Yendi

Vlad Taltos, Book 2

By: Steven Brust

Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

In which Vlad Taltos and his Jhereg learn how the love of a good woman can turn a cold-blooded killer into a real mean SOB.... Vlad tells the story of his early days in the House Jhereg, how he found himself in a Jhereg war, and how he fell in love with the wonderful woman, Yendi, who killed him.

©1984 Steven Brust (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

great book

very enjoyable. good story good performance.

vlad has a rival trying to encroach on his territory. but is that the real problem.

Throws you for a loop

What did you love best about Yendi?

This book takes you a step back into the past. Took me for a loop to

What did you like best about this story?

The history of his relationship with the Dragons

What does Bernard Setaro Clark bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He bring a life to the characters. He is a excellent reader and look forward to seeing what else he has read.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This one I think I could of finished in one setting.

Fascinating

I adore this series. It is all of the political intrigue I love without having to get i to court nonsense. The MC just hasn't got time for that. He figures it out and gets the job done. Awesome.

Brust just knows his stuff!

Brust still rules the roost when it comes to fantasy world organized crime! The world is layered and immersive, and the mob war stuff is like watching a Scorsese movie. Love it!

Amazing... simply amazing...

I absolutely love this series and the narrative voice for Vladimir and tons of the other characters are riveting, stimulating, and imaginatively immersive. The feeling I get when I listening to these audible books absorbs my conscience inroads the story and I truly get lost and relish the adventure aspect of it all...

A prequel to Jhereg

Loveable assassin Vlad Taltos is back in Yendi, the second in Steven Brust’s VLAD TALTOS series. Yendi is actually a prequel to the first novel, Jhereg which introduced us to Vlad, his wife Cawti, his familiar, and several of his friends and enemies. Vlad is a new mob boss who is trying to protect his territory from the encroachment of neighboring mob bosses. When one of them sets up a racket in Vlad’s territory, Vlad has to take him on. As usual, he’ll need all his wits and all his friends just to stay alive.

In Yendi we learn a little more about the Dragaeran Empire, the Dragon Lords, and the activities of Vlad and the other bosses, but for some readers the most significant event is the story of how Vlad met Cawti, how she killed him, and how they fell in love. I was looking forward to this story, but it was a disappointment. The romance was dull and not very believable because of how instantaneous it was. Another complaint I have is the same thing I complained about in my review of the first book, Jhereg: Vlad solves crimes or mysteries by using convoluted suppositions that just happen to be right and there’s no way the reader could have figured out what was going on. This is disappointing because I’ve learned that it’s not much use to try to use my brain to remember clues or reason out a conclusion — I’ll never work it out on my own.

This sense of feeling slightly lost is part of Steven Brust’s unique style. He drops you right into his complex world, but only gives cursory explanations of the characters, politics and history as he goes along. Generally I like this technique because it doesn’t interrupt the plot, but there were several times while reading Yendi that I wasn’t certain that I understood the implications or all the nuances of what was happening. I was reading the audio version, so I’m not sure if I missed a glossary in the back, but fortunately there are plenty of resources on the internet for those seeking to study more of Brust’s world.

Even though I don’t fully understand Brust’s world yet, I like it. I like Brust’s sense of humor (very dry) and I like Vlad Taltos and his turf war. I’m going to keep reading this series for these reasons and because I have friends whose opinions I trust who love this series. I expect that the more I learn, the more I’ll like it, too.

I read the audio version which was recently produced by Audible Frontiers and read by Bernard Setaro Clark who is excellent in every way. Yendi is less than 7 hours long.

Flat Plot

Without going into huge details on this train wreck of a book. The bottom line is that it is shallow flat boring plot. It's like a Michael Bay movie without the huge explosions and robots.

In simple terms, its a Thug vs Thug book. You have the main thug / assassin ( human ) thinking he has more life experiences or intelligence than the typical thugs he goes up against which are in most cases hundreds of years older than him.

Fantasy Mafia

Any additional comments?

This was a fun read, good mystery Fantasy-Mafia story with a touch of Science Fiction.

Prequel to Bk 1-Nevertheless should be read 2ms 😱

Complicated plot that moves too slowly at times with too many miraculous "coincidences" and "rescues" so that by the end of the story one's credulity organs are exhausted.
An important story from the standpoint of providing the reader with information and background to the rest of the series of books (if the reader plans to travel that path). 😱

Mixed Appeal

This second novel in the series is by far not so original as the first book.

It does attempt to set Vlad more firmly in his occupation and its risks. He’s involved in a life and death struggle to retain his life and businesses. Thatyfaii interesting.

However, the novel doesn’t really bother much with making Vlad, his city, day to day activities distinctive. Frankly, Vlad may as well be a NYC warlock in the 21st century, there’s so little background detail. And the story devolves into a bland murder mystery with an unlikely love interest for Vlad (his wife, from the previous book, has vanished. )

The narrator is competent but, honestly, he’s a bit generic. He gets the job done but Vlad isn’t particularly vivid vocally. Nothing exotic or grim about him.

Nothing too bad, but nothing too good.