Green Pearl, The-Jack Vance novel, book review

Green Pearl, The-Jack Vance novel

AKA: Lyonesse 2

The Green Pearl was first published in 1985 as a hardcover fantasy novel.  It is currently in print as a trade paperback from Spatterlight Press.  My out of print hardcover copy has 408 pages of text.  The Green Pearl is the second book in the Lyonesse trilogy, and I highly recommend all three books.  Although I rated all three novels a 5, I found each one to be even more engaging than its predecessor.  They are highly creative fantasy novels that I found totally captivating.

 

The setting continues to be on the Elder Isles, a string of islands that run from near northern France extending up toward southern Ireland.  The Elder Isles are currently divided into ten kingdoms that either cooperate or compete with other Elder Isles kingdoms for survival or control.  The time depicted is the “Dark Ages.” The powerful and ambitious King Casmir, the current ruler of Lyonesse, wants to conquer or gain control of all other kingdoms in the Elder Isles so that he can be king of all the isles.  King Audry II of Dahaut and King Granice of Troicinet have been his main opposition.  After King Granice's death his son Aillas becomes king and continues the same policy of trying to keep Casmir in check.

 

The Green Pearl picks up the story where Suldrun's Garden left off.  In the previous novel a green mist came out of Carfilhiot's body after he was executed and made its way to the sea where it manifested itself as a unique green pearl that was subsequently swallowed by a large flounder.  In the Green Pearl a fisherman catches the flounder and discovers the pearl.  A subplot follows the valuable pearl as it exchanges hands causing each owner to engage in excessive behavior before coming to a tragic end.  Eventually the beautiful pearl comes to the attention of Tamurello, a powerful wizard, who covets it and goes to great efforts to obtain it, although he ends up with much more than he bargained for.

 

In another subplot the wizard Tamurello meets with a sorcerer named Vishuume to plot revenge against King Aillas and another wizard named Shimrod who tries to protect Aillas.  Tamurello supports King Casmir even though all wizards are prohibited from becoming involved in politics.  He also has a vendetta against Aillas because Aillas hanged Tamurello's lover.  In addition Tamurello conspires to overthrow Murgen, the most powerful wizard on the Elder Isles who is closely allied with Shimrod.  Their plan leads to the kidnapping of Princess Glyneth of Troicinet after she follows a magnificent butterfly into a cottage in the forest.  Once she enters the cottage she is transported to another dimension where the bizarre world of Tanjecterly is encountered.  Neither Aillas nor Shimrod can enter the world of Tanjecterly to rescue her or they will be lost forever.  But Murgen has a plan and creates a hybrid creature from a strange humanoid called a syaspic feroce, combined with a dead pirate called Kul the Killer, and mixed with some blood from King Aillas.  (Aillas blood is added to the mixture so the creature created will have his love for Glyneth and other higher level character qualities.)  Murgen sends this creature they call Kul to Tanjecterly to rescue Glyneth.  There we encounter the bizarre world of Tanjecterly with its very strange inhabitants including Zaxa, "a hybrid creature half-man and half-hespid batrache, with arms like baulks of timber", two legged wolves that hop like kangaroos and will suck blood from a person's chest "through the rasping orifices in the palms of its forepaws", Progressive Goblin Eels that carry spears and cook humans and other creatures in a boiling pot, and many other fantastical creatures and exotic settings.

 

King Aillas in the meantime becomes the king of South Ulfland after the old king dies.  As their new king he tries to unite the barons of South Ulfland who have been fighting feuds with each other instead of defending themselves against the invading Ska who claim to be at war with everyone.  (The Ska were originally expelled from Norway and then Ireland and are a fierce, highly disciplined, militarized people who want to conquer all of Elder Isles.)  King Casmir is angry that Aillas is now king of South Ulfland as well as Troicinet so he tries to undermine Aillas rule by sending a talented spy to South Ulfland to spread false rumors detrimental to Aillas.  He also sends a notorious Ska named Torqual who creates an outlaw gang that creates turmoil and instigates conflicts between the barons.  The Ska army meanwhile increases its aggression toward South Ulfland so that Aillas is forced to respond in order to maintain respect as the king.  During one of the battles with the Ska, Aillas becomes separated from his troops and then lost after riding to capture a Ska woman of nobility who was part of the household that once enslaved Aillas.  Initially he intends to make her a slave the way her family did with him, but he learns that she is not the idealized person he had imagined and loses interest in her.  Aillas is soon reunited with his troops, and his strategy for combating the Ska continues to be very effective and successful.

 

There are so many interesting adventures, encounters, subplots, characters and scenes that only a few can be briefly mentioned in a review.  The novel is infused with a tremendous amount of creativity and imagination, and it was difficult to put down each time I read it.  The Green Pearl is very well written, extremely engaging, highly interesting and one of the most enjoyable novels I've ever encountered. I have read it several times so far and rate it a 5.