This is a good place to explain that The Viscount of Adrilankha is not a trilogy, it is a three volume novel. That is, it should be thought of as a single book. The Khaavren Romances are, in fact, a trilogy, of which Viscout is the third novel. Therefore, these five books are clearly seen to be a triolgy consisting two one-part novels and one three-part novel. Each part consists of two “books.” Therefore, chapter four of book two of part three of the third book is easily seen to be chapter fifty two of the third novel, or chapter one hundred and twenty of….
Okay, to hell with it. Call it a trilogy. I don’t care.
I read this one first and it made perfect sense without any of the others. Maybe that shouldn’t be any surprise at all, but still there it is. It is independent of anything that came before.
Although I had read most of the other stories involving Vlad, which filled in a lot of background.
Given that background, it’s an excellent stand-alone novel. What came before is given enough detail in the story itself that there are no problems.
I want to express my thanks for the stories which (sort of) reached their finale in Sethra, though I do realise that Tiassa is pretty cool too. If one has to be at the sharp end, viv a vis scalding oneself badly in the apparently innocuous process of making tea, then I can think of no better friend than Parfi to while away the hours as one endeavours to follow doctors orders.
Also that if I’d taken up drinking klava none of this would have happened, but such is life :)