Dahut

The King of Ys #3

by Poul Anderson, Karen Anderson

In book three of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius’s reign faces a deadly new threat from across the sea

For sixteen years Gratillonius has been the king of Ys, a position he has used to bring the once-teetering city-state back to stability as the Roman Empire continues to collapse around it. Rome would prefer a more malleable leader in Gratillonius’s place and makes no secret of it. As pressure from Roman leadership increases, Gratillonius must also contend with Niall maqq Echach, the leader of Northern Ireland who holds the Ysan king responsible for the death of his son. Compounding these complications is the ever-present threat of retribution by the Ysan gods, should the kingdom’s leadership make a misstep. But perhaps the greatest danger of all is unfolding from within Gratillonius’s own household, where, following the death of one of his nine wives, the gods have named an unsettling Dahut, Gratillonius’s own daughter.
 
As treachery mounts from within and without, Gratillonius must hold to his principles in defiance of the gods while still protecting Ys from the destruction closing in on all sides.
 
Dahut is the third book in Poul and Karen Anderson’s King of Ys series, which concludes with The Dog and the Wolf .

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

398 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2013

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Kat Hooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

This review is for all four books in this series:

The King of Ys is a historical fantasy -- it is set in our world just before the fall of the Roman Empire and it mixes in the legend of the mythical city of Ys which was built below sea level on the coast of Brittany. Many of the characters in The King of Ys (Roman emperors, Christian saints, etc) are based on legendary and real historical figures and Poul and Karen Anderson include plenty of footnotes which explain the legend of Ys and the culture and religion of the 5th century.

In Roma Mater, we meet Gaius Valerius Gratillonius, a Roman centurion stationed at Hadrian's Wall. Because of his loyalty to would-be-emperor Magnus Clemens Maximus, the commander of the Roman troops in Britannia, Maximus assigns him to be Rome's prefect in Ys so that Gratillonius can keep it loyal while Maximus goes for the purple. Ys, though part of the Roman empire, has been left to itself for years because it's spooky. According to rumors, Ys is ruled by nine witches who, among other things, control the weather to keep Ys safe from enemies intending to invade by sea. These nine "witches" are the God-chosen wives of the King of Ys who is a nasty tyrant. His nine wives use their powers to ask the Gods to bring them a deliverer -- someone to challenge the king.

And so Gratillonius and his small troop arrive in Ys and soon he finds himself king. Along with inheriting the crown, Gratillonius gets the nine witch queens, too. As he sets out to reform Ys, which has suffered under the former rule, he has a lot of unfamiliar stuff to deal with: the responsibilities of a king, the different culture, a strange land and people, clashes in religious beliefs (he covertly worships Mithras who has been denounced by the newly Christian Roman Empire, and the Ysans worship three pagan gods), and satisfying nine wives who vary greatly in age, beauty, intelligence, and appreciation for men.

At first, Gratillonius balances all of this mostly successfully, and he begins to restore the prosperity of Ys. He is well-intentioned, but he can't help but occasionally go wrong as his own beliefs conflict with his people's and their gods'. One problem is that the Ysan's believe that their gods will destroy Ys by flood if they are not obeyed. So, there is a conflict between the Ysans' expectations of Gratillonius's duties at their religious rites, his desire to keep alive the worship of Mithras, and his admiration for the Christian leaders he knows. The other big problem is that when one of his wives dies, the gods choose the replacement from the priestesses who are all descendants of the previous kings and queens and the gods don't seem to care too much about age, mental ability, or consanguinity. So, not only are there nine wives, but their family tree looks more like an M.C. Escher drawing than a tree, and this kind of behavior isn't congruent with the worship of either Mithras or Christ. (But it does make for some interesting reading.)

The first two books, Roma Mater and Gallicenae, progress rather slowly and there's not much action -- and this is really my only complaint about The King of Ys. But, by the end of Gallicenae, we've seen the ways Gratillonius has had to struggle to obey the Ysan gods, and we can be rather certain about what they're going to throw at him next ... and we know he's going to defy them this time. And, we've seen some plot threads being developed (warriors preparing overseas) that are presumably being carefully set up for use in the next novel.

In the third novel, Dahut, things really come to a head, and the fallout is spectacular. The reader then realizes and appeciates how carefully the Andersons have planned and crafted this work from page one. Well done! The fourth book, Dog and Wolf, deals with the after-effects of the events in book three, develops the characters further as their lives have drastically changed, and comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Besides being a fascinating and original tale with real historical feel, The King of Ys is beautifully written:

The armies met south of the River Ruirthech. That was a day when clouds blew like smoke, low above the valley, underneath a sky the hue of lead. Rainshowers rushed out of them, drenched men, washed their wounds and their dead, passed away on the keening wind. All colors were dulled except those of blood and gold. Shouts, horn calls, hoofbeats, footfalls, clamorous wheels, clash and rattle of weapons, were somehow muffled. But blows fell as heavy and sharp as always.

My favorite parts were Gratillonious's internal thoughts about his wives:

He gazed back. Over the years she had added flesh to flesh, though her frame was quite large enough that as yet she did not appear quite gross. Her features remained good in their heavy fashion and her hair was still a burnished red-brown. It was untidily piled on her head, like the raiment on her body. He had grown used to that....Well, she had her rights, and she was by no means a bad person, and a man ought to shoulder his burdens without whining about them.

And there is poetry -- even whole chapters of poetry!

Would you know the dog from the wolf? You may look at his paw,
Comparing the claw and the pad; you may measure his stride;
You may handle his coat and his ears; you may study his jaw;
And yet what you seek is not found in his bones or his hide,
For between the Dog and the Wolf there is only the Law.

Near the end of the story, Gratillonious meets a young soldier who is in nearly the same situation he was in when he left Britain 25 years before. Shocked, he looks back and realizes that he's not the same man he was then -- he would make different choices now. Through love and loss, we learn what's important -- that's a good story.

Read this review in context at Fantasy Literature's Poul Anderson page

[Carole-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the Baen MMP published 1988

[Steve R]

Having ruled the city of Ys for a decade and a half, Gratillonius in this novel faces many challenges to his rule. The moribund Roman power would like to replace him as a leader who has, so-to-speak, 'gone native'. The leader of Northern Ireland blames him for the death of his son. The gods of the Ysans threaten to unleash untold calamities (this will reach its true fruition in then next novel), and with the death of one of his nine wives, his own daughter has now assumed this lofty position in the power structure of his city state.

Not really remembered, except as having left a quite positive impression.

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for the description of the amazing and terrible fall of Ys, one man's revenge....

[Brian Schiebout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dahut by Poul and Karen Anderson is the third book in the King of Ys series. This book takes place about 16 years after Roma Mater and displays a Ys that is prospering due to wise ruler ship from king Gratillonius. However as with any successful leader who sticks to his morals Gratillonius has made many enemies who in this book conspire to bring him down and maybe even the city over which he rules. The first group that he has offended greatly is the three gods who are the deities of the city itself. He has refused to change his customs to what he sees as wrong hearted views. The three are called by Corentius, who is the Christian priest whom Anderson gave to the city as evil spirits whose nature is more revealed as their power diminishes. I believe that this is true in many cases where someone's true nature does not become apparent when they are where they feel in control but instead only becomes evident when they feel their power slipping away from them. In the case of these spirits their anger is so manifest toward Gratillonius that they would cut off the only city who adores them to spite him. The second main group that opposes him are the provincial Roman leaders who during this time of chaos fear any strong leader. These are men who do not hate him as a person but would much prefer a malleable stooge to replace him. The third person is Niall Maq Echach, the powerful king of northern Ireland whose son was killed when Ys interfered with an attempted raid of his on Gaul. These forces on their own would have little power but when the gods choose Gratillonius's daughter Dahut as his new queen the balanced elements start to shift. He refuses to engage in carnal action with his daughter because he believes it is a mortal sin and she proceeds to begin to scheme to get a man who will bed her as king. In many ways this is a twisted treacherous story that reminds me of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. I enjoyed it even if it was a touch dark.

[ChasTopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in the King of Ys series and, while it started to feel tedious two thirds of the way through, I'm glad I stuck with it. The tragic unfolding of the story and climactic ending were well done, even if you saw it coming from the first book. That is due to the great writing by Poul and Karen Anderson, both the prose itself and the historical details.

I had decided not to finish the 4th book (The Dog and the Wolf) because I was frankly so tired of the plot and the characters. I do think it could have been told more succinctly in three books instead of four, but I do intend to read the last book in the series.

[Steve]

YS

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

See The King of Ys - Volume Two: Dahut & The Dog and the Wolf