Brust, Steven - Yendi

[oyceter]

Umm... yes, this is the first Taltos book I've read. I think I just skirted around them for a while, largely because the one Brust book I read (To Reign in Hell) drove me crazy and I never managed to finish Agyar.

But I was in the library and flipping through them, and the back of Yendi said something like, "Hi, I'm Vlad Taltos, assassin. [Something something something jhereg war something something]... and this is how I fell in love with the woman who killed me."

"Oooo!" I thought. "OOOOOO!" (I am SO predictable.)

Unfortunately, aforementioned female assassin is not as cool as I'd like, but there are so many other cool and kickass female characters in the book that I don't care.

As far as I can tell, Vlad is an Easterner (human) in a land of Draegarians. There's a whole lot of stuff about class in the book, as Draegarians can be one of seventeen different classes. Sometimes it seems as though these classes are like race; i.e. people go on about pure Dragon genes or something. But then, you also have classes like jheregs, where you can buy your way in.

Or something. I'm not really sure what's going on with the world right now, except that dragons are all noble and violent and jheregs are assassins. Or thieves? Or underworld creatures? Or something?

Anyway. Vlad the human jhereg manages to get himself in a jhereg war, which seems to be a lot like a gang war, only with assassins and sorcery involved. Along the way, he gets assassinated and falls in love with said assassin and finds that his little jhereg war is a little larger and more political than he previously thought.

I wasn't particularly interested in the plot, and there were a few too many expositiony bits in which Vlad must expound upon all his theories as to what the grander plot is. And as you all can probably tell, I have no idea what's going on with all the worldbuilding. But I like Vlad, and he's got a fun, hard-boiled detective voice, and more importantly, Aliera and Sethra Lavode and really freaking cool. I mean -- two long-lived kickass powerful women! (Have I mentioned how predictable I am?)

So is it ok if I just sort of randomly read the other books? I have figured out that there is an important chronology in place for the Khaavren books, but the other Vlad books seem to skip around the internal chronology, and I am too lazy to track down everything in order via my library.

Comments

[slrose.livejournal.com]

Yendi are the devious, tricky and convoluted House, so of course the plot is hard to follow. :)

And if you like swashbuckling tales, I would recommend The Phoenix Guards, which takes place several centuries before the Vlad books, and was inspired by the Three Musketeers.

[oyceter]

I saw that note about Dumas when I was scrounging around for reviews! I think I may read that next, just because I adored The Three Musketeers when I was a kid.

Hrm, I should reread that too...

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

The Draegarian "classes" are more like castes.

And if you liked that book, you'll probably like the rest of the series.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The nature of the Houses and the worldbuilding is sort of spoilery, so I won't explain it.

The writing gets more polished as the series continues, so the earlier books are clunkier. I think Yendi is the second. I'd go on to Taltos next, which was written after but is set before Yendi, and does some cool things with structure and narrative. Aliera's in it. Then maybe the first book, Jhereg.

Teckla is depressing and also weird, but necessary to the overall story; once you hit it, you pretty much have to read the rest of the series in order or it won't make sense.

Unfortunately, Cawti is never given the spotlight of assassin coolness that I always wanted. Aliera, Sethra, and other women are very cool and often featured, though.

[oyceter]

The Draegarian "classes" are more like castes.

Huh. Except it also has something to do with personality too, right? It seems to be this odd mixture of race and class that will probably be clearer to me as I read more.

[oyceter]

Hrm, ok. Can I read Phoenix Guards without reading other Taltos books? Not that I won't eventually, but the Dumas pastiche is very intriguing.

I was very sad about Cawti not having many cool assassin things to do, and a little sad about the relative lack of angst between Cawti and Vlad, just because.. assassin angst!

I'm looking forward to more Aliera and Sethra.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I loved the early Vlad books, but I find the series rather uneven after the first couple. Brust tries some interesting narrative things--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I really enjoyed the first of the Khaavren romances. I haven't read them all.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Dumasian books are completely independent. Personally, I can't get into the style, but lots of people love them. Sethra is in some of them, on account of Dragaerans being long-lived and Sethra being undead. (Zombies! Female assassins! Race issues! Food porn! I can't think why it never occurred to me to rec these to you before-- probably because I thought you'd already read them.)

Vlad and Cawti get major assassin angst in Teckla. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, Brust's marriage was breaking up while he was writing it, and as a consequence it's a little too realistic-feeling to be enjoyable. To me, anyway.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

It is a spoilery worldbuilding thing.

Dragaerans and Easterners (humans) are different species-- I forget if that's clear in Yendi.

[oyceter]

I think you did rec them a few times when I mentioned I hadn't read them! That may have been why I subconsciously ended up in the Bs in the library.

Hrm, the Teckla angst doesn't sound like fun assassin angst, if you know what I mean ;).

[oyceter]

I suspect I'm going to try and not read all the Vlad books at once, so I don't get sick of them. But I'm really looking forward to the Khaavren romances.

[slrose.livejournal.com]

And he made one of the musketeers female!

[kate_nepveu]

My recommendations:

1) Read _Jhereg_. It was the first book, it has a lot of stuff about the worldbuilding, and _The Phoenix Guards_ will make more sense afterwards. Trust me, I did this in the reverse order and I was puzzled by _TPG_--highly amused, but still puzzled. (Brust hadn't quite got the hang of incluing yet.)

2) Read the Khaavren books in order, which is the same for published & internal: _TPG_, _500 Years After_, _The Paths of the Dead_, _The Lord of Castle Black_, and _Sethra Lavode_.

3) Read the Vlad books in publication order, which is not the same as chronological but which shows Brust's development as a writer: _Jhereg_, _Yendi_, _Teckla_ (painful in the extreme but very necessary), _Taltos_ (spaces out the crucial developments in the surrounding two), _Phoenix_, _Athyra_ (no-one but me likes this one), _Orca_, _Dragon_, _Issola_, _Dzur_.

You can read _Yendi_, _Taltos_, and _Dragon_ out of order. You really can't read _Teckla_, _Phoenix_, and _Athyra_ out of order. Under no account read _Orca_, _Issola_, or _Dzur_ out of order or earlier than the prior-published books.

Aliera and Sethra are in both series. Alas, Cawti does not get more likable.

I bounced hard off _To Reign in Hell_ and don't much care for _Cowboy Feng's_ or _The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars_ (nb. creative types often strongly disagree on the latter), but I love the Drageara books and _Freedom and Necessity_ is one of my favorite books of all time.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I am in the minority among sf/f fans I know for ... not being wild about these. I have actually bought and sold and re-bought them at least once (maybe twice?) because I liked them enough to read them but not enough to re-read and then fulsome praise from people I respected made me reconsider and re-read and ... still respect the books more than like them. Brust does a lot of interesting things with world-building and inclueing but I just never love his characters enough to want to spend more than enough concentration on his books to while away some time. And they do ask a little more than that, though that much is enough to get through a first read.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

It is VITAL to read the books in order. There are a couple of major plot twists that will lose all their impact if you don't.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I second everything that Kate said about reading order. :)

I haven't been able to get into Brust's other books; I think I tried to read Agyar and never really got anywhere with it. And I'm also one of the rare people who didn't adore _Freedom & Necessity_. But I did find it worthwhile to work through the clunkier Vlad books (like _Teckla_) because some of the later stuff is really freaking cool.

Also, Sethra and Aliera are awesome. But it sounds like you'd figured that out already. :)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I love Athyra! Of course, I am a primitive-medicine geek.

I thought To Reign in Hell was unreadable, and Cowboy Feng's an ambitious failure, ie, interesting to me on a technical level as a writer but not a good or otherwise enjoyable book.

[cofax7]

and _Freedom and Necessity_ is one of my favorite books of all time

What she said. Love that book, and just finished my fourth (?) reread.

I gave up on the Taltos books after a while because I couldn't keep track of the plot or the characters, but I did like what I read of the Phoenix Guards series. Brust can be very fun.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I thought I was the only one who bought them and sold them and bought them again. My problem was I loved the first books because I read them with the uncritical love of a twelve-year old, and as I got older, I liked Vlad less and less, until I eventually became frustrated with Brust's view of how the world works. I still pick them up from time to time, but I am generally cranky about it.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

I think they'd be most fun if you go next and read _Jhereg_ and then on in order of publication.

Ben just finished _Yendi_ also. For the first time! I'd picked up _Jhereg_, _Yendi_ and _Taltos_ because I am on a complete re-read this month. And he was looking for something last weekend because he'd forgotten his book, so I passed on the first three. It was a small cool thing to listen to him in the car the next day. He loves them.

SM and S and process

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

or _The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars_ (nb. creative types often strongly disagree on the latter)

Up until reading Sean Stewart's _The Night Watch_ this came the closest to getting process for me, and some of what can go on in drawing. Like a lot of things that has to be personal.

I don't think anyone mentioned Brokedown Palace altho I may have missed it from skimming. That also links into the series, I think.

And then in terms of other books but not Vlad related, The Gypsy which along the YMMV lines I love intensely but don't see mentioned too often.

Re: SM and S and process

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, _Brokedown Palace_ does, but not in any way that you'll miss it if you haven't read it (set out East a while ago), and it's a lot different.

I don't remember it very well.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

In general I agree with Kate Nepveu. Here are the exceptions:

You need to read the rest of Vlad so you can get to Dzur, which is based around food porn extraordinaire. No going out of order for it, though, even though reading Dzur right after Issola shows some anticlimax problems.

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars is beautiful. I had afterglow.

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, I forgot the food porn. I have a manuscript copy and I suppose I could tempt oyceter by just excerpting some of the descriptions . . .

I personally love what _Dzur_ does, down to the smaller scale of things, but I think I am slightly in the minority on that.

[kate_nepveu]

Okay, you and I are the only people who like _Athyra_. =>

Man, now I want to re-read them all, and I so don't have time for that.

Maybe I'll just a poll instead once I'm done working.