[Dragaera] [Dzur Spoilers] A slip of the tongue...

[Jon_Lincicum at stream.com]

"Scott Schultz" <scott at cjhunter.com> 
Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info
08/23/06 11:47 AM

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Re: [Dragaera] [Dzur Spoiler][Orca Spoiler] A slip of the tongue...






>The
>Blue
>Fox
>drew
>his
>longsword
>and 
>the
>Guardsman's
>sword
>was
>swung.
>And
>in
>the
>fight
>that
>followed,
>he laid that guardsman down.
>
>What I mean by "pro-Dzur progaganda", though, isn't "Wow, Tazendra is the
>r0x0Rz!" I'm referring more generally to the attempts to "get at" the 
inner
>workings of the Dzur that show them to be something deeper than just the
>most efficient killing machines in the Empire as well as people who revel 
in
>any chance they get to die gloriously outnumbered.

Well, based on the history of Piarra quoted earlier on the list, I think 
it's clear that Dzur and Jhereg are both among Steve's earlier 
contributions to the metaverse... And Dzur does seem to be quite a bit 
deeper than the earlier books let on. 

>The rest of _VoA_ is not as blatant as _FHYA_ or _Dzur_ but you still see
>Ibronka displaying a similar observational capacity and a general good 
sense
>that conflicts with the stereotype of the 
killing-machine-with-a-death-wish.
>Likewise, Tazendra is presented as an accomplished wizard despite her
>protestations of stupidity and her good sense is equal to that of her
>friends, even if she's still a bit more willing to take on impossible 
odds
>just for the fun of it. If you get to know a Dzur, you find out they're 
more
>complex than that, but, as Sethra tells Vlad, everybody says that.

Tazendra has never been stupid, she always knows the right questions to 
ask, even if the answers are not as immediately evident to her as they are 
to Pel or Khaavren. She could probably work everything out herself, she 
simply defers to the others when she is around them, since being clever is 
not her rôle in the group.

>Steve just seems to have made it a bit of a campaign, perhaps 
unconsciously,
>to show us the deeper side of the Dzur over the course of several books, 
and
>then to write a book whose main purpose is to explore that nature rather
>extensively both from the Dzurlord's point of view and from Vlad's point 
of
>view. 

Steve may be as surprised by these facts as anyone else, methinks... Which 
is why he's keen on exploring them.

>This has its upside and downside. The upside is that you get a better
>understanding of the House than you might have if you got stuck on the
>stereotypes. The downside is that a story focussing on the depths isn't
>neccesarily as "fun" as a story based in the shallow end of the pool. 

Not all Vlad books have the same kind of fun. But that's one of the main 
reasons I like them--they always have a different feel, a slight shift in 
style... The whole /Dzur/ focus on multiple courses and the element of 
surprise as to what the next taste is going to be adding to the experience 
seems to apply here.

>I'm one of those people who was initially disappointed in _Dzur_. After
>having been through the experience with a couple of other Dragaeran 
novels,
>though, I put the book down, read a bit on the list, thought about it and
>went back and read it again. What I've learned is this - When the book is
>unsatisfying, it's usually because Steve wrote the book he wanted to 
write
>instead of writing the book that I wanted to read. I wanted Vlad to be 
the
>Dzur Hero challenging The Enchantress. Every time he made some remark 
about
>"well, we could just charge in and start killing people" I was cheering
>"Yes! Do it! Go for it!" Given that, I could hardly be surprised at being
>unsatisfied with how the novel actually played out.

If you go into it with no expectations, you can savor the surprise of the 
flavors more readily. Boy, this metaphor really seems to stick.

>Dzur because he feels a bit of kinship with that House. I imagine there's 
a
>bit of Don Quixote living under the big hat and the mustache someplace.

Suddenly I have this vision of Tazendra (with Mica at her side) tilting at 
windmills...

Yeah, that works.

>Or maybe he just derives amusment from messing with people's 
pre-conceived
>notions. ha ha!

He probably gets a lot of amusement playing with his *own* preconceptions. 
I know I do.
Majikjon