Cyrion

by Tanith Lee

He came to the Honey Garden looking for Cyrion. He was a man in grave danger, convinced only one man alive could help him. A man he had heard about in song and story. A man practically everyone knew something about. A man he had never met --
CYRION .

Some said he was the stolen son of a western king, raised by nomads in the desert. A freelance swordsman, a sorcerer, a master of disguise, some said he attracted bizarre, uncanny events as some persons attract misfortune.

He with hair like the sky of earnest sunrise, his fair complexion, his whiplash reactions and quicksilver elegance was like a being from another world. A legend. A myth.

But was he real?

And was he for hire?

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Sword and Sorcery, Mystery, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.

Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.

Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.

Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.

Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.

Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

a number of stories and one novella starring Cyrion the smug, angel-faced do-gooder, master swordsman and master of disguise, righter of wrongs, deliverer of women and children and chubby noblemen (as long as they have their hearts in the right place), deliverer of ironic bon mots at the expense of the nitwits who have the nerve to converse with him in a tavern about their various nitwit plots. this was a favorite of mine when very much younger. I read the stories again and again. the novella, not so much.

despite her reputation as a goth vampire spinning cold-blooded yarns full of nightmares and disturbing sexuality, Tanith Lee had a wide range of subjects and a surprisingly elastic style. this book finds her showing off her skills in a lighter register, much in the vein of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth series and her own splendid novel Kill the Dead. the gorgeous, at times even overripe prose is still present, but the tone is cheerful and the dialogue is often sparkling. the book is witty as Cyrion is witty. besides being high fantasy, it is also a series of absorbing mysteries with a specific formula: (1) Cyrion is approached to do a job or right a wrong; (2) Cyrion investigates, smugly; (3) Cyrion rights the wrong and the reader learns that not everything is as they appear and the answer to a puzzling mystery is delivered, smugly of course, but sometimes with a tinge of melancholy at the inevitable cupidity and stupidity of human beans. the puzzles displayed are most often ingenious ones.

the novella suffers a bit, if only because the preceding stories so fully prepare the reader to realize that all may not be what they appear: certain villains may not be villainous; heroic types may be fools or worse; the downtrodden may not be so diminished after all. very little surprised me here, but the wonderful writing still made "Cyrion in Stone" a treat.

rereading this again over a couple decades since first read and reread, I was happy to find the book to still be satisfying and entirely delightful.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyrion makes for quite an unusual hero. A sly, mysterious figure, clever and gallant, master of disguise and aptly described by others as a kind of Sherlock Holmes meets Zorro. The short stories that make up the first half of this collection are quite good, if a bit formulaic, and find Cyrion in one menacing situation after another where not everything is as it seems. Lee devised a clever framing narrative to link these stories, which all dovetail beautifully into the novella in the second half. Lee is in top form here with her finely honed, lush prose, submersing one in a familial mystery of murder and revenge in a decadent yet putrescent setting with a strangely compelling mixture of vile villainy, malevolent sorcery and the supernatural. And it wouldn't be Lee without at least a serving or two of depravity to boot.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The framing device is genius. Roilant, a slobbish young noble in unspecified danger, attempts to hire the renowned Cyrion--warrior, rogue, troubleshooter, possibly wizard--who, Roilant is convinced, is the only person able to resolve the situation. Instead, in some middling-grade alehouse, he only finds rumors and "you just missed him" comments, with each person contributing a tall-tale story of the prowess of this Cyrion. To Roilant's ever-growing frustration, of course.

And, truthfully, if the entire volume had been that, I would have been happy. The stories are presented within the frame: possibly truth, possibly fabricated, possibly embellished beyond recognition. If there is a weakness to the bunch, it is that Cyrion is presented as inhumanly capable and perceptive. As with the Sherlock Holmes collection, the reader eventually succumbs to the pattern and always knows that Cyrion is at least one step ahead of the game, is in control of the situation, and probably figured it all out from the very start. But each story is so charming and delightfully written--think Jack Vance with his vocabulary and ornate language under control--that I gave the repetition of style a pass and loved each one. The framing device, poor Roilant and his unstated problem, could resolve itself or not.

But then Cyrion appears on the scene, and the framing device becomes the story, a novella of nearly half the book. The longer form wears out its welcome a bit, as each twist and turn becomes more fractal: the family in question is preposterously dysfunctional, and layers of scheming interact with one another. The question is not who is guilty, it is who, if any, are innocent.

The most surprising aspect of it is the detail of who 'gets the girl' at the end and why. It is not a fairy-tale ending--how could it be, with this scale of crime?--yet shows an innate respect for all the characters and their goals. Though, arguably, it was an engineered loss for Cyrion, who would undoubtedly have read Eliset's desire as easily as he does everyone else...

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is largely a series of tall tales about the title character, connected with an amusing framework where a flabby and unheroic, but not stupid, wealthy young man goes to a tavern in search of an almost mythical swordsman called Cyrion, who he believes is the only one to extricate him from imminent peril. His enquiries about how to find Cyrion elicit stories that people have heard about him, but swear to be true, rather than concrete information on his whereabouts.

As we learn more about Cyrion's almost unnatural speed and sword skills, complete with his intelligence, wit and ability to unravel the most obtuse mystery and overcome perils galore, we and the young nobleman, Roilant, come to expect that one of the characters in the tavern who are latching onto Roilant for free drinks and food in exchange for their own contribution must actually be Cyrion in disguise. Because the tales also reveal that Cyrion is a master of disguise and a master or arcane disciplines learned from the desert nomads.

If the book had continued all the way through with that set-up I would have awarded it 4 stars. The stories are entertaining and interesting, and sufficiently varied and short enough not to flag. Unfortunately just over halfway through Cyrion is finally uncovered and we then learn why Roilant has been looking for him. In the final section of the book, Cyrion travels with Roilant to the derelict mansion where Roilant's cousins live, to confront the danger in which he is entrapped.

Sadly, that part of the book dragged for me, and I wasn't convinced by the dysfunctional family, the exaggeratedly derelict state of the place and the revelation of what has been going on for countless years in caverns below the place. The characters in that sequence reminded me of something out of Monty Python. And the theme in previous stories of characters who were duplicitous and not what they seemed tipped me off about one character in particular. Because of that the overall rating has to drop to 3 stars.

[Raymond Elmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a truism that villains steal the stage. Milton wrote Paradise Lost to justify God to Man; and Satan swipes every line of the epic. Bad guys gets to camp it up or play it cool, as they wish. They tap into the happy-power of the Id, while the hero struggles to decide why he wants to save the world if it costs him his girl, his rent and his life.
Fantasy readers weary of this disproportion often ask for a hero who isn't a stalwart bore or an emotional kitchen-drawer of repression.

Ms. Lee gives us one.
Cyrion is flat-out the coolest hero to flash a clean grin in a dirty tavern since Zorro. True, Captain Carrot has a nice smile and clean soul; but he's weird. We know Carrot is good, but no one knows what the hell he is thinking. Tarzan? cool, but belongs in rural setting. Fahfryd? admirable rogue; but wrong alignment. Aragorn? Too burdened. Cyrion doesn't do burdened.

The stories are thrown together mysteries; the joy of these interconnected tales are Lee's narration of a person who is so sly and yet so charitable; so winning and yet so approachable. I don't think many writers would dare create a Cyrion; it would be like coloring outside the lines of the sacred picture of a hero: broken-hearted, life-burdened, angst-driven and dull.

Cyrion isn't any of that.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suspect my love of this book has more to do with the early age at which I imprinted on it, rather than actual quality, but I dearly love it.

The book is arranged around a framing device - a young nobleman needs to hire a mercenary (not just any mercenary, but the best: Cyrion) and spends a day paying the denizens of an inn for information about the elusive swordsman. Each chapter is a story, exaggerated, dramatic, perhaps a bit excessive in its descriptions of Cyrion's beauty and skills, but compelling nonetheless. At last the nobleman, Roilant, finds his mercenary, and the last third of the book is the novella of the job Roilant needs done. The tone is different for the last piece, more realistic and gritty, though still gorgeous.

Cyrion is a lush story in the old sword-and-sorcery genre, and while not one of Lee's more well-known works, I still think it's one of her best. Lee's use of sensory-laden description is in fine form here, and her world comes to sumptuous life around characters who are perhaps a bit exaggerated, yes, but also very human despite that.

[Gregory Mele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hardly need to sing the praises of the late Tanith Lee. A two-time World Fantasy winner, Horror Grandmaster, Hugo nominee, yadda yadda yadda, she rose out of nowhere writing sword & sorcery (generally a male-dominated field) with The Birthgrave, and went on to pen 70 novels, 100s of short stories and create a style of lush, dark fantasy perhaps best represented by her two best-known series: The Tales of the Flat Earth and The Books of Paradys.

As my ennui with the often bloated, let-me-show-you-how-clever-I-am-not fantasy books continues, I've been revisiting Lee, who did it all first, better, usually in 70 - 90k words.

Original world-building? Go see Tales of the Flat Earth, which is literally that -- a place one-part Arabian Nights, one part Dunsanian Fantasy, and is populated by demons and gods who feel like the prototype of Neil Gaiman's Endless, through a Vikram the Vampire lens.

Brooding, urban fantasy? Paradys is a dream-nightmare of Venice-Paris, in which every narrow alley hides secrets sublime and terrible.

Retold fairy tales? "Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer" should knock your socks off -- and it is only a start.

Queer characters? Sexuality of every stripe, both beautiful and dark, runs deep through her fiction, and inspired the burgeoning genius of the (also sadly gone) Storm Constantine, whose "Wraethuthu" saga must surely be one of the first, and most intriguing, uses of non-binary characters in fantasy fiction.

In short, Lee was there long before Tamsyn Muir, Jannette Ng or Erin Morgenstern, and with all due respect to those ladies and their work, they aren't fit to be mentioned in the same breath. The fact they are considered trail-blazing innovators just shows how fickle fashion in genre fiction can be, and how each generation (Lee was a Boomer, they are all Millennials) is very certain that no one before has ever thought or done what they have.

Now, what about CYRION?

I've read a lot of Lee, but I had never even heard of this gem -- and that is a shame because my God is it good! Set in an alternate Kingdom of Jerusalem (Heruzala), the world is at once familiar and not. There were Romans....Remusans (get it?)...there is a kind of Christianity and a kind of Islam, though neither quite as we know it, there is a Templar-esque order, that are also the famed Assassins.... it is all like looking at our world through a fun-house mirror -- almost, but not quite.

Lee created this world through six short-stories about a wandering warrior-mystic, Cyrion, who may or may not be a magician, just as he may or may not be entirely mortal. Inhumanly beautiful, near supernaturally dexterous, he is a character of complex, almost inscrutable motives, and it is unclear if he has any greater ambition than to wander and insert himself in the world's doings.

Each story is quite different in plot and tone, and here is where the brilliance comes in. "Fix-ups" -- wherein an author took a series of short stories and loosely reworked them into a linear plot -- goes back to the 20s (Dashiell Hammett was a master of this), but increasingly fell out of favor as Big Fat Fantasy came into vogue in the late 80s and 90s. CYRION is a fix-up, but oh my, what a clever one! Lee introduces a meta-plot, as hapless young noble is desperate to find the legendary Cyrion, convinced only he can save him from an impending, magical doom. The wanderer's trail leads this poor lad to a very, very strange inn, where he offers to pay for information that will lead him to his quarry. Each story, thus has a long interlude, as we meet one of the inn's guests, and they tell a story of the strange, silver-haired hero. Are the stories true? Is Cyrion really all of these things, or are they tall-tales built around far more mundane events? The end result is somewhere between "The Decameron" and "The Usual Suspects," with Cyrion taking the role of Keyser Soze, and clues to the truth woven in these bridging chapters.

This is a brilliant idea, and had Lee put this together and created an epilogue, it would have made a fine collection of its own. But instead, having at last found Keyser...er...Cyrion, the young noble reveals his own terrible tale. What follows sets off the second half of the novel, a long novella/short novel of its own, in which we follow Cyrion into a truly decadent and decayed noble house, whose keep sits crumbling on a sea-side promontory. You see ....

...no, here I must stop, for to say more would be to say too much. Lee has great fun with unreliable narration, using the third person voice as an omniscient tale-teller, who may or may not be yet another character him/her/itself. Here I am reminded of the great historical author, Dame Dorothy Dunnett, whose "House of Nicolo" saga has a constantly guessing as to the hero's motives and deeds, even as we witness them, until the last page.

This novel's parts are brilliant, but taken together, they became something else, and that is even better. My only complaint is that we receive a few revelations and hints of revelations about Cyrion as the novel reaches its end, but he remains much as we found him -- undefinable, mysterious. It feels as if his story, and that of the finely drawn Kingdom of Heruzala, so remarkably fleshed out in so small a work, had plenty of room to continue, and yet, to my knowledge it was here Lee left that world and spent nearly the next forty years building others.

An old gem, well-worth your time.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of sword & sorcery short stories about Cyrion, although Cyrion (elegant, graceful, witty, observant, master of disguise) leans towards using his wits rather than his blade, all other things being equal.

Not much blood and thunder or "Blood and souls for my lord Arioch!" here -- the stories tend to be more in the way of intricately-crafted mysteries or puzzle boxes, as when Cyrion comes to a city in thrall to a great monster, or when he angers a wizard who knows how to create waxen figures that, when poked with a pin, inflict pain on their namesakes.

The first half of the book is half a dozen or so short stories, told in a tavern where a young noble in serious trouble is seeking Cyrion. The back half is the tale of the nobleman's plight and how Cyrion assists him in something that almost reads like a Gothic romance of family secrets and curses; except the whole is set in a sort of vaguely Crusades-era Near East-feeling world.

To this day one of my favorite of Tanith Lee's books.

[Meredith]

This is a collection of stories featuring the freelance swordsman and sorcerer Cyrion.

Contents:
* Cyrion in Wax
* A Hero at the Gates
* One Night of the Year
* Cyrion in Bronze
* The Murderous Dove
* Perfidious Amber
* A Lynx with Lions
* Cyrion in Stone (Novella)

Reviewer James Nicholl describes Cyrion as a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Batman with a touch of Zorro, which is a description I don't think I can better.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a veritable feast of dry wit, sweet prose, sumptuous characterisations and intoxicating plots. The prologue, seven stories and seven interludes were simply brilliant.
Unfortunately, the novella dragged on and on. Even the epilogue turned out to be duller, resulting in the loss of a star.
But otherwise, this was a brilliant read.
Recommended.

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Все знают, что Кирион - великий сыщик, умелый фехтовальщик, даже немного колдун. Он раскрывает любые запутанные тайны и карает могущественных злодеев. Про него все слышали, но мало кто видел. И когда в городской таверне появляется юный аристократ с загнанным взглядом, которому абсолютно необходимо до конца дня найти Кириона, это вопрос жизни и смерти - никто не может ему помочь, но каждый спешит рассказать ему про похождения и подвиги этого шерлока холмса. Из этих рассказов и складывается роман... до того момента, как на сцене появляется сам Кирион.

Ли создала великолепный образец литературы в редком жанре "детективная фэнтези". К сожалению, финальный рассказ о последнем деле Кириона чрезмерно затянут и переусложнен, но даже так, это твердая восьмерка.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This collection consists of 8 short stories and a novella. I found the novella somewhat contrived.

[Emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful book. Very clever; the whole second section reads, plot-wise, like Robert Howard meets P. T. Wodehouse. Strong undertones of gender which I appreciate. Amusing to see how women can also be Horny Old Men when writing sword 'n' sorcery novels.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy/Detective/Anthology – Described as Sherlock Holmes in Medieval Persia this anthology begins like a cross between the Canterbury Tales/1001 Arabian nights where a rather pudgy noble Roliant goes to an inn in search of the mysterious Cyrion. We get seven tales of Cyrion’s exploits, given by patrons of the inn before he finally reveals himself and the final novella deals with how he solves Roiliant’s dilemma that he is engaged to a sorceress who he thinks wants to murder him for his money.

Contents:
* Cyrion in Wax
* A Hero at the Gates
* One Night of the Year
* Cyrion in Bronze
* The Murderous Dove
* Perfidious Amber
* A Lynx with Lions
* Cyrion in Stone (Novella)

The stories are all fun mysteries, featuring a parade of kings and demons, sorcerers, backstabbing relatives, disguises and murder. I particularly enjoyed the cleverness of the Murderous Dove which is a Templar Assassin story with a very nice twist.

Cyrion is a fascinatingly enigmatic hero and a dangerous adversary 'a daisy crossed with a razor - some kind of hybrid of Heaven and the pit.' If anyone's familiar with Hideyuki Kikuchi he reminded me very much of Vampire Hunter D an angelically beautiful nomad going from town to town battling sorcerers and solving mysteries.

I like the supernatural element, particularly the Suspiria-esque coven of witches in their underground cavern at the end of Cyrion in Stone. It's sort of Lovecraft meets Argento and visually rich. The other highlight is the stories' unpredictability. You've never quite sure who the villain is and there are some fun reveals and in several cases multiple villains which give this an added level of complexity. World building is also skilfully done - Medieval Arabia with magic evoked with ease and this seamlessly blends in all sorts of literary homages, Arabian Nights, Canterbury Tales, Holmes, Dorian Grey, Lovecraft.

In terms of Lees other work you can definitely see ideas shining through - its a bit of Louisa the Poisoner, Night's Master, Kill the Dead... and yet something unique at the same time.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lee's a great writer, I've no doubt, and good enough prose can usually win me over. Yet, somehow, she manages to muddy and confuse what's otherwise an wonderful premise. Half the novel's an S&S Rashomon – tavern patrons swapping stories about the titular hero Cyrion – and, though the stories themselves are a little overwrought, it seems a perfect opportunity to, when Cyrion arrives halfway through the volume, to shatter all those expectations that've painstakingly be set up for him.

Instead, the text denatures into this bizarre, overcooked familial drama, a frankly boring novella that eats up 100+ pages. My interest sagged and sagged and sagged, with each page read, until I was audibly groaning at each new twist and unnecessary complication. Overall, its inventive first half and above-average prose keeps Cyrion above the water for me but damn, by the end of that epilogue, it was a near thing.

[ayanami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories revolving around the titular character, who, on his travels, encounters various people and situations where he needs his wits to get him through. The stories are more like mysteries in the vein of Sherlock Holmes or Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin tales, but taking place in a fantasy setting. A pretty good read with some clever moments.

[Mely · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is so totally Lymond Chronicles AU fanfic. I would probably like it better if I didn't hate Lymond. Cyrion. Whoever.

[Dantegideon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intricately plotted, beautifully written.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

TW: sexual assault

I've wanted to read this book ever since I read one of its short stories, A Hero At the Gates 5 years ago. Overall, I enjoyed the book. The first half is a collection of short stories tied together by interludes following a man who's searching for the legendary Cyrion, and who's hearing the short stories about him from people he meets in an inn. The second half is a novella-length story that follows on from the man's search for Cyrion. It's fun and ridiculous, but in the end I think A Hero at the Gates is still my favourite story out of them all.

Adding on to the ridiculous part, if I had no idea who wrote this I would probably have assumed it was written by a man, simply because Cyrion is always described in a self-insert power fantasy kind of way where not only does everyone he meets go one about how he's just the greatest, the handsomest, the most swordsmanliest, the noblest, most chivalrous man to ever grace the planet with his presence, but even the narration wanks off to how amazing he is when he's literally doing nothing. Every female character falls head over heels in love with him within 5 minutes of meeting him, and half the time they meet him when he's disguised as someone else. If you think you can avoid choking on the massive cock this book keeps trying to shove down your throat on every page, power to you. Otherwise, please enjoy your strenuous eye-rolling exercises.

On the downside, this book is clearly a product of its time. Think very long sentences with overly fanciful language when plain speech could have been used, and you could have avoided reading the same sentence multiple times trying to decode what the heck it was supposed to mean. Think needless sexual violence against the majority of female characters with names because didn't you know that in olden times literally every woman was a victim of rampant violent misogyny? How realistic. Oh, how far we've come. And none of these women are particularly worried about what they experienced, they're just like "lol yeah so that happened to me haha" ?? I get they're facing monsters and murderers and stuff but not a single soul stops to think "hey sexual assault is actually pretty bad, hey"

It's just VERY 1980s fantasy. As you can tell from descriptions like this:

[She had] the body of a beautiful harlot before she gets in the trade—still virgin

Yeah ok boomer whatever that means.

So somehow I still found it enjoyable, the wank-fest descriptions about how awesome Cyrion was added to my enjoyment because they were hilariously heavy-handed, but I definitely would have enjoyed it a lot more if 80% of the stories cut out the sexual assault, very little of which actually added anything to the plot or understanding of characters' actions, because pretty much none of the characters cared that they were assaulted. Whatever, I guess.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyrion is a peerless swordsman and adventurer. Women adore him, men admire or (if they are of weak character) envy and hate him for his goodness. He wades into danger for the challenge, eschewing material rewards. He wanders a fantasy version of the Levant, a fair-skinned, blue-eyed westerner trained in the mystic traditions of the nomadic desert people. (It's impossible not to picture T. E. Lawrence, or rather Peter O'Toole. Indeed, in my head there must be a film version of these stories archived somewhere, shot by a second crew after the Lawrence of Arabia went home, like the Mexican Dracula. But I digress.)

This should all make for a horribly boring set of stories, but the half-dozen short stories in this collection are quite entertaining. They fall squarely on the weird fiction and horror side of the sword-and-sorcery tradition, and Lee (who I haven't really read before) is great at designing a frightening setting and creepy mood. There's an almost Columbo-esque quality to the stories, as most of the creativity goes into creating a hate-worthy, dangerous foe and putting them in strong position, to be outsmarted by a smirking, amiable hero who is on to them from the start.

The exception is the one novella-length entry, which is (as you might expect) a bit too much of everything long before it's done. Buy the book, skip the long story.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is old school sword and sorcery with a unconan like character. It is a series of short stories woven together with a framing story that leads into the novella that ends the book. I loved 75% of this. The novella, which I remembered being weak, was weaker than I remembered.
The short stories, and even the framing sequences, are charming and wonderful. I love the mystery of the character, the language, the setting -- which is a vague alternate history medieval middle east. But that novella just bogs down.
Our hero is in disguise and the author is cagey about it, making us guess who, exactly, we are seeing. It has the effect of muddying an already rather slow, expository story. A much too long expository story. At some point in the last quarter or half of the novella we go back and re-explain in excruciating, yet unneeded detail, what exactly the bad guy was doing for every damn minute of the already slow story, and then what disguised hero was actually doing. I can't help but point out this all could have been done easily in half, or less, of the word count.
The wrap up of the story as our hero brings his plan to fruition is very good, but too little, too late to save it. That novella detracts from the very good stories that precede it.
I am still bummed that she never got around to telling more tales of this author, and I am, even with all that negativity, going to go back and read/reread more Tanith Lee.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, beautiful, and dangerous man comes to life in many a story, myth, fairytale, and adventure shared at an inn with someone who’s desperate to find him. The source of this person’s desperation is the heart of the second book, a convoluted web of mystery, sordid family secrets, greed, passion, and a sinister cult. More than one bond is formed in sorting out this tangle, revealing a new truth with each strand.

In some ways I preferred the first part of the book because it was more engaging, a series of inerlocked tales of Cyrion shared at the inn while the man seeking Cyrion became gradually aware of his quarry was aware of him. Each story was a gem, a mystery, an adventure with a twist, punctuated by his hapless hunter growing more frustrated in trying to find him. The one seeking Cyrion became somewhat secondary in his own drama, yet he lived up to the picture drawn of his character, even if there was room for a little more growth.

I would love to read more stories about Cyrion. He was a mystery which begged for more story even if the mystery was part of his charm. Another was his irreverent courtesy which made me chuckle. He never disappointed as a character or failed to live up to his promise. One imagines him doing some fantastic even now.

[Scott Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories and a novella about an adventurer set in a fantasy world that seems to be modeled off of the Middle East. As with all collections of stories, some are more enjoyable than others, but none of them are bad and many are very good indeed. One thing that works against short stories is their length, so it follows that the best story here is the novella, which is really the length of a novel. The stories are set within another story that acts as framing device, a ploy that rarely works for me. But Lee is such a good writer that here the interstitial bits are enjoyable as the stories. As for the title character: I've seen another review here that described him as a mix of Sherlock Holmes, Batman and Zorro. I came up with a similar analogy as I was reading that I feel is more fitting: Sherlock Holmes meets Conan.

[Schroeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun collection of stories surrounding the exploits of Cyrion. The humour can be a little too forced, the twists of logic too extravagant, and Cyrion too unbelievable, but all that is forgivable if you enjoy pulpy fantasy. Not nearly as witty as Vance, but still an engaging read that is worth your time if you love the genre.

[Sammiejoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super depressing

Super depressing and the female characters are victims. And the hero, Cyrion, is 1000% a Marty Sue. I know it's an old book but it made me sad.

[Byrd Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tanith Lee's is at the top of her game here with weaving a spell of unpredictable stories in a kingdom at once familiar yet far away. This is one of my favorites of hers that I find myself returning to time and time again.

Back in the 80's, an overplayed trope at the time was all of our adventurers meeting at the local inn before the adventure (spawned by Lord of the Rings and DnD mania), and the Conan Barbarian cult was huge. Lee makes a firmly a tongue in cheek play at these tropes with her hero, Cyrion, who is as handsome as an angel, but is cunning as the devil.

The set up- Cyrion is a mythical hero, more rumor than man. His exploits verge on the fantastical as he has vanquished demons and ghouls, while falling in and out of bed with dangerous women who often want to see him dead. In all the tales about him, Cyrion is a smooth barbarian who moves like an eel, slipping in and around what people know of him without really revealing who he is.

But Roliant desperately needs a hero, especially one as clever as Cyrion. The woman he is promised to marry might be a demon, devil, or just a murderer. There's definitely a touch of My Cousin Rachel (Daphne du Maurier) here.

So he's at the Honey Garden to find his man, and while he waits for Cyrion to appear, he is regaled with different tales about him. Each is a unique story taking place in this Moroccan-Italian mix of a fantasy world where ghosts, demons, and dervishes can be found just around the corner. I love all the tales, but I do admit I find the last one dealing with Roliant's problem the least interesting.

An earlier work of Lee's it does have some of the themes she returns to in later books but they aren't as overworked: the beautiful women with their gray moral code, the desert as a background, monstrous creatures that appear as human, and the family dynamics of siblings who really are a bit strange (Edgar Allan Poe odd).

If you really want to read genius - take a look at the highlights I've marked for this book. Tanith Lee knew how to turn a phrase.

A lot of fantasy written in the 80's has not borne up well with the passage of time, but this book is as fresh out of the box as the day it was published. Probably because Lee had a talent for writing clever stories - those that turned tropes on their head, and was a magician in pulling a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute.

One of the best Tanith Lee books IMO, and one of her books that is the most approachable as it is a standalone. It will appeal to readers who aren't seeking romance and who enjoy reading nostalgic fantasy.

[Karl Stark di Grande Inverno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una bella sorpresa.
"Sword and sorcery" classica, molto classica.
Il romanzo è diviso in due parti: nella prima la struttura è simile al Decameron, con una cornice comune in cui vengono incastonate storie aventi come protagonista il barbaro Cyrion.
La seconda metà del libro è costituita da un'unica, lunga avventura dello stesso Cyrion.
Il protagonista è una versione dall'intelletto acuto di Conan, e le storie spaziano dallo scontro con il classico stregone cattivo al giallo, passando per il soprannaturale, senza mai perdere il piglio avventuroso tipico di questo genere di narrativa.
Non avevo mai letto nulla della Lee, ma credo che cercherò di recuperare altri romanzi, data la buona impressione che mi ha lasciato questo.

[M— · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cyclic episodic stories in an interwoven narrative. As seems on par with my recent reactions to Lee's work, I enjoyed the short stories that made up the first half of this work far more than I did the novella of the second half. The short stories were wonderful: very creative, clever little puzzles. The novella? Lee wrote herself in to a world of red herrings and Russian-doll reveals, the constant exchange of which I quickly found tedious.

This is worth reading if you find it on hand, but I wouldn't suggest putting much effort into tracking down a copy.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book back in the early 80s and loved it. I still love it. Just an unusual fantasy, written in an unusual style that attempts to portray a medieval middle eastern flair.

This is a series of short stories describing the adventures of a swordsman, who is more an adventurer than a sell sword. He deals with sorcery with both wit and humor. The stories are told to a young man who is seeking this swordsman for help.

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished! Intricate, wordy prose and fun pulp short stories hampered by a bizarre structure and a top-heavy novella at the end. Wish it had focused more on Cyrion himself and less on dumb Roilant's romantic troubles.