Suldrun’s Garden-Jack Vance novel, book review

Suldrun’s Garden-Jack Vance novel

AKA: Lyonesse Book 1

Suldrun's Garden was first published as a paperback novel in 1983.  It is currently in print in a high quality Spatterlight paperback edition.  My out of print copy has 439 pages of text, making this one of Vance's longer works.  It is not science fiction but classic fantasy.  All three novels in the Lyonesse trilogy are fascinating, magical masterpieces of the highest order.  They are highly recommended not simply to Vance fans but to any open minded, literate and intelligent readers of fiction.  This is creativity and imagination at its finest.

The setting is on Earth in the Elder Isles a string of islands that run from near northern France extending up toward Ireland.  The Elder Isles are currently divided into ten kingdoms that either cooperate or compete with other Elder Isles kingdoms for survival or control.  Ireland, Britain, Amorica, Aquitaine and Galicia are nearby countries  The time depicted is the Dark Ages.  Knights and a Round Table are mentioned and jousting is just becoming popular.

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 represent his main opposition.  Troicinet is a lone island and has a powerful navy to protect itself but does not have a large enough army to fight Lyonesse on land.  King Granice of Troicinet tries to maintain the balance and the peace by offering to come to the aid of any kingdom that is attacked.  Of course he knows that the only real threat is King Casmir, but he makes this offer to every kingdom to appear neutral.  Casmir wants to attack Dahaut but the threat of the Troicinet navy aiding Dahaut means he would have to fight on two fronts.  Political intrigue, negotiations, manipulations, power plays and alliances abound.

Wanting an heir, King Casmir is very disappointed when his first born child turns out to be female.  "She had thwarted his royal will by coming female into the world."  His wife, Queen Sollace, is as self serving and ambitious as the king so after naming their daughter Suldrun, her parents mostly ignore her.  When Suldrun is eight years old her brother, Prince Cassander, is born and is destined to be the eventual king of Lyonesse.  Suldrun's main value to the king is for him to marry her to a prince or king of another kingdom to gain an alliance.  When Suldrun turns fourteen years old she is considered marriageable, and her father begins making arrangements to marry her off to his own best advantage.  But Suldrun does not want to marry a stranger or anybody she does not like so she refuses to cooperate with the king.  For defying her father's wishes she is confined to a small area of the castle that includes her garden.  The garden is secluded and walled in except for a section bordering on the sea.  This is Suldrun's garden (thus the title of the book) and it is as much a refuge as a prison.

How Princess Suldrun of Lyonesse, confined to her garden, meets Prince Aillas of Troicinet and what transpires between them I will leave to the reader to discover.  But Suldrun and her garden are only the beginning of the epic adventure that continues with several fascinating story lines, many interesting characters and an engaging, imaginative, intriguing plot that can enthrall the reader with its novelty and inventiveness. 

In some ways Suldrun's Garden reads like a very well written, engaging historical novel.  Vance does not simply create a fantasy world for us to immerse ourselves in.  He does it in such a way that the characters, places and events seem real.  The setting is on Earth and many countries we would recognize are mentioned along with Plato, the Goths, the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians and other historical persons and nations.  Vance integrates them in such a matter of fact way that it all seems real and factual.  Vance also frequently turns an interesting or clever phrase to cause the reader to smile and to return again to savor it a second time.  But it is not only his magical use of language, it is the also the magic his language creates.  Vance is a master wordsmith with an incredible imagination who uses his skills to create worlds, societies and characters who can fascinate readers.  His great sense of humor adds to the interest and fun.

All three novels are filled with magic and magical beings.  Fairies, witches, wizards and sandestins play major roles.  (There are also falloys, goblins, imps, giants, ogres, trolls, merrihews, willawens, hyslops, quists, and darklings.)  In addition we have many other colorfully portrayed fantasy characters.  There is Arbogast who kidnaps and enslaves children and sometimes has them, "stuffed with  onions, trussed and spitted, roasted over fire."  There is the deadly swamp monster called a heceptor and a dire witch who takes over the body of younger people to maintain her youth.  Plus we have the old woman with a fox's head and chicken's legs who will kill you if you assist her, a pair of bearded gryphs who will interrupt their chess game to kill you if you don't offer them combs of honey, a guardian raven who drops a feather to topple a boulder on the head of those who try to pass and a magic mirror called Persillian.  These numerous fantasy creatures are combined with kings, queens, princes, princesses, knights, bandits, inn keepers, traveling entertainers, peasant farmers and many more realistic characters who interact with the fantasy creatures and magic as if it is an ordinary part of their daily affairs.  There is also the mixture of real and surreal such as the mad King Deuel who sponsors Grand Galas where everybody in his kingdom must dress as birds and Doctor Fidelius: Grand Gnostic, Seer, Magician and Healer of Sore Knees who also is known as Dr. Fidelius: Thaumaturge, Pan-sophist, Mountebank.  It all combines to create a fascinating, creative hybrid world of medieval Earth intertwined with Vance's imagination fantasy world.  I’ve read this novel several times and look forward to reading it many times more.  Very highly recommended! I rate it a solid 5.