The Book of Jhereg
by Steven Brust
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steven BrustEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-08-01
ISBN: 0441006159
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Ace Trade
Book Reviews of The Book of Jhereg
Book Review: ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Despite the cover, The Book Of Jhereg is not a fantasy with dragons flying around ala Anne McCaffrey. Instead it is a fast paced collection of three fantasy novels that bring to mind what might happen if Robert Aspren tried to write darker with the character draw of Tad Williams. The three books in this collection are the first three (publication order) in the Vlad Taltos series, "Jhereg," "Yendi," and "Teckla," in that order. Interestingly, there is a noticable drop in quality from book one through book three.
"Jhereg" introduces us to our hero and main character, Vlad. He is an assasain and gets hired to kill someone. There are complications and wild things ensue. There aren't a lot of flaws to "Jhereg" and is the anchor that holds the star rating of this collection where it is. The only thing I didn't like too much about the book was occationally the conversations felt a bit predictable and dry.
"Yendi" follows it by taking us into Vlad's past and tells the story of how he met his wife (which is a very entertaining tale) and has to win a territory war with another bigwig. Again, high action that moved an interesting story line with a climatic ending. Unfortunately, this story is marred by Vlad's relationship with Morrolan. While I love Morrolan, and those around him, Vlad's relationship with them in this book is completely unrealistic-- fantasy novel or no. He bosses them around like he was the Dragonlord and they were mere humans. Still an entertaining read... but hard to buy into completely.
"Teckla" is where the ball gets completely dropped. The story line is bland and the only thing that drives it is the marital problems Vlad experiences. Unfortunately, what could be a great oppertounity to character build gets mired instead in a meaningless plot that slithers around like a snake without actually accomplishing anything. In another odd move, Brust just about completely ignores Morrolan, where in the prior two books he & his clan had been very major players. The inclusion of them might have erased the monotonous tone-- both in characters and enviroment-- that "Teckla" has and the other two books don't.
All in all it was an entertaining read, with the exception of the last third. And since the books are a really quick read, it won't waste too much time. But consider checking them out of the library or getting them used to see if you like them before paying the price.
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