Jhereg by Steven Brust
Review by Jordan S.
Sometimes you just need to reread an old favorite.
Jhereg by Steven Brust is the literary equivalent of comfort food for me. I know when I pick up one of his Vlad Taltos books (usually being a reread) that I’m going to enjoy it just as much, if not more, than the last time I picked it up. In much the same way I love Sebastien de Castell’s Greatcoats and Argosi books, the Taltos books feel a similar space in my heart. They are stories about an imperfect hero who, despite his imperfections, tries each day to be better than he was the day before.
Vlad Taltos, our protagonist, is an assassin with a heart of gold. He is a lowly Easterner (human) in a world ruled by Dragaerans (think elves that in millenia past were experimented on and had their genetics merged with seventeen species of creatures that most of the books take their names from). Despite this, he has created a place of some prominence for himself as a mobster-esque community figure who punishes muggers and thieves in the neighborhood he lives in and also acts as a sometime assassin where he has gained a very small amount of respect from the Jhereg house of Dragaerans that his father purchased a place for him in.
He’s joined by his best friend, Loiosh the jhereg (think miniature psychic dragon creature and don’t confuse it with the Dragaeran house that shares its name). Loiosh is easily the best part of these books. He’s snarky and he keeps Vlad from taking himself too seriously. Take for example one of their dialogues from the book (Loiosh always speaks in italics),
“She shook her head. ‘Gods, but it’s weird!’
‘What is it? Will you tell me already? You’re as bad as Loiosh.’
‘Remember that crack next time you roll over in bed and find a dead teckla on your pillow.’”
Another great Taltos/Loiosh dialogue comes shortly after,
“‘Hey boss,’ said Loiosh, ‘cut it out’
I sobered up. ‘Easy for you to say,’ I told him. ‘You haven’t just learned that you once were everything you hate - the very kind of person you despise.’
‘So? You haven’t just learned that you were supposed to be a blithering idiot, except for some pseudo-god decided to have a little fun with your ancestors,’ Loiosh barked back.
I realized he had a point. I turned to Kragar. ‘I’m all right now. Thanks.’”
The witty banter between Loiosh and Taltos is the best part of these books and is one of the things that I keep coming back and rereading these books for.
The supporting cast is also phenomenal. We have the found family of sorts that Vlad has surrounded himself with. We have his terrifyingly proficient assassin wife, Cawti. We also have the Dragaerans that have grown to respect Vlad; from House Dragon, the enigmatic Morrolon and his cousin Aliera and the ‘eldritch but affable’ Sethra, who I only realized as I was reading this book is one of the few Dragaerans that we don’t ever learn what House she belongs to. We also have Vlad’s assistant/bodyguard/sneak Kragar, who always brings levity to every page he is on.
Despite my love for the characters, the plot of this first book is also fantastic. Vlad finds himself being hired by one of the most feared members of House Jhereg, the Demon, to kill someone who has absconded off with most of House Jhereg’s house funds. Obviously this is a bad thing to happen for the House whose role in the cycle of houses is to be the mobsters of the group. This becomes increasingly problematic as he discovers that the thief has taken up residence in the one place that Vlad literally can’t touch him; as the protected guest in Morrolon’s castle. As things get increasingly dire and threats of full war between the Dragaeran houses begin to be thrown around, Vlad has to stay ahead of assassins and sorceresses and try and find a way to salvage a situation that is quickly going south. The book has the pacing of a great mystery novel and throughout the book you are rooting for Vlad to solve the mystery of how to kill the thief without violating the honor of Morrolon’s house, which also just happens to be a giant floating castle.
If you are looking for a fun, quick read look no further than Jhereg by Steven Brust. It’s simultaneously a fantasy novel with immaculate world-building, a fast paced mystery, and one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It’s also a book with immense heart and you find yourself wanting to be friends with Taltos, Loiosh and their friends.
To conclude, I want to offer a short anecdote. Several years ago, Ed and I had the opportunity to meet Steven Brust alongside one of our friends, Luke (can be found on Instagram as Book_Dad_Luke). We had made a road trip to Minneapolis for Minicon 50, the local sci-fi and fantasy literary convention held there each Easter weekend. We were most excited to see Brandon Sanderson speak and to a lesser extent, science fiction author Larry Niven. However, the moment that stands out to me the most was meeting Brust. The way he talked about his writing and specifically about how writing can help create a better world was infectious and I left Minicon with several of his Taltos books. The moment with Brust that was most memorable was when Luke asked him to sign a copy of Brust’s the Incrementalists with some words of wisdom. Brust made some joke and then signed Luke’s book with the simple message of “We can always do better.” I’ve thought a lot about that in the decade since and to me that is the message of Jhereg and the Vlad Taltos books as a whole. We can do better. Even if we are just a lowly human assassin whose only saving grace is his psychic bond to a sarcastic jhereg.