A review by leelah
Jhereg by Steven Brust

4.0

4,5 stars

Some time ago I read a blog post called Five Books with Unforgettable Animal Sidekicks. Pretty fun post with many books I am familair with and then somebody in comments mentioned Vlad Taltos and his animal sidekick, Loiosh.
And the more I read the more I got interested because:
Loiosh is a small dragon!
Loiosh is a dragon with personality of a cat!!!
Loiosh has psychic bond with Vlad and has the snarkiest comments and observations!

How can I resist that?
The truth is, I am not sure I would give this a go have I not saw this post, but I am glad I did. You know how fantasy books are usually kind of hard, meaty reads? Jhereg is totally the opposite and reads like fast-paced, easy and light adventure.

Bare bones: series is set in The Dragaerian Empire, planet under the rule of Dragaerians. They are very tall, they have they can live for thousands of years and in other places they call them elves or fairies (just too give you reference). Humans in series are called Easterners and they are considered lower species and despised, barely tolerated by Dragerians. Dragaera is divided in 17 Great houses (clans), each one represented by animal. Vlad Taltos is Easterner and part of Jhereg, a house known for mercenaries and opportunists- they act like one big crime family- if you want someone dead you come to Jhereg. Thus, Vlad Taltos is a professional assassin and he just got hired to kill an impossible target for huge amount of money.
Anyway, this book was just cracky,a bit campy and immensely fun read.
Even if it sounds confusing, it really isn't. Think of it as fantasy version of Ocean 11 but where heroes have to kill a guy instead of stealing something.

And Loiosh? Oh, well...

“Loiosh,” I thought to my familiar, “find Daymar.”
“As Your Majesty requests,” he answered.
“Feel free to save the sarcasm.”
A telepathic giggle is an odd thing to experience. Loiosh flew out the window.