Yendi

Book 2 in the Vlad Taltos series, but I had to keep double checking the cover to see that yes, it is the _sequel_ to Jhereg. It jumps back in time, to when Vlad was establishing himself as a crime boss in the city. He meets his future wife when she kills him in the midst of a gang war as someone

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tries to take over his territory. He's revived and healed and basically takes a lot of physical punishment in this book, but his brain is mostly always working as he tries to sort out the motivations of the other gang boss, and figure out who's behind him. Nicely complex, but because of the larger cast of characters than the first book, it felt a bit less concentrated. I'm getting a good grasp on the characteristics of each family, as well.
I want to give it a 3.5/5, I liked it, but not as much as Jhereg.

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In Wikipedia it mentions that this is Steven Brust's least favorite of his books. So far, having read two books total, it's my least favorite as well. Let's see if that lasts when I read his others. Really, to read that he thinks it's his weakest book makes me feel better, because I was discouraged

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when I read it. His first book, Jhereg, is so concisely done; the plotting is admirable. Yendi simply does not live up to the same standard.

There are way too many characters, especially at the beginning. I'm expected to care about people who die, about whom I've barely read anything. If I'm not invested in their character yet, will it affect me when they die? Nope.

All in all, the plotting seemed a jumble, with much of it unnecessary. The connect-the-dots was nowhere as clear and logical. And the interesting House of Yendi got a two-dimensional character as their spotlight; the villainess who is of course outwardly rude - because we're supposed to dislike her, right? Except that's likely not what a Yendi would want to happen, if they wanted to achieve their ends.

Ah, well. I feel like the House of Yendi got cheated its interesting spotlight with this mashed-together story. I never cared about most of the characters (though something in me really likes Aliera and Sethra).

Also, romance is not Steven Brust's strength. Yeah, whatever; Cawti and Vlad fall in love. Oook. I'm gonna nod and go along, but man. Whatever.

I gave it two and a half stars because there was a bit of history that was interesting in it, and that was the book's main appeal. Otherwise it would only get 1 1/2 or 2 stars.

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I didn't like this book as much as Dzur or Jhereg. I didn't get to know the Sorceress in Green well enough for it to make sense that she was as involved in any of it. I also didn't like the vibe that Sethra gave off in this book. It makes me less interested in her than I was before.It was pretty

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funny to have Vlad so distrusting of Aliera and Morrolan compared to the almost complete trust he had towards them in Jhereg. I did enjoy learning about how Vlad and Cawti met and fell in love. That part at least seemed believable to me. I wonder if Cawti will continue to do "work" now that her partnership with Norathar is over.

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Book 2 in the Vlad Taltos series. This one backfills a lot of details from Jhereg. Poker players should love this book: Vlad spends a lot of time trying to figure out what his opponents are up to, so he can decide on the right course of action.

Almost as good as Jhereg.

Thank goodness I knew beforehand that the Vlad Taltos books aren't written in order of the timeline, or else I would have been really confused. This is the second book in the series to be published, but actually takes place before the first book, to the time when Vlad first meets his wife Cawti.

I

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really liked Cawti's character in Jhereg, and I was excited to find out she was going to have a much bigger role in this novel, based on its synopsis. So I was slightly let down when a third of the book breezed by and she still hadn't shown up; I think I was waiting with bated breath the whole time for that to happen. Eventually, amidst the Jhereg war that Vlad has started with rival Laris, she does make her appearance along with her partner-in-crime Norathar.

It was the high point for me, even though from the previous book we were told Vlad met Cawti while the latter was trying to assassinate him, so I knew what to expect. Despite that, it didn't diminish the scene in any way. A quote Vlad made from Jhereg still resonates with me, about how couples typically fall in love first then get married and spend the rest of their lives trying to kill each other, while with the two of them had it the other way around. I still chuckle when I think of it.

Still, the process of the two of them falling in love was really awkward, but somehow due to the book's style I suspect it was meant to be. It happened so quickly, with hardly any build up at all -- it seemed to me Vlad and Cawti literally jumped into bed after "Hello". Readers looking for elements of romance would be sorely disappointed, but then again Vlad doesn't seem like the type to be sentimental!

The story of the Jhereg war that started all this was very entertaining, at least, though there's a lot more the mystery angle in this book than the last. The breakneck pace of these novels means that sometimes the clues and the conclusions they lead to are sometimes hard to follow, especially since there are so much history and so many names thrown around. I think Yendi would have been more suspenseful if it hadn't been a "prequel" and we didn't already know how certain events played out, but this was another good read all in all, fast and fun.

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This book occurs before book 1 of the series (chronologically). I did not know this when I picked it up so was bit confused as to the goings-on - particularly when some stuff that happened in this story had already been referred to in book one.

There is a bit less of urban fantasy vigilante novel

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feel and a bit more of a detective novel feel. And a bit more investigating and a bit less action. Not sure if this was a good thing, or a bad one though... I like having the action to move it forward and feel like justice is being served, but the detective part helped flesh out the world and characters.

All in all, it was pretty good, and I have bought the rest in the series. Though I do hope it goes back to the tone/feel of book one.

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Though the cover blurb says "sequel to Jhereg" it's actually a prequel. I would never have been able to tell from his relationships with the various Dragaeran lords and ladies and references to past events, but the lack of a wife stood out. In fact, this is where he meets Cawti. It's a rough first

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date, since she assassinates him. This is time filler at best. The Sopranos meets fantasy, as the plot is primarily a turf war, plus a little detection on Vlad's part as he unravels a centuries old political dirty deed.

OK for fans of the series and of casual fantasy adventure.

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There is an attractive romance subplot between the assassin crimelord narrator and the woman who kills him before he gets 'revivified', but the core story is mired in complex dynastic politics which were never explained to the point where I could actually care about them.

A very fun read dealing with a territory war between Vlad and another Jhereg boss named Laris. It's entertaining to see them take turns attacking each other's businesses to try and gain the upper hand. One of the better books in the series.

Yendi is set sometime before the events of Jhereg. The books are independent and can be read in any order.

Vlad Taltos, the protagonist and narrator, is a member of House Jhereg, which seems to be the criminal organization of this world. Vlad controls his own area of the city, but another member of

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House Jhereg starts muscling in. What results is a war between them over territory which comes to be connected to a conspiracy of the highest order.

Yendi is a short book – just over 200 pages, but the pacing is slow in the beginning and it took me a few days to get through it. It takes a bit for the gang war to start up, and then much longer for the conspiracy to be brought in.

Yendi‘s biggest flaw is lack of characterization. All the characters are thin and forgettable. Everyone felt just like a name, and I never got the sense of anyone’s personality.

What I liked most about Yendi was the world. When I read Jhereg, I had a hard time understanding the complexities of the world that Brust has created (I discuss some of the details in my Jhereg review). For whatever reason, I didn’t have any problems this time. I remembered some of the basics from Jhereg, and this helped me immensely. Other things were vague, but I was able to figure it out. If I ever do read another Vlad Taltos novel, it will be for the world that Brust has created.

As the back of the book says, Vlad ends up falling in love with the woman who kills him (people can be “revived” after death in this world). This happened remarkably quickly. One moment they’re killing each other, the next they’re falling in bed together? Even accounting for their similar backgrounds, this all happens within the span of days.

Also, Yendi was a lot better on the female character front than you’d expect from a pulpy 80’s fantasy novel. At least four women were significantly involved, and while they were as thinly characterized as the male characters, they weren’t any worse either.

In the end, I enjoyed Yendi but am unlikely to seek out more books in the series.

Orignally posted on The Illustrated Page.

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gritty fantasy world with a clever underdog. Reminds me a bit of harry dresden in the dresden files, but much more morally ambiguous.

This is 1/2 of an interesting book and 1/2 of a terrible one. The street level mob war in the first half of the book was highly entertaining, if not pretty shoddily written. It is certainly not Elmore Leonard, but no one can disagree with throwing someone out a second story window.

But once it gets

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into the Magic Elves with Cosmic Pokey Sticks who Cannot be Killed Politics, it becomes unbelievably dull. What was a pretty good grimy crime novel turns into mostly people sitting at dinner chattering about Thrones and Empires and all this nonsense. Why is this small town hood with his hood girlfriend sitting at dinner with The Great and the Mighty to talk about Empire Succession when really he should be sniping other mobsters? I couldn't figure it out.

I can't rate this book highly. I've read a million mob books and really, what I want out of a mob book is the mob. It was definitely an interesting idea with a lack of execution.

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A fun multilayered fantasy story in an interesting setting. The are moments, particularly in the last third of the book, where the political complexities become almost impossible to follow, and not so much because they are complicated but because of how they are being untangled, but it all sort of

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makes sense in the end. The main character, Vlad, is a lovable sort of underdog. Even though he's the boss of his own mob territory he spends most of the time hobnobbing with some of the most powerful people in his nation, and sometimes this results in the other characters doing a lot of the work for him, but he turns around and pays it all back by figuring out the central question of the plot.

Ultimately, although there is some fun gang war violence, a whirlwind romance that I didn't quite believe, and a pile of lore to digest if you're into that sort of thing, the book is actually structured more like a mystery, where the climax depends on Vlad figuring out whodunit and why. The first book in the series was structured on a similar vein, so if you liked that one this offers more of the same, although I did find the plot of the first book more more tight and the characters a little more believable in Jhereg.

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This is the story of how Vlad met Cawti, which is as violent as you expect. Basically a boss of another area is trying to hone in Vlad's area, by setting up a gambling game just inside of Vlad's Territory. Of course, it goes from bad to worst. Its actually a fairly typical early Vlad book - no

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politicical movements, no judgment of morality.

This book is fun, but doesn't add a lot to the complete story, except that a better Dragon Heir is found, and theres a bit on Dragaeran Genetics.

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