Reviews

Dzur, by Steven Brust

krakentamer's review against another edition

4.0

Felt good stepping back into this after taking a break to read a long novel. Made me really appreciate the conciseness of the Taltos books. This one was pretty fun; lots of Loisch/Vlad interactions (well, there's always lots of those, but these just seemed to be especially good).

nlord's review

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

katmarhan's review against another edition

4.0

Just excellent! I enjoyed the way each chapter started as a course in a meal at Valabar's, and having Vlad back in Adrilankha was great.

devon_marie's review against another edition

4.0

Nothing super remarkable (except the big drop at the end), but still really entertaining. Except Cawti is as annoying as usual.

bydandii's review against another edition

4.0

Classic Brust with a layered multi-threaded narrative. Each chapter begins with a course of meal at Valabar's from the start of the story. The pacing of meal and it's conversation matches the tale and whets the appetite (as it were) for events that unfold. A pleasure to read, and the menu for the meal is a major item in merchandise options related to Brust's material.

frogggirl2's review against another edition

4.0

Another fun entry in the series. Food themed chapters made me hungry. Interested to see what comes next.

mayastone's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

My favourite part of the book was the meal that starts off each chapter.  The rest of the book is very slow with no much happening.  Even the battle between six sorcerers, Vlad and a friend is anti-climatic and ends before it ever began, making me wonder what the whole point was in the first place.   

Simply put Cawti is in trouble with the Left Hand of the Jhereg and Vlad is asked to help her.  Partially in disguise, he walks around, talks to some people, hires other people to do stuff and just basically meanders about as things basically fall into place.  The premise is more interesting than the actual execution.  In the end Vlad finally gets to learn about Cawtis’ secret.

cheezvshcrvst's review

5.0

This wonderful reread continues to stun and bring smiles to my face, gifting me with laughter and malevolent glee, seemingly at every turn of a page. The structure of Brust's Dzur is exquisite: each chapter begins by describing a course of a meal in a fictional 5-star restaurant that occurs immediately after the events of Issola and precipitates the events of this novel. These descriptions of the meal correlate with where Vlad is in the plot of the novel or else an aspect of a character or the story that we need to focus on at that point in the narrative. Of course, Brust's writing style does not allow for much confusion where the latter is concerned as he is a deft hand at keeping our focus on the narrative, or the meal, before us, and never once gives us pause to consider what might be going on up another table's skirt (so to speak.) And it is a delectable dinner we are served here that is full of wit, violence, a huge reveal or two (if you're keeping count) in the over-arcing story of the series, and a heap of cool. Folks often ask me, Frank, I've heard good things about this series, but I've never tried it, so why do you recommend it? My answer is always ready because it's always true: Brust writes cool. There's a (SPOILER AHEAD) moment in which a long-awaited and never-seen (in the Vlad narrative, thus far) character gets to flex his badass murdering skills in which he does something Vlad mentions he is terrified of having done to himself at least a few times up until now and when you're casually told about this integral part of the novel on this one side of a piece of paper in a very-manageable sheaf of pages you would have to be stupid or completely unappreciative to not think 'wow, if that wasn't the coolest thing I've heard of anyone doing to a bad guy in my entire life...' (END SPOILER ALERT.) And that's what Steven Brust does so well over multiple novels in so many narrative styles while holding as many threads (sorry, Lady Teldra) of this one man's life story in his hands: he forges a Great Weapon and then doesn't bludgeon us to death with it so much as lets us check its legs and rear out, want to go to dinner with it, you know? Cool-like. I'm mixing analogies here, I know. But I have been gushing over these books for the better part of 2 decades. These, and Dzur, are completely underrated gems that are as much fun as they are DIFFERENT from the standard sff fare of any generation, present-day contemporaries of Mr. Brust included. Dzur itself earns a 4.5 outta 5 for being brief but delicious, and I challenge anyone to name a better genre fiction novel that completes a full meal so nearly as satisfactorily as the plot of this atypical sword and sorcery pulp-thriller.

telegramsam's review

5.0

It was so interesting to see Vlad back in Adrilankha and dealing with a problem so much like what he used to deal with in the early books, except this time he didn't have his organization to help him deal with it. A great story and I definitely endorse reading it if you've enjoyed past books with Vlad.

mrsjenniferwheeler's review

4.0

The showdown between Vlad and the Left Hand of the the Jhereg was a bit anticlimactic, but overall, I really enjoyed this one. I was glad to get back to some of the original characters, like Cawti & Kragar. Telnan is a great new character, that I hope to see more of. And I’m so, so happy that Vlad gets so meet his son, no matter how briefly.