Jhereg [Paperback]

Steven Brust (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Ace (March 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441385540
• ISBN-13: 978-0441385546
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Start here and work up to greater Brustian pleasures., January 9, 1998

By 

C. J. Silverio (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jhereg (Paperback)

This is the first of Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Vlad is a human assassin in a world of giant long-lived elves. He uses his wit and skill to escape unscathed from a silly series of scrapes. Brust lures you into rooting for and liking a man who makes his living killing people. It's a fun take on the genre. This book brushes against some serious topics, such as racism and the effects of childhood brutality on the adult the child becomes, but it stays mostly in frivolous territory.

The series that follows this book fills in Vlad's past and describes many events alluded to by this book. It gradually becomes more serious in tone and finally confronts the racism and Vlad's profession directly. Some readers will find the later books more satisfying because they're so much meatier.

I found the series worth reading as setup for two other Brust books set much earlier in the same universe: The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After. Now these are real delights, and the Vlad Taltos books are your required introduction for them.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Vlad Taltos, January 8, 2007

By 

Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jhereg (Paperback)

Jhereg is the first book in the "Vladimir Taltos" series, and introduces the character and his world. It is a highly entertaining comic fantasy.

The first part of the book includes a brief account of Vlad's boyhood, and the story of how he acquires the live Jhereg egg which hatches into his familiar and constant companion Loiosh. That's Loiosh on the front cover of this book hatching from his egg, he's a small intelligent flying reptile something like a miniature dragon, and he also appears on the cover of the great majority of the other books of the series. He has a telepathic link to Vlad, and one of the hallmarks of the series is the constant mental exchange of banter and insults between Vlad and Loiosh.

All the Vlad Taltos stories jump around in time a lot, and and after the introduction "Jhereg" jumps ahead approximately seven years to the main action of the book, leapfrogging three of the subsequently written books and making this first book in the series also the fourth in chronological sequence.

The "Vlad Taltos" novels, and the same author's or "Khaavren" romances (see below), are all set in a world of magic, where there are several intelligent species, including two types of men and women. Humans like ourselves, and Vlad, are usually referred to as "Easterners," the other type of men and women call themselves humans but are usually referred to in the books as "Dragaerans" or occasionally as Elves.

Dragaerans are taller than humans, live 2,000 years or so, and then after death are eligible for reincarnation provided they have not annoyed a God too much or had their soul destroyed by a "Morganti" weapon or a "Great Weapon."

Morganti weapons are used between mortals when they are really angry with someone because they don't just kill you, but destroy your soul. "Great Weapons," are rare and especially powerful Morganti weapons, of which legend has it there are exactly seventeen, and which can even kill Gods.

All Dragaerans and some humans/Easterners belong to one of seventeen "Great Houses" named after animals of the fantasy world in which the novels are set. Nine of the ten novels to date featuring Vlad Taltos, including "Jhereg" have the same name as one of these great houses, usually also featuring a member of that house in a prominent role: if Steven Brust is planning to write a novel for each house we are about half way through the series.

Most of the great houses also have a preferred occupation. For examples: "Dragons" and "Dzurlords" are soldiers, "Tecla" are peasants, "Chreotha" are merchants, "Orcas" are sailors, pirates or bankers, and "Jhereg" are gangsters or assassins.

Most members of House Jhereg are also involved in "the organisation" which controls organised crime. The hero, Baronet Vladimir Taltos, is an assassin and minor sorcerer, a member of House Jhereg, and at the time of this book, a crimelord running an area for "the organisation." Vlad's late father spent most of the family fortune buying a minor title in House Jhereg, which is almost the only way a human (Easterner) can advance in the empire, and Vlad has inherited the title.

Taltos narrates these stories with a wonderful dry wit which is one of the best aspects of the novels.

The books are not written in a regular chronological sequence: for example, the fourth novel, "Taltos" is a prequel set before the main action of any of the others. And most of the books contain either flashbacks to much earlier events, references to much later events, or both. In my opinion you will get most out of these books if you read them in something close to the "official" order, but there is an alternative view which says that they are best read in chronological sequence.

If you are interested in the Vlad Taltos series, my recommendation would be to start with either this first book written, "Jhereg" or the chronologically first book, "Taltos."

Here is a list of the books in publication order, with the chronological place of the main action of each book in brackets after:

1) Jhereg (4th)
2) Yendi (3rd)
3) Tecla (5th)
4) Taltos (1st)
5) Phoenix (6th)
6) Athyra (7th)
7) Orca (8th)
8) Dragon (2nd)
9) Issola (9th)
10) Dzur (10th).

If you enjoy the Taltos novels, you might be interested in another sequence of books which Steven Brust has set a few centuries earlier. These are something between a parody and a homage to the novels of Alexandre Dumas. He's called them the "Khaavren Romances" after the central character of the first two novels, who corresponds very closely to D'Artagnan. Obviously none of the human characters overlap, but some of the Dragaerans do: Khaavren himself and Vlad briefly meet in the book "Tecla" and Khaavren also has a sort of offstage cameo in the Vlad Taltos book "Orca." Two of the major characters in the Taltos novels, Sethra Lavode and Lord Morrolan of Castle Black, are also important enough in the Khaavren novels to have books named after them.

The five Khaavren romances, in sequence, are

1) "The Phoenix Guards" (equivalent to "The Three Musketeers")
2) "Five Hundred Years After" (equivalent to "Twenty years after")

Then a trilogy "The Viscount of Adrilankha" (e.g. "The Count of Monte Cristo") which comprises

3) The Paths of the Dead
4) The Lord of Castle Black
5) Sethra Lavode

Overall I found both the "Taltos" novels and the "Khaavren Romances" very entertaining: I recommend both series and this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely & utterly charming, October 9, 2002

By 

Erin K. Darling "naive cynic" (olympia, wa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jhereg (Paperback)

From the very first passage, I was completely enchanted with this book. It's been several years since I've read any fantasy books, but this one quickly & skillfully drew me in, heart and soul. Brust writes with wit, humor and charm, colorfully describing characters, scenes, weapons, animals, thoughts, simply everything about the world he's created. It's obvious that a great deal of thought went into this creation; he passes along casual details that hint of greater stories to come, including histories, myths, and rumors.

The central figure is Vlad Taltos, one of the top assassins in the land. The other important figures are his assistants, his wife, a few antagonists, assorted friends and colleagues, but most importantly, his familiar, Loiosh. In addition to being a highly-skilled assassin, Vlad is also a very powerful witch. As a boy, he called a small, dragon-like creature to him, and asked her to give him one of her eggs. He would raise her baby as his own, teaching him, befriending him, and protecting him. Naturally, she agrees, and Loiosh is perhaps his strongest ally, being able to communicate with Vlad telepathically. Several characters are able to communicate this way, and it's a very handy method to advance the story more quickly, without intrusive time delays and journeys back and forth. But the bond between Vlad and Loiosh is very deep, and is something I would like to see developed more in the coming books; in this story, the dialogue was mostly superficial, with only rare exception.

In all honesty, I think Brust made Loiosh a little too..."Jersey" may be the right word for it; he's got a lot of attitude, which is obviously part of his charm, but the constant "yes, boss" and sarcastic comments kept making me grimace. That being said, however, part of what makes this story so easy to read is Brust's use of common language - he doesn't try to take us back into Olde Tyme, using overly-flowery, excessively eloquent language; he makes use of language as many of us do today, with only a few quirks thrown in to keep things interesting.

The world he has created here is rich and vast, teeming with widely-varying people and places, each with distinct traits and histories. I sincerely hope that Brust manages to keep the magic alive throughout this series without going campy or formulaic. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series, and in fact, as soon as I save this review, I plan to start reading it, despite the fact that it is now 2:30am.

I really, truly recommend this book - it's an encompassing experience that will bring you into a new world almost completely, if you have any affinity for the genre whatsoever. I honestly can't wait to see what's around the next corner. :-) It takes a lot to charm me this thoroughly, and I can't think of the words to describe how happy I am with this book, and everything about it - the characters, the dialogue, the quick pace, the story line, the plot twists, the detail, the simple elegance, the vivacity of it all. It is, in other words, amazing. Give it a shot, and you won't be disappointed.