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Jhereg: The style owes a great deal to Roger Zelazny, but I felt was not quite as even. Complex plot which more or less made sens

Yendi: there is an attractive romance subplot between the assassin crimelord narrator and the woman who kills him before he gets 'revivified', but the core story is mired in complex dynastic politics which were never explained to the point where I could actually care about them.

Teckla: I simply could not relate to Taltos' unwillingness to adapt his personal code of honour to his wife's political and personal interests: as far as I could suspend my disbelief, it made him a deeply unattractive character whose fate I could barely bring myself to care about. ( )

This is actually an omnibus--a collection of the first three Vlad Taltos novels. I'd read one--can't remember which one at the moment--years ago, on the recommendation of someone who'd told me it was a vampire series. Which confused the heck out of me, and I didn't really know what to think about the book. I liked the voice, but it really messes with your enjoyment of a book when you're expecting one thing and get another; when you're waiting for something to happen that never does. Say you're told that a book is a murder mystery: you're reading along, enjoying the story, but part of you is holding back, waiting for the murder, so the real story can begin. It was like that.

So I decided I really ought to start the series from the beginning, and bought the omnibus. It's been sitting in my TBR pile for quite a while, because I still had that vague dissatisfied feeling in my mind from the first one I'd read.

***** Jhereg by Steven Brust. Fantasy.

Wow. Why haven't I been reading these all along? It's one of those reactions. A book that just fits so well that it could have been written specifically for me. I love the voice, the style, the characters. Vlad Taltos is a human, living among people whose lifespans are 50 - 100 times his. But he holds his own because of his wits and the skills he's developed as an assassin. As a character, he's somewhat of a cross between Tavi and Harry Dresden, which pretty much guarantees I'll love him.

In Jhereg, he's hired to kill an embezzler. If Vlad doesn't kill him, the house of Jhereg will be destroyed. But if he does, he himself will be killed. It's even more complex when the embezzler takes refuge in a place where killing him would set off a war.

Like I said, it's as if it were written specifically for me. I love mental puzzles, and intrigue, and hidden motives... and characters who succeed by being smart and well-trained rather than just having lots of powers. The dry wit and sarcasm clinch the deal.

***** Yendi by Steven Brust. Fantasy.

This takes place before Jhereg, and is the story in which Vlad Taltos meets his wife Cawti, who's been hired to kill him as part of a war for territory. As in Jhereg, everything is not as it seems, and there are plots and hidden motives, and intrigue up the wazoo.

I also noticed yet another way in which this series was written specifically for me--in the negative reviews on Amazon, the thing most people who didn't like the book complained about was the lack of description and scenery. Bingo. Nine times out of ten, I couldn't care less about description, and if an author gives me too much of it, I just skim it.

***** Teckla by Steven Brust. Fantasy.

And the bar is raised. Not only is there intrigue and wit and clever solutions--now there's emotional depth, as Vlad's wife's involvement in a revolutionary group threatens both their lives and their relationship, and has Vlad questioning his profession.

There were no easy answers, no out-of-character changes in attitude. No infallible or super-wise characters, either.

My email signature quote yesterday was this:

Steven Brust's First Theory: "All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool."

I know I mentioned it before, when I'd been reading a book from his Phoenix Guards series, but I definitely agree with Steven Brust about what's cool. ( )

Wise-cracking mobster/assassin with magical skills trades ironic quips with his mini dragon familiar in a world populated by seven-foot tall elves. ( )

Jhereg The first book of the series which I'm re-reading for probably the 5th time and still finding hugely enjoyable. There's a lot of Agatha Christie in the construction of the mystery and like those works the joy isn't necessarily in the resolution of the mystery, it's in watching the detective at work. The first book is not actually the chronological first story, so you're dropped right into the middle of a universe and group of characters, but Brust masterfully makes sure that this doesn't actually matter, re-reading for references is a joy, but it didn't feel lacking on the first read either.
Great fun to read, a great launching point for the series and a very slick bit of universe creation. Ranks as one of my favourite books of all time.

Yendi This story jumps back to look at the origins and growth of Vlad's business. While the first book showed us a bit about how the Dragaeran houses interact, this one is more focussed on how the Jhereg work and 'work'. It can occasionally become a little bogged down in names and dates forcing re-reading and cross-referencing. I'm not convinced about the resolution of the mystery, it's rather convoluted and dependant on coincidence, but that would be why it's called Yendi. This review probably doesn't make much sense if you haven't read the novels ;0)

Teckla This is not my favourite of the Taltos novels, not because it's not good, but because it does some evil things to the characters I like. While Vlad has previously been concerned with his life and his business, now he's concerned with his marriage, sanity and philosophy - not nearly as much fun. The first two books were about the Dragaerans, this is about the Easterners and the stuttering start of a righteous revolution which Vlad gets reluctantly put in the middle of. It's painful to read because the character seems so thoroughly stuck. The novel also suffers because of the absence of the larger than life Morolon and his associates and I was unconvinced (as Vlad seemed to be) by Cawti's very sudden change in personality. ( )

Am omnibus edition containing the first three Vlad Taltos books.

The first book of Brust's most excellent Vlad Taltos series. Vlad is making his way in the world as an assassin and low level crimelord in the House of the Jhereg.

What is unique about him (apart from being an assassin and crimelord) is that he is a human, not one of the long lived Dragaerans, and he practices witchcraft, not sorcery. His familiar is a highly intelligent flying lizard named Loiosh. He can talk to him because of the bargain he made with Loiosh's mother to care for him if he became his familiar.

This is the beginning of a cycle, and ever so slowly at first Vlad gets drawn into events and happenings involving the powers structures of the Dragaeran empire.

5 out of 5

Yendi delves into the backstory of Vlad Taltos, as he details how he came to be a player in the House of Jhereg, and bits and pieces about how he grew up and his life.

He gets involved with a conflict with another Jhereg, Laris, and even worse than that Vlad and his associates discover that there is a plot by Sethra the Younger and the Sorceress in Green to put a Dragon Emperor on the throne, thus elevanting their own position.

Vlad also falls had for Cawti, a human female thief with a dragonlord partner.

Luckily, Sethra Lavode and Morrolan, with Vlad, Cawti and Norathar's help have the power to overcome.

5 out of 5

Vlad's marriage is becoming strained, and Cawti has fallen in with a revolutionary group, who, basically, want a better deal for the working classes. This leaves her husband in political opposition to his wife, and struggling with what to do.

Cawti has put herself in danger from both the Jhereg and others because of her new connections, and Vlad has to decide what to do, which side he is on, and who to act against. A very different tone than the first two books, perhaps dealing with Brust's own personal state.

3.5 out of 5

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