I may or may not manage the task of rereading Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. Maybe I’ll complete it in time for publication of the last novel. I don’t know. At the moment, it seems a worthwhile, and achievable goal.
Reading any given book is personal experience. Each reader has a unique relationship with any given book, dependent upon the time, circumstances, and perhaps even physical location of the first reading. My connection with the Vlad Taltos books, starting specifically with the first one, Jhereg, goes back to high school, in the mid-eighties. From the opening lines, written in what I’ve termed first-person smart ass, I was hooked. Vlad Taltos was, to a teenager, cool. A mid-level mob boss, running his own territory for the syndicate, a hired assassin. Cool. To the middle-aged Ken, Vlad Taltos is still cool-ish, but with reservations. I appreciate the style and the underworld chic within a fantasy setting, but I can’t quite look at Vlad with the same eyes. He is, after all, a criminal. A murderer. An anti-hero.
Now, the rules of this setting allow for some shadings of moral impeachment. Vlad has an understandable chip on his shoulder. As a human, despised and belittled by the ruling Dragaera, he feels justified in using his position and skills for a bit of payback. (Regarding the Dragaera, think seven-foot tall elves, divided into seventeen sub-types by admixture of specific fantasy animal DNA, though that is an oversimplification.) Vlad’s attitude toward dragaera is complicated by the fact that he has so many friends among them. More importantly in establishing the precise shade of gray is the possible impermanence of death. A victim may be resurrected if not too badly damaged, meaning that an assassination might be the equivalent of being roughed up as a warning, or a leg broken as a reminder to pay a debt. Reincarnation is also, in this setting, a scientific fact. So, as long as the soul remains intact, there is a continuation of existence. Memory of past lives seems to be a rarity, however. The worst is a killing done with a soul-destroying weapon, the use of which does cause Vlad some qualms.
Now, even with this heavy, even grim background, Jhereg breezes right along. (I finally bothered reading the pronunciation guide at the front of the book and learned I’ve been pronouncing jhereg wrong all these decades. The emphasis is on the second syllable. I’m working on it.) With Vlad Taltos, Brust has created a memorable protagonist; quick witted, with a lively internal monologue (or dialogue, when in psychic contact with his familiar jhereg, a sort of flying lizard), sarcastic, dangerous, but aware of his limitations. He narrates his adventures with panache and humor.
Brust supplies hints and clues regarding the deeper background of this setting, one that might be considered science-fiction if you wish to be pedantic, with explanations for its sorcery and witchcraft. The dragaera are long-lived, surviving up to two thousand years. Their civilization goes back a quarter of a million years. That they seem to be the experimental results of another, older, more advanced race provides some deep time indeed.
The plot involves Vlad taking on an assassination contract, complicated by the fact that the target has taken refuge in a castle owned by one of his friends. The target is protected by the oath of hospitality of Vlad’s very powerful and influential friend. Figuring out how convince the target to leave voluntarily in a fantasy, Mission Impossible style finale, takes up the bulk of the novel, along with piecing together the mystery of the target’s background and motivation. Along the way, Brust builds his world, and introduces us the Vlad’s cast of characters and the city of Adrilankha, and throws in some sword fights and sorcery along the way.
As evidenced by the nearly two-dozen books employing the setting, there is plenty to explore. Brust, I believe, is in the process of wrapping up at least Vlad Taltos’ tale. I’ll be there for it.
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