Rating: 
Summary: Stunning. Spellbinging. Excellent.
Review: A friend gave me this book 20 years ago, in 1984. And I never read it. It moved with me from house to house along with a big pile of other unread books. Every once in a while I would give it a glance; but the back-cover copy was not all that interesting, and the map in the front looks crudely hand-drawn, and the first couple paragraphs seeed kind of dry -- whatever, I made no progress, tossed it back on a shelf. I had other stuff to read.
This year I started to play attention to fantasy again, what with the release of Donaldson's new Covenant series and my cousin recommending the Phillip Pulman trilogy to me. Over the Summer I pulled this book from the basement and added it to the to-read stack. Last week I read an old essay from Samuel R Delany saying how wonderful Vance is: ok, I'll give this book another try.
After a couple days to get into it, the book just consumed me, and I burned thru the last 375+ pages in one sitting, staying up all night (til 7am! and I work in the mornings!) to finish it.
Wow. What a book!
Vance takes his time setting everything up just so; but when the match touches the the tinder this book just starts roaring. An amazingly detailed and dramatic plot with dizzying twists and turns. Some of the most richly detailed characters I've ever encountered; believeable yet surprising. Written with a very sure, controlled (even dry) prose. This is definitely a work for grown-ups: very mature, hard-edged at times. Yet light and funny at other times; and warm. This author really knows what he's doing. Rewarding.
Why wouldn't I even give this book a decent chance before? Well -- maybe I was too young before. The presentation of the 1984 paperback didn't give any indication to a teenage boy that he might like the book. The cover illustration is of the Princess Suldrun; the back cover copy says something about the princess being locked up in her garden, until one day a prince washes up on shore -- I guess I thought it sounded like a romance novel. Instead it runed out to be one of the most compulsive page-turning high adventure novels I've ever read.
Note again that this is not a book for kids. Vance's Lyonesse is a tough, dangerous world: ogres raping women, killing & eating children, fathers imprisoning daughters for disobedience, prisoners of war enslaved, and so forth. Very tough-minded. Parents looking for Johnny's next fantasy series after Harry Potter should look elsewhere. Johnny needs a different book; the parents should read this themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have read so many books I cannot count, so when I say that Lyonesse is in my favorite 5, that is saying alot. An amazingly vivid and interesting page turner, the story runs wide and deep and one feels immersed. The book benefits from a combination of characters (some are wizards, some are royalty, some are common folk) each given a real personality. Lyonesse is a story of good vs evil, but it is no standard fantasy. I highly recommend this story.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have read so many books I cannot count, so when I say that Lyonesse is in my favorite 5, that is saying alot. An amazingly vivid and interesting page turner, the story runs wide and deep and one feels immersed. The book benefits from a combination of characters (some are wizards, some are royalty, some are common folk) each given a real personality. Lyonesse is a story of good vs evil, but it is no standard fantasy. I highly recommend this story.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Should Never be Out of Print!
Review: I was reading Lyonesse once when the phone rang. Coming out of the bright world of Lyonnesse-reality was as hard as waking from a perfect dream. And why would anyone do that? When I put down the phone afterward, I had no recollection of who it was or what they'd had to say.This is Jack Vance at his best, and even his worst is better than most.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Should Never be Out of Print!
Review: I was reading Lyonesse once when the phone rang. Coming out of the bright world of Lyonnesse-reality was as hard as waking from a perfect dream. And why would anyone do that? When I put down the phone afterward, I had no recollection of who it was or what they'd had to say. This is Jack Vance at his best, and even his worst is better than most.
Rating:
Summary: Warning!!!
Review: I, too, read Lyonesse as a child and its effect on me was spellbinding -- leading me to appreciate the genre of fantasy at a young age, and for the rest of my life. My only complaint: By the time of the last book of the trilogy, Maduac, Vance had already died and it was ghost-written, based on his notes. And the writing is terrible!!! I was utterly disappointed, especially after having waited so many years for its release. Be forewarned: the first two books are great, but it's best to leave the final book to your own imagination, lest a wonderful thing be spoiled by a shabby ending.
Rating:
Summary: Correction to previous review by "a reader"
Review: It would be helpful if reviewers could refrain from writing sheer nonsense. The review below states that Jack Vance died before the publication of Lyonesse III: Madouc, and that the book, having been assembled by a ghostwriter from Vance's notes, is inferior in style to its predecessors. Jack Vance remains very much alive, and as should be evident to anyone who has read Madouc, he is is its author. Whether it is inferior to Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl is a subjective question. In my opinion (and that of most other Vance fans I have known to express a view), it's in no way inferior to its companions.
Rating:
Summary: Correction to previous review by "a reader"
Review: It would be helpful if reviewers could refrain from writing sheer nonsense. The review below states that Jack Vance died before the publication of Lyonesse III: Madouc, and that the book, having been assembled by a ghostwriter from Vance's notes, is inferior in style to its predecessors. Jack Vance remains very much alive, and as should be evident to anyone who has read Madouc, he is is its author. Whether it is inferior to Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl is a subjective question. In my opinion (and that of most other Vance fans I have known to express a view), it's in no way inferior to its companions.
Rating:
Summary: The best fantasy I have ever read.
Review: Not a word of a lie. I read this at 12 years old and it was the greatest book I have ever read. I have re-read it multiple times and never have I found a better fantasy novel. Surprises, characters, tears, laughs - Lyonesse has it all. AND - it doesn't lose it in the sequels. If you are reading this review, trust me - get Lyonesse wherever you can and read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Vance Book Ever.
Review: The Best Vance Book Ever.
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