The Griffin or the Agate

I don't think I can give a fair and straight review of Steven Brust's latest effort, The Paths of the Dead. It's not that the task is beyond my abilities, it's just that, well, this is a book that's difficult to say if one likes it or not. Brust is trying to do something different, as he did in the other books of the loosely knit series, The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After. And it's pretty much a love-it-or-leave-it proposition. Rather than bumble around trying to explain, I'll give you a few examples of the book's dialog and you can decide for yourself if it's your cup of klava or not:

     "Well, that is true, but, you perceive, I am not allowed to tell all I know, even to you."
     "But there must be one thing you can tell me."
     "And what is that?"
     "Why you have come to visit me."
     "Oh, as to that-"
     "Well?"
     "You are right, there is no reason not to tell you."
     "Then you will do so?"
     "This very instant."
     "Then I await you."
     "It was just this: I wanted the chance to see for myself how you were getting along."
     "How I was getting along?"
     "Exactly."
     "Well, and how am I getting along?"
     "In my judgement, admirably."
     "Ah, I see."
     "You see?"

     And so on. Either you'll find his style and choice of vernacular as charming and refreshing or a throwback to a literary approach long dead and largely unlamented. The story, such as it is, involves much more conversation than actual action. Different sets of characters get to know one another before a highly anti-climatic end sequence that had the feel of someone relating a solo role-playing experience from a long ago game. Brust's strongest Adrilankha works have always been the ones that centered around the assassin Vlad, but even those were starting to feel a little tired. Perhaps it's time for him to leave Adrilankha entirely and search for new and greener pastures.   §

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