It's been a while since Brust has had anything published and I had forgotten this was finally out in paperback. Vlad Taltos is back in Adrilanka and is back in trouble - this time on the behalf of his ex-wife Cawti. When Vlad and Cawti divorsed, she was left in charge of certain "groups" in Adrilanka, and in the intern things have spun out of control. Vlad offered to help sort things out at great risk to his life and limb.
I enjoy Brust's books, and this one was witty and fun. Brust writes fast moving dialog and little in the way of description - a *very* nice change from certain scifi and fantasy tomes I know of. What I particularily liked were the "interludes" of Vlad describing a 7 course meal from his favorite restaurant. What I didn't care for was Vlad wandering around Adrilanka in disguise, wondering what to do about his predicament between the 7 coarse dinner interludes. It became tiresome. And I've never quite been able to believe is familiar would call him "Boss". It's the one thing about the series that drives me nuts. A dragon call his companion "Boss"...
Still, I look forward to the next book (due out this year sometime??). I always do.
2 comments:
See, now that's interesting, because I hate it when Brust breaks up the story with flashbacks. He did it in Taltos, too, and I think it's just annoying and pretentious.
While it was nice that in this book Vlad is actually out doing things, I still found it seriously annoying, as I noted in my review when it first came out. For one thing, we are inside Vlad's head as he turns everything over in his mind, trying to decide what to do, and then once he's decided he keeps it secret from us. Bah.
Also, his plan, as is often the case, is to walk into danger without much of a plan and hope that his powerful friends can get him out. I've come to the conclusion that Vlad is kind of an annoying dipshit. I probably should have realized this sooner, but I loved the first few so much that I was willing to forgive his many flaws. I'm fifteen years older now, and I have a lot less patience for dipshits than I did back then.
The last good book Brust wrote was Dragon, and that was 10 years ago. He is no longer on my buy in hardback list.
Yup, it was the flashbacks (aka Vlad's reminicing about one heck of a good meal) that I enjoyed and could have skipped the main story.
I am planning on re-reading the series because I seem to recall I got fed up with Vlad a bit earlier, but I don't remember.
Still, I like the stories because they are such light brain candy between some of the SF books.
Post a Comment