One of the things I was initially looking forward to about this one was seeing people from House Jhegaala. We have seen a few Jhegaala in very minor roles, especially in Paarfi; I remember a jeweler, a weaponsmith and a minor lawyer. They seem to be mostly tellable by the House clothing colors, which would make sense. But there haven't been any major ones.
The first time I read Jhegaala I didn't like it at all. I liked it much, much better on second reading-- the first time through it was too long since I'd read Phoenix, and also it really is very depressing.
But I think it's one of the best of them, actually, on a technical level, if not the best, and here's why: the first time through, I was really disappointed that the book didn't have a person of the title House the way they usually do, and then the second time I realized that it does. Because except for the brief and offstage Jhereg assassin, there's only one Dragaeran in the book, and that's Vlad, and he's not a Jhereg anymore, but he is a Dragaeran, different species or no (after all part of the book is him finding that out, that in some ways culture trumps nature). So for the course of this book, and for some while afterward maybe, I think we can take Jhegaala to be Vlad's House (metaphysically), which he passes through, appropriately, on his way to being something else. In other words I mean I think the metaphor from the science book bits should be extended even more than obvious, to the point where it really isn't a metaphor.
(I'd love to know what House he is eventually, but ever since leaving the Jhereg he's been taking on the characteristics of the Houses of the book names very much more than he did while he was a Jhereg, I think.)
And that's what explained the detective play to me (because otherwise it's pretty random): the murderer the two detectives are trying to catch is a Jhegaala, and if you see Vlad as the Jhegaala in question, the detectives' fumblings and accidental success line up very well in a black-comedic way with the way all the different Eastern factions are stumbling around Vlad trying to catch him out at something. (Which leads me to think that the detectives probably have as little idea of what really happened in their case as most of the Fenarians do about Vlad, as would be suitable in a play written in a witty, ironic, elegant mode about people who while funny to read about and very polite are also fairly drunk and incompetent.)
I really admire that. I also like Vlad's emotional growth here, though I agree with people who say there must be more after this one than 'and then I spent a year in the capitol recovering and then I went back to the Empire the end'.
So yeah, this is the one I go incoherently admiring about, even though it's also the one I enjoy least and reread least frequently because, seriously, really depressing.
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timeasmymeasure
spoilers for Jhegaala but not I think any of the others
Date: 2010-05-14 07:54 am (UTC)The first time I read Jhegaala I didn't like it at all. I liked it much, much better on second reading-- the first time through it was too long since I'd read Phoenix, and also it really is very depressing.
But I think it's one of the best of them, actually, on a technical level, if not the best, and here's why: the first time through, I was really disappointed that the book didn't have a person of the title House the way they usually do, and then the second time I realized that it does. Because except for the brief and offstage Jhereg assassin, there's only one Dragaeran in the book, and that's Vlad, and he's not a Jhereg anymore, but he is a Dragaeran, different species or no (after all part of the book is him finding that out, that in some ways culture trumps nature). So for the course of this book, and for some while afterward maybe, I think we can take Jhegaala to be Vlad's House (metaphysically), which he passes through, appropriately, on his way to being something else. In other words I mean I think the metaphor from the science book bits should be extended even more than obvious, to the point where it really isn't a metaphor.
(I'd love to know what House he is eventually, but ever since leaving the Jhereg he's been taking on the characteristics of the Houses of the book names very much more than he did while he was a Jhereg, I think.)
And that's what explained the detective play to me (because otherwise it's pretty random): the murderer the two detectives are trying to catch is a Jhegaala, and if you see Vlad as the Jhegaala in question, the detectives' fumblings and accidental success line up very well in a black-comedic way with the way all the different Eastern factions are stumbling around Vlad trying to catch him out at something. (Which leads me to think that the detectives probably have as little idea of what really happened in their case as most of the Fenarians do about Vlad, as would be suitable in a play written in a witty, ironic, elegant mode about people who while funny to read about and very polite are also fairly drunk and incompetent.)
I really admire that. I also like Vlad's emotional growth here, though I agree with people who say there must be more after this one than 'and then I spent a year in the capitol recovering and then I went back to the Empire the end'.
So yeah, this is the one I go incoherently admiring about, even though it's also the one I enjoy least and reread least frequently because, seriously, really depressing.