Lyonesse: Suldron's Garden
By Jack Vance

This was a fantastic book and my estimation of Jack Vance's writing, already high, has increased a notch. I loved his Dying Earth books but Suldrun's Garden might have surpassed it.

This is the first volume in the Lyonesse trilogy and tells the story of a princess who goes against the marriage plans her father has for her and ends up paying for it. However, meeting a Prince and having a child, her legacy takes an unexpected turn. This is not a "fairy tale" although it does have fairies (as well as ogres, halflings, changeling and magicians). The Fairy world is a slippery thing though and not one to take lightly, as we learn. The world can also be brutal and violent in places although Vance does not dwell on this aspect; but we are prepared for it from an early point. In some ways, Lyonesse is like a cross between George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, Tolkien and the great Welsh mythological epic The Mabinogion. Vance obviously spent much time carefully building the world of the "Elder Isles" and he does an excellent job at bringing it to life and creating an almost believable back-story that intersects our own history. This novel has it all: action and danger, adventure, magic, betrayal, loyalty and love.

I think love is central to the novel. Not just the love between a Prince and a Princess, but a boy and girl, and also a magician and the children he grows close to. This is the emotional heart of the tale and one that is very affecting on occasion. Jack Vance writes beautiful prose and we care about the people in the story.

There is a satisfying conclusion to the novel and a great setup for the next. Suldrun's Garden is followed by The Green Pearl and Madouc. I am looking forward to reading these.