Iorich by Steven Brust – review

House Jhereg, Dragaera’s organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There’s a big price on his head on Draegara City. Then he hears disturbing news. Aliera–longtime friend, sometime ally–has been arrested by the Empire on a charge of practicing elder sorcery, a capital crime.

It doesn’t make sense. Everybody knows Aliera’s been dabbling in elder sorcery for ages. Why is the Empire down on her now? Why aren’t her powerful friends–Morrolan, Sethra, the Empress Zerika–coming to her rescue? And most to the point, why has she utterly refused to do anything about her own defense?

It would be idiotic of Vlad to jump into this situation. He’s a former Jhereg who betrayed the House. He’s an Easterner–small, weak, short-lived. He’s being searched for by the most remorseless killers in the world. Naturally, that’s exactly why he’s going to get completely involved…

Iorich will be released in a few days (January 5), and it is with utmost certainty that I suggest you go buy it if you are a fan of Steven Brust and his Vlad Taltos novels.  If you are unfamiliar with the Vlad series, I would say that you need to go research that inadequacy in your fantasy reading.  Each one of the books is a bit self-contained, as Vlad will sometimes refer to something in the past, but during his narration tell the reader that he is going to jump over that part right now as it is not crucial to what he is currently involved in.  What I am not so certain about is my ability to explain why I enjoyed this novel, because I did enjoy it.  When I stop to think about Brust, it is a a grand complicated puzzle of great writing, great characters, and a story I did not think I would actually enjoy when I read the back of the book.  That is why I am always impressed with Brust; he makes me like things I do not think I would ever be interested in.

It is rare that I go out of my way these days to make sure the ARC of a specific author shows up on my doorstep, but Brust inspires such loyalty, and he should, as he has entertained many of us with a plethora of Vlad novels.  Iorich as a House is all about law and the justice system, so based on the name of the book, we get a story that will revolve about such topics.  As with everything that Vlad gets involved in, the story is not just about Aliera and why she has been arrested; there is something under the surface.  This is what Vlad gets involved in, finding out what is the real reason for the arrest and what he can do to help.  You love Vlad because he knows how dangerous it is for him to go back to Draegara City, but his loyalty is of utmost importance to him.  Friends are something he takes very seriously, and he is willing to do pretty much anything to help out.

How nice is it for not only Vlad but also the reader to be back in Draegara City?  We get to visit with some of Vlad’s (our) friends that we have not seen (read about) in a long time.  Vlad’s interaction with his hometown friends are always enjoyable and give us insight into his character.  It was great to see Kiera again (I was instantly reminded how cool the thief Kiera was) and the playful interactions between Vlad and Kragar.  I was a bit surprised about how seemingly indifferent Vlad felt to his son Vlad Norathar–even though he had a million questions in his head that he would have liked to ask, outwardly he seemed a bit distant and cold.  I guess if the Jhereg are hunting you, you may turn a bit cold, but it felt a bit out of character for Vlad.  Loiosh and Rocza are in attendance, as well, but aren’t they always.  Loiosh is such the character. Vlad briefly asks about Devera, who checks in on Cawti and the boy from time to time, but Devera is another discussion altogether.  Did I forget about Daymar?  How I missed the psychic.

So what Brust is giving us in fantasy clothing is a mystery.  The mystery of why Aliera was arrested when everyone knows she is normally given much leeway in her sorcery.  In most Vlad novels he is trying to solve something, or figure something out, so that is not really all that unusual.    Vlad is introduced to Perisil, who is part of House Iorich and will be the advocate to Aliera even though she does not need one.  Well, that is part of the mystery that Vlad must solve.  As with all Vlad novels, things are not as cut and dry as they seem to be at the beginning of the adventure.  I thought that Perisil was developed rather nicely by the author.  He is given personality that is easily recognizable for someone of his standing and never takes over, but at the same time is never pushed to the back of the mystery, either.  I would have though Morrolan would have played a bigger role in the story, but it does not suffer because of it.   

If you were a Brust fan already, you should have already known that you would enjoy this book, because, well, it is Brust, and he is writing about Vlad.  I blazed through this book in only a few days, which is not the norm for me anymore, but it tells you how much I got into it.  Brust takes a simple story of Vlad helping out his friends and turns it into a page-turning brilliant novel of different layers.  Things are rarely as they seem with Vlad and his friends, and this story is no different.  A lot of “just like the old days” of work being put in by Vlad this novel, which I enjoyed.  I am already looking forward to the next Vlad book.