Customer Reviews

Madouc (Lyonesse Book 3)

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Madouc, the third book in Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy, is probably the best. The first two books, Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl, are wonderful, but the title character, Madouc, and her search for her pedigree, are among the most charming characters and quests in fantasy. She steals the show.

Casimir, the relentlessly scheming king of Lyonesse, has learned the child he thought was his grandaughter, Madouc, is in fact a fairy changeling. That is somehow wrapped up in the mystery of Dhrun, son of King Ailias of Troicenet, of whom it was prophecied by a magic mirror that he would be the king of all the Elder Isles. Not if Casimir can help it. He wants that throne for himself.

And there are much larger, darker schemes afoot, as the evil magician Tamurello and the mysterious witch Desmei plot against Murgen, the Elder Isle's greatest wizard, who alone keeps the Elder Isles from sinking into the sea.

And into this web of political and magical intrigue wanders Madouc, determined to learn her pedigree, possessed of a bit of her fairy mother's magic and a truly wonderful charm all her own. It is Madouc who sets this novel apart from other fantasies. Vance does a splendid job creating a central figure who will beguile and amaze you.

Vance blends myths from half a dozen cultures into a seamless whole. The Elder Isles are saved, if at a terrible cost. The kingship is resolved, after a terrible war. And Madouc even learns her pedigree. The book is full of surprises, and sly references to other legends. As just one example, you will learn how the Holy Grail got to where Sir Gallahad could find it...

You should read the whole Trilogy. If for some reason you cannot, read Madouc. It's a wonderful conclusion to a wonderful trilogy.

Fantasy-lovers, take heed! Madouc is third in one of the greatest fantasy trilogies ever written. You will fall in love with the fairy changeling/royal princess whose search for her heritage takes you on a merry chase. Read all three of the Lyonesse books by Jack Vance-you won't regret it. A note: Madouc won the award for Grand Fantasy in the year 1990.

How can this book possibly be out of print? What madness has overtaken the human race, that junk like Gene Wolfe or Dragonlance rules the bestseller list, while this, a supreme accomplishment in the history of the American fantasy genre, languishes in relative obscurity? Jack Vance is so irresistable, so indescribable, that I won't bother to try to summarize Lyonesse; that's for fourth-grade book reports. Suffice it to say that it will haunt your dreams the way any of the other greats of the genre do, only Vance writes much better (and funnier) prose. For the love of all that is holy, get this book, and somehow or another get it back in print with a major publisher.

Well, here's the finale of Jack Vance's Lyonesse, and I'm sorry to see it end. This novel was about Madouc, the changeling princess of Lyonesse, and her interactions with Casmir, Sollace, Aillas, Dhrun, Shimrod, Throbius, Sir Pom-Pom, Umphred, Twisk, et al.

Madouc maintains the quality of this excellent trilogy -- it's filled with clever prose, charming characters, and lots of imagination. Jack Vance's careful planning produced a tight plot and Madouc wrapped up all the loose ends from Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lyonesse, but it may not be for everyone. It occurs to me that these books are a lot like Monty Python. They're fast-paced, weird, silly, outrageous, and (somehow) smart.

I'll give you one example: the magician Murgen realizes he's being spied on by someone who is disguised as a moth, so he sends Rylf to follow the moth and find out who it is. The moth flies away and joins a thousand other moths who are flying around a flame. As Rylf watches, one of the moths eventually drops down, turns into a man, and walks into an inn. But Rylf doesn't take note of the man because, as he figures, the laws of probability suggest that the particular moth he's after must still be flying around the flame.

If you don't find that hilarious, you may not enjoy Lyonesse as much as I did.

Part of what I love most about Jack Vance's humor is that he doesn't tell us it's funny. It's a completely deadpan delivery. So, when King Throbius (King of the Fairies) assures Madouc that "fairies are as tolerant as they are sympathetic," there's no narrator or character who explains to Madouc (and, thereby, us) that this does not mean that fairies are tolerant. I have never read any author who does this as beautifully as Jack Vance does, and I loved it.

First off let's put the books in order.
1.Suldruns Garden
2.The Green Pearl (despite what the digital version says in its title)
3.Madouc
Now that that is out of the way!
Oh, to see the trilogy end!

But what a great ending. A fantastic denouement. All things resolved with wicked cleverness and justice dealt to every corner.

Jack Vance has got to be one of my favorite authors of all time. Maybe top of the list even. He writes with his imagination set on stun and with a wit to keep you giggling. I just can't understand the out of print-ness of this trio. If you enjoyed this Vance work then you will love, The Dying Earth, The Demon Princes, and Night Lamp.

Maybe if we could all get together and get Peter Jackson to sign on for the movie rights....

Ah a girl can dream can't she?
Hope this was helpful!

This is the final book of the Lyonese trilogy. It was not as good as the other two, but still and all, a good read. It tied up a lot of the loose ends and was full of sorcerers and magic. Great for the fantasy enthusiast

Just another exceptional book form the writer who has set the bar for today's Sci-fi and fantasy authors and most will admit this.

Jack Vance's Lyonesse trilogy is one of the great works of fantasy. The characters are complex, the plots are involved, and the writing is absolutely unique. No one else in the genre has such a command of the language. And Vance is very funny as well. Yes, it is true it takes a while to sink into the atmosphere of Lyonesse, to appreciate King Casmir's evil, Madouc's intelligence and spirit, and the atmosphere of the court. But the reward is a reading experience that you will never forget. On the other hand, a lot of people these days don't really read for content. So if your idea of a good fantasy novel is a long series of never-ending, incredibly serious 700-page tomes in which some high schooler fights a procession of genre-ic villains to avert some Great Evil and never quite seems to resolve anything, then you should probably stick to Robert Jordan and his numerous clones. But if you want to read someone who is a master wordsmith and who writes for educated adults, then Vance is a must read. My only complaint is that Kindle doesn't have Vance's other great works--Planet of Adventure, the Demon Princes, Alastor, the Cadwal Chronicles, and so on.

If you know Vance then my praise is superfluous. If you don't know Vance then you're in for an unforgettable first acquaintance followed by a lifetime of appreciation. Generations of authors have said the same. I have sought out every title he ever published and have considered the time spent looking for books long out of print more than amply repaid. The Lyonesse novels are still easy to obtain. Grab them.

I loved the whole series and I thought this was an awesome finish. You will probably like Stephen R. Lawhead's "The Song of Albion" series as well. I just love these English folk lore stories for some reason.