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Title: Jhereg
Author: Steven Burst
Genre: High fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: An assassin gets an assignment that's too tempting to turn down, but might be too dangerous to execute. Uh, no pun intended.
Thoughts: Cynical assassin is a pretty well-worn fantasy trope at this point, and the Dragaerans are pretty much reskinned elves-but-gritty. Yet Burst manages to breathe some new life into old stereotypes for a clever, witty romp.
A lot of the appeal is voice--Vlad is every bit the too-clever-and-arrogant-for-his-own-good antihero we've gotten used to in urban fantasy, but that doesn't mean the trope doesn't continue to be fun. And Vlad is an unusually funny version, even when things get a little dark. (This is not super-gritty dark, either--there are assassins, pimps, and the occasional bit of torture, but no serial killers, on-page rape, graphic descriptions of exploding heads, etc. PG-13, perhaps.)
The mystery turns out to be convoluted, yet clever. Vlad's solution even more so.
The series is apparently written out of chronological order. This, the first book in publication order, hints at dozens of madcap adventures in Vlad's past. The plot itself hinges on actions committed years, decades, and even millenia before. The tone, however, is not lofty epic fantasy, but in-the-street, concerned with little people's marriages and friendships and restaurants. Overall, it leads to a lived-in feeling for the world in general, with promise of plenty of witty, convoluted adventures to come.
Author: Steven Burst
Genre: High fantasy
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: An assassin gets an assignment that's too tempting to turn down, but might be too dangerous to execute. Uh, no pun intended.
Thoughts: Cynical assassin is a pretty well-worn fantasy trope at this point, and the Dragaerans are pretty much reskinned elves-but-gritty. Yet Burst manages to breathe some new life into old stereotypes for a clever, witty romp.
A lot of the appeal is voice--Vlad is every bit the too-clever-and-arrogant-for-his-own-good antihero we've gotten used to in urban fantasy, but that doesn't mean the trope doesn't continue to be fun. And Vlad is an unusually funny version, even when things get a little dark. (This is not super-gritty dark, either--there are assassins, pimps, and the occasional bit of torture, but no serial killers, on-page rape, graphic descriptions of exploding heads, etc. PG-13, perhaps.)
The mystery turns out to be convoluted, yet clever. Vlad's solution even more so.
The series is apparently written out of chronological order. This, the first book in publication order, hints at dozens of madcap adventures in Vlad's past. The plot itself hinges on actions committed years, decades, and even millenia before. The tone, however, is not lofty epic fantasy, but in-the-street, concerned with little people's marriages and friendships and restaurants. Overall, it leads to a lived-in feeling for the world in general, with promise of plenty of witty, convoluted adventures to come.
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Date: 2014-11-11 06:54 pm (UTC)From: