14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Weaker entries, June 5, 2003
This review is from: The Book of Athyra (Jhereg) (Paperback)
This volume contains the seventh and eighth books (chronological order in the series, not publishing date) in the continuing series of Vladimir Taltos adventures by Steven Brust. Taltos is all of the following: a sometime assassin, mobster, witch, philosopher, swordsman, noble, and detective who lives a stranger-in-a-strange-land scenario as what we would consider a normal human in a nation of 6.5 or 7-foot tall humanoids (Draegerans) who often have numerous magical abilities. The books, other than "Taltos" are named for the houses of the 16 noble classes and one peasant class in the society Taltos lives in. Here are the books in chronological order, not publishing order, with the books in the "Athyra" compendium in CAPS:
Taltos 4.5* -- Brust's funniest of the series, loaded with deadpan humor. This is a simple tale that establishes the beginnings of Taltos' relationships with many of the recurring characters of the other books. In regular paperback form it's 180 pages and you can read it in a few hours. Well-paced, good resolution of the three plotlines
Yendi 4* -- complex and satisfying for a short book, humorous
Jhereg 5* -- the first-published and best of the bunch, gives useful background and is the real starting point of the series
Teckla 2* -- maudlin and introspective without much context or reason for the tone
Phoenix 4* -- picks up the pace after Teckla and re-establishes some of Taltos' business arrangements (he's an assassin and a small-time mob capo), has a complex and twisting plotline and has more of the humor of the first three books. Nonetheless, it still has some of the pall from the Teckla woven throughout the story.
Dragon 4* -- published 8th, returns to form of witty banter, smart introspection and twisty plotting of earlier books
ATHYRA 1* -- meandering and depressing; only book not told from Vlad Taltos' first-person point of view, actionless and largely themeless
ORCA 4* -- better plotting and pacing for this Athyra follow-up, plus intricate mob-financing issues explored by Taltos in unmasking Orca-house mob syndicate
Issola 4* -- Newest entry is a philosophical stemwinder about the history of Vlad-world and the purposes of the g*ds. Therefore, Issola is not the place to start but it is a solid addition to the series if you've read some of the others.
All said, two of the weaker entries (Orca ranks seventh of the nine books) in the Vlad Taltos series are compiled in the Book of Athyra. Athyra itself is dour, boring, and unquestionably the worst of the lot (most of which, in contrast, are good to near excellent). Athyra is the only one not told from Vlad Taltos' first-person perspective, is one of the longer books in the series, and has neither the humor nor adventure that characterize the other eight. Brust is an experimenter as a writer -- a praiseworthy concept -- but Athyra essentially goes awry.
Orca is not overly memorable, but at least it is within the expectations of the rest of the books -- some swashbuckling, wise-acre humor, twisted plot and solid resolution. Buy it separately and skip Athyra altogether and you really don't miss anything.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
One good, one bad as Vlad takes a new direction, June 12, 2003
This review is from: The Book of Athyra (Jhereg) (Paperback)
I wrote full reviews for each book. In brief
Athyra-4 stars, a nice book from an innocent's viewpoint about Vlad.
Orca-2 stars, a dull book about financial swindles.
In full:
Athyra-I have not enjoyed a Vlad book as much as this once since the first three. Switching the narrative away from Vlad was a refreshing, and necessary move to invigorate the story.
Savn, an innocent Dragaeran youth is a wonderfully sympathetic character studying to be a physicker when Vlad arrives at his town. He befriends Vlad and begins to find himself ostracized from his friends for hanging around the Easterner. Once he helps Vlad with his injuries there is no turning back.
Through Savn's eyes we get to see a vulnerable Vlad, a hurting Vlad without the cockiness, one who is rethinking virtually everything about his life, life in general and the universe. We see Savn grow through meeting the challenges of befriending Vlad, his sister also and we see Vlad changed and changing from the flippant assassin.
The pace is relaxed, without being slow, and builds to a climactic ending with consequences for everyone. A very well done effort from Brust, it was almost like reading about Vlad for the first time due to the change of viewpoint.
Orca-In this plodding tale of Vlad, much talking is done about a banking financial swindle happening. Like Vlad investigates Enron, but not that much fun. In order to help Savn, who saved Vlad previously Vlad must help out an old lady with the power to possibly heal Savn. This leads to the investigation of the financial swindle.
Vlad and Kiera play Joe Hardy and Nancy Drew, except again, it really isn't that fun. The book is dialog heavy and as exciting as my accounting textbook, maybe less so.
As others have said, the revelation in the last 10 pages is the only payoff for reading the book. Not worth it in my opinion.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brust continues with the adventures of Vlad Taltos, March 15, 2003
This review is from: The Book of Athyra (Jhereg) (Paperback)
The two books in this volume, Athyra and Orca, differ from the other volumes up to this point in the series in that they are not primarily narrated from the point of view of the Vlad Taltos. While it is interesting to hear from the views of others, including that of a jhereg (the creature), some of the narrative is less compelling than in earlier books.
By all means, if you have gotten this far into the series, do read these. I just personally found the narrative from multiple viewpoints less appealing than the single-point narrative in the earlier volumes.
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