Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Tor, 2010.
Description
House Jhereg, Dragaera's organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There's a big price on his head in Draegara City. Then he hears disturbing news. Aliera--longtime friend, sometime ally--has been arrested by the Empire on a charge of practicing elder sorcery, a capital crime, and there appears to be no one that can help her except Vlad.
Media reviews
Brust is able to skilfully blend a remarkable treatise on politics, law, justice, due process and even military ethics into a novel in which there is enough sword and sorcery to fill a dozen Vallejo paintings.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010-01-05
ISBN
9780765312082
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Library's review
This was a disappointment. (Disappointing Brust is still Brust, of course, but this wasn't up to what he can do.) It felt like a return to the earlier and shallower Vlad novels; Vlad's in Adrilankha, all the usual suspects make appearances (including Kiera as Kiera), but none of the larger issues
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in the series are resolved or even advanced (and, since Iorich is set four years after Dzur, nothing was advanced in the intervening time, either. It's amusing enough, as a lighthearted bit of Vlad-and-Loiosh fluff, but it's also fairly forgettable. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
If you haven't read the early parts of this series, the following comments are probably meaningless. If you have some affinity for fantasy, just give Jhereg a try and decide if you want to come back for more.
The first good news is that this book maintains the level of Dzur, after the abyss the
The bad news is that Brust seems to be settling into writing really short stories. Don't be fooled by the fact that the physical book has a lot of pages. It's reeaaally big type with a lot of white space. The story is novella length. If I put this together with his detours into past events, I find myself wondering if he's not certain how to get Vlad out of the current situation. It's as if he's taking everything slowly while he thinks.
Another flaw in this book is that, while we get plenty of Vlad and Loiosh, the rest of the wonderful supporting cast are little more than cameos. Given the plot concept (I'll leave you to read that or not as you choose), this is rather surprising; one would expect Aliera, Morrolan and Sethra to be prominent.
I'm back to reading this series, though I'd like him to buckle down and give us something like those first books again.
The first good news is that this book maintains the level of Dzur, after the abyss the
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middle books in the series represented. It's not back to what Jhereg and Yendi were...and probably never will be...but the word "fun" now comes to mind after I thought it long gone. Second, it also advances the present day story line, unlike the flashback of Jhegaala. That's a good thing—there's too much unresolved in the active story for Brust to be romping off and introducing other story lines. The bad news is that Brust seems to be settling into writing really short stories. Don't be fooled by the fact that the physical book has a lot of pages. It's reeaaally big type with a lot of white space. The story is novella length. If I put this together with his detours into past events, I find myself wondering if he's not certain how to get Vlad out of the current situation. It's as if he's taking everything slowly while he thinks.
Another flaw in this book is that, while we get plenty of Vlad and Loiosh, the rest of the wonderful supporting cast are little more than cameos. Given the plot concept (I'll leave you to read that or not as you choose), this is rather surprising; one would expect Aliera, Morrolan and Sethra to be prominent.
I'm back to reading this series, though I'd like him to buckle down and give us something like those first books again.
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LibraryThing member DavidGoldsteen
Iorich was a return for Vlad, both in terms of style and story. Vlad's back home in Adrilankha after a long flight into the country, and once again we see Morrolan, Sethra, Kiera, and the rest of the gang in action. A very welcome return.
LibraryThing member rivkat
Is there really a point to reviewing a novel like this one? If you like Vlad, you should read and probably have read this. He spends some time with Cawti and his son, but mostly he investigates a political prosecution tangled up with a botched suppression of a Teckla rebellion, snarks to his
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friends, attempts to avoid assassination, and otherwise is Vlad. The outtakes at the end, done in the style of other works of fantasy (including The Phoenix Guards) are pretty funny. Show Less
LibraryThing member Meggo
Another serviceable Vlad the Assassin novel, in which he has to wrestle with the justice system whilst nimbly avoiding being assassinated himself. Not as good as some of his earlier works, perhaps, this one is much lighter in tone than the books that appear to have been written around the time of
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his divorce, which were, frankly, a little bleak. Show Less
LibraryThing member NogDog
Another good entry in the Vlad Taltos series.
LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
This is getting back to the original series - where Vlad is out to solve a mystery without angering too many people :) So when Aliera is arrested for practising high magic (a fact known by everyone), Vlad has to figure out what is the real reason for this and what does it have to do with a few
It has all the things you would expect from a Vlad Taltos Book - smart wit, and complicated and plausible plot, and at heart, a mystery that needs to be solved.
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unimportant Teckla getting killed in an unknown village.It has all the things you would expect from a Vlad Taltos Book - smart wit, and complicated and plausible plot, and at heart, a mystery that needs to be solved.
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LibraryThing member romsfuulynn
Finally gave in and read the rest of this - I'd been saving it as a special treat and it really was. I actually went back and read from the beginning just to savor the experience. Brust's prose and layers of story are so rewarding that it's well worth rereading.
I will need to dig up all of these
Vlad is back in Adrilanka because a friend has been arrested on a charge that makes no sense. Imperial politics, and we see him reconnect with Cawti and others from the earlier books. This is really only directed to those who are already reading the series to say this is brilliant - I don't think you could start at book 12.
I will need to dig up all of these
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from the beginning and do a complete reread the next time I'm in a dry spell.Vlad is back in Adrilanka because a friend has been arrested on a charge that makes no sense. Imperial politics, and we see him reconnect with Cawti and others from the earlier books. This is really only directed to those who are already reading the series to say this is brilliant - I don't think you could start at book 12.
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LibraryThing member DWWilkin
Vlad Taltos is an interesting character who now is getting long in the tooth. With his pet/familiar Jhereg Lorisch they are a Laurel and Hardy comedy act where their banter is striving to achieve an ease and familiarity of Beatrice and Benedict but falls short of that mark and we can see that Brust
But those days are gone as we read through the 12th full length tale of Vlad. Wondering if there will ever be final resolution in his life, or if Brust just needs to let it out, stringing his followers along. They are short tomes, when you compare it to the Wheel of Time, or Game of Thrones, but they are not near as complex except where Brust makes his plot complex.
Here he thinks that he has done so, but still the twists and turns are really only to give Vlad a complex time of it, and the plot itself makes little sense in the political scheme of things of his world building. It is more something you would see in our modern age where a new scandal is created so that an old scandal is taken out of the news cycle. All fabrication that is very flimsy for a proper Vlad story.
This series was very strong at one time, but now there are imitators and there the heroes don't need more than a dozen books to take control of their lives. Not even many of the people we all know in reality need so many years and so many books to do so. Well past time Mr. Brust to find direction and provide it to Vlad and us.
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is now forcing this thinking it adds to his tales and universe.But those days are gone as we read through the 12th full length tale of Vlad. Wondering if there will ever be final resolution in his life, or if Brust just needs to let it out, stringing his followers along. They are short tomes, when you compare it to the Wheel of Time, or Game of Thrones, but they are not near as complex except where Brust makes his plot complex.
Here he thinks that he has done so, but still the twists and turns are really only to give Vlad a complex time of it, and the plot itself makes little sense in the political scheme of things of his world building. It is more something you would see in our modern age where a new scandal is created so that an old scandal is taken out of the news cycle. All fabrication that is very flimsy for a proper Vlad story.
This series was very strong at one time, but now there are imitators and there the heroes don't need more than a dozen books to take control of their lives. Not even many of the people we all know in reality need so many years and so many books to do so. Well past time Mr. Brust to find direction and provide it to Vlad and us.
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LibraryThing member JeremyPreacher
This is the newest one, both in terms of publication date and internal chronology, and while it wasn't all that exciting plot-wise, it sets up some things that I suspect will be important later. I don't think I can actually verbalize the appeal of these twisty little books anyway.
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
I remember not liking this very much the first time I read it, and now I can't imagine why, because it's all about one of my favorite things: the difference between law and justice, and when helping out your friends doesn't necessarily have anything to do with either one. It's got some excellent
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Vlad and Cawti bits, and it gets the whole gang back together again, and Loiosh is snarkily wonderful. Show Less
LibraryThing member Herenya
Iorich (In which Vlad must seek justice - but not too much of it) is set about eight years after Jhegaala and Dzur. Vlad is back in Adrilankha because a friend has been arrested. Vlad is faced with a tangled web of mysteries (and also the idiosyncrasies of the Empire's legal system). What does the
There’s less of Loiosh’s commentary, but all of my favourite characters make an appearance, so that was very satisfactory. From my perspective, that is; Vlad finds some of these interactions less than satisfactory.
I think this might be favourite of the Vlad books so far. The more of these books I read, the more I like them.
"What sort of bird is that?"
[Loiosh, to Vlad telepathically] "Okay, now I'm insulted."
"It's not a bird, it's a jhereg. A sort of flying reptile that eats dead things and makes sarcastic comments."
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Empress hope to gain by bringing those charges against Aliera, and why are none of Aliera's friends doing anything to help? And how can Vlad solve all of this while avoiding the people in Adrilankha who are determined to kill him?There’s less of Loiosh’s commentary, but all of my favourite characters make an appearance, so that was very satisfactory. From my perspective, that is; Vlad finds some of these interactions less than satisfactory.
I think this might be favourite of the Vlad books so far. The more of these books I read, the more I like them.
"What sort of bird is that?"
[Loiosh, to Vlad telepathically] "Okay, now I'm insulted."
"It's not a bird, it's a jhereg. A sort of flying reptile that eats dead things and makes sarcastic comments."
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LibraryThing member jrg1316
It's good to have another book set where Vlad belongs...in Adrilankha. This time, he has to not only defend Aliera from a bogus arrest but also figure out why she's not fighting the charges.
Overall, there was some nice build-up, but the conclusion was very anti-climactic and wrapped up a little too
Overall, there was some nice build-up, but the conclusion was very anti-climactic and wrapped up a little too
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neatly for my tastes. Still, it's a decent read. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
Book number 12 (by publication order) in Steven Brust's fantasy series centering on Vlad Taltos, former a crime boss and assassin and current wanted man. This time, Vlad returns to his home city, even though people are trying to kill him there, in order to help out a friend who's been arrested on
As usual, it's all very light and readable, with flashes of humor and a protagonist who balances competence with appealing fallibility. But the plot of this one just didn't do much for me. It's interesting enough in theory, I guess, and I did enjoy getting a glimpse of how the legal process works in this world -- I've often thought the world-building is possibly the best aspect of these books, and this is a decent example of that -- but in execution, the story kind of left me cold. Most of it just consists of conversations in which people are deliberately not saying things to each other, followed by Vlad making hard-to-follow leaps of logic about what they're not saying. Maybe none of that's actually unusual in this series, but I think it's taken a bit too far here, in ways that made it harder than it should have been for me to understand and care about what was going on.
Rating: 3/5, although I did consider giving it another half star just due to the worldbuilding stuff and my general feelings of good-will towards the series.
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trumped-up charges for political reasons.As usual, it's all very light and readable, with flashes of humor and a protagonist who balances competence with appealing fallibility. But the plot of this one just didn't do much for me. It's interesting enough in theory, I guess, and I did enjoy getting a glimpse of how the legal process works in this world -- I've often thought the world-building is possibly the best aspect of these books, and this is a decent example of that -- but in execution, the story kind of left me cold. Most of it just consists of conversations in which people are deliberately not saying things to each other, followed by Vlad making hard-to-follow leaps of logic about what they're not saying. Maybe none of that's actually unusual in this series, but I think it's taken a bit too far here, in ways that made it harder than it should have been for me to understand and care about what was going on.
Rating: 3/5, although I did consider giving it another half star just due to the worldbuilding stuff and my general feelings of good-will towards the series.
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LibraryThing member stuart10er
Aliera is framed and put on trial. Vlad must return to try to save her. Interesting - but not the best Vlad novel.
LibraryThing member mmyoung
As each Dragaera is published we find out more and more about the actual workings of an Empire. Brust makes this an examination of the justice system of Dragaera and the social relationships within the Empire at the same time as it is an examination of Vlad's relationships with friends, family and
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colleagues. Show Less
LibraryThing member Karlstar
Vlad returns to Adrlankha to find out why Aliera has been arrested. That's a risk for him, as the Jhereg are still hunting him. This is a good mix of Vlad snark, politics and Vlad's usual creative ways of solving problems - not all of which involve him making someone dead. I thought this was one of
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the better installments in the series, though it is a bit convoluted, which is normal for the author. Fast paced, witty and full of great characters and dialogue. Highly recommended. Show Less