Book review!
Sep. 18th, 2008 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seriousficThe Book of Jhereg: Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla.
I got these as part of an omnibus. The premise: In a world where humans are oppressed by Dragaerans (think dickish elves, although it's obviously more complicated than that), Vlad Taltos does the will-to-power thing from humble assassin to mob boss. Along the way, he and his Pokemon dragon have adventures.
The first two were perfectly fine, but left me a little cold. I think it comes from a combination of the stakes not being high enough (the first two adventures deal with Vlad being contracted to kill a guy and dealing with a mob war) and yet too high at the same time. Just for instance, he might befriend a young orphan boy that turns out to be the next Dalai Lama. Obviously that doesn't happen, but it's not too far off the mark. I guess the author is trying to give us a supporting character's view of epic fantasy, but it rings a little false... like how Nikki and Paolo were all of a sudden involved in all of Lost's big scenes?
Also, In the first book, Vlad is married to another assassin and he tells us that they met when she was hired to kill him. So, the second book being a prequel that starts with Vlad single, you'd think Vlad falling in love with Cawti would be a pretty big plot point. Instead, she tries to kill him, fails, and then they literally fall into bed together. Fail + "love at first sight" = EPIC FAIL.
Fortunately, the third book is pretty awesome and it works so well by coming on the heels of two books (which still could've been nicer to me, but moving on). Cawti, Vlad's wife, gets involved with what amounts to a group of radicals trying to bring down the Establishment (which, admittedly, sucks) and there's an honest-to-God conflict between Vlad's nature as a will-to-power-y selfish bastard and his love for his wife, which manifests itself in making him damn near unlikeable at some times. But actually delving into the premise instead of more "Vlad kills people, Loloish makes jokes" makes the story compelling in a way you wouldn't think it could be. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Casino Royale movie, where Bond's murderousness and womanizing get put under the microscope with similarly dramatic results.
So, maybe read Jhereg, but mostly to understand Teckla. Or slough through both prequels. Your call.
I got these as part of an omnibus. The premise: In a world where humans are oppressed by Dragaerans (think dickish elves, although it's obviously more complicated than that), Vlad Taltos does the will-to-power thing from humble assassin to mob boss. Along the way, he and his Pokemon dragon have adventures.
The first two were perfectly fine, but left me a little cold. I think it comes from a combination of the stakes not being high enough (the first two adventures deal with Vlad being contracted to kill a guy and dealing with a mob war) and yet too high at the same time. Just for instance, he might befriend a young orphan boy that turns out to be the next Dalai Lama. Obviously that doesn't happen, but it's not too far off the mark. I guess the author is trying to give us a supporting character's view of epic fantasy, but it rings a little false... like how Nikki and Paolo were all of a sudden involved in all of Lost's big scenes?
Also, In the first book, Vlad is married to another assassin and he tells us that they met when she was hired to kill him. So, the second book being a prequel that starts with Vlad single, you'd think Vlad falling in love with Cawti would be a pretty big plot point. Instead, she tries to kill him, fails, and then they literally fall into bed together. Fail + "love at first sight" = EPIC FAIL.
Fortunately, the third book is pretty awesome and it works so well by coming on the heels of two books (which still could've been nicer to me, but moving on). Cawti, Vlad's wife, gets involved with what amounts to a group of radicals trying to bring down the Establishment (which, admittedly, sucks) and there's an honest-to-God conflict between Vlad's nature as a will-to-power-y selfish bastard and his love for his wife, which manifests itself in making him damn near unlikeable at some times. But actually delving into the premise instead of more "Vlad kills people, Loloish makes jokes" makes the story compelling in a way you wouldn't think it could be. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Casino Royale movie, where Bond's murderousness and womanizing get put under the microscope with similarly dramatic results.
So, maybe read Jhereg, but mostly to understand Teckla. Or slough through both prequels. Your call.
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Date: 2008-09-22 11:39 pm (UTC)While I find Brust's jumping around in time with later books sometimes occuring before earlier books kinda annoying, it is pretty neat seeing Vlad evolve as a character.