The reread of the Vlad Taltos series continues with Dzur. Dzur picks up where Issola left off. Exactly where it left off. Vlad finds himself, in an attempt to help his ex-wife Cawti, in a power struggle amongst the Jhereg.
This is a middling entry in the series. After the almost cosmic events of the previous book, Dzur feels pedestrian. In a sense it is a return to Vlad’s roots: a story set in the city of Adrilankha, dealing with the potentially deadly consequences of a territorial dispute — though there are two territories in question in Dzur: South Adrilankha and, given the power vacuum left at the death of the head of the Organization, the whole enchilada.
Despite these stakes, and despite the fact that the theme is self-sacrificing heroics, Dzur is rather uneventful. There is little action. Vlad spends most of the novel wandering about in disguise, having discussions. As Lady Teldra does seem to have influenced his personality, the almost self-destructively high level of snark is less apparent in these discussions, as I feared. Though the internal dialogue between Vlad and Loiosh does provide a welcome venue for the sarcasm.
There isn’t much in the way of action. This may have been a deliberate choice of Brust’s: writing a novel themed around the Dragaeran house noted for suicidal, one-on-overwhelming odds attacks, honor duels, and all around heroics, and then subverting expectations by concentrating heavily on food and conversation rather than combat, and turning the final confrontation into textbook anticlimax.
As this was a Cawti novel, I had some concerns that Brust might trot out his worst Trotskyite impulses. I was pleased to discover that he didn’t lean into it; with one glaring exception. The blinkered worldview revealed on page 107 and the petty obloquy aimed at the petty bourgeoisie briefly broke my immersion in the story. But, I suppose Brust had it sitting in his craw and needed to hawk it up onto the page. A small thing, and not overtly repeated elsewhere in Dzur.
In all, a moderately entertaining entry, diminished somewhat by comparison with the quality run of the last three or so books. I must note that it was nice to meet Kragar again.
So, have you read the first two Twilight Galaxy novels? Dekason. Long Gambit. Pick them up before the third one arrives.
