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Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden: Suldrun's Garden Bk.1 (Fantasy Masterworks) by: Jack Vance

Publisher: Gollancz
Release date: 14th March, 2002
Media: Paperback

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Rating: - Masterwork

A brilliant beginning to an inspired trilogy. I read this a long time ago when it first came out and still recall that first reading. A life-affirming experience.

This story stands on its own despite being the first in a trilogy, and I can't think of a better introduction to the multi-faceted universe of Jack Vance, surely one of the authors of the 20th Century. Certainly the fantasy author, in my opinion.

The story starts fairly slowly with the author exploring numerous narrative strands that seem unconnected to the reader, but you are rewarded with a buildup of pace and a drawing together of the threads into a dazzling final hundred pages that I had to read several times to make sure I'd got everything (and I'm sure that I've still missed stuff). what a pleasure that was.

Rating: - The Lyonesse Trilogy

If you like fantasy novels and have never read Jack Vance then read this series. Lyonesse is a mythical land where the people live with all sorts of faerie folk and half-creatures of legend. A loose cabal of magicians and their apprentices work to bring order to the land. The human inhabitants have to match their skills and knowledge of weaponry to compete with the other races. The detail and imagery is breath taking, the plot unfolds over three books. Vance's characters have great depth. A thoroughly interesting and complex series that you will want to read time and time again.

Rating: - The true spirit of medieval fantasy

I really enjoyed, this book (indeed all three in the set) and I'm glad to see it has returned to print, since I personally believe it is one of Vance's greatest accomplishments.
It makes for a really refreshing change to see a book which is supposedly to be based on medieval European roots of myth and legend, to actually maintain the spirit and story of the ancient folklore. So often these days, I feel like I'm reading about medieval worlds which were based on series of other bestselling novels. Elves seem so often based on Tolkien's inventions rather than Germanic myth, little people are based on Victorian fairy tales and Enid Blyton rather than faerie tales, which were believed in, in times long past. So often, even when myth and folklore really are used as a source, there is no imagination in the utilisation of the spirit of those stories.
In Lyonesse we have so many interesting characters and places and despite the fact that most really are only lightly touched upon, you get the feeling each one has a story of their own to tell. The central plot is elegant in its simplicity, in the same way that such classic tales as Snow White or Cinderella are, yet it doesn't sacrifice creativity or fall into a cliche to do this.
I heartily recommend this as a book for all lovers of the fantasy genre.

Rating: - A rich and satisfying fantasy

Sulrun's Garden is a place where lovers of fantasy fiction will love to go. Forming a central fulcrum for a complex plot involving many protagonists, who, as a result of subtle and not so subtle intrigues may be allies or enemies as convenience dictates.
The characters individually evoke a range of emotions, from admiration to despise and exasperation.
The background to the drama is a world where fairies, trolls and ogres make their own presence felt - sometimes wanted, sometimes unwanted, but always leading to unexpected twists and turns and difficulties for the protagonists.

All in all, a fairy tale with all the sharp edges left on....it will leave you both shocked and laughing at the same time.

Rating: - A Volume One As Good As They Come

Jack Vance's Lyonesse trilogy kicks off with this epic volume crammed with characters, magical happenings, weird creatures, bizarre realities (I particularly liked the angry talking mountains of custard), plots, subplots, and so many vendettas that keeping track of everything requires a lot of reader concentration and perhaps a notepad. Doubtless second and third readings of this rich work will reveal things I didn't pick up on the first time around but then that's one of the marks of a good fantasy novel. Various sources have claimed that this is Vance's attempt at telling a King Arthur - inspired epic but there's so much here that's original that any Arthurian overtones come across as incidental. If you enjoyed the Dying Earth collection then you'll like this, and if you've not ready any Vance before then this is a good place to start. A word of warning, though. As I mentioned above, this is the first book of a trilogy. Apart from the subtitle on the cover there's little to suggest to the uninformed that this book forms the starting point of an ongoing series. While this volume is fairly self-contained storywise, it also has an epilogue which tells you what you can look forward to "in the next exciting episode". The other two volumes are called The Green Pearl and Madouc...

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