Jhereg
core novel 1983 Dragaera
Record
| First published | 1983 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.12 (15,776 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 307 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780441385515 |
Synopsis
Jhereg opens in the magical city of Adrilankha and introduces Vlad Taltos, an Easterner who has built himself a small criminal fiefdom within the Jhereg organization, working as an enforcer and assassin alongside his jhereg familiar, Loiosh. A council figure known as the Demon offers Vlad a lucrative contract to kill Mellar, a crime boss who embezzled funds from the Jhereg treasury and fled. The job looks simple until Vlad learns that Mellar has taken refuge as a houseguest of Morrolan, a powerful Dragonlord sorcerer who happens to be Vlad's friend. Dragaeran hospitality custom makes any harm done to a guest under Morrolan's roof a grave offense, one that could ignite a war between the Houses of the Dragon and the Jhereg.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragaera
- Series: Vlad Taltos core; position 1 of 17 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Steven Brust
Notes
- Internal chronological order is deliberately NOT recorded for this book: at least three independent fan reconstructions of the Vlad Taltos reading order disagree with each other (notably on the placement of Dragon, Yendi, and Tiassa), and Brust himself has stated no single chronological order is authoritative, adding that he deliberately structured Dragon (1998) to undermine strict chronological reading. Per Article 2, the database does not invent a chronology where none is agreed; publication order is treated as primary, per Brust's own stated preference.
- From the series record (Vlad Taltos): 17 novels (1983-2024) of a planned 19-book structure (17 House-named books + Taltos, named for the protagonist, + a final closing volume, The Last Contract, not yet written; Chreotha, the 18th, is also not yet written). Internal chronology is contested among fan sources and explicitly not recorded here, see the notes on Jhereg.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Vlad Taltos: position 1 of 17: next Yendi (1984)
Sources
← Dragaera dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.