So yeah, I didn't exactly plan taking a week off, but things got a bit busy for me. Back now though!

Last time, we got some retroactive insight into Vlad's motivation in the previously published book! And we got to see more of Vlad as a boss. It's interesting!

( what makes an anti-hero vs. a villain protagonist? I feel like this series is an interesting one to examine with that in mind... )

So last time, Salvatore has apparently decided that we're not supposed to dislike Elbereth. Ergo, Cadderly now has mixed feelings about a guy who has displayed no positive traits what so ever and has basically spent the entire book bullying him.

Yay.

( I could get behind this if Elbereth were at least an entertaining bully, but he is not... )

Sorry, laziness struck. The next review will likely be up tomorrow. :-D

So last time, we caught up with the other elves and the villains, enjoying a welcome break from Elbereth.

Sadly, I'm pretty sure he'll be back this chapter.

( Ugh )

And we're back! Sorry for the break. I had family visiting and work was a bit hectic. :-)

So anyway, when we left off, the theater was having some minor, though understandably nerve-wracking issues, while street preachers are getting more aggressive. In this setting, that's rarely a good sign. Also Magpie continues to irk, but when does she not?

( I'm still not sure the story wouldn't work just as well without that particular character... )

Whoa, it's been two weeks since my last review of this book. I don't really have an excuse. Work's been really hectic lately.

I am definitely going to try to get back to a more regular pace with these reviews though.

So anyway, last time...Elbereth is a dick. I feel like I can summarize most chapters that way. I'm also not a big fan of the idea that Cadderly wanting to show mercy to an Orog is a sign of his unaddressed trauma and not, you know, just being a decent human being.

To be fair, wanting monsters to be seen as more than monsters in a D&D novel might be an "asking for a milkshake from home depot" thing...

( Elbereth still sucks though )

So last time, Ms. Lackey and Ms. Sherman decided that the solution to having a truly dislikable lead character was not to have her decide to improve her behavior or anything, but rather, have a random side character spill her tragic backstory to the hero so as to convince him he's being unfair to her.

I'm not actually sure how Raven is supposed to "be fair" to Magpie, beyond what he's already been doing. He's credited her with having a better head for business than he does, named her "business director" of the group even. But I guess he's supposed to just let her be in charge of everything? Not call her out for being a dick when she's obviously being a dick?

It'd be one thing if the conflict were genuinely two-sided. I've seen examples of that in novels and while it's not a dynamic that I particularly care for, I can see the appeal. But I genuinely don't see what Raven could or should be doing different here.

( Aside from running the fuck away. )

So a while back, I was soliciting recommendations for my next book choice and Yendi came up!

Yendi is the second book in the Vlad Taltos series, however it actually takes place BEFORE the first book, Jhereg. I'd mentioned in my introduction to that book that the publication order of the series is interesting idiosyncratic that way.

It does make sense though. If you look at the closest thing to a narrative throughline for the series, the third book, Teckla, takes place not long after Jhereg, and if I recall correctly, a very big part of that book is about the complicated relationship between Vlad and his wife, Cawti.

Yendi, therefore, is the story of how Vlad met his wife. And also a glimpse at an (even) younger Vlad navigating Dragaeran politics as an Easterner. It probably works best to look at it as a big flashback in the overall story. But a fun one, if I'm remembering correctly.

( I do need one book where I don't hate a major character... )

I sometimes think this book is making me into a misogynist. Oh well. Maybe things will improve.

( Or maybe we'll just get minor side characters shilling our lead in lieu of any kind of character improvement... )