Dzur

Dzur (2006) Steven Brust

I’ve been reading Steven Brusts Vlad Taltos novels since about 1994, and I’ve been snatching them up eagerly as they’ve come out–at least until Dzur. Not because I don’t still love Vlad, but because I love reading this books, and don’t like reading hardback. So I decided to bite the bullet and wait until it came out in paperback. (One, I didn’t want to buy it twice [no matter how much I love Steven Brusts writing], two, because a hardback would ruin my organization, forcing the on to be placed not with the rest of the series, but with the hardback books, and three, because I just don’t like enjoy reading hardback books. And as often as I re-read this series, I wanted to make sure I’d be able to curl up with this book, just like I do the rest of the series.)

So although I waited until Dzur came out in paperback, I also have had it on pre-order since last spring. And when I found it by my door last night, I started reading almost as soon as I tore the box open.

How does Dzur fit into the series? It’s set immediately (and by immediately I mean no more than a few hours later) after the events of Issola. It begins with Vlad’s long dreamed for meal at Valibar’s, and every chapter starts with a description of a course of that meal. So don’t read Dzur if you’re hungry. You’ll regret it. (Despite having just eaten, at about the midpoint of the book I wanted to go out to a really good restaurant and have a really good meal. Because my stomach was starting to get jealous.) Unfortunately, Vlad’s meal is interrupted–not by an assassination attempt, but by the appearance of someone we haven’t seen since Five Hundred Years After. And this someone has information for Vlad that changes his plans of coming to town for a meal at Valibar’s then leaving immediately for somewhere else before he’s spotted.

The nice thing about Dzur is we get to spend time with some characters we haven’t seen for awhile, including Kiera the Thief and Kragar. We also see Cawti, but as expected, those meetings are not necessarily satisfactory.

There were six years between Issola and Dzur. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. I enjoyed the story, and it was a nice addition to the series, but it wasn’t quite as good as Issola, Jhereg, and Dragon. But it was nowhere near as dark as Teckla and Phoenix, two of my least favorite books in the series. But for anyone following the series, this is going to be required.

Although some of Vlad’s biggest problems remain unresolved, the story arc of this book is completed (always important as far as I’m concerned) and we come to the realization that some of Vlad’s problems may never be resolved in a satisfactory manner. I also liked the book didn’t take the easy way out and attempt to solve some of Vlad’s problems with a quick and dirty (and ultimately unsatisfactory) solution. So major kudos for that.

Am I impatient already for the next book? Most definitely, especially since I know that Jhegaala has already been edited, and he’s currently writing Iorich. Impatient enough to buy them in hardback? Probably not. But it’s good to know more Vlad books are in the works and we won’t have to wait six years for the story to continue.

If you have not before read a Vlad book, this is not the best place to start. You should be able to follow along, but you’ll really be missing out, not just on the back story, but also on the context of many of the comments.
Rating: 8/10

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