srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/08/85)
Some various comments on recent reads, namely LYONESSE by Vance and
JHEREG/YENDI by Steven Brust.
LYONESSE is a new fantasy by Vance. It is actually the first book in a series
according to the title page. The cover doesn't mention this, which I take
to be deceptive advertising at its worst, but perhaps it only signals that
publishers are becoming as wary of multi-book fantasies as the general
reading public. The story follows the political happenings in a set of
islands south of England off the coast of France, an island chain that
later sunk, leaving behind some of the mythology of England (Avalon) and
Ireland. Principally the story focuses on a Prince Aillar and his travails
as he attempts to find his son. However the story is less personal than
most fantasies.
One interesting thing about LYONESSE is its structure. LYONESSE is written
in the style halfway between a history textbook and the modern novel. At
times the book is very dry and impersonal; at times it follows rather
closely the affairs of one or another character and approaches the modern
novel. To add to this, the episodes within the novel are often of the
classic fairy tale form: a young man, away from home, gifted with this or
the other magical implement, confronting some monster. As in a fairy tale,
the violence and death in the book is often dry and offhand, without any of
the "realistic" angst that has become a staple in the fantasy genre.
Similarly, the solutions to many of the problems the characters face come in
bland, unexpectedly simple ways.
This may sound like a criticism, but in fact it isn't. Vance's style in
LYONESSE is rather refreshing. Fairy tales are quite fun in their own right,
and to have a number of them set in the framework of a historical novel is
peculiarly satisfying. I'm not sure everyone will enjoy this book, but I
think everyone will find the style quite interesting.
JHEREG/YENDI have already been discussed any number of times on the net, so
I won't go into any depth on these two books. I found them very enjoyable,
perhaps some of the best fantasy I've read this summer. Reading them in
close conjunction with LYONESSE made for an interesting juxtaposition of
styles. Where LYONESSE reads like a fairy tale, JHEREG/YENDI reads like
a fantasy role-playing game -- so much so that I wonder whether the novels
have some basis in FRP. Perhaps not. At any rate, J/Y are interesting in
contrast to LYONESSE because they are so modern in style. Without great
modification J/Y could have been written about a struggle within organized
crime today -- and still have been good. That is a compliment to SKZB, of
course: his work is good not because it is fantasy, but despite being
fantasy. (And in retrospect only lowers my opinion of To Reign In Hell.)
My only other comment on YENDI is to wonder whether the Monty Python joke
was intentional or not (on page 190 for those of you who missed it).
-- Scott