Jhereg
Ehr. Mah. Gerd.
Vlad Taltos. Oh what’s that? Is that a badass name for a badass main character? Why yes, yes it is. Look at that name. Look at it.It fits him perfectly. Clear. Concise. Ominous .
You know your MC is a badass when he’s in the middle of an internal monologue and subtly lets slip that he’s been (view spoiler) before and then just keeps on talking like it’s no big deal. I was all “La-la-la, this story is neato!” but then "Wait. Wut?” I had to go back and read it again before demanding that someone shut the front door.
And it just keeps going like that. Right when you think that you can settle down and relax for a frigging minute he tells you how he met his wife. You know how people meet, fall in love and then wind up wanting to kill each other? Yeah, that…but backwards.
His wife is just one of many badass females in this story. There’s also a dragon, a master thief and…Sethra. I have no idea what she is. Actually, she sort of skeeves me out. Undead dragon? Necromatic nightmare? I dunno. Either way, I don’t recommend messing with her.
So here’s where I would normally go into detail about the plot and the world building and blah, blah, blah and I just tried to do that and not only can I not do it without confusing the hell out of all of you *cough* and myself *cough* but I don’t want to put it in here because I just…can’t. It’s too good and there’s no way in hell I’ll do it justice. Just know that the worldbuilding is strong without ever feeling like an info-dump, the descriptions of magic are detailed without ever being overwhelming and the plot is superb. I couldn’t even guess at the next twist because I. Never. Saw. Them. Coming.
HOW REFRESHING
Okay so what else? I suppose I should tell you not to go into this thinking High Fantasy. There isn’t paragraph after paragraph devoted to the painting of epic scenery, there aren’t highly detailed descriptions of clothing or customs, this is more of a head game. Most of the book is devoted to our MC and his support cast trying to figure out just what the hell is going on.
I’ll leave you with an example of why I had so much damn fun while reading this. You see, not only is the MC a badass but he has this dry sense of humor that pervades every single page. I pretty much had a shit eating grin on my face from the beginning to the end, so if you like some fantasy mixed with a good mystery and served up with a side of snark, then I urge you to try Jhereg. You won’t regret it.
“She smiled at me. We were all friends here. Morrolan carried Blackwand, which slew a thousand at the Wall of Barrit’s Tomb. Aliera carried Pathfinder, which they say served a power higher than the Empire. Sethra carried Iceflame, which embodied within it the power of the Dzur Mountain. I carried myself rather well, thank you.”
Buddy read with Anne and Kathie!
Vlad Taltos. Oh what’s that? Is that a badass name for a badass main character? Why yes, yes it is. Look at that name. Look at it.It fits him perfectly. Clear. Concise. Ominous .
You know your MC is a badass when he’s in the middle of an internal monologue and subtly lets slip that he’s been (view spoiler) before and then just keeps on talking like it’s no big deal. I was all “La-la-la, this story is neato!” but then "Wait. Wut?” I had to go back and read it again before demanding that someone shut the front door.
And it just keeps going like that. Right when you think that you can settle down and relax for a frigging minute he tells you how he met his wife. You know how people meet, fall in love and then wind up wanting to kill each other? Yeah, that…but backwards.
His wife is just one of many badass females in this story. There’s also a dragon, a master thief and…Sethra. I have no idea what she is. Actually, she sort of skeeves me out. Undead dragon? Necromatic nightmare? I dunno. Either way, I don’t recommend messing with her.
So here’s where I would normally go into detail about the plot and the world building and blah, blah, blah and I just tried to do that and not only can I not do it without confusing the hell out of all of you *cough* and myself *cough* but I don’t want to put it in here because I just…can’t. It’s too good and there’s no way in hell I’ll do it justice. Just know that the worldbuilding is strong without ever feeling like an info-dump, the descriptions of magic are detailed without ever being overwhelming and the plot is superb. I couldn’t even guess at the next twist because I. Never. Saw. Them. Coming.
HOW REFRESHING
Okay so what else? I suppose I should tell you not to go into this thinking High Fantasy. There isn’t paragraph after paragraph devoted to the painting of epic scenery, there aren’t highly detailed descriptions of clothing or customs, this is more of a head game. Most of the book is devoted to our MC and his support cast trying to figure out just what the hell is going on.
I’ll leave you with an example of why I had so much damn fun while reading this. You see, not only is the MC a badass but he has this dry sense of humor that pervades every single page. I pretty much had a shit eating grin on my face from the beginning to the end, so if you like some fantasy mixed with a good mystery and served up with a side of snark, then I urge you to try Jhereg. You won’t regret it.
“She smiled at me. We were all friends here. Morrolan carried Blackwand, which slew a thousand at the Wall of Barrit’s Tomb. Aliera carried Pathfinder, which they say served a power higher than the Empire. Sethra carried Iceflame, which embodied within it the power of the Dzur Mountain. I carried myself rather well, thank you.”
Buddy read with Anne and Kathie!
