Why I like Vlad Taltos

Confession: Praise is a strong motivation for me, which I why I usually succeed in a support role better than a leadership one.

Reading:

• Someplace to be Flying, by Charles de Lint
• The Last Command, by Timothy Zahn

Writing:

• "Ferian Fetlock Cures a Horse"

Revising:

• "Cora and the Sea"

As expected, I tore through Jhegaala like a wet paper bag. There's something so satisfying about a Vlad Taltos book. Maybe it's the way that all the intrigue and mystery comes together at the very end, or maybe it's the view of a strange world through the eyes of such an interesting character.

To be honest, Jhegaala wasn't my favorite in the series, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. My favorite aspects of the world of Dragaera is in the mythology. That's why I loved Issola with all its portents about the coming war with the Jenoine and the transformation of Spellbreaker. Anything with Morrollan, Aliera, and Sethra Lavode in a starring role is perfect for me.

Unique among the other books in the series, though, not a single Dragaeran was to be seen in the entire story. One was mentioned obliquely, but he stayed well distant and had surprisingly little impact on the overall story. In fact, the entire world of Dragaeran society was muted. It was a nameless threat, a name on the horizon, looked askance at, but not very important.

In this story, Vlad came to terms with being a Dragaeran. We've known since the beginning that Vlad was the reincarnation of a Dragaeran soul, but he always held himself purposefully apart nonetheless. Now, he has seen his own race and realized that he is apart from them. We now see the events of his return to Dragaera in a different light.

There were no great, earth-shattering revelations in Jhegaala, but the title was well-chosen. This was a book about transformation. It's a book about going home and discovering that home is the place you just left. It's about dealing with grief and loss and weakness.

I think Brust needed to give Vlad this kind of story, following so closely on the heels of Teckla and Phoenix, which I've always thought were the most depressing of the series. (I understand it had to be, but I love the books where Vlad and Cawti are together.) Jhegaala gives an odd kind of closure to that phase of Vlad's life. Like the namesake animal, he has transformed, and he is both the same creature and different from how he was before.

My only real disappointment was that there was no tie-in at all with Brokedown Palace, except in the name of the country in which it was set. That's a pity, because I would have liked to see confirmation of the relationship between that story and Vlad's own.

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