Jhereg
''Jhereg'' is a 1983 fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the first book in the Vlad Taltos series, part of his Dragaera cycle.[1] The story follows Vlad Taltos, a human assassin affiliated with House Jhereg, one of the seventeen Great Houses of the Dragaeran Empire on the world of Dragaera.[2] In the book, Vlad, an Easterner (human) navigating a society dominated by the taller, longer-lived Dragaerans, is recalled from semi-retirement to perform a high-stakes assassination on a former colleague who has stolen from the Jhereg criminal organization. Aided by his telepathic jhereg familiar Loiosh, Vlad unravels a complex conspiracy involving political intrigue and personal loyalties.[3] The novel blends hard-boiled noir detective fiction with high fantasy, exploring themes of marginalization, power, and identity through Vlad's first-person narrative.[4] Published by Ace Books, ''Jhereg'' introduces the Dragaera universe, where Dragaerans use structured sorcery and Easterners practice witchcraft, and death is not always permanent due to reincarnation—except in cases of soul-destroying Morganti killings. The book established Brust's reputation for witty, genre-bending storytelling and has been collected in anthologies like ''The Book of Jhereg''.[5]Overview
Publication history
Jhereg was first published in April 1983 by Ace Books as a mass market paperback edition consisting of 239 pages with the ISBN 0-441-38551-6.[6]This initial release marked the debut of Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series.
In 1999, Ace Books republished Jhereg as part of the omnibus collection The Book of Jhereg, which compiles the first three novels in the series—Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla—under the ISBN 0-441-00615-9.[7]
A graphic novel adaptation, written by Alan Zelenetz and illustrated by John Pierard, appeared in 1990 from Epic Comics, a Marvel imprint, with 48 pages and ISBN 0-87135-674-0.[8]
Subsequent editions include various reprints of the standalone novel and omnibus, with digital ebook versions of The Book of Jhereg becoming available starting around 2015 through platforms like Amazon Kindle.[9]