Athyra
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Athyra (1993) Steven Brust
Once you get past the fact that it is not written from Vlad’s point of view, Athyra is a very good book. The story is told from the point of view of Sven. It’s not first person like the other Vlad books, but we know Sven’s thoughts and feelings and impressions as he eventually meets Vlad. It also has several passages from the point of view of Rocza, which I found very interesting. After all, unlike Liosh, she came to Vlad full grown, and is still a wild creature.
Chronologically, Athyra follows Phoenix. Vlad is on the road, and still on the run from the Jhereg. He wanders into the village near Smallcliff, and almost immediately, someone turns up dead. As a stranger–and an Easterner–suspicious immediately falls upon Vlad. Vlad tells Sven that although he knew Reins, he was not directly responsible for his death.
As I said, it is a bit of a shock to read Vlad’s story from someone else’s point. But once you get past it, the story is interesting. So far it is the only book written from the point of view of a Teckla, and unlike the other books that have Teckla, this one is entirely sympathetic. (As much as I love The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After, the Teckla seem there for humor and to lightly make fun of, rather than as characters that we should care about.
And it is an interesting point of view. Sven is a peasant who is learning to be a healer, and unlike those from the big city of Adrilankha, is concerned with things of a rural nature: the harvest, his apprenticeship. It is a very different point of view of Dragaera than any of the other books, which is one of the things that makes it so interesting.
Additionally, the cover somewhat gives away the tone of the book, although I didn’t notice it initially. The Jhereg landing on the arm of a man who is all but unseen, off the edge of the cover.
Like Teckla, this book is quite different from the other books in the series, unlike Teckla, the story is not as painful to read–for one thing, all of Vlad’s suffering is viewed through Sven’s eyes, and that distance makes things a little easier.
Rating: 7/10
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