What do You think about The Book Of Jhereg (1999)?
This contains the first three books in the Vlad Taltos series which chronicles the adventures of a young assassin for hire in one of the most original fantasy worlds I've ever encountered. This is definitely not based on medieval England, or anything I've read about. I used to read them when I was a kid and then spend the afternoon pretending to be an assassin with my own flourishing assassinary business. Now I read them and wish I was a kid so I could play it some more."'He wants to meet with you. [...:] He set it up for two hours past noon, tomorrow.''After noon?'Kragar looked puzzled. 'That's right. After noon. That means when most people have eaten lunch, but haven't eaten supper yet. You must have come across the concept before.'I ignored his sarcasm. 'You're missing the point,' I said, flipping a shuriken into the wall next to his ear.'Funny, Vlad -- ''Quiet. Now, how do you go about killing an assassin? Especially someone who's careful not to let his movements fall into any pattern?''Eh? You set up a meeting with him, just like the Demon is doing.''Right. And, of course, you do everything you can to make him suspicious, don't you?''Uh, maybe you do. I don't.''Damn right you don't!'"
—Kris Larson
A friend of mine handed me this as something to let my mind wander in between scholastic readings of the semester. I was ready to write it off as pulp fantasy, an easy read that meant nothing--and, on a certain level, I was right. But the really plain and somewhat silly quote on the front from Roger Zelazny is also right: "Watch Steven Brust. He surprises you."Since this is a collection of three books, I will review them as such.JheregOne of the things that drove me nuts about this book is Brust's love affair with operating in medias res. I never really had a clear idea of who was who or what I was supposed to be rooting for or what this world was, anyway, even though the first-person narration of Vlad Taltos is constantly breaking the fourth wall to offer commentary. I was intrigued by the ways Brust got around some of the problems of working in a world without technology but with magic--the psionic communication that replaces phones, for example, was interesting. I like the recurring detail of how much teleporting sucks, too. And the characters were fun. It was a good read, and I was curious to see where the world went.YendiEven though I'd read the foreward to this edition that informed me these were in publication rather than chronological order, I was still way caught off guard when I finished one book and hopped into a prequel. Which, again in keeping with in medias res, I didn't really realize was a prequel until the characters starting referring to each other in ways that made me quite sure they didn't know each other all that well yet.So this one was much cooler, for me anyway, in terms of really bringing out the different levels of society within Brust's world. Taltos (pronounced Taltosh, I belatedly learned) is an assassin moving into running a ring of illegal businesses, and he happens to get on the wrong side of another boss. This sparks a war, and watching the incredibly intricate plotting and movements of that war and the effects it has on all of the characters involved really drew me into the story. I liked also that the introduction of a romance element didn't overwhelm the main plot and never really became anything other than an element. The action was first, second, and third, and the romance was just a neat addition. Well done there.TecklaI, like Taltos, am still not quite sure what to do with this one. The overtones of revolution and fighting against oppression are very interesting, seeing that Les Miserables is set to come out later this month, but there are also some really well-written manifestos and opinions hidden among the sometimes belabored relationship element and the general workings of Taltos trying to maneuver around the mess of his wife being involved with fools. I really appreciated some of the ways that Brust comments on the ideas of value for others and the power plays of society, but I wasn't so much a fan of how drawn out he made the fighting between Taltos and Cawti. I guess I just never believed it, I don't know why. I am curious to see where the series goes, and will have to ask my friend for the next collection.
—Jen
The Book of Jhereg was an excellent book that I faintly remember reading several years ago during my elementary school years. Of course back then I didn’t really understand the book and I discarded it as nonsense. Recently I decided to come back to it because of a lack of quality reading material. I must say, now that I can actually understand the content, it is an amazing book.What I really enjoy about this delightful novel is all of the diverse characters that it contains. It has bloodthirsty lords, racist assassins, know-it-all familiars and a 20,000 year old undead vampire… Seriously, what's not to love? That’s not even the beginning of the cast of unique characters in this nifty series though.Even if the characters were as boring as a high school lecture it would still be a good series. The originality sets it apart from all of the King Arthur copycats and makes it shine like a gem in a swamp of traditionalism. The biggest story difference is the fact that Vlad Taltos isn’t “chosen” or the “prophesied one,” he’s just a guy that tries to make a living in a place where easterners (humans) are pretty much treated like dirt by dragaerans (humanoids that are superior to easterners is pretty much all physical aspects). Every title that Vlad earns is through his own "work". Considering that he's an assassin his work is a little different from what other people do but regardless he earns everything on his own.Something that is completely unique to this series is the wacky timeline. When Steven Brust wrote this series he intended for the books to be read in any order the reader desires. What this creates is continuous cliffhangers because almost every book has an event from at least three or four other books in it. Also, when other events are referenced they are briefly described. Enough for you to get an idea of what happened and to severely want to read about that event, but not enough to fully understand it and skip the book that the event happens in. Another cool thing about this style of writing is that is constantly introduces new concepts and terms which prevents the reader from ever getting bored and also gives a bit of mystique to the series because there will always be something tiny that you won’t know and will end up surprising you.Many things about this book and series make it extremely good; the characters, the original plot and the unique timeline. Having read thousands of books in my lifetime, I can confidently say to anyone that asks me, that The Book of Jhereg and the rest of the series contain some of the best books I have ever read.
—Matt W.
