Reading roundup: Tiassa (and some Vlad rereads)

[hamsterwoman]

Bunch of stuff at work, bunch of stuff at home (nothing terrible, but... stuff that occuppies mental real estate, if you know what I mean), so I really needed to take a break and think about something other than RL for a bit. Thus:

26. Steven Brust, Dzur (reread) -- still makes me hungry. Still not my favorite book plot-wise, though I was able to

Comments

[q99]

-(though I still wonder about how Kragar knows Mario; he says they met 90 years ago and a mutual friend (implied? to be Aliera) introduced them. Huh

[hamsterwoman]

I do think Vlad's gotten a bit too lucky in who he 'happened' to know. Kiera makes sense, and we know how Morrolan and Aliera met him, but his Lt just happening to be Mario's contact...? Ehhh, kinda feels like a rare misstep by Brust.It's definitely very odd... It's probably that Kragar's Dragon background is somehow significant (I forget which book it's in, but he and Morrolan and Aliera had met before Vlad introduced them, and there's a whole posturing "You'll forgive me if I won't bow" from Morrolan), and we don't know anything about that. I hope him knowing Mario is explained (or at least retconned) somehow, and maybe fits into someone's (Sethra's? Verra's?) overall plan for Vlad. But for now, it does seem awfully convenient and underexplained

[q99]

- Which I always thought was kind of weird, but I guess she needs to compartamentalize it pretty strictly to keep up something like that long term

[hamsterwoman]

It much lowers the chance of Vlad making a slip when it matters, I figure. Also, she *likes* being Kiera with Vlad.

Ah, good points on both counts!

Part 3, the mystery becomes more interesting once you know how it ends, I find.

I could see that, yeah. And the thing about Paarfi's style also.

Though it wasn't him who arrested her- it was Norathar.

Ah, I'd forgotten that! I bet it's because Khaarven resigned out of protest again, since it seems pretty clear from 500YA that arresting important people is Khaavren's job XP

[q99]

Given the choice, I think she'd rather be always-Kiera with Vlad, but given practicality, she'd probably have to be always-Sethra if made to chose.

-
Ah, I'd forgotten that! I bet it's because Khaarven resigned out of protest again, since it seems pretty clear from 500YA that arresting important people is Khaavren's job XP-

Though there is logic in using Norathar specifically against Aliera.

[hamsterwoman]

Given the choice, I think she'd rather be always-Kiera with Vlad,

I think you're probably right about that, although now that Vlad knows, she probably mind less when she has to be Sethra with him

I haven't reread Iorich, so I'm probably spacing on something obvious, but what do you mean about the logic in using Norathar specifically against Aliera?

[q99]

They had a conversation about it- that if someone in Aliera's position is arrested, it's normally the Warlord who personally shows up for political reasons. I don't remember all the details.

[hamsterwoman]

I think I do remember the conversation, now that you mention it, though not the specifics.

Hm... I wonder if it's just that the Warlord is always arrested by his replacement (which I can see would make sense) or any person of sufficient political power... Tortaalik sent Khaavren to arrest the Dragon Heir in 500YA, but I guess that's not a good indication of the done thing anyway, since Tortaalik was in full decadent Phoenix mode, and also the Warlord at the time was Adron's brother-in-law, so there might have been a conflict of interest.

I suspect I'll be rereading Iorich after I finish up Dragon; Tiassa 2 and 3 made me really want to do that.

[q99]

Part of it may be that the Warlord is better situated to revolt than anyone, even the Dragon Heir, already having the army and all.

And yea, conflict of interest the previous time.

[hamsterwoman]

Yes, that's a very good point, about the current Warlord having a lot of power at his/her fingertips and needing to neutralize it.