Entry tags:
More Taltos: Iorich, Vallista, Hawk
I skipped a couple of books - I haven't yet read Jhegaala or Tiassa, but I also got the general impression that I could skip both of those without it affecting my enjoyment of the overall series much (a side benefit to a series that jumps around in the timeline as much as this one does). I also read Vallista before Hawk, because of library shenanigans, and I actually kinda think they worked better that way.
But yeah, I am all caught up now (except for an odd skipped book here and there)! And I feel like it was a good note to finish on -- there's a weak spot in the middle of the series, I think, but the last couple of books are great.
Iorich: The plot of this book felt nearly as aimless as Dzur (Vlad walks around the city; stuff happens; not a lot of progress on any of the main plot threads) but I enjoyed it more. There were a lot of charming bits, particularly Vlad deciding to sneak up on Kragar for a change, and I enjoyed the Iorich, who are endearingly weird and nerdy.
Vallista: This book was a riveting delight - which surprised me a little since none of the major supporting characters appear and only a couple of minor ones, but it had me from start to finish. The house was so cool and weird, I really enjoyed the book-only supporting characters and Vlad's changing relationship with them, and all the meta-arc stuff was GREAT. I know they've dropped various clues in multiple books about Dragaera being an experiment, but I think this book is the first one where we've had solid confirmation of how it all works, and there's so much game-changing stuff in this book about Dragaerans and the Cycle (and Devera, and Vlad's past lives, too).![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija and I had an extensive email conversation about this (she's reading along with me) and I can't get over how much going all the way back to the very first book is cast in a whole new light by everything we find out about Dragaerans later, but still works. In particular, this puts a whole new spin on some of Vlad's offhand comments about Dragaerans' lack of imagination and their only having one word for a lot of things Easterners have many words for (they just don't care about anything outside their House's area of obsession; they're designed that way!). I need to pull all of that together into a post.
Hawk: And then this was an absolutely fantastic note to end on, with everyone coming together to help Vlad get out from under the Jhereg once and for all, whether he wants their help or not. The whole scene with Kragar getting stabbed was everything I could've wanted from a scene like that (Vlad taking off the amulet without a second thought; Aliera's reaction to being talked into healing a Jhereg ex-Dragonlord; Vlad's utter and yet understated distress during all of this) and I love how his friends spend the entire book being like "LET. US. HELP!! YOU!!!!" and giving him whatever he wants instantly whenever he asks for it. Most of the character relationships I'm invested in got some really nice interaction (Vlad and Teldra included!); we even checked back in with some of the past ones (Vlad and Sara, Vlad and Savn). I spent most of the book in a growing state of anxiety that Vlad's plans were going to go catastrophically wrong at the end in a way that was going to make things even worse... and well, I guess that's sort of true, and I'm not sure how to take the very last scene, but the thing I was most afraid of (due to Vlad dropping various hints like "well, no matter what, this is the last time I'll ever see THIS place again") is that Vlad's plan had some kind of horrific side effect built in (like he was going to genuinely fake his own death and never be able to talk to any of his friends again), and that didn't happen, so I'm very curious to see where the books go from here.
ETA: Oh, and I also love how years of running and being isolated has been wearing down Vlad's mental and physical health -- I mean, okay, I don't love it because VLAAAAAD, but I love the way that this is instantly apparent to people who know him, all of whose reaction upon first seeing him the last book or two has been some variation on "Wow, Vlad, you look terrible". And I'm really glad that he can start getting back to having a life now, hopefully, whatever form that's going to take.
I don't know what the experience of reading Vallista and Hawk in publication order would've been like since I didn't do that, but I honestly felt it worked better this way than the other way around since the house on the cliff plays an important role, and this also meant that I got to finish up with a book that was really focused on Vlad's relationships with his family and friends instead of one where he's off wandering around doing his own thing, which was accidental, of course, but it was a good set of feelings to stop on.
And now, a Very Important Poll! We're down to only 3 animals remaining in the Cycle. Which House is the next book going to focus on? (Includes the info on what each animal represents from the Cycle list at the beginning of the last few books, since that tends to be important to each book's theme.)
p.s. I love getting to actually see the House animals in the latest version of the Cycle list. The dog with the unicorn horn! The webspinning fox! (Up to that point, I assumed chreotha were spiders.)
But yeah, I am all caught up now (except for an odd skipped book here and there)! And I feel like it was a good note to finish on -- there's a weak spot in the middle of the series, I think, but the last couple of books are great.
Iorich: The plot of this book felt nearly as aimless as Dzur (Vlad walks around the city; stuff happens; not a lot of progress on any of the main plot threads) but I enjoyed it more. There were a lot of charming bits, particularly Vlad deciding to sneak up on Kragar for a change, and I enjoyed the Iorich, who are endearingly weird and nerdy.
Vallista: This book was a riveting delight - which surprised me a little since none of the major supporting characters appear and only a couple of minor ones, but it had me from start to finish. The house was so cool and weird, I really enjoyed the book-only supporting characters and Vlad's changing relationship with them, and all the meta-arc stuff was GREAT. I know they've dropped various clues in multiple books about Dragaera being an experiment, but I think this book is the first one where we've had solid confirmation of how it all works, and there's so much game-changing stuff in this book about Dragaerans and the Cycle (and Devera, and Vlad's past lives, too).
rachelmanija and I had an extensive email conversation about this (she's reading along with me) and I can't get over how much going all the way back to the very first book is cast in a whole new light by everything we find out about Dragaerans later, but still works. In particular, this puts a whole new spin on some of Vlad's offhand comments about Dragaerans' lack of imagination and their only having one word for a lot of things Easterners have many words for (they just don't care about anything outside their House's area of obsession; they're designed that way!). I need to pull all of that together into a post.Hawk: And then this was an absolutely fantastic note to end on, with everyone coming together to help Vlad get out from under the Jhereg once and for all, whether he wants their help or not. The whole scene with Kragar getting stabbed was everything I could've wanted from a scene like that (Vlad taking off the amulet without a second thought; Aliera's reaction to being talked into healing a Jhereg ex-Dragonlord; Vlad's utter and yet understated distress during all of this) and I love how his friends spend the entire book being like "LET. US. HELP!! YOU!!!!" and giving him whatever he wants instantly whenever he asks for it. Most of the character relationships I'm invested in got some really nice interaction (Vlad and Teldra included!); we even checked back in with some of the past ones (Vlad and Sara, Vlad and Savn). I spent most of the book in a growing state of anxiety that Vlad's plans were going to go catastrophically wrong at the end in a way that was going to make things even worse... and well, I guess that's sort of true, and I'm not sure how to take the very last scene, but the thing I was most afraid of (due to Vlad dropping various hints like "well, no matter what, this is the last time I'll ever see THIS place again") is that Vlad's plan had some kind of horrific side effect built in (like he was going to genuinely fake his own death and never be able to talk to any of his friends again), and that didn't happen, so I'm very curious to see where the books go from here.
ETA: Oh, and I also love how years of running and being isolated has been wearing down Vlad's mental and physical health -- I mean, okay, I don't love it because VLAAAAAD, but I love the way that this is instantly apparent to people who know him, all of whose reaction upon first seeing him the last book or two has been some variation on "Wow, Vlad, you look terrible". And I'm really glad that he can start getting back to having a life now, hopefully, whatever form that's going to take.
I don't know what the experience of reading Vallista and Hawk in publication order would've been like since I didn't do that, but I honestly felt it worked better this way than the other way around since the house on the cliff plays an important role, and this also meant that I got to finish up with a book that was really focused on Vlad's relationships with his family and friends instead of one where he's off wandering around doing his own thing, which was accidental, of course, but it was a good set of feelings to stop on.
And now, a Very Important Poll! We're down to only 3 animals remaining in the Cycle. Which House is the next book going to focus on? (Includes the info on what each animal represents from the Cycle list at the beginning of the last few books, since that tends to be important to each book's theme.)
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10
What's the next Dragaera book going to be?
View Answers
Lyorn (tradition and duty)
5 (50.0%)
Tsalmoth (unpredictability and tenacity)
4 (40.0%)
Chreotha (forethought and ensnarement)
1 (10.0%)
Something not an animal, along the lines of "Taltos"
0 (0.0%)
p.s. I love getting to actually see the House animals in the latest version of the Cycle list. The dog with the unicorn horn! The webspinning fox! (Up to that point, I assumed chreotha were spiders.)
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No, serious, that's interesting to know! I wonder if it'll be set after Hawk or somewhere earlier along the timeline?
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When I think about the impending, it-might-actually-happen ending of the Vlad series, I mostly remember Brust at a con, early 2000s, being earnestly asked by a fan if he had left notes somewhere safe summarizing how everything would conclude, just in case he died before he finished.
“No,” Brust said, deadpan. “If I die I want all of you to suffer too.”
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Ha! I knew about the lack of notes, but not the motivation. LOL!
Two years ago, Brust had said the tentatively-Tsalmoth book was (tentatively?) set between Yendi and Jhereg (which is a really odd place to set one of your books when trying to wrap up a series, but hey, I love earl Vlad, so I wouldn't be complaining...), but I don't think I've seen anything either confirming or contradicting that since.
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The foreshadowing is just brilliant. I'm waiting for your post on that and Dragaerans to comment on it.
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Like
Also, I'm going to friend you/subscribe to you, if you don't mind, so I can continue witnessing your Dragaera adventures in real time?
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I think it's interesting that I had never read these books before, because I'm a bibliophile who is exactly the right age to have encountered these in the 80s, and I read all the other usual fantasy from that era as one does (Lackey, McCaffrey, Zelazny, etc) but I had somehow missed out on Brust completely. I kinda vaguely knew of it, and even tried to read a random book in the series in the 90s (I absolutely do not remember which one now), and bounced off completely. I also somehow came away with the idea of Vlad as precisely the type of asshole loner hero that I'm not really into.
... and then I borrowed the first book from
ETA: And yes, I agree about Lyorn! It's a definite departure for Vlad, and therefore promises to be a lot of fun.
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Small chance of that, as, having looked through your tags, we have a lot of other small book fandoms in common, including some that are still adding to the canon, like Rivers of London and Dresden Files (well, theoretically anyway. Hurry up, Jim!)
I kinda vaguely knew of it, and even tried to read a random book in the series in the 90s (I absolutely do not remember which one now), and bounced off completely.
It's a really odd series for me, too, because I'd been aware / casually following it for years -- I read part of The Phoenix Guards in high school, and was very confused by the Dumas pastiche, and then read Jhereg not long after, and liked it, but I guess not enough to track down the other books? I kept reading the books as I came across them, completely out of order -- and then at some point, after reading Dzur, I think? which I don't even like as a book that much, but I must have hit some kind of Dragaera critical mass with it? -- the casual reading just sparked into full-blown obsession. I think it's one thing the Dragaera books do amazingly well -- the whole really is greater than the sum of its (entertaining) parts. But it also makes it a really difficult series to recommend to people, I find, because I end up saying things like, "OK, so these books are fun, but to REALLY appreciate them, you have to read the first 5, or 8, or 10" XP
and also to have people to talk to them about! :D
I think you have collected the entirety of Dragaera fandom on DW in this post, which I am delighted about! :D
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I'm most interested in Lyorn because I hope Noish-pa will appear in it.
(Here via Rachel.)
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Vlad: Aliera, I need you to heal Kragar.
Aliera: LOLNOPE
Vlad: He's dying and it's all my fault and I'm sad. :(
Aliera: .... fine but you owe me.
Vlad's friends are such pushovers for him. :D
(I miss Noish-pa! I don't think we've seen him since Phoenix, have we? I do like the occasional mention of Vlad going to visit him, but I wish he would actually appear in another book. I also hope Morrolan stayed in touch with him because that would be a truly delightful friendship.)
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I agree about Morrolan making friends with him! Noish-pa at Castle Black is one of my other favorite parts of the series.
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I feel like he absolutely must have, because first, Vlad asked him to look out for Noish-Pa when he left, and that seems like the sort of responsibility Morrolan would take seriously, and second, I can't see Morrolan passing up a chance to get to know Noish-Pa better, both as a master witch and as Vlad's grandfather. I hope we get canon confirmation of Morrolan dropping by Lake Szurke to visit him occasionally, but even if not, it's an indelible part of my headcanon for the series :)
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That was, uh. Well. I just read a whole lot of words, and what I got out of it
aside from the fact that Kragar loves Vladis that we just spent one whole novel solving half of a problem...I do love most of the art, but I'm mad about the Orca - it's not supposed to be the Earth animal, but something much toothier and nastier. There was some fabulous art by one of the author's friends that instantly became my Orca headcanon; I'll see if I can track it down!
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Ahahaha. I did find the sudden materialization of a whole different and even more troubling branch of the problem at the very end of the book kind of ... um. I also feel as if Vlad actually has solved his entire problem, at least mostly, if the Right Hand now has a strong vested interest in keeping him alive, because in that case Vlad's death would effectively send the Right Hand to war against the Left, and I doubt if anybody wants that. So basically I don't think the Left Hand is that much more likely to kill him than they were before, and therefore I have no idea why Vlad is so sure they're going to.
I also feel a bit weird about that final scene with Vlad throwing away the amulet, because if the Left Hand wants him dead that bad, wouldn't he basically be dead within about 5 seconds of taking the amulet off?
So in general, I don't know how to take that last scene, and therefore I'm not thinking about it. I loved the book other than that, though.