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Vlad Taltos #11
Jhegaala
Fresh from the collapse of his marriage, and with the criminal Jhereg organization out to eliminate him, Vlad decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Fenario. All he knows about them is that their family name is Merss and that they live in a papermaking industrial town called Burz.
At first Burz isn't such a bad place, though the paper mill reeks to high heaven. But the longer he stays there, the stranger it becomes. No one will tell him where to find his relatives. Even stranger, when he mentions the name Merss, people think he's threatening them. The witches' coven that every Fenarian town and city should have is nowhere in evidence. And the Guild, which should be protecting the city's craftsmen and traders, is an oppressive, all-powerful organization, into which no tradesman would ever be admitted.
Then a terrible thing happens. In its wake, far from Draegara, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad is going to have to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people: his own.
301 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
60 people are currently reading
1369 people want to read
About the author
Steven Brust
101 books2,308 followersSteven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede, and also belongs to the Pre-Joycean Fellowship.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
(Photo by David Dyer-Bennet)
http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...
(Photo by David Dyer-Bennet)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
February 9, 2017
This 11th book takes us back in time to the point where he'd just left his wife and needed a place to hide away from all the hoards and hoards and hoards of people he'd pissed off, long before he became a godslayer.
Wanna move back home, Vlad? All fine and dandy, except these human yokels have never heard of you and the reverse is also true. Oh, Vlad, what are you doing here?
Well, suffice to say, he gets embroiled in a murder investigation, gets tortured, and discovers that going back to the old world is generally never a good idea. Plus, it's smelly. And corrupt. And pretty much just like the place you came from except for the whole short, brutish, lives they live and the witchcraft, but, you know, DETAILS.
I may not really like this novel for the same reasons I don't like most of the Vlad In Exile books, mostly because I think he works best as a city boy, but let's be honest here... Brust writes a better fantasy than most writers out there, with such clarity of vision and interesting characters that it's hard not to just put him in a class of his own. When I say I dislike one of these books, I'm only saying I dislike it for purely personal reasons and preference, not because the book is at all uninteresting, has story-related problems, or that it isn't satisfying.... Because it was interesting, it didn't have any unresolved issues, and it was satisfying. :) It just happened not to be up to the same standards as the REST of his books. :)
And yet, I'm fully looking forward to the next in the series. :)
Wanna move back home, Vlad? All fine and dandy, except these human yokels have never heard of you and the reverse is also true. Oh, Vlad, what are you doing here?
Well, suffice to say, he gets embroiled in a murder investigation, gets tortured, and discovers that going back to the old world is generally never a good idea. Plus, it's smelly. And corrupt. And pretty much just like the place you came from except for the whole short, brutish, lives they live and the witchcraft, but, you know, DETAILS.
I may not really like this novel for the same reasons I don't like most of the Vlad In Exile books, mostly because I think he works best as a city boy, but let's be honest here... Brust writes a better fantasy than most writers out there, with such clarity of vision and interesting characters that it's hard not to just put him in a class of his own. When I say I dislike one of these books, I'm only saying I dislike it for purely personal reasons and preference, not because the book is at all uninteresting, has story-related problems, or that it isn't satisfying.... Because it was interesting, it didn't have any unresolved issues, and it was satisfying. :) It just happened not to be up to the same standards as the REST of his books. :)
And yet, I'm fully looking forward to the next in the series. :)
June 25, 2022
3.5 stars
I know for a fact that I started this book much too soon after reading Dzur, but when I requested that book on interlibrary loan, the only available option was a combined volume that included this one. Because it was an ILLO renewal isn't allowed. And my local library didn't have Jhegaala either, so it was one of those two-birds-one-stone things.
Brust really enjoys putting together complex plots and we get to watch as crafty Vlad figures things out. In this case, he goes East, to his “homeland,” a place he's never been. A few questions to his grandfather and he has a clue about his mother's family. He can learn about his family while avoiding the Jhereg assassin that is pursuing him. It should be a win-win, right? But no one in the Eastern town of Burz believes him and he soon finds himself at the centre of overlapping plots. And no one will talk about his relatives. For once Vlad is being straight forward and he is met with only suspicion and hostility.
At this point, I've lost track of why there is a Jhereg after Vlad. In fact, Brust refers to a bunch of past events that I don't really remember either. But as the author, it's a good thing that he does! He also keeps up Vlad's unrelenting sense of humour, which thankfully is mostly funny and rarely grating. As an Easterner who doesn't relate to his own people much, Vlad's is a fish out of water story. Ironically, he fits into Dragnarean society more easily than his grandfather's. He mourns his failed marriage to Cawti, who does identify with her biological people, which is one of the reasons that their relationship soured.
Part of me wonders how much more Brust can come up with to do with this character, but I note that book 16 of the series will be published in 2023. So apparently Brust is still interested in his ex-assassin and he hopes that we are too.
Book Number 461 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
I know for a fact that I started this book much too soon after reading Dzur, but when I requested that book on interlibrary loan, the only available option was a combined volume that included this one. Because it was an ILLO renewal isn't allowed. And my local library didn't have Jhegaala either, so it was one of those two-birds-one-stone things.
Brust really enjoys putting together complex plots and we get to watch as crafty Vlad figures things out. In this case, he goes East, to his “homeland,” a place he's never been. A few questions to his grandfather and he has a clue about his mother's family. He can learn about his family while avoiding the Jhereg assassin that is pursuing him. It should be a win-win, right? But no one in the Eastern town of Burz believes him and he soon finds himself at the centre of overlapping plots. And no one will talk about his relatives. For once Vlad is being straight forward and he is met with only suspicion and hostility.
At this point, I've lost track of why there is a Jhereg after Vlad. In fact, Brust refers to a bunch of past events that I don't really remember either. But as the author, it's a good thing that he does! He also keeps up Vlad's unrelenting sense of humour, which thankfully is mostly funny and rarely grating. As an Easterner who doesn't relate to his own people much, Vlad's is a fish out of water story. Ironically, he fits into Dragnarean society more easily than his grandfather's. He mourns his failed marriage to Cawti, who does identify with her biological people, which is one of the reasons that their relationship soured.
Part of me wonders how much more Brust can come up with to do with this character, but I note that book 16 of the series will be published in 2023. So apparently Brust is still interested in his ex-assassin and he hopes that we are too.
Book Number 461 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
May 20, 2024
Brust takes us backward in this installment, picking up right when Vlad fled the city with a huge bounty on his head from the 'mob'. Vlad never knew much about his mother's family back in the "East," e.g., 'human' lands in Fenario (well, both the 'Elves' and people call themselves human, but so it goes). A large paper mill (factory) dominates the small town of Burz, where his mother's family hails from, both in terms of smell and economic impact. Vlad may be human, but never much ventured into Fenario, and he never felt more like an alien when he arrived.
The title refers to a creature in the world, as well as one of the 17 houses, and each section starts with a brief encyclopedia entry about them-- strange creatures! Anyway, Vlad feels rather strange when he starts making inquiries about his mother's family. The innkeeper says he never heard of them, rather odd in such a small town, and when he asks the local business folks, all part of some merchant guild, they just about toss him out the stores. What gives? He finally finds a friendly streetwalker who tells him the local lord's driver probably knows, and gets directions. The next day, he wanders to the hills and finds the family-- butchered and the house burnt down to the foundations. When he returns, he discovers the driver dead as well. What gives?
I will stop with the synopsis, as much of the fun in these involves Vlad trying to uncover some mystery or solve some problem. Here, the problem is simply compounded as Vlad, a foreigner, does not know the locals, has no spy network, and still worries about mob assassins trying to find him for the bounty on his head. expect lots of snarky dialogue, especially between Vlad and his familiar. This came off as more of a whodunit adventure and yes, features a killer denouement. Fun to get away from the elves, if only for a little while. 4 alien stars!
The title refers to a creature in the world, as well as one of the 17 houses, and each section starts with a brief encyclopedia entry about them-- strange creatures! Anyway, Vlad feels rather strange when he starts making inquiries about his mother's family. The innkeeper says he never heard of them, rather odd in such a small town, and when he asks the local business folks, all part of some merchant guild, they just about toss him out the stores. What gives? He finally finds a friendly streetwalker who tells him the local lord's driver probably knows, and gets directions. The next day, he wanders to the hills and finds the family-- butchered and the house burnt down to the foundations. When he returns, he discovers the driver dead as well. What gives?
I will stop with the synopsis, as much of the fun in these involves Vlad trying to uncover some mystery or solve some problem. Here, the problem is simply compounded as Vlad, a foreigner, does not know the locals, has no spy network, and still worries about mob assassins trying to find him for the bounty on his head. expect lots of snarky dialogue, especially between Vlad and his familiar. This came off as more of a whodunit adventure and yes, features a killer denouement. Fun to get away from the elves, if only for a little while. 4 alien stars!
October 23, 2014
Another interesting, but rather confusing story from Brust with one of my favorite characters in fiction. That means I was somewhat disappointed. I don't know if I'm just not able to pay proper attention since I only get to read in snatches of 30 minutes or so at a time or if Brust is just getting more obscure, but I have a feeling it is the latter. I like books that make me think, have subtle story lines & mysteries, but this was too unsolvable. When the story finally came together, it just read as too arbitrary & convenient.
I'd taken a long break from the series. I was all caught up with it & had to wait on the next book, but several (5?) years passed before I got back to it. I was careful to look up the order of the books & re-read Dzur thinking that would be helpful for keeping the continuity of the series, but there were references that I couldn't place about his trip back east. I blamed it on time & my old memory. Turns out the story hadn't been told until now.
I don't mind series that are not chronologically in order IF that adds to the story. Modesitt does a great job of growing Recluce, its magic & themes, by skipping around in time. Brust did the same thing with the early books of this series, but then settled into a chronological order. Now he breaks out of that again. I didn't appreciate it. It served no useful purpose, just made the previous book even more confusing.
Brust likes to preface chapters with something different that says subtle things about the upcoming chapter, sets the mood, to some extent. In the last book, it was each course of a fantastic dinner. Interesting at first, I thought it was strained at times. This time, he has not one but two of these going; a naturalist treatise on the life cycle of a jhegaala & a comedic play. One or the other would have been fine. The combination detracted rather than added to the story.
I have Iorich & Tiassa, but I'm taking a break again. Hopefully it won't be as long & I'll be in a better mood when I come back to the series. Right now, I'm just kind of ticked off.
I'd taken a long break from the series. I was all caught up with it & had to wait on the next book, but several (5?) years passed before I got back to it. I was careful to look up the order of the books & re-read Dzur thinking that would be helpful for keeping the continuity of the series, but there were references that I couldn't place about his trip back east. I blamed it on time & my old memory. Turns out the story hadn't been told until now.
I don't mind series that are not chronologically in order IF that adds to the story. Modesitt does a great job of growing Recluce, its magic & themes, by skipping around in time. Brust did the same thing with the early books of this series, but then settled into a chronological order. Now he breaks out of that again. I didn't appreciate it. It served no useful purpose, just made the previous book even more confusing.
Brust likes to preface chapters with something different that says subtle things about the upcoming chapter, sets the mood, to some extent. In the last book, it was each course of a fantastic dinner. Interesting at first, I thought it was strained at times. This time, he has not one but two of these going; a naturalist treatise on the life cycle of a jhegaala & a comedic play. One or the other would have been fine. The combination detracted rather than added to the story.
I have Iorich & Tiassa, but I'm taking a break again. Hopefully it won't be as long & I'll be in a better mood when I come back to the series. Right now, I'm just kind of ticked off.
June 29, 2022
Book 11 in the Vlad Taltos series. Another re-read.
Vlad is at loose ends since he is limited in finding safe locations, and he doesn't want to endanger any of his friends or his grandfather. He decides to head out East in search of his mother's Fenarian relatives since the Organization does not have an active presence there. Up until now we haven't seen Fenaria but have just heard of it, usually when characters refer to the superiority of the Fenarian brandy.
Vlad narrates the story in first-person. The book is divided into five major parts, with four or five chapters in each. The five main sections open with an entry from a scientific journal detailing the different stages in the development and metamorphosis of the jhegaala. These sections seem to be a metaphor to different aspects of both Vlad and the storyline. The chapters within each of the five sections offer a different opening: an excerpt from a Draegarian play called "Six Parts Water". The play is a murder mystery featuring dialogue between a habitually drinking married couple. (The joke in the play is 100 parts whiskey to 6 parts water.) The author always has a reason for including what seems to be, at first glance, random text insertions. It's always interesting and fun trying to figure out what he's saying when he's not exactly spelling things out for the reader.
This one has a tone that is darker than usual. Also, and I had mentioned this in another review, the series is not a linear one. Although this is Book 11, the events actually occur chronologically between Books 5, (Phoenix), and Book 6, (Athyra).
Vlad is at loose ends since he is limited in finding safe locations, and he doesn't want to endanger any of his friends or his grandfather. He decides to head out East in search of his mother's Fenarian relatives since the Organization does not have an active presence there. Up until now we haven't seen Fenaria but have just heard of it, usually when characters refer to the superiority of the Fenarian brandy.
Vlad narrates the story in first-person. The book is divided into five major parts, with four or five chapters in each. The five main sections open with an entry from a scientific journal detailing the different stages in the development and metamorphosis of the jhegaala. These sections seem to be a metaphor to different aspects of both Vlad and the storyline. The chapters within each of the five sections offer a different opening: an excerpt from a Draegarian play called "Six Parts Water". The play is a murder mystery featuring dialogue between a habitually drinking married couple. (The joke in the play is 100 parts whiskey to 6 parts water.) The author always has a reason for including what seems to be, at first glance, random text insertions. It's always interesting and fun trying to figure out what he's saying when he's not exactly spelling things out for the reader.
This one has a tone that is darker than usual. Also, and I had mentioned this in another review, the series is not a linear one. Although this is Book 11, the events actually occur chronologically between Books 5, (Phoenix), and Book 6, (Athyra).
November 2, 2008
I've enjoyed Steven Brust for many years now, ever since reading To Reign in Hell, though I think he has a tendency to become too self-consciously arch in his writing (a tendency that ruined all the subsequent novels in his Khaavren Romances sequence after the first one). Fortunately, that habit is more often muted than not in the Vlad Taltos novels.
I enjoyed the first few novels in the sequence when they seemed to be going...somewhere. But now they seem to have fallen into a holding pattern not dissimilar to Robert Jordan's "Waste" of Time series. Not the 767 that Jordan pilots; more a single-engine prop - the latest work clocks in at little more than 299 pages in my edition.
What makes this lack of direction tolerable for me is that the focus is on one character who I actually like. Granted, Vlad is a murderer and a thug but he's smart, has a measure of conscience, and he's humanly complex. Over the arc of the now-eleven novels, we've come to understand how Vlad has become the man he is.
In this volume, Vlad and Cawti have just broken up, and the Jhereg are hell-bent on killing him for his activities in previous episodes. His best course of action is to head back East, into the human lands, and try to avoid being noticed. With no other likely destination, Vlad decides to return to his mother's village of Burz and look up her relatives, the Merss. He arrives in Merss and, in all innocence, manages to upset a delicate balance of power between the local count, the merchants' guild and the witches' coven, resulting in murder, torture and general chaos.
I enjoyed the novel, overall. Brust's writing is quite good and engaging, and as I wrote above, I do like the main character. I'd liken the Taltos novels to the occasional letter from an errant nephew or the annual Thanksgiving dinner visit from crazy uncle Manny - brief & interesting & they don't overstay their welcome.
I enjoyed the first few novels in the sequence when they seemed to be going...somewhere. But now they seem to have fallen into a holding pattern not dissimilar to Robert Jordan's "Waste" of Time series. Not the 767 that Jordan pilots; more a single-engine prop - the latest work clocks in at little more than 299 pages in my edition.
What makes this lack of direction tolerable for me is that the focus is on one character who I actually like. Granted, Vlad is a murderer and a thug but he's smart, has a measure of conscience, and he's humanly complex. Over the arc of the now-eleven novels, we've come to understand how Vlad has become the man he is.
In this volume, Vlad and Cawti have just broken up, and the Jhereg are hell-bent on killing him for his activities in previous episodes. His best course of action is to head back East, into the human lands, and try to avoid being noticed. With no other likely destination, Vlad decides to return to his mother's village of Burz and look up her relatives, the Merss. He arrives in Merss and, in all innocence, manages to upset a delicate balance of power between the local count, the merchants' guild and the witches' coven, resulting in murder, torture and general chaos.
I enjoyed the novel, overall. Brust's writing is quite good and engaging, and as I wrote above, I do like the main character. I'd liken the Taltos novels to the occasional letter from an errant nephew or the annual Thanksgiving dinner visit from crazy uncle Manny - brief & interesting & they don't overstay their welcome.
July 23, 2012
Another entertaining Vlad Taltos book. This one is set chronologically just after Phoenix, and Vlad is newly on the run from the Jhereg, who will kill him completely dead if they find him.
Not having any particular place to go, Vlad decides to visit his mother’s hometown, where he discovers that something hinky is going on. The first half of the book is slow - Vlad walks around, asks questions, eats dinner, complains about the coffee, etc.. The action picks up significantly in the second half, where we finally find out what happened to Vlad’s finger.
This series continues to be a lot of fun. I’m reading them in publication order, and I like the way Brust skips around in Vlad’s timeline, and spends almost no time recapping events that happen in other books. I only have two more to go before I’m caught up, but I still have the Khaavren Romances ahead of me.
Not having any particular place to go, Vlad decides to visit his mother’s hometown, where he discovers that something hinky is going on. The first half of the book is slow - Vlad walks around, asks questions, eats dinner, complains about the coffee, etc.. The action picks up significantly in the second half, where we finally find out what happened to Vlad’s finger.
This series continues to be a lot of fun. I’m reading them in publication order, and I like the way Brust skips around in Vlad’s timeline, and spends almost no time recapping events that happen in other books. I only have two more to go before I’m caught up, but I still have the Khaavren Romances ahead of me.
February 5, 2025
3.5 stars
December 28, 2016
I loved this step back in time, although the truth about Vlad's time back east (immediately after he fled the Jhereg) is pretty grim. I'll possibly come back to this but whether it's simply me or whether it's that Vlad and I share very few personality traits, or whether Brust and I see relationships differently, I DO NOT GET the one thing Vlad and Cawti have in common: a hatred of having been saved by anyone. It would make sense if one was relatively powerless and had to sit at home waiting to be rescued all the time, but that is absolutely not the case. On a much less sensible note, it was rather a shock to find out how bad the events that had caused the loss of his finger had been, given the relatively light-and-breezy story he told Kiera in Orca. Dude. A bit of sympathy from someone other than poor Loiosh probably wouldn't kill you.
November 19, 2020
Well, we finally find out exactly what transpired when Vlad went back East to learn about his mother’s family. And none of it is good. Poor Vlad, not only is the remainder of his kin murdered before he even gets to meet them, he then gets hopelessly ensnared in a small town’s decades long power struggle between Count, Guild, and Coven. Of course Vlad perseveres in the end, but only after a torture session that ends up taking a year for him to fully recuperate from. Reading this series in order of publication rather than chronological timeline is a bit of a strange experience, but I think I like it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2008
Wow. I really like almost all of the other books in this series (Teckla is the other one I didn't really like), but this has to be the worst. In fact, let's all just pretend this book never happened.
May 5, 2012
This installment in the Vlad Taltos series was a sort of comedic murder mystery/comedy of errors -- only with waaaay too much pain to be funny. And Brust made certain that readers drew this parallel by including snippets from a fictional murder mystery play (think Thin Man mysteries, or Jeeves and Wooster) at the beginning of each chapter. Those snippets were pretty hysterical at times; the mystery itself, not quite so much. But I understood the spirit of the thing -- there was poor Vlad floundering around without a clue what was going on, with everybody else scheming wildly behind the scenes. And in "real life", as opposed to stage plays, naturally the result of all this scheming was pain for everyone instead of good clean fun.
I didn't appreciate this story as much as some of the others I've read so far, but it was good to see Vlad being forced to adapt to new circumstances. One aspect really bugged me, though, and still does -- and I'm knocking my rating of this book down one star because of it:
I didn't appreciate this story as much as some of the others I've read so far, but it was good to see Vlad being forced to adapt to new circumstances. One aspect really bugged me, though, and still does -- and I'm knocking my rating of this book down one star because of it:
July 19, 2009
I'd have to call this one of the less exciting reads in an outstanding series. If you like fantasy, Brust's Taltos series is just amazing. It's about an assassin (who eventually leaves his trade) and his dragon familiar and their adventures with the Empire, a goddess, various near-immortals, and occasionally his very wise grandpa.
The problem with this particular book is that Vlad is sort of wandering around, wondering what to do, filling time, and then trying to make sense of a town and situation that doesn't make sense. It's logical for Vlad in the series, but it's just not as exciting to read. I suspect that if I'd just recently re-read the whole set, I would have liked this more just because it is a natural next step in the larger plot.
On the other hand, Vlad and Loiosh (his dragon familiar) are still themselves, and that's always worth your time to read.
If you're inclined (and I hope you are, because it's excellent) I'd read the series, but start at the beginning with Jhereg.
The problem with this particular book is that Vlad is sort of wandering around, wondering what to do, filling time, and then trying to make sense of a town and situation that doesn't make sense. It's logical for Vlad in the series, but it's just not as exciting to read. I suspect that if I'd just recently re-read the whole set, I would have liked this more just because it is a natural next step in the larger plot.
On the other hand, Vlad and Loiosh (his dragon familiar) are still themselves, and that's always worth your time to read.
If you're inclined (and I hope you are, because it's excellent) I'd read the series, but start at the beginning with Jhereg.
October 12, 2008
I like some of Steven Brust's other books in the Taltos series but really didn't care for this one. There were very few interesting characters, I spent a bunch of the book confused about what was going on, and overall the story was very dark (torture, dead children, etc). I really didn't enjoy this one.
August 3, 2017
A story without all the characters I like. Not worth it to be honest
August 25, 2022
This story takes Vlad East on an adventure to find out who his mother's people are. What happens is a slaughter of innocents before he can even meet them. Now he's wrapped up in the scheming of the Guild, the paranoia of the Duke and the castings of the area's Coven. All are sure Vlad is up to no good even if he wanted to find his family. Like in other books this has chapter headers divided between a stage play and the life cycle of the Jhegaala as told in a history book.
A little ploddy in places but a decent story and fairly twisted plots.
A little ploddy in places but a decent story and fairly twisted plots.
October 8, 2025
Esta es una de esas raras veces en las que me tienta darle una puntuación aún más baja a un libro. Normalmente si el libro tiende a tirar hacia una estrella o 2, jamas llego a acabarlo. Me aburro, y lo dejo en una mesa, cogiendo polvo, atrapado para siempre en la etiqueta de Goodreads de Currently Reading. Ahí se acumulan no solo los que voy leyendo, sino también los que he iniciado y no he sido capaz de concluir, sea por la razón que sea. Quizás, en un futuro próximo, los retome y descubra algo que no vi en su momento, y puede terminarlos y disfrutarlos debidamente. No seria la primera vez que me pasa.
Jhegaala ha estado cerca de convertirse en uno de ellos. Lo deje descansar desde finales de Diciembre hasta los últimos días de Diciembre. Otros libros se inmiscuyeron, libros que me motivaban más, que captaban más mi atención. Porque Jhegaala no lograba hacerlo.
Siempre he disfrutado de las novelas de Vlad Taltos, pues es un personaje interesante, aunque la lectura de sus novelas me resulte confusa. Tarde muchos años en poder continuar más allá de lo que publico Martinez Roca, un tiempo en el que domine el idioma inglés lo suficiente como para poder animarme a leerlo. Pero el propio autor va dando saltos temporales, cada novela situada en momentos diferentes. Nunca tengo claro por donde voy, ni que he leído. A día de hoy, estoy casi convencido que alguna novela se me ha escapado entre las grietas del tiempo. Siempre tengo que revisar listados de lectura cronológica antes de embarcarme en una novela para ver si no he vuelto a extraviarme. Resulta confuso.
Lo bueno es que, por lo general, cada novela es bastante independiente. Puede que haya eventos relevantes ocurriendo durante las mismas, pero Vlad sigue siendo el mismo, bien como líder criminal, bien como fugitivo de sus anteriores jefes. Quizás algún día logre captar toda su historia de manera adecuada, ordenándola mentalmente. Pero de momento, vamos tirando.
Esta historia en concreto resulta ser totalmente inconsecuente e irrelevante, narrada de una manera lenta, tediosa y decepcionante. Trata de ser un misterio en el que el protagonista se ve envuelto, pero es tan confuso y el propio personaje esta tan fuera de su elemento, que te pasas el libro sin tener ni idea de que va el asunto, hasta que el propio personaje, tras casi la mitad del libro afirmando que ya sabe de que va el asunto, finalmente lo explica abiertamente, en lugar de hacerse el misterioso y soberbio. El que Loiosh, su fiel familiar jhereg este sufriendo la misma exasperación que el lector porque el protagonista se niega a implicarnos en el misterio solo hace que el cabreo sea mayor.
Si, suelo ir perdido con la cronología de las novelas, pero siempre las disfruto por si mismas. En esta ocasión, por desgracia, me siento decepcionado y algo estafado.
Y tentado seriamente de bajar a un 2 la puntuación...
_________________________
8 AÑOS DESPUES
Resulta curioso revisitar un libro tanto tiempo después. No suelo hacerlo. Ya van varios los libros de esta serie que ya habia leido, pero este es el primer en el que si que deje una reseña. Y de las mias indignadas que me salen muy de vez en cuando.
La verdad es que ahora, leyendo los libros en orden y de manera mas continuada, sigo entendiendo la frustración que parece que me provoco en su momento, pero no la veo del todo igual. Teniendo todo el contexto de lo ocurrido en las ultimas novelas mucho mas claro, esta historia gana en relevancia de cara a entender el personaje. Vlad ha vivido toda su vida como un humano entre los dragaeranos. No sabe apenas nada del pasado de su familia. Que elija buscar sus raíces tras tener que dejar atrás toda su vida tiene mucha importancia. Que sus ideas preconcebidas lo metan en un jaleo tan confuso y que reafirme su pertenencia al mundo en el que ha vivido siempre también refleja muy bien la personalidad de Vlad.
Sigo pensando que la trama es confusa, y que el artificio de no contarnos gran cosa de lo que sospecha durante la historia para luego contarlo en un ultimo discurso final es una apuesta arriesgada. Normalmente somos participes de sus teorías y descubrimientos, en cierto modo gracias a que las comparte con Loiosh, que se convierte así en nuestra entrada en la mente del protagonista. Pero en esta ocasión le niega la información, y a nosotros en consecuencia.
Creo que en este tipo de historias busco disfrutar del viaje del descubrimiento del misterio por parte del protagonista. Nunca he sido de los que analiza y teoriza, dándole vueltas al misterio tratando de desgranarlo antes que el protagonista. Prefiero disfrutar del descubrimiento según viene. Por eso este tipo de historias que le dan la vuelta a la estructura básica de un misterio no conectan tanto conmigo.
En definitiva, he disfrutado bastante la lectura, aunque mis problemas originales siguen ahí. Pero ahora lo veo todo en un contexto mas amplio gracias a leerme todos los libros, por lo que no me resulta tan decepcionante el ritmo y el enfoque usado.
Le mantenemos el 3, pero ahora creo que se lo subiría a un "y medio".
Jhegaala ha estado cerca de convertirse en uno de ellos. Lo deje descansar desde finales de Diciembre hasta los últimos días de Diciembre. Otros libros se inmiscuyeron, libros que me motivaban más, que captaban más mi atención. Porque Jhegaala no lograba hacerlo.
Siempre he disfrutado de las novelas de Vlad Taltos, pues es un personaje interesante, aunque la lectura de sus novelas me resulte confusa. Tarde muchos años en poder continuar más allá de lo que publico Martinez Roca, un tiempo en el que domine el idioma inglés lo suficiente como para poder animarme a leerlo. Pero el propio autor va dando saltos temporales, cada novela situada en momentos diferentes. Nunca tengo claro por donde voy, ni que he leído. A día de hoy, estoy casi convencido que alguna novela se me ha escapado entre las grietas del tiempo. Siempre tengo que revisar listados de lectura cronológica antes de embarcarme en una novela para ver si no he vuelto a extraviarme. Resulta confuso.
Lo bueno es que, por lo general, cada novela es bastante independiente. Puede que haya eventos relevantes ocurriendo durante las mismas, pero Vlad sigue siendo el mismo, bien como líder criminal, bien como fugitivo de sus anteriores jefes. Quizás algún día logre captar toda su historia de manera adecuada, ordenándola mentalmente. Pero de momento, vamos tirando.
Esta historia en concreto resulta ser totalmente inconsecuente e irrelevante, narrada de una manera lenta, tediosa y decepcionante. Trata de ser un misterio en el que el protagonista se ve envuelto, pero es tan confuso y el propio personaje esta tan fuera de su elemento, que te pasas el libro sin tener ni idea de que va el asunto, hasta que el propio personaje, tras casi la mitad del libro afirmando que ya sabe de que va el asunto, finalmente lo explica abiertamente, en lugar de hacerse el misterioso y soberbio. El que Loiosh, su fiel familiar jhereg este sufriendo la misma exasperación que el lector porque el protagonista se niega a implicarnos en el misterio solo hace que el cabreo sea mayor.
Si, suelo ir perdido con la cronología de las novelas, pero siempre las disfruto por si mismas. En esta ocasión, por desgracia, me siento decepcionado y algo estafado.
Y tentado seriamente de bajar a un 2 la puntuación...
_________________________
8 AÑOS DESPUES
Resulta curioso revisitar un libro tanto tiempo después. No suelo hacerlo. Ya van varios los libros de esta serie que ya habia leido, pero este es el primer en el que si que deje una reseña. Y de las mias indignadas que me salen muy de vez en cuando.
La verdad es que ahora, leyendo los libros en orden y de manera mas continuada, sigo entendiendo la frustración que parece que me provoco en su momento, pero no la veo del todo igual. Teniendo todo el contexto de lo ocurrido en las ultimas novelas mucho mas claro, esta historia gana en relevancia de cara a entender el personaje. Vlad ha vivido toda su vida como un humano entre los dragaeranos. No sabe apenas nada del pasado de su familia. Que elija buscar sus raíces tras tener que dejar atrás toda su vida tiene mucha importancia. Que sus ideas preconcebidas lo metan en un jaleo tan confuso y que reafirme su pertenencia al mundo en el que ha vivido siempre también refleja muy bien la personalidad de Vlad.
Sigo pensando que la trama es confusa, y que el artificio de no contarnos gran cosa de lo que sospecha durante la historia para luego contarlo en un ultimo discurso final es una apuesta arriesgada. Normalmente somos participes de sus teorías y descubrimientos, en cierto modo gracias a que las comparte con Loiosh, que se convierte así en nuestra entrada en la mente del protagonista. Pero en esta ocasión le niega la información, y a nosotros en consecuencia.
Creo que en este tipo de historias busco disfrutar del viaje del descubrimiento del misterio por parte del protagonista. Nunca he sido de los que analiza y teoriza, dándole vueltas al misterio tratando de desgranarlo antes que el protagonista. Prefiero disfrutar del descubrimiento según viene. Por eso este tipo de historias que le dan la vuelta a la estructura básica de un misterio no conectan tanto conmigo.
En definitiva, he disfrutado bastante la lectura, aunque mis problemas originales siguen ahí. Pero ahora lo veo todo en un contexto mas amplio gracias a leerme todos los libros, por lo que no me resulta tan decepcionante el ritmo y el enfoque usado.
Le mantenemos el 3, pero ahora creo que se lo subiría a un "y medio".
March 31, 2021
Well written, as always. A twisty intrigue story and revenge plot, with plenty of interesting moments. But it is also very sad and was upsetting at points, so it's hard to say I loved it.
Read
November 18, 2020 I'm afraid that Jhegaala is probably the least inspired of the Vlad Taltos series. It takes place shortly after Cawti has left Vlad, and when he has gone into self-exile from Adrilankha, trying to avoid the Jhereg assassins who'd like to collect the bounty on his head. He visits his country estates briefly, spending some time with his grandfather, Noish-Pa, then heads off to the country of the humans, Fenario, where he hopes to connect with his roots, I suppose.
It doesn't take long for Vlad to find trouble, or trouble to find Vlad. When he arrives in a small town near where some of his mother's relatives are supposed to live, he attracts the attention of the three factions in the town; the Coven, the Guild and the Count. Perhaps eighty years before this, the Count's predecessor discovered a process to make high quality paper in bulk, and began to displace the peasants from their traditional lands and practices, to come work in his factory.
In some of the earlier books, Cawti is involved with the Teckla and other workers in the Empire, as they began to chafe against their chains, a retelling of the French or Russian revolutions' allegories, and it feels that Brust, in the midst of trying to tell an interesting Vlad-style mystery, is presenting a microcosm of the stresses of the industrial revolution on feudal society.
None of the factions in town believe that Vlad is simply here to visit his relatives, and they all assume that he has a hidden agenda which would destroy the delicate balance the powers have attained in the town. When Vlad's poking around results in the killing of that family, things begin to get serious for him, and his desire for justice pushes him to stay far longer than he ought to.
The usually witty dialog is mostly missing, and Vlad's depression a bit contagious in this one. You can throw it out of the series and not miss much.
It doesn't take long for Vlad to find trouble, or trouble to find Vlad. When he arrives in a small town near where some of his mother's relatives are supposed to live, he attracts the attention of the three factions in the town; the Coven, the Guild and the Count. Perhaps eighty years before this, the Count's predecessor discovered a process to make high quality paper in bulk, and began to displace the peasants from their traditional lands and practices, to come work in his factory.
In some of the earlier books, Cawti is involved with the Teckla and other workers in the Empire, as they began to chafe against their chains, a retelling of the French or Russian revolutions' allegories, and it feels that Brust, in the midst of trying to tell an interesting Vlad-style mystery, is presenting a microcosm of the stresses of the industrial revolution on feudal society.
None of the factions in town believe that Vlad is simply here to visit his relatives, and they all assume that he has a hidden agenda which would destroy the delicate balance the powers have attained in the town. When Vlad's poking around results in the killing of that family, things begin to get serious for him, and his desire for justice pushes him to stay far longer than he ought to.
The usually witty dialog is mostly missing, and Vlad's depression a bit contagious in this one. You can throw it out of the series and not miss much.
February 13, 2017
It was good to see Vlad among the Easterners.
March 8, 2015
This book was not that good of a Vlad Taltos novel. The first 60% of the book was Vlad going out, complaining about the smell, talking to one or two people, then going back to the inn he was staying at.
I will say that the last 15% of the book was actually pretty good.
I really hope that this ends up being the low point of the series.
I will say that the last 15% of the book was actually pretty good.
I really hope that this ends up being the low point of the series.
March 2, 2024
"Jhegaala" jumps back in time to the aftermath of "Phoenix". Readers may (or may not, that's why I regularly reread the full series from the beginning) recall that at the end of Phoenix, Vlad went to get his grandfather settled in Szurke, the county that he was now the Count of. Szurke is, probably not coincidentally, in the far East of the Empire, close to the particular part of the Eastern lands, the Kingdom of Fenario, from which Vlad's mother's family came. And Vlad, now at a loose end and aware that the Jhereg will be catching up soon, decides to travel over the mountains and pay his ancestral homeland a visit. At the very least, a Dragaeran assassin ought to stand out there. The problem is, so does Vlad himself. He is used to thinking of himself as an Easterner and a Jhereg in a country full of Dragaerans who are contemptuous of both, but in the town of Burz -- where his mother's relatives, the Merss family, came from -- Vlad's carefully cultivated arrogance and don't-mess-with-me aura come off quite differently. It doesn't help that the balance of power in the town is an extremely fragile tripod, consisting of the Count, who also owns the paper factory that is the town's main economic engine; the Merchant's Guild, which is quite unusual, because a guild ought to consist of tradesmen banding together against the power of the merchants; and the Coven of witches, which for some reason insists on dividing witches into good and bad, something completely outside of Vlad's experience. (My personal theory is that Brust intends to show the corrosive effects of the Industrial Revolution on traditional power structures: the paper factory is a real factory, with a large workforce, which has undoubtedly changed Burz quite a bit.) Each group is quite convinced that Vlad's "I'm just looking for my relatives" story is a cover for his true goal -- it doesn't help that most of the Merss's fled after a dispute with the Count -- which is to destroy their power at the behest of either one of their local enemies or the King of Fenario, so his reception is fairly chilly. Because Vlad's a stubborn bastard, he decides to stick around try to find his relatives anyway, and then when they are all murdered he becomes even more stubborn and determines to avenge them. The rest of the book is extremely noirish, as Vlad tries to cut through the universal corruption of local society to find the truth. After three readings, I still don't entirely follow all the twists and turns of the plot, but sometimes I have the same problem with Raymond Chandler, too, and it doesn't matter for the same reason: it's the atmosphere -- the harrowing torture chapter deserves mention here -- the characters, and the wisecracks that really matter. Brust also sets up a clever parallel between the plot and the developmental stages of the jhegaala, which are described at the beginning of each section of the book (since it takes place outside of Dragaera, there are of course no members of House Jhegaala present): while this is a nice easter egg, it lends no value to the story itself, which is good as I didn't even realize it until my most recent re-reading, and even then only because I saw something on the internet about it. Like "Orca" or "Yendi", "Jhegaala" provides an opportunity for the reader to just sit back and watch Vlad tackle a difficult problem without having to worry too much about the larger arc of the series, making it less essential than "Dzur" but in some ways more fun.
August 29, 2012
Okay, seriously, lay it out straight for me: What is this cover?
Heh.
The only thing I can figure is that it's the that's-not-Loiosh-dragon-thing they like to put on the covers, only...metamorphized (I like this word better than any 'real' ones). I mean, it's definitely not a jhegaala (which is very near like a winged frog.)
So...anyway. Enough about the cover.
I skimmed my previous review (immediately follows this one), but I don't feel right about rereading it. I know I probably both enjoyed it more and less than this time around. More, because I'd actually been waiting for more than a year for "the next Vlad book." (The first book I had to actually wait for, because of when I started reading, was Dzur, the one published just before this one.)
Less, because I'd been hoping for more from Vlad's usual friends. This time, I knew not to.
My main sadness about this books is two-fold; you pretty much have to have read all the others to enjoy it, yet it's almost written as this stand-alone mystery thing. Way off in the East. Away from everything Vlad readers are familiar with.
Okay, it was cool for character reasons, only it was focused on the mystery, so that didn't have a strong effect. And Vlad, I'm sorry to say, made me a little aloof about the mystery because he kept putting things together and not sharing them at all. By the time he dumps all that (literally) on the reader, I don't remember most of it, because the action that he sets off because of knowing stuff happens first. So it's hard to see how it fits together. And I've read the damn thing before. It also means it’s hard to care about the action, because I’m not sure what it means.
(Okay, so that guy did that horrible thing, but why? If I don’t know why, here where the narrator knows why, then it’s hard for me to understand how much I need to hate him. Worst of all, I can’t “be there” with the narrator.)
Not to mention that after that, there are pages and pages (!) of info-dump to explain everything that just happened. Was very sad-making of a fan.
Another thing that disappoints me is the fact that there isn't a Jhegaala in it. That is, a dragaeran of House Jhegaala. In the other novels, there's usually at least one member of the title house that hangs around enough for the reader to get a feel for what members of that house is like. It's one of the things I get entertainment out of.
And that might not be so bad, except I can't think of a single significant Jhegaala in the whole series. So I got, like nothin' on that angle, man, except some excerpts about the animal jhegaala and a bit of exposition from Vlad about members of the dragaeran house.
Blast!
But there were some things I really admired. Like the specific and Vlad-artful way of “glossing over” the torture, while still finding ways to sneak in just how bad it was. It was…oof. It was artful and characterizationaly (sure, it’s a word) and still informative and…
I was just really impressed with how Brust handled that.
And I do like that Vlad went to the country of his ancestors and tried looking up some of his family and all that. And the what of what was really going on was good. (It’s just that how of revealing it all to the reader was…not reader-friendly. Or story-listener friendly, at all. Didn’t fit what’s supposed to be how we get the story. Yanno?)
And there are some great one-liners. Always that.
And, and, putting perspective on Athyra---knowing what-all Vlad had just come from. Because if I’m remembering correctly, Vlad puts himself at having been on the run for about a year in that novel, and also mentions having gone East. And this, in ways, accounts for that year and---oof, Vlad.
Review from July 11, 2008:
Short Summation
This one takes place just after Vlad has fled the Jhereg. After a short visit with his grandfather, he heads east, over the mountains, to the homeland of his people. Humans, that is. With just the simple thought to seek out his mother’s family, he manages to stumble into a big mess. What I love is that if you hadn’t picked up on the titling of the books thus far, you get an out-and-out jab at it, even if you don’t pick it up because of the science book excerpts before each part and by the fact that you don’t see a single Dragaeran in this book. (And yet, it’s still named for one of the Dragaeran Houses.)
Why this book?
This is the latest book in the Vlad Taltos series. If it weren’t for Brust’s Vlad and Orson Scott Card’s Ender, I might never have gotten over my aversion to series. This is also the only book I have ever pre-ordered.
How’d it go?
You do know that Vlad’s stories are not in chronological order? This book is an excellent example of why published order is best. There were a couple of instances that would have made me scowl at Vlad if I didn’t know a major thing he found out in Dzur, which is the “latest” adventure, according to the timeline. Instead, I kinda jerked back, reread, and then got to think, “Aw, Vlad, that’s one of the things you forgot?” Then I got to sit back and wonder why that’d be something he’d forget and come up with my theories. Then I got to cry about Issola all over again. Mike says I’ve read the series too many times. I say he’s just mad that he didn’t catch as many things as I did.
Oh, chronological order might have been cool, too. You could figure it out in a different way. Maybe it’s just that anything said about Morrolan sticks out in my mind.
All right, for real, now. Talk about a mess. Vlad strolls into this human village and goes to looking for his mother’s family. Pretty soon, it’s apparent that this isn’t going to be so easy. And before it’s all over, you realize it’s one big mess. But it’s highly entertaining to watch it all happen.
Three factions run the town, all of them working against and depending on one another. Meanwhile, Vlad is fresh from his run from the Dragaeran empire, so he’s also worried about the Jhereg catching up to him. Since he’s Vlad, he ends up at the hub of a four-way wheel of chaos, and it’s great.
I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say that the last time Vlad got into this sort of “What the hell’s going on?” situation, I got impatient. I’m talking about Orca. Maybe it was because this one was straight Vlad narration, but this time I was totally into it. The only complaint I have has to do with the way he laid it all out for the reader at the end. You know the ploy: he laid it out, in dialogue, to someone who was still wondering about the same things we were.
What did make me giddy was not only to find out what happened to the finger he keeps making up stories for how he lost, but that I also now know why he’d make up a different story every time. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Okay, I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get any hints to the story/stories in Brokedown Palace. Or, if they were there, I missed ‘em. I know there’s one -- I think there’s one -- in a previous book in Vlad’s wanderings, but I can’t find it again to make sure. I’m glad I had that BP on the brain, though, for the “I’m sorry” he hears at one point. I think Dzur would have made it almost as cool by itself, though. Actually, Dzur was the main reason it was cool, which is good, right?
Aside from the convenient way the kinks got laid out straight at the end, I very much enjoyed this one. It’s amazing how much Vlad can get done while he’s on his back. As an added bonus, I can even see how he’d start veering toward the sort of man he is later in the stories. If I’d gotten the speech he got on why I was an evil bastard, even if I decided to never think about it again, I don’t see how it wouldn’t affect me. Subtle stuff, that. I’m glad Brust kept it that way.
Heh.
The only thing I can figure is that it's the that's-not-Loiosh-dragon-thing they like to put on the covers, only...metamorphized (I like this word better than any 'real' ones). I mean, it's definitely not a jhegaala (which is very near like a winged frog.)
So...anyway. Enough about the cover.
I skimmed my previous review (immediately follows this one), but I don't feel right about rereading it. I know I probably both enjoyed it more and less than this time around. More, because I'd actually been waiting for more than a year for "the next Vlad book." (The first book I had to actually wait for, because of when I started reading, was Dzur, the one published just before this one.)
Less, because I'd been hoping for more from Vlad's usual friends. This time, I knew not to.
My main sadness about this books is two-fold; you pretty much have to have read all the others to enjoy it, yet it's almost written as this stand-alone mystery thing. Way off in the East. Away from everything Vlad readers are familiar with.
Okay, it was cool for character reasons, only it was focused on the mystery, so that didn't have a strong effect. And Vlad, I'm sorry to say, made me a little aloof about the mystery because he kept putting things together and not sharing them at all. By the time he dumps all that (literally) on the reader, I don't remember most of it, because the action that he sets off because of knowing stuff happens first. So it's hard to see how it fits together. And I've read the damn thing before. It also means it’s hard to care about the action, because I’m not sure what it means.
(Okay, so that guy did that horrible thing, but why? If I don’t know why, here where the narrator knows why, then it’s hard for me to understand how much I need to hate him. Worst of all, I can’t “be there” with the narrator.)
Not to mention that after that, there are pages and pages (!) of info-dump to explain everything that just happened. Was very sad-making of a fan.
Another thing that disappoints me is the fact that there isn't a Jhegaala in it. That is, a dragaeran of House Jhegaala. In the other novels, there's usually at least one member of the title house that hangs around enough for the reader to get a feel for what members of that house is like. It's one of the things I get entertainment out of.
And that might not be so bad, except I can't think of a single significant Jhegaala in the whole series. So I got, like nothin' on that angle, man, except some excerpts about the animal jhegaala and a bit of exposition from Vlad about members of the dragaeran house.
Blast!
But there were some things I really admired. Like the specific and Vlad-artful way of “glossing over” the torture, while still finding ways to sneak in just how bad it was. It was…oof. It was artful and characterizationaly (sure, it’s a word) and still informative and…
I was just really impressed with how Brust handled that.
And I do like that Vlad went to the country of his ancestors and tried looking up some of his family and all that. And the what of what was really going on was good. (It’s just that how of revealing it all to the reader was…not reader-friendly. Or story-listener friendly, at all. Didn’t fit what’s supposed to be how we get the story. Yanno?)
And there are some great one-liners. Always that.
And, and, putting perspective on Athyra---knowing what-all Vlad had just come from. Because if I’m remembering correctly, Vlad puts himself at having been on the run for about a year in that novel, and also mentions having gone East. And this, in ways, accounts for that year and---oof, Vlad.
Review from July 11, 2008:
Short Summation
This one takes place just after Vlad has fled the Jhereg. After a short visit with his grandfather, he heads east, over the mountains, to the homeland of his people. Humans, that is. With just the simple thought to seek out his mother’s family, he manages to stumble into a big mess. What I love is that if you hadn’t picked up on the titling of the books thus far, you get an out-and-out jab at it, even if you don’t pick it up because of the science book excerpts before each part and by the fact that you don’t see a single Dragaeran in this book. (And yet, it’s still named for one of the Dragaeran Houses.)
Why this book?
This is the latest book in the Vlad Taltos series. If it weren’t for Brust’s Vlad and Orson Scott Card’s Ender, I might never have gotten over my aversion to series. This is also the only book I have ever pre-ordered.
How’d it go?
You do know that Vlad’s stories are not in chronological order? This book is an excellent example of why published order is best. There were a couple of instances that would have made me scowl at Vlad if I didn’t know a major thing he found out in Dzur, which is the “latest” adventure, according to the timeline. Instead, I kinda jerked back, reread, and then got to think, “Aw, Vlad, that’s one of the things you forgot?” Then I got to sit back and wonder why that’d be something he’d forget and come up with my theories. Then I got to cry about Issola all over again. Mike says I’ve read the series too many times. I say he’s just mad that he didn’t catch as many things as I did.
Oh, chronological order might have been cool, too. You could figure it out in a different way. Maybe it’s just that anything said about Morrolan sticks out in my mind.
All right, for real, now. Talk about a mess. Vlad strolls into this human village and goes to looking for his mother’s family. Pretty soon, it’s apparent that this isn’t going to be so easy. And before it’s all over, you realize it’s one big mess. But it’s highly entertaining to watch it all happen.
Three factions run the town, all of them working against and depending on one another. Meanwhile, Vlad is fresh from his run from the Dragaeran empire, so he’s also worried about the Jhereg catching up to him. Since he’s Vlad, he ends up at the hub of a four-way wheel of chaos, and it’s great.
I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but I will say that the last time Vlad got into this sort of “What the hell’s going on?” situation, I got impatient. I’m talking about Orca. Maybe it was because this one was straight Vlad narration, but this time I was totally into it. The only complaint I have has to do with the way he laid it all out for the reader at the end. You know the ploy: he laid it out, in dialogue, to someone who was still wondering about the same things we were.
What did make me giddy was not only to find out what happened to the finger he keeps making up stories for how he lost, but that I also now know why he’d make up a different story every time. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Okay, I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get any hints to the story/stories in Brokedown Palace. Or, if they were there, I missed ‘em. I know there’s one -- I think there’s one -- in a previous book in Vlad’s wanderings, but I can’t find it again to make sure. I’m glad I had that BP on the brain, though, for the “I’m sorry” he hears at one point. I think Dzur would have made it almost as cool by itself, though. Actually, Dzur was the main reason it was cool, which is good, right?
Aside from the convenient way the kinks got laid out straight at the end, I very much enjoyed this one. It’s amazing how much Vlad can get done while he’s on his back. As an added bonus, I can even see how he’d start veering toward the sort of man he is later in the stories. If I’d gotten the speech he got on why I was an evil bastard, even if I decided to never think about it again, I don’t see how it wouldn’t affect me. Subtle stuff, that. I’m glad Brust kept it that way.
March 17, 2019
Steven Brust plays a long game. The Vlad Taltos series is planned to be 19 books, one book for each of the seventeen Dragaeran houses, one book for Vlad himself, and one to wrap it all up. Here, in the 11th book, we find Vlad traveling East to the land of the humans to find his family. Wait... he already had traveled there, he talks about it in previous books, and he sustains some serious injuries which he already had, but now he's healed though he never explained... hold on...
Oh, that's right. Not only does he play a long game, he also doesn't make it easy for the reader. The events of this book take place before the events of the last several books, so here we find Vlad without some of the knowledge that we already know because later he... wait, this could get confusing fast... let me try again.
The events of Jhegaala take place immediately after Vlad fled his home in Adrilankha and after his marriage to Cawti fell apart. He is at loose ends, so he decides to go East to find his family and live amongst his own kind. He expects to be welcomed and find an easier way of life, but Vlad's life is never easy... here, he is an alien amongst his own people, but that is good for the reader because we get much more sarcastic banter between him and his familiar, Loiosh, always a highlight of a Vlad Taltos book.
Brust frames and structures his books in endlessly inventive ways. This is the first time we do not have a Dragaeran that represents the title House; a jhegaala is a creature that, apparently, has several different forms during its life cycle, metamorphosing and behaving differently during each stage. Perhaps Vlad himself represent the Jhegaala, as he is forced to adapt quickly, and often finds himself vulnerable to unknown (and known) predators. Each part begins with a description of the subsequent stage... though, in a fun bit of a flourish, Brust never actually names the creature as a jhegaala.
At the beginning of each chapter (always seventeen of them) there are snippets of dialogue from a play that roughly lines up with the murder investigation Vlad that takes on. We also get subtle reminders that all this happened in the past, as Vlad is narrating these stories to an unknown audience, or perhaps a recording device of some kind. And here I was, trying NOT to be confusing.
It doesn't matter. The series is incredible, and if you are at all interested in amazing sci-fi/fantasy series, you should read all of the Vlad Taltos books. Start with Jhereg. Why are you still reading this? Go!!!
Oh, that's right. Not only does he play a long game, he also doesn't make it easy for the reader. The events of this book take place before the events of the last several books, so here we find Vlad without some of the knowledge that we already know because later he... wait, this could get confusing fast... let me try again.
The events of Jhegaala take place immediately after Vlad fled his home in Adrilankha and after his marriage to Cawti fell apart. He is at loose ends, so he decides to go East to find his family and live amongst his own kind. He expects to be welcomed and find an easier way of life, but Vlad's life is never easy... here, he is an alien amongst his own people, but that is good for the reader because we get much more sarcastic banter between him and his familiar, Loiosh, always a highlight of a Vlad Taltos book.
Brust frames and structures his books in endlessly inventive ways. This is the first time we do not have a Dragaeran that represents the title House; a jhegaala is a creature that, apparently, has several different forms during its life cycle, metamorphosing and behaving differently during each stage. Perhaps Vlad himself represent the Jhegaala, as he is forced to adapt quickly, and often finds himself vulnerable to unknown (and known) predators. Each part begins with a description of the subsequent stage... though, in a fun bit of a flourish, Brust never actually names the creature as a jhegaala.
At the beginning of each chapter (always seventeen of them) there are snippets of dialogue from a play that roughly lines up with the murder investigation Vlad that takes on. We also get subtle reminders that all this happened in the past, as Vlad is narrating these stories to an unknown audience, or perhaps a recording device of some kind. And here I was, trying NOT to be confusing.
It doesn't matter. The series is incredible, and if you are at all interested in amazing sci-fi/fantasy series, you should read all of the Vlad Taltos books. Start with Jhereg. Why are you still reading this? Go!!!
January 7, 2025
There's always been a noir element in the DNA of this fantasy sequence, but it's rarely as overt as it is in this installment, which finds the ex-assassin Vladimir Taltos traveling in the East, far from the familiar Draegaran Empire. (For those reading his adventures in release order, we've gone back to the time in between #5 Phoenix and #6 Athyra, when he was still new to the fugitive lifestyle and the giant bounty on his head.)
He's come to a small town there to track down some of his dead mother's relatives that he never knew, out of idle curiosity and the need to lay low somewhere that his enemies wouldn't think to look for him, but like any classic investigator, he soon find intrigues and murky allegiances he doesn't have the necessary context to understand. No one believes that his innocent questions are just that, and their assumptions of his ulterior motives ignite the simmering local tensions in a few disastrous ways.
Over the course of the ensuing plot, our antihero gets bloodied, certain bystanders pay dearly, and the townsfolk eventually learn why Vlad was such a dangerous operator for his former employers. It's a different sort of read for the series -- the only entry not to feature even a single 'elf' on the page, for instance, though the reformed hitman interestingly feels as ill at ease among his own people as he ever did as a member of the diaspora back home -- and it admittedly can seem somewhat aimless early on, before the protagonist has a greater purpose beyond investigating his family roots. But once that streak of stubborn justice is introduced to the story, he's a man on a mission as the rural setting grows steadily more sinister around him. Overall it's a nice character study of the figure at this stage of his life, and a great first look at his ancestral homeland.
[Content warning for child murder, torture, fatphobia, and gore.]
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He's come to a small town there to track down some of his dead mother's relatives that he never knew, out of idle curiosity and the need to lay low somewhere that his enemies wouldn't think to look for him, but like any classic investigator, he soon find intrigues and murky allegiances he doesn't have the necessary context to understand. No one believes that his innocent questions are just that, and their assumptions of his ulterior motives ignite the simmering local tensions in a few disastrous ways.
Over the course of the ensuing plot, our antihero gets bloodied, certain bystanders pay dearly, and the townsfolk eventually learn why Vlad was such a dangerous operator for his former employers. It's a different sort of read for the series -- the only entry not to feature even a single 'elf' on the page, for instance, though the reformed hitman interestingly feels as ill at ease among his own people as he ever did as a member of the diaspora back home -- and it admittedly can seem somewhat aimless early on, before the protagonist has a greater purpose beyond investigating his family roots. But once that streak of stubborn justice is introduced to the story, he's a man on a mission as the rural setting grows steadily more sinister around him. Overall it's a nice character study of the figure at this stage of his life, and a great first look at his ancestral homeland.
[Content warning for child murder, torture, fatphobia, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
August 8, 2023
Probably my least favorite book in the series so far: things have come to a sad pass when Vlad is the closest thing we get to an obnoxiously arrogant dragaearan noble. This of course is an inevitable consequence of the novel’s setting (Vlad goes back to the “Old Country” of humans whence his family emigrated for due to murky “trouble” a couple of generations back) and the fact that Vlad by now *is* in the Dragaeran landed nobility, much to his embarassment.
It’s a fine twisty intrigue, but the lack of any secondary characters or stakes to care about makes it hard to, well, care. It’s all very well for Vlad to be pursuing vengeance on the seemingly inpenetrable local conspiracy that massacred extended family he never met, because vengeance is his middle name, but it’s hard when the new characters our main character cares the most about are ones who never appeared. And everyone else is forgettable (and disposable).
I’m also not sure how well this one fits together with Athyra—in many ways, it’s a counterpart/extension of the same themes, and I guess you could argue that Vlad initially deals with Savn and his family the way he does in Athyra because he’s comparing them to the peasants he met Burz, but the Vlad of Jhegaala often felt like he belonged to a stage of character development influenced by the events of Athyra rather than the other way around. At any rate, the themes Brust was going for worked better in that book than in this one.
It’s a fine twisty intrigue, but the lack of any secondary characters or stakes to care about makes it hard to, well, care. It’s all very well for Vlad to be pursuing vengeance on the seemingly inpenetrable local conspiracy that massacred extended family he never met, because vengeance is his middle name, but it’s hard when the new characters our main character cares the most about are ones who never appeared. And everyone else is forgettable (and disposable).
I’m also not sure how well this one fits together with Athyra—in many ways, it’s a counterpart/extension of the same themes, and I guess you could argue that Vlad initially deals with Savn and his family the way he does in Athyra because he’s comparing them to the peasants he met Burz, but the Vlad of Jhegaala often felt like he belonged to a stage of character development influenced by the events of Athyra rather than the other way around. At any rate, the themes Brust was going for worked better in that book than in this one.
March 18, 2025
Not his finest achievement in this series, but not the worst either. This murder mystery, while taking place in a matter of a few days/week or two, and then moving on to another 3 years after the fact, has our hero severely wounded after being tortured and having to be rescued by the forces pitted against both him and each other. We now know why he is missing a finger (although I do not believe this fits in timewise with what has happened previously) or at least why his hand is severely damaged. We are also clued into another of Vlad’s potential adventures (a complex confidence scheme designed to lure out a target for murder/job completion. I am very satisfied with his scheme and how this story ends. I figured that he would eventually get the Empress involved in the paper business from this area of the world (or at least his business enterprises (whats left of them) involved), which makes for a good joke somewhere later on in this novel progression. I can’t wait to start the next one!
May 28, 2025
The Vlad Taltos series of books carries the protagonist through an emotional as well as a narrative arc. In "Jhegalla," Taltos is still numbed by the breakup of his marriage, and Steven Brust brings much of that numbness into the story. In addition, Taltos loses some of his usual physical advantages, and the paralysis extends into the action.
In this book, then, the "action" is all mental, as Taltos tries to figure out what is happening in the odd town of Burz, where he believes his mother came from. The complexity of the situation is the driving force behind the book, and though it takes a while for Brust to put all the pieces of the machine together, once he does, the pace picks up noticeably.
In the end, we are still clearly only partway through Taltos' journey, and one of the most interesting aspects of the series is that it's really unclear how, and where, that journey will end.
Which means, of course, volume 12 is next.
In this book, then, the "action" is all mental, as Taltos tries to figure out what is happening in the odd town of Burz, where he believes his mother came from. The complexity of the situation is the driving force behind the book, and though it takes a while for Brust to put all the pieces of the machine together, once he does, the pace picks up noticeably.
In the end, we are still clearly only partway through Taltos' journey, and one of the most interesting aspects of the series is that it's really unclear how, and where, that journey will end.
Which means, of course, volume 12 is next.
June 27, 2017
Ok really, it's like 4.5. I highlighted so many little turns of phrase that just tickled me. I always do with these books.
They're fun, dammit.
If the model for these books is "Vlad acts like a member of the house mentioned in the title, which acts like the animal for which the house is named," this is a bit of a stretch. I get that Jhegaala are known for metamorphosis. They adapt to their environment, but also they go through a cycle of change. Ok maybe that works here?
Mostly, this felt like a cosy mystery, with Vlad the traveling detective. Not even like a great mystery, but very cosy.
I'm in the home stretch of this series and am really tempted to just start the next now. Pretty sure I just got it on a book perk so, good timing.
They're fun, dammit.
If the model for these books is "Vlad acts like a member of the house mentioned in the title, which acts like the animal for which the house is named," this is a bit of a stretch. I get that Jhegaala are known for metamorphosis. They adapt to their environment, but also they go through a cycle of change. Ok maybe that works here?
Mostly, this felt like a cosy mystery, with Vlad the traveling detective. Not even like a great mystery, but very cosy.
I'm in the home stretch of this series and am really tempted to just start the next now. Pretty sure I just got it on a book perk so, good timing.
November 4, 2020
It's a testament to Brust's abilities that this book manages to be intriguing even with Vlad spending almost half of the book in bed. This series has definitely moved toward verbal conflict and internal dialog and away from physical conflict, and this book takes it to the limit. Vlad goes East to find his family and stumbles into lots of trouble. Lots of wandering aimlessly, conversations with Loiosh, and time spent trying to piece together the situation from conversations and interactions. It sounds slow, but it reads quick. It's a different kind of fantasy, but it works. I'm thrown by the whole Lady Teldra/Spellbreaker issue, but it's a minor issue. It's not the best book in the series, but it's enjoyable.
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