Metaphorosis Reviews
Written on Dec 25, 2023
Summary
Vlad Taltos, having saved himself from the wrath of the Jhereg's criminal Right Hand, is now pursued by the sorcerous Left Hand, and must hide in a theater to save himself.
Review...Read more
2.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Vlad Taltos, having saved himself from the wrath of the Jhereg's criminal Right Hand, is now pursued by the sorcerous Left Hand, and must hide in a theater to save himself.
Review
I had expected Lyorn to be the last in the Taltos series; there are, after all, 17 Houses in the Cycle that it’s partly about. Some have suggested 18 books, perhaps because there are two lines for Phoenix in some diagrams. In any case, this book is not the last. I hope the next will be. Wikipedia suggests I’m wrong, but I’m not sure I can stretch to two more of these.
It’s disappointing when a favored author loses that favored status. Steven Brust came to my attention through the Liavek shared world series, and his stories were among the best in those books. On his own, I loved Jhereg, thought To Reign in Hell was terrific, enjoyed Brokedown Palace. I hated the Viscount of Adrilankha sub-subseries, and maybe even disliked the whole Khaavren Romances subseries, but every author’s allowed a fumble or two. As I’ve said before, though, it just feels like Brust is no longer trying – he’s like an actor who’s become known for a particular role and just does that, not even trying to bring anything new to his performances.
There’s a line somewhere between having fun and self-indulgence, and I’m sorry to say that Brust is on the wrong side of that here. He clearly wants to have fun with theater and music, bringing in lyrics for an in-story musical. Several have implicit melodies taken from popular musicals (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”), which I found uninteresting, but perhaps was intended as homage. The larger problem, though, is that the story feels considerably forced – warped to fit the musical element with very little justification. Seventeen books into a series, you can’t blame an author for having fun with the story, but I can and do blame Brust for sucking the fun and interest out of Vlad Taltos.
Trying plot aside, the rest is standard (and by now tired) Vlad – he has a problem, develops an overly complex and unlikely solution, calls on powerful friends to help, Loiosh makes sarcastic comments, talks about food, etc. There’s a little more development of the big mystery of Vlad’s involvement in divine matters, the Jenoine, the Serioli, etc., but no kind of resolution, which will clearly be another book. In another series, the little tidbits of the mystery would be the kind of thing that would call for a rereading of the entire series, seeing how all the pieces fit together. Here, I’m afraid, I just don’t care anymore. I do want to see the final reveal, so I’ll read that last book, but the chances I’ll go back and reread the series I started out loving are essentially nil. The little pieces of mystery are so sparse, so scattered, so convoluted, and so surrounded by Vlad Taltos formula that it just wouldn’t be fun.
I think Brust is a talented author, but it feels like he’s been coasting for years now – maybe decades – and it’s been a long time since I could count him as a true favorite. As for this book – if you’ve read recent Taltos books, it’s more of the same, but less interesting.
* Separately – I’m not sure I can blame the artist, since this seems to have been Brust’s design, but apparently a lyorn is just a dog with a unicorn horn stuck on.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
Vlad Taltos, having saved himself from the wrath of the Jhereg's criminal Right Hand, is now pursued by the sorcerous Left Hand, and must hide in a theater to save himself.
Review
I had expected Lyorn to be the last in the Taltos series; there are, after all, 17 Houses in the Cycle that it’s partly about. Some have suggested 18 books, perhaps because there are two lines for Phoenix in some diagrams. In any case, this book is not the last. I hope the next will be. Wikipedia suggests I’m wrong, but I’m not sure I can stretch to two more of these.
It’s disappointing when a favored author loses that favored status. Steven Brust came to my attention through the Liavek shared world series, and his stories were among the best in those books. On his own, I loved Jhereg, thought To Reign in Hell was terrific, enjoyed Brokedown Palace. I hated the Viscount of Adrilankha sub-subseries, and maybe even disliked the whole Khaavren Romances subseries, but every author’s allowed a fumble or two. As I’ve said before, though, it just feels like Brust is no longer trying – he’s like an actor who’s become known for a particular role and just does that, not even trying to bring anything new to his performances.
There’s a line somewhere between having fun and self-indulgence, and I’m sorry to say that Brust is on the wrong side of that here. He clearly wants to have fun with theater and music, bringing in lyrics for an in-story musical. Several have implicit melodies taken from popular musicals (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General”), which I found uninteresting, but perhaps was intended as homage. The larger problem, though, is that the story feels considerably forced – warped to fit the musical element with very little justification. Seventeen books into a series, you can’t blame an author for having fun with the story, but I can and do blame Brust for sucking the fun and interest out of Vlad Taltos.
Trying plot aside, the rest is standard (and by now tired) Vlad – he has a problem, develops an overly complex and unlikely solution, calls on powerful friends to help, Loiosh makes sarcastic comments, talks about food, etc. There’s a little more development of the big mystery of Vlad’s involvement in divine matters, the Jenoine, the Serioli, etc., but no kind of resolution, which will clearly be another book. In another series, the little tidbits of the mystery would be the kind of thing that would call for a rereading of the entire series, seeing how all the pieces fit together. Here, I’m afraid, I just don’t care anymore. I do want to see the final reveal, so I’ll read that last book, but the chances I’ll go back and reread the series I started out loving are essentially nil. The little pieces of mystery are so sparse, so scattered, so convoluted, and so surrounded by Vlad Taltos formula that it just wouldn’t be fun.
I think Brust is a talented author, but it feels like he’s been coasting for years now – maybe decades – and it’s been a long time since I could count him as a true favorite. As for this book – if you’ve read recent Taltos books, it’s more of the same, but less interesting.
* Separately – I’m not sure I can blame the artist, since this seems to have been Brust’s design, but apparently a lyorn is just a dog with a unicorn horn stuck on.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.