betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry) (09/07/84)
Jhereg, by Steven Brust, Ace Fantasy, $2.50
Mini-review: Buy it! Saint the author! If you like assassins, you'll
love this one.
Normal review: *Jhereg* is a devious tale concerning an assassin named
Vlad Taltos, who lives in a town called Adrilankha which makes Lankhmar
look normal. (Maybe it's the 'kh' which does it.) It's about devious
maneuvers, life-death battles, Death, Loyalty, Honour, Subtlety,
and several other good words. Let me give a brief sample (non-spoiler)
of the text:
... At the other extreme from simply killing someone and leaving his body
to be found and, possibly, revivified, is a special kind of murder
which is almost never done. To take an example, let us say that an
assassin whom you have hired is caught by the Empire and tells them
who hired him, in exchange for his worthless soul.
What do you do? You've already marked him as dead -- no way the Empire
can protect him enough to keep a top-notch assassin out. But that isn't
enough; not for someone low enough to talk to the Empire about you. So
what do you do? You scrape together, oh, at least six thousand gold,
and you arrange to meet with the best assassin you can find -- an absolute
top-notch professional -- and give him the name of the target, and you say
"Morganti."
Jhereg is as twisted as your favorite DNA; half-way through the book
the hero is in a position in which he has the choice of:
1. Dishonoring his closest friend and touching off the equivalent
of a jihad.
2. Sparing the friend's honor, losing his own honor (and subsequently
his life), and having the same blood-feud happen anyway.
It's set in a world where everybody is dangerous (those who aren't, die),
and most are cruel. There are several conversations between angry friends
which sent shivers up my spine.
Furthermore, there's a prequel, Yendi. But read Jhereg first.
"No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder-blades
will seriously cramp his style."
--
Betsy Perry
UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy "What is Truth?" said
CSNET: betsy@dartmouth jesting Pilate; and would
ARPA: betsy%dartmouth@csnet-relay not stay for an answer.lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (09/20/84)
This is an enthusiastic endorsement of dartvax!betsy's recommendation of _Jhereg_ and _Yendi_, written by Steven Brust. Note that the events in _Yendi_ (the second book) occur *before* the events in Jhereg, and it's better to read it first. I'm hoping Brust will see fit to complete the cycle with 15 more. Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher
kentb@tekchips.UUCP (Kent Beck) (09/23/84)
I think that it is better to read the Brust books in the order they were written. One of the best things about them is that like many other books in a series the latter books refer to the earlier, but in this case the references are such that enjoyment of the earlier books is not ruined by reading them in reverse order. I found this one of the most intriguing things about these books. In any case, by all means read them! Kent L. Beck tektronix!tekchips!kentb
mcdaniel@uiucdcsb.UUCP (09/28/84)
Ditto on endorsement of Jhereg.