The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust. I've already quoted a bit of this on my other weblog, which makes my opinion of this, mid-book, pretty clear. Finishing the book didn't change my mind-- Steven Brust rules.

This is a sequel to The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After, Brust's series of Dumas pastiches. These are set in the same world as the Vlad Taltos novels (see Yendi, Orca, and Dragon), and cover a period in the history of the Dragaeran Empire from five hundred years before the Interregnum (which is brought on by actions taken in Five Hundred Years After up to Vlad's day. They provide fascinating additional information about some characters in the Vlad books (this book includes the origin stories of at least four characters who appear in the Vlad books), and a different view of some events that are mentioned in other books (the Vlad books, and also Brokedown Palace).

The only complaint I have about this book is that it reads very much like the first third of a much longer novel. Which, of course, it is, in the Dragaeran universe where The Viscount of Adrilankha is a popular historical novel published by Glorious Mountain Press, and written by the wildly discursive Paarfi of Roundwood:

It should come as no surprise to the reader that, as Pel prepared to take his leave of Khaavren, there were other activities occurring in other parts of what had once been the Empire. This is because of that phenomenon of history called "simultaneity," which avers that events do not always happen in a neat orderly manner, one after the other; but rather that many things can happen at the same time. Thus, for example, during the Eleventh Issola Reign, while in Dragaera City the Baron of Karris was preparing an expedition to venture into the eastern jungles in search of exotic birds, at that same moment, in the desert of Suntra a caravan of traders was forming that, on their way to the port city of Adrilankha, would be passing through the jungle; and it was in this way that there came the fateful meeting between Ricci of Longgarden and Nessa of Kobi that resulted, some few years later, in the Battle Beneath the Hills and the subsequent rise to power of the Chreotha who became the Empress Synna the Fourth. This is just one example out of thousands of the phenomenon of simultaneity, and serves to point out one of the difficulties in writing-- and, consequently, reading-- history: that is, while historical events of significance are inclined to happen at the same time, it is nevertheless obvious that they can be treated by the historian only one at a time, as if they had happened sequentially. Hence, the writing of history is bound to introduce certain inaccuracies, and the reading of history is bound to produce certain misconceptions. It is the hope of the author that these inaccuracies and misconceptions can be held to a minimum by the expedient of making the reader aware of this circumstance, which we have just endeavored to do by our discussion of simultaneity, which, now that it has been made, can be set aside as we turn our attention to an example of this phenomenon of more direct moment to our particular history than the events, thousands of years in the past, when the birdwatcher met the game hunter.