Iorich, by Steven Brust
May. 28th, 2010 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaIorich, by Steven Brust
Though Vlad ought, by all rights, to be staying as far away from Adrilankha as possible, once again his personal entanglements draw him back into danger. This time it's his friend Aliera e'Kieron, who has been charged with using elder sorcery... a capital crime. She's guilty of it, of course, but the more important question is: when everyone has known for years, what's the political motivation for charging her now? And how is Vlad going to keep her from going to the Executioner's Star... especially when, for reasons that are unclear to him, both Aliera and all of their mutual friends are not exactly helping?
Here's a funny thing: I went into Jhegaala expecting to be a bit disappointed in it, because it was a backstory-book featuring only three characters we even knew (except for a brief cameo from Noish-Pa); I went into Iorich expecting to find it satisfying because it deals, once again, with Adrilankha, with Aliera and Kiera and Sethra and Morrolan and Kragar and Cawti and Lady Teldra and all the rest. And yet, while my understanding of what the books were about was dead-on, my responses were completely opposite.
Oh, it's not that I didn't like Iorich. I did. If it were anything but one of the Vlad Taltos series, I would say I enjoyed it very much indeed. It was clever and tense and interestingly political, and of course I enjoy Vlad's narrative voice and his interaction with Loiosh (Loiosh!), and Sethra and Kiera and Aliera and Kragar and all the rest. And I really, really, really liked a lot of the worldbuilding details, of how Imperial law and justice work, and so on. I was looking forward to Iorich for those details, and I wasn't disappointed—plus, the major Iorich character, Aliera's lawyer, I quite liked. We're used to seeing Dragaeran society from the POV of those who are above the law (the upper-crust Dragons, Sethra, the Empress, etc.), from those who are sort of beneath the notice of the law (Teckla and Easterners), and, well, from criminals (Jhereg). Seeing Dragaeran society from someone who is immersed in the middle-class position and whose whole life is within the law rather than above, below or around it was pretty cool.
But the problem is... between this and Dzur, I'm beginning to feel like Brust is stalling. It's not enough to really hamper my enjoyment of the books, but if we get a few more Vlad Taltos books that sidestep the major plot questions raised in Phoenix and especially Issola, I'm going to begin to get impatient.
Spoilers for the whole series after this point:
Lady Teldra. Oh my god, I am getting so impatient as to what's going on with Lady Teldra. Well, and Verra and the gods and the Jenoine and so on, but especially Teldra.
I mean, I grant you, that's partly because she was one of my very favorite characters in the series, and now she's there but not there and it frustrates me. (I have said before that the central tension of my life is that I'm not sure whether I want to be Tazendra or Teldra, and while that's a facetious way to say it, it's also kind of true.) If it were just that, I'd chalk it up to a personal issue and not a problem with the book.
But, but. If I've got my timeline right, he's had Lady Teldra in sword form for at least four years. (When he returned "last time," which I have to assume was either Issola or Dzur, his son was four; now his son is eight.) And he hasn't even figured out that drawing her will heal his injuries? I mean, I get that he spends the whole book afraid to draw because last time he did so he accidentally range-Morganti'ed somebody. But I'd think that the threat of accidental range-Morganti-ing people would lead him to be more likely to want to learn how to communicate with or at least use her.
And, I mean, it's not like he doesn't have a safe place to practice and an expert with whom he's on good terms. He could go spend a few months in Dzur Mountain and see if, between him and Sethra, he can figure out what's up with Godslayer/Lady Teldra. I mean, we know that a) a Great Weapon can protect its owner from being eaten by a Morganti sword (Aliera proved that), and b) that Icewand is a Morganti weapon of a comparable strength to Godslayer (that's stated explicitly in one of the earlier books), so you'd think that'd be a good place to do some experimenting without having to worry about, you know, eating souls. And you'd think that he'd want to practice, if only to reduce the likelihood of accidental Morganti-ing!
And I guess maybe he has been doing exactly that and just not telling us, but... but. But if he'd been doing anything at all with the sword, I'd think he would have at least figured out the 'I draw it and all the aches and pains go away' thing. So... what? What's he been doing?
It frustrates me. And after Dzur I figured Brust was going to get to it in good, time, and Jhegaala was good enough that I didn't really mind, but now we've had another book with no more forward progress on the Lady Teldra Is A Sword plot. Or the Jenoine plot. Or the Verra plot. Or even anything substantive with Cawti and Vlad Norathar, although I was glad that we finally (finally!) got to see Vlad and Son together.
I don't know. I enjoyed the book, but if the next book keeps stalling on the great-weapons-and-gods-and-demons-and-Jenoine plot, I'm going to get impatient.
(Side note: Does it strike anyone else as odd that Sethra knows that she's Kiera, Vlad knows that Sethra's Kiera, Sethra knows that Vlad knows, and yet even when they're alone together they're still all coy about it? I mean, I get being super-cautious anywhere they might be spied on, but in Dzur Mountain? Although I suppose it's possible that Kiera is less an alter ego than an actual split personality, and Sethra is not really psychologically capable of acknowledging that they're the same person. Or am I missing something else?)
Anyway, I don't want to make it seem that I didn't enjoy this one. I did. And if you've read the Vlad books this far, you should read it, too. But probably in paperback.
(If you haven't read the Vlad series, be aware that this is one of those series that, IMHO, really has to be read in publication order. Start with Jhereg and work from there.)
Though Vlad ought, by all rights, to be staying as far away from Adrilankha as possible, once again his personal entanglements draw him back into danger. This time it's his friend Aliera e'Kieron, who has been charged with using elder sorcery... a capital crime. She's guilty of it, of course, but the more important question is: when everyone has known for years, what's the political motivation for charging her now? And how is Vlad going to keep her from going to the Executioner's Star... especially when, for reasons that are unclear to him, both Aliera and all of their mutual friends are not exactly helping?
Here's a funny thing: I went into Jhegaala expecting to be a bit disappointed in it, because it was a backstory-book featuring only three characters we even knew (except for a brief cameo from Noish-Pa); I went into Iorich expecting to find it satisfying because it deals, once again, with Adrilankha, with Aliera and Kiera and Sethra and Morrolan and Kragar and Cawti and Lady Teldra and all the rest. And yet, while my understanding of what the books were about was dead-on, my responses were completely opposite.
Oh, it's not that I didn't like Iorich. I did. If it were anything but one of the Vlad Taltos series, I would say I enjoyed it very much indeed. It was clever and tense and interestingly political, and of course I enjoy Vlad's narrative voice and his interaction with Loiosh (Loiosh!), and Sethra and Kiera and Aliera and Kragar and all the rest. And I really, really, really liked a lot of the worldbuilding details, of how Imperial law and justice work, and so on. I was looking forward to Iorich for those details, and I wasn't disappointed—plus, the major Iorich character, Aliera's lawyer, I quite liked. We're used to seeing Dragaeran society from the POV of those who are above the law (the upper-crust Dragons, Sethra, the Empress, etc.), from those who are sort of beneath the notice of the law (Teckla and Easterners), and, well, from criminals (Jhereg). Seeing Dragaeran society from someone who is immersed in the middle-class position and whose whole life is within the law rather than above, below or around it was pretty cool.
But the problem is... between this and Dzur, I'm beginning to feel like Brust is stalling. It's not enough to really hamper my enjoyment of the books, but if we get a few more Vlad Taltos books that sidestep the major plot questions raised in Phoenix and especially Issola, I'm going to begin to get impatient.
Spoilers for the whole series after this point:
Lady Teldra. Oh my god, I am getting so impatient as to what's going on with Lady Teldra. Well, and Verra and the gods and the Jenoine and so on, but especially Teldra.
I mean, I grant you, that's partly because she was one of my very favorite characters in the series, and now she's there but not there and it frustrates me. (I have said before that the central tension of my life is that I'm not sure whether I want to be Tazendra or Teldra, and while that's a facetious way to say it, it's also kind of true.) If it were just that, I'd chalk it up to a personal issue and not a problem with the book.
But, but. If I've got my timeline right, he's had Lady Teldra in sword form for at least four years. (When he returned "last time," which I have to assume was either Issola or Dzur, his son was four; now his son is eight.) And he hasn't even figured out that drawing her will heal his injuries? I mean, I get that he spends the whole book afraid to draw because last time he did so he accidentally range-Morganti'ed somebody. But I'd think that the threat of accidental range-Morganti-ing people would lead him to be more likely to want to learn how to communicate with or at least use her.
And, I mean, it's not like he doesn't have a safe place to practice and an expert with whom he's on good terms. He could go spend a few months in Dzur Mountain and see if, between him and Sethra, he can figure out what's up with Godslayer/Lady Teldra. I mean, we know that a) a Great Weapon can protect its owner from being eaten by a Morganti sword (Aliera proved that), and b) that Icewand is a Morganti weapon of a comparable strength to Godslayer (that's stated explicitly in one of the earlier books), so you'd think that'd be a good place to do some experimenting without having to worry about, you know, eating souls. And you'd think that he'd want to practice, if only to reduce the likelihood of accidental Morganti-ing!
And I guess maybe he has been doing exactly that and just not telling us, but... but. But if he'd been doing anything at all with the sword, I'd think he would have at least figured out the 'I draw it and all the aches and pains go away' thing. So... what? What's he been doing?
It frustrates me. And after Dzur I figured Brust was going to get to it in good, time, and Jhegaala was good enough that I didn't really mind, but now we've had another book with no more forward progress on the Lady Teldra Is A Sword plot. Or the Jenoine plot. Or the Verra plot. Or even anything substantive with Cawti and Vlad Norathar, although I was glad that we finally (finally!) got to see Vlad and Son together.
I don't know. I enjoyed the book, but if the next book keeps stalling on the great-weapons-and-gods-and-demons-and-Jenoine plot, I'm going to get impatient.
(Side note: Does it strike anyone else as odd that Sethra knows that she's Kiera, Vlad knows that Sethra's Kiera, Sethra knows that Vlad knows, and yet even when they're alone together they're still all coy about it? I mean, I get being super-cautious anywhere they might be spied on, but in Dzur Mountain? Although I suppose it's possible that Kiera is less an alter ego than an actual split personality, and Sethra is not really psychologically capable of acknowledging that they're the same person. Or am I missing something else?)
Anyway, I don't want to make it seem that I didn't enjoy this one. I did. And if you've read the Vlad books this far, you should read it, too. But probably in paperback.
(If you haven't read the Vlad series, be aware that this is one of those series that, IMHO, really has to be read in publication order. Start with Jhereg and work from there.)
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 01:04 am (UTC)I'd definitely wait for pb, and it might not be a bad idea to wait until the next book comes out.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 03:36 am (UTC)The Vlad Taltos books are more like... fantasy noir mysteries, with a snarky first-person protagonist.
I own all of both series, so if you read the first three Vlad books from the library and enjoy them, you're more than welcome to borrow the rest from me. :) (If you read the first three Vlad books and enjoy them, I think chances are good you'll like the rest.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 08:51 pm (UTC)