The Complete Lyonesse (Lyonesse #1-3)

Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" series was somewhat inconsistent, bringing together short stories, novels and other bits and pieces into four books in his alluring far future setting. In the superb "Lyonesse" trilogy, Vance reverts to traditional fantasy tropes. The stories, setting and characters are from long ago, in the Arthurian tradition. In another departure from Vance's other famous work, the trilogy also hangs together compellingly. This time, Vance tightly weaves his epic with multiple strands from different kingdoms and story arcs and even alternative dimensions.

The Arthurian element is almost incidental, as Vance sets out to tell his own stories from a mythical land mentioned only briefly in that more famous tale of knights, wizards and kings. But the echoes ring out: Vance tells of a King Aillas rather than Arthur, a wizard Murgen instead of Merlin, and a quest for the Holy Grail which, if you squint, has a hint of Monty Python as well as T.H. White.

He begins his tale with the story of Suldrun, a Princess rebelling against her father's heartless plans to betroth her and thus further his ruthless quest for power. She secretly weds a rival of her father, the impossibly noble Aillas. The subsequent generations engage in epic contests involving wizards, fairies, magic and great violent battles until the saga reaches a most satisfying conclusion.

After summarising it so blandly I hasten to add that Vance's vivid creations, his moral and emotional set pieces, his marvelous language, and his humour are anything but bland. If King Aillas is almost too noble and pure, it's all right because it allows Vance's more interesting protagonists to shine. They are the female characters: the tragic Suldrun, the brilliantly insolent Madouc, and the detached, mysterious otherworldly villain Melancthe. His wizards are also a compellingly weird mob.

A section where one of his heroines journeys through a parallel dimension is like a fantasy setting from the central and hellish right hand panels of Hieronymous Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights". It reminded me of some of the journeys of Michael Moorcock's doomed heroes. Vance also gives a nod to his British contemporary, listing the cross of Saint Elric as one of the relics to be pursued along with the Holy Grail.

I don't read books like this with a view to making an objective assessment. Maybe other readers won't fall for Lyonesse like I did. Fantasy and science fiction are more real and more meaningful to me than dull old mainstream non-genre fiction. I'll never be swayed from that orientation, and the Lyonesse trilogy locks it in even more tightly.