Fantasy Book Review

Book review 1

Lyonesse- Book 1

Also know as Suldrun’s Garden

Jack Vance

This was a truly lovely book to read. a wonderful romantic fantasy novel set in the legendary sunken isle of Lyonesse that lays off the isles of Scilly and south west of Cornwall, England. The country was the birth place of the Knight, Tristan and used in the tales of King Arthur. The isles was also a part of Celtic mythology. In this particular story Lyonesse is set in the European dark ages.

The story revolves around a young princesses desire to be alone in her ’secret garden’ and the her (Suldrun) defiance against her domineering unloving father, King Casmir. Casmir plays the antagonistic of the story, his main desire is to marry his daughter off to a prince that would be helpful in his plan to rule the empire. When Suldrun runs from a dinner with a very promising suitor, Casmir locks her in her garden telling her to live her life there. The garden barred on two sides by a steep ravine, the third by a wall and a locked gate, and the fourth by the sea

Suldrun loves the idea and lives happily alone in her garden for a while. That is until a young man is washed ashore in her garden. This is where our story begins…….

I’m a sucker for a good fantasy novel and this one was great, it was honestly a fantastic read. I found it really hard to get in to at first it seemed to jump around a lot and I was having trouble remembering all of the names. Thank goodness it was only the first few chapters. The chapters were only a, sort of, introduction to all the character. Then the story thinned out in to the main story which were split following around three or four different characters.

The book wasn’t the sort of fantasy novel that I would usually read (my boyfriend lent the book that I was suppose to review to his work mate, so he brought me this instead) but it was great all the same. The ’fantasy’ side of it was subtle and not in your face as other fantasy novels are. It was still full of fairies, witches and wizards but I was concentrating on the story line that I hardly noticed. The book started as a love story and finished an exciting action story. I absolutely loved it, full of heart break and happiness. it’s a part of a trilogy which I will also be reading and reviewing but it can easily be read on its own. I would recommend this book to everyone. I think all ages would love it.