A review by mariocomputer
Agyar by Steven Brust
5.0
This was really, really interesting and well-done. It's also hard to write a review about this without getting spoilery, so spoilers follow.
This book is a pretty good antidote for all the vampire-romance lovers out there (yours truly included). Brust does the Hemingway thing where he refers to a lot of things obliquely and insinuates, and you have to piece it all together yourself. For instance, never once does he say the word vampire, nor does the narrator actually talk about drinking blood.
So when you take away some of the vampireness of the vampire, you start to really see how much the "seduction" of the vampire is like rape, and what sociopaths vampires really are. The romance disappears.
I also really love the theme in the book of the experience and process of writing, and how when you're reading it you feel like you're there with the narrator typing. You're present in the meta-narrative. And I love, love that when you go back to read the first passage of the book, it has a completely different significance and meaning than it did when you first read it.
Excellent plotting, excellent writing. I'm definitely going to read more Brust in the future.
This book is a pretty good antidote for all the vampire-romance lovers out there (yours truly included). Brust does the Hemingway thing where he refers to a lot of things obliquely and insinuates, and you have to piece it all together yourself. For instance, never once does he say the word vampire, nor does the narrator actually talk about drinking blood.
So when you take away some of the vampireness of the vampire, you start to really see how much the "seduction" of the vampire is like rape, and what sociopaths vampires really are. The romance disappears.
I also really love the theme in the book of the experience and process of writing, and how when you're reading it you feel like you're there with the narrator typing. You're present in the meta-narrative. And I love, love that when you go back to read the first passage of the book, it has a completely different significance and meaning than it did when you first read it.
Excellent plotting, excellent writing. I'm definitely going to read more Brust in the future.