[Dragaera] Verra's knowledge, Vlad's trip East

[Lang, Douglas (Contractor)]

Majikjon wrote:

>>_Brokedown Palace_ takes place at another time and place than any of the
>>Vlad books. It's only real connection to them is the setting. The story
>>itself is a stylized fairy tale, much as Vlad's stories are a stylized
>>hard-boiled detective story and Khaavren's stories are stylized French
>>Romances.
>
>Hmmm... Certainly the first two Vlad books are basically "detective 
>stories" (Though I would vote >more for "scrambled" rather than "hard-boiled) 
>and basically /Orca/ is, as well.
>
>But the others in the series are something else. I hesitate to call them 
>adventure stories, because they seem a bit too restrained (unlike the 
>Paarfiad) to seem to qualify for this. 
>"Situational Fantasy" perhaps is a good term. 
>
>I dunno. But "Detective Story" just doesn't seem to describe /Taltos/, 
>or /Phoenix/, or /Issola/, or /Dragon/. (You might make a case 
>for /Teckla/ or /Dzur/, but these are borderline IMO.)  


When I think of "hard-boiled detective story" I think of Robert B. Parker's Spencer series, which my wife has forced on me once or twice (she has all of them).  They tend to include the city as a character (Boston vs S. Adrilankha) and run more along the lines of "someone I care about asked me for a favor to help someone they care about" than "a dame walked into my office with a gun a problem, and I wasn't sure which was which."  Also, the food is a major factor in both series - Spencer can cook as well as Vlad, and enjoys eating nearly as much.  The Spencer series is seen as a "hard-boiled detective story" in that Spencer is both a detective, and "hard-boiled" - I nearly think I can see the Vladiad in those terms as well.

Near the detective topic - has anyone on this list read the Mongo series by George C. Chesbro?  

-dpl