[Dragaera] Dzur reactions (SPOILERS, dammit--MASSIVE WODGES of them.)

[Jon Lincicum]

Spoiler policy (last time this was discussed) was 17 blank lines at the 
top of a post, with warnings in the subject line. (And probably near the 
top of the message itself for good measure).

This should include ANY discussion of ANYTHING that involves situations, 
locations, dialogue, character development, moments, etc from Dzur until 
6 months after the PAPERBACK version of the book is out.

So... without further ado...

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Okay, I guess that was some ado. Anyway:

Kate Nepveu wrote:
> On 8/8/06, Johne Cook <johne.cook at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ack, what's the list's spoiler policy? Do I need blank lines?
>
> Just to be safe, since these are huge spoilers:
>
> REALLY BIG SPOILERS
>
> SPOILERS NEXT
>
>   
>> Bloodless climaxes may be all the rage in diplomacy, but I was sort of
>> yearning for something... else.
>>     
> Aww, see, that's what I love about it. In the last book about a
> war-like House, _Dragon_, Vlad's desparately trying to *become* a
> Dragon--and is deeply unhappy and unsuited for it.
>
> Here, he learns about the Dzur, and then deliberately chooses *not* to
> act as  a Dzur, because he _isn't_. In fact, he does not personally
> kill a single person in this book, which I believe must be a
> first--Lady Teldra does, and he orders a killing, but Vlad himself
> doesn't kill anyone.
>   
I *still* think he's more of a Dzur than he's willing to admit.

Incidentally, Vlad hasn't killed any human beings since /Orca/ (in 
Vlad's chronology) or /Dragon/ (if you're talking about publication 
order.) The only thing he killed in /Issola/ was a single Jenoine. And 
frankly, the poached trout he eats in this story merits about the same 
moral implications as a Jenoine...

Also, he certainly seems *willing* to kill a larger number of people in 
this book than in quite a while... And in any event, I'm not sure you 
can chalk that Left Hand sorceress entirely up to Lady Teldra, anyway. 
Certainly, Vlad didn't intend to destroy her soul, but he certainly 
intended her bodily harm.
> It shows how far he's come, and that's really important.
>   
This book certainly does have a recurring theme about how much Vlad 
notices that he's changed over the years. I wonder what he's changing 
into, exactly?
> Other things accomplished: finding out about Vlad Norathar, seeing the
> influence of Lady Teldra, even before she's woken up, seeing Mario,
> meeting the Lavode-in-training.
>   
> So I'm good with what we've got, because I love the treatment of his
> relationship to the Dzur so much. I did expect, as I said in my
> review, that a lot of people might have the "move it along, already"
> reaction, and that's not unreasonable.  Personally, I'm beginning to
> wonder if the impossible situation with the Organization is going to
> take most of the rest of the series to resolve--once that's gone, the
> threat level to Vlad goes *way* down, after all--interspersed with the
> "Vlad goes East" book and whatever is going on with Verra. I'm just
> speculating, of course.
>   
The *massive* set-up with Verra... The whole "deleted memories" 
bit...And all the talk with Sethra about his (and Godslayer's) fate... 
And surely, finding out about Kragar's connection to Mario has to be 
worth something. (Also, Kragar's apparently good relationship with 
Aliera, which was a nice twist).

This book also fills in countless gaps of things that I'd guessed at, 
but couldn't confirm (The timing of Vlad's trip East to Fenario (after 
Phoenix, but before Athyra), and that this is where he lost his finger. 
Or the identity of the "Number One" Jhereg. Or the "true" age of Mario 
(Much older than Paarfi would have us believe)).
> In sum: character development makes me happy.
>   
Indeed. People who wanted a bloodbath at the end are missing the point. 
Killing his way out of a situation like that is what he would do back in 
/Teckla/. Vlad has changed and matured (probably the key themes in this 
tale) Killing his way to safety was not, shall we say, appropriate to 
the situation in this case...

Majikjon