paths of the Dead.
It is the second volume of The Viscount of Adrilankha.
Sethra Lavode
- Sethra Lavode (2004): The attempt to restore the Empire reaches its decisive military and magical confrontations.
Zerika, Khaavren, Piro, Morrolan, Sethra, and their allies face forces determined to prevent the new reign.
The novel completes The Viscount of Adrilankha and the original five-volume Khaavren sequence.
The Baron of Magister Valley
- The Baron of Magister Valley (2020): A nobleman returns under a new identity and begins an elaborate campaign against the people responsible for his imprisonment and lost future.
The novel uses The Count of Monte Cristo as its principal model.
It takes place in Dragaera and is again presented through Paarfi’s ornate historical voice.
The story is more independent than the first five Khaavren volumes but should still be read after them.
Khaavren Publication and Chronological Order
The same order works for both:
- The Phoenix Guards (1991): The four companions meet and enter imperial service.
- Five Hundred Years After (1994): They return during the crisis that ends the Empire’s age.
- The Paths of the Dead (2002): Zerika begins restoring the Empire.
- The Lord of Castle Black (2003): Morrolan and others join the restoration conflict.
- Sethra Lavode (2004): The Interregnum storyline concludes.
- The Baron of Magister Valley (2020): A separate revenge plot unfolds in Paarfi’s Dragaera.
Should Khaavren Be Read Before Vlad?
No.
The Khaavren books happen earlier, but they assume that readers will enjoy recognizing Dragaeran institutions, historical figures, and locations already encountered through Vlad.
Beginning with Jhereg gives a faster and clearer introduction to the Empire.
A strong combined approach is:
- Read several Vlad novels through Taltos or Phoenix.
- Read The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After.
- Continue Vlad through Issola.
- Read the three Viscount of Adrilankha volumes.
- Continue the remaining Vlad novels.
- Read The Baron of Magister Valley whenever Paarfi’s voice sounds appealing.
There is no mandatory interleaving order.
Brokedown Palace
- Brokedown Palace (1986): Four royal brothers struggle over a decaying palace and the future of Fenario while magic, family loyalty, and political failure push their kingdom toward collapse.
The novel takes place in Fenario, the Eastern land associated with Vlad’s human ancestry.
It belongs broadly to the Dragaeran world but does not follow Vlad or the Khaavren cast.
Readers can understand it independently.
Recommended placement: After several Vlad novels, especially Taltos or Jhegaala, when Fenario and Eastern culture carry more context.
Status: Dragaera-related standalone.
The Incrementalists Books in Order
The Incrementalists was co-written with Skyler White.
The series follows a secret society whose members transfer accumulated memories and personalities into new hosts. They attempt to improve humanity through small interventions rather than direct rule.
The Incrementalists
- The Incrementalists (2013), with Skyler White: Phil recruits Ren into a hidden organization whose members preserve thousands of years of memory through specially prepared successors.
Ren must decide whether joining the group expands her identity or allows older personalities to consume it.
The novel combines romance, psychological conflict, memory, food, and arguments over whether covert manipulation can ever be ethical.
The Skill of Our Hands
- The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with Skyler White: The Incrementalists respond to a political crisis involving an activist they once influenced and the possibility that one of their own has violated the group’s principles.
Ren and Phil continue struggling with memory, identity, responsibility, and trust.
The sequel assumes knowledge of the society’s methods and the relationship established in the first novel.
Incrementalists Short Fiction
Fireworks in the Rain
- “Fireworks in the Rain” (2013): An Incrementalist intervention demonstrates how small actions, personal memory, and long-term planning can alter a life.
The story was written by Steven Brust.
Recommended placement: After The Incrementalists.
Strongest Conjuration
- “Strongest Conjuration” (2014): Events directly after the first novel are explored through another short Incrementalist story.
The story was written by Skyler White.
Recommended placement: Between the two novels.
Standalone Novels in Publication Order
These books do not form one continuous series.
To Reign in Hell
- To Reign in Hell (1984): Satan, Yahweh, Lucifer, Michael, and other figures become caught in a conflict driven by fear, incomplete communication, loyalty, and manipulation.
The novel retells the revolt in Heaven as a political and personal tragedy rather than a simple battle between established good and evil.
It is complete in one volume.
The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars
- The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (1987): Painter Greg Kovacs struggles to complete a major work while telling his friends a Hungarian folktale about three brothers seeking celestial treasures.
The realistic story of artistic frustration and the embedded fairy tale reflect one another.
The novel stands apart from Brust’s adventure fantasy and focuses on creativity, discipline, friendship, and the difficulty of knowing whether work is succeeding.
Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille
- Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille (1990): A group of restaurant workers repeatedly escapes moments before nuclear destruction by having their entire bar transported to another planet.
The characters attempt to understand why disaster follows them and who may be responsible.
The novel combines science fiction, mystery, music, food, political suspicion, and found family.
The Gypsy
- The Gypsy (1992), with Megan Lindholm: A police officer and a mysterious traveler become involved in a modern urban conflict shaped by folklore, old bargains, and supernatural danger.
The novel blends crime fiction with mythic fantasy.
Megan Lindholm is the name under which Robin Hobb published much of her earlier contemporary fantasy.
Agyar
- Agyar (1993): A charming and unreliable narrator takes residence in an abandoned house and begins describing his relationships with the people around him.
The novel allows the nature of its protagonist to emerge through implication rather than immediate explanation.
It combines supernatural horror, romance, manipulation, and literary first-person narration.
Freedom & Necessity
- Freedom & Necessity (1997), with Emma Bull: James Cobham returns after being presumed dead and becomes involved in a conspiracy spanning politics, philosophy, industry, family secrets, and possible supernatural forces.
The novel is told through letters, journals, and documents.
Set in nineteenth-century Britain, it combines historical fiction, mystery, political thought, and ambiguity about whether magic is actually present.
My Own Kind of Freedom
- My Own Kind of Freedom (2008): The crew of Serenity becomes involved in another dangerous job within the universe of the television series Firefly.
Brust released the novel as unauthorized fan fiction rather than as an officially licensed franchise book.
It should not be counted as canon to Firefly or as part of Brust’s original continuities.
Status: Separate fan work.
Good Guys
- Good Guys (2018): Three people working for a secret organization investigate murders committed with magic while questioning whether their employers are as ethical as they claim.
The novel combines contemporary fantasy, procedural investigation, institutional secrecy, and arguments over who deserves to define the good side.
It is a complete standalone story.
The Sword of Happenstance
- The Sword of Happenstance (2021), with Skyler White: A quest involving stories, identity, heroism, and the expectations placed on fantasy narratives develops through a collaborative speculative structure.
The novel is separate from the Incrementalists despite sharing the same coauthor.
It does not belong to Dragaera.
Steven Brust Novels in Publication Order
Readers following Brust’s career rather than one continuity can use this sequence:
- Jhereg (1983): Vlad accepts a difficult assassination contract in Dragaera.
- Yendi (1984): An earlier criminal war reveals Vlad’s courtship of Cawti.
- To Reign in Hell (1984): Miscommunication and manipulation divide the powers of Heaven.
- Brokedown Palace (1986): Four brothers confront the collapse of a Fenario royal family.
- Teckla (1987): Revolutionary politics threaten Vlad’s marriage and assumptions.
- The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (1987): A painter’s creative struggle mirrors a Hungarian folktale.
- Taltos (1988): Vlad’s early friendship with Morrolan and Aliera is revealed.
- Phoenix (1990): Vlad’s assassination work collides with rebellion and divine pressure.
- Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille (1990): A transported restaurant flees repeated planetary destruction.
- The Phoenix Guards (1991): Khaavren and his companions enter imperial service.
- The Gypsy (1992), with Megan Lindholm: Crime and folklore overlap in a contemporary city.
- Athyra (1993): A village apprentice meets Vlad during his exile.
- Agyar (1993): An unreliable supernatural narrator describes his new life.
- Five Hundred Years After (1994): Khaavren’s companions return during an imperial crisis.
- Orca (1996): Vlad and Kiera investigate corruption based on property and finance.
- Freedom & Necessity (1997), with Emma Bull: Letters and documents reveal a Victorian political conspiracy.
- Dragon (1998): Vlad recounts his experience in Morrolan’s army.
- Issola (2001): Vlad and Lady Teldra confront the Jenoine.
- The Paths of the Dead (2002): Zerika begins the restoration of the Empire.
- The Lord of Castle Black (2003): Morrolan joins the Interregnum struggle.
- Sethra Lavode (2004): Paarfi’s restoration epic reaches its conclusion.
- Dzur (2006): Vlad returns secretly to Adrilankha during an elaborate meal.
- Jhegaala (2008): Vlad investigates his human family in Fenario.
- My Own Kind of Freedom (2008): Brust’s unofficial Firefly story follows the Serenity crew.
- Iorich (2010): Vlad attempts to free Aliera through Dragaeran law.
- Tiassa (2011): A silver object connects several timelines and narrative voices.
- The Incrementalists (2013), with Skyler White: A secret immortal society recruits Ren.
- Hawk (2014): Vlad creates a plan to stop the Jhereg hunt.
- The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with Skyler White: The Incrementalists face a political and ethical crisis.
- Vallista (2017): Vlad explores an impossible house.
- Good Guys (2018): Magical investigators question the organization employing them.
- The Baron of Magister Valley (2020): Paarfi retells a Dragaeran revenge story.
- The Sword of Happenstance (2021), with Skyler White: A separate collaborative fantasy examines stories and heroism.
- Tsalmoth (2023): Young Vlad prepares to marry Cawti while investigating a debt.
- Lyorn (2024): Vlad hides in a theater from the Left Hand of the Jhereg.
- Chreotha (Forthcoming): The remaining House-titled Vlad novel.
- The Last Contract (Forthcoming): The planned conclusion of the Vlad Taltos series.
Vlad Taltos Omnibus Editions
Several omnibuses combine earlier novels.
They contain existing stories and should not be counted as new installments.
The Book of Jhereg
- The Book of Jhereg: This omnibus contains Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla.
It provides the first three published Vlad novels.
The Book of Taltos
- The Book of Taltos: This omnibus contains Taltos and Phoenix.
It combines one early-life adventure with the novel that changes Vlad’s adult position in Adrilankha.
The Book of Athyra
- The Book of Athyra: This omnibus contains Athyra and Orca.
Both take place during Vlad’s period away from his former criminal territory.
The Book of Dragon
- The Book of Dragon: This omnibus contains Dragon and Issola.
The title refers to the collected volume rather than a separate Vlad novel.
The Book of Dzur
- The Book of Dzur: This omnibus contains Dzur and Jhegaala.
Readers who own the omnibus do not need the two individual editions.
Dragaera Reading Boundaries
The Dragaeran books can be grouped as follows.
Main Vlad Continuity
The nineteen-volume plan begins with Jhereg and will end with The Last Contract.
Historical Dragaera
The Khaavren Romances begin with The Phoenix Guards and use Paarfi’s version of earlier imperial history.
Related Eastern Story
Brokedown Palace takes place in Fenario and connects broadly to the world without continuing Vlad’s personal story.
Separate Continuities
The Incrementalists, the standalone novels, and the collaborative contemporary works do not belong to Dragaera.
Latest Steven Brust Book
As of August 7, 2026, Steven Brust’s latest newly published novel is Lyorn, released in 2024.
The same year also brought a new edition of To Reign in Hell, but that was a republication of the 1984 novel rather than a new story.
Brust has continued working on The Last Contract and Chreotha. His official progress updates indicate that both remain active projects, but no publisher release dates had been confirmed by the update date.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Steven Brust book should I read first?
Begin with Jhereg.
It introduces Vlad, Loiosh, the Jhereg organization, assassination work, resurrection, and the Dragaeran Empire.
Should Vlad Taltos be read chronologically?
Not for a first reading.
Publication order preserves character introductions, mysteries, and deliberate changes in what readers know about Vlad’s life.
Why was Yendi published second if it happens earlier?
The nonchronological structure is part of the series’ design.
Yendi expands Vlad’s past after Jhereg has already established his adult relationships and criminal position.
Where does Tsalmoth fit chronologically?
It takes place during Vlad’s early life, after his relationship with Cawti has begun and before the events of Jhereg.
It should still be read after Vallista in publication order.
Where does Lyorn fit?
Lyorn belongs to the later period of Vlad’s life and follows the published developments through Vallista and Tsalmoth.
Read it as book seventeen.
Is the Vlad Taltos series complete?
No.
Chreotha and The Last Contract remain unpublished.
How many Vlad Taltos books will there be?
Nineteen novels are planned.
Seventeen have been published.
What is the final Vlad Taltos book?
The Last Contract is planned as the final novel.
Is Chreotha published?
No.
It remains an announced and actively developed book without a confirmed publication date.
Is The Last Contract published?
No.
Brust has been writing it, but no release date had been confirmed by August 7, 2026.
Can I start with Taltos because it happens first?
You can, but it is not recommended.
The book assumes that Morrolan, Aliera, and Vlad already matter to the reader, even though it recounts their earlier history.
Is Tiassa one chronological story?
No.
Its sections take place during different periods and use different narrators and styles.
Are the Khaavren Romances prequels?
They are historical novels set centuries before Vlad.
They share characters, institutions, and events with the broader Dragaeran continuity but tell their own Paarfi-narrated stories.
What order should the Khaavren Romances be read in?
Read The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After, The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, Sethra Lavode, and The Baron of Magister Valley.
Is The Viscount of Adrilankha one book?
It is one large work published in three volumes:
- The Paths of the Dead
- The Lord of Castle Black
- Sethra Lavode
Should I read Khaavren before Vlad?
No.
Start with Jhereg. Read Khaavren after you understand the basic shape of Dragaera and recognize some of its historical figures.
Is Brokedown Palace part of Dragaera?
Yes, broadly.
It takes place in Fenario, the human kingdom connected to Vlad’s ancestry, but it is a standalone story with a separate cast.
Is The Incrementalists connected to Dragaera?
No.
It is a contemporary speculative series co-written with Skyler White.
Is The Incrementalists series complete?
Two novels have been published: The Incrementalists and The Skill of Our Hands.
No third novel with a confirmed release date had been announced by August 7, 2026.
Is To Reign in Hell part of a series?
No.
It is a standalone reinterpretation of the revolt in Heaven.
Is Agyar a vampire novel?
The novel uses vampiric ideas but reveals its protagonist indirectly.
It is best approached without expecting a conventional vampire adventure.
Is Freedom & Necessity fantasy?
It combines historical fiction, politics, mystery, philosophy, and possible supernatural elements.
The characters do not always agree on whether apparently magical events have rational explanations.
Is My Own Kind of Freedom official Firefly canon?
No.
It is unauthorized fan fiction released by Brust, not an officially licensed franchise novel.
What is Steven Brust’s newest book?
Lyorn is his newest published novel as of August 7, 2026.
What is Steven Brust writing next?
The remaining confirmed Vlad projects are Chreotha and The Last Contract.
Neither has a confirmed publication date.
Conclusion
Begin Steven Brust with Jhereg and follow the Vlad Taltos novels in publication order. The books deliberately move through Vlad’s life out of sequence, and that structure preserves revelations that a chronological rearrangement would expose too early.
Read the Khaavren Romances separately, beginning with The Phoenix Guards. They share Dragaera but take place centuries earlier and use Paarfi’s formal, deliberately excessive historical voice.
The Vlad series remains unfinished after Lyorn. Chreotha and The Last Contract are still planned, with the latter intended to conclude the nineteen-book sequence. Brust’s Incrementalists novels, collaborative works, and standalones belong to separate continuities and can be read independently.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.