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Argylle #1
The Well-Favored Man: The Tale of the Sorcerer's Nephew
Welcome to Argylle -- and its ruling family, a brilliant flighty, civilized, and occasionally dangerous clan of nearly immortal warriors and magicians. Where young Prince Gwydion, stuck with ruling the Dominion, is finding his reign...eventful. Where strange Things keep turning up. Plagues of monsters. The arrival of a ravenous Great Dragon. And where a mysterious young woman who claims to be Gwydion's long-lost -- indeed, quite unsuspected--sister. It's enough, Gwydion thinks, to make a ruler want to find a nice long errand that'll take him away from his homeland for a spell...
447 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 28, 2008
An under-appreciated fantasy novel that deserves to be better-known.
OK, OK, I’ve head critics charge that this is derivative of Zelazny’s Amber books. To my mind, this is slightly ridiculous. So you have an extended family of considerable longevity and the ability to do magic and pass between dimensions and/or parallel universes. One part of the family lives in an upstart dimension, of which the older, more established families disapprove. OK, so? The similarities end there, and to say that the tone, the themes, or the plot of the book is similar to Amber is just plain mistaken. A wonderful cast of characters, family members who actually love one another (imagine!), and one of the more kick-ass dragons around make for an interesting tale.
Unfortunately, the sequels (A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, and The Price of Blood and Honor) go back in time to the origins of Argylle and the conflicts spawned by it. I wish Elizabeth Willey had stayed in the present and explored that world more, instead of indulging in sequels.
OK, OK, I’ve head critics charge that this is derivative of Zelazny’s Amber books. To my mind, this is slightly ridiculous. So you have an extended family of considerable longevity and the ability to do magic and pass between dimensions and/or parallel universes. One part of the family lives in an upstart dimension, of which the older, more established families disapprove. OK, so? The similarities end there, and to say that the tone, the themes, or the plot of the book is similar to Amber is just plain mistaken. A wonderful cast of characters, family members who actually love one another (imagine!), and one of the more kick-ass dragons around make for an interesting tale.
Unfortunately, the sequels (A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, and The Price of Blood and Honor) go back in time to the origins of Argylle and the conflicts spawned by it. I wish Elizabeth Willey had stayed in the present and explored that world more, instead of indulging in sequels.
May 19, 2009
Fantasy of manners. Prince Gwydion, somewhat reluctantly now Lord of Argylle, must discover the cause of various magical disruptions in his land while dealing with his slightly crazy family, sneaky diplomats, and a dragon. This was a nicely absorbing read; there is just enough wit to cut through the sheer amount of detail, and the narrative voice (as in most fantasy of manners) is strong and engaging. And I liked its portrayal of Gwydion's warm if strange family.
I was occasionally a bit thrown out of the world-building by the choice of names and terms, and some characters occasionally slipped into a faux archaic speech that I found tiresome. But these are fairly minor complaints and I am looking forward to reading the next book in this trilogy.
I was occasionally a bit thrown out of the world-building by the choice of names and terms, and some characters occasionally slipped into a faux archaic speech that I found tiresome. But these are fairly minor complaints and I am looking forward to reading the next book in this trilogy.
May 15, 2019
I first read this when it came out in paperback way back when and adored it. I've waited for ages for it to come out in ebook (decades, I believe) and once I saw it, I had to grab it.
It's just as good as I remembered. Wonderful world-building. Terrific characters. The plot kept me guessing when I first read it and it's been long enough that it kept me guessing again.
I dearly hope that Elizabeth Willey writes more books beyond this and its two sequels because she's one of my favorite authors and I'd love to have more from her to savor.
It's just as good as I remembered. Wonderful world-building. Terrific characters. The plot kept me guessing when I first read it and it's been long enough that it kept me guessing again.
I dearly hope that Elizabeth Willey writes more books beyond this and its two sequels because she's one of my favorite authors and I'd love to have more from her to savor.
August 4, 2016
I love this series. It pains me that there are only three books and that the author apparently has disappeared from this plane and gone back to Argyll. But at least she left these wonderfully-written books.
May 29, 2019
Enjoyable and immersing, but I was disappointed at the ending. Not that anything was wildly wrong with the ending, it just seemed a little too easy, and plot threads were resolved but not really... tied together. Maybe bc it's the first book in a trilogy? Idk.
Some things I liked:
-The dragon, Gemnamnon, is really very scary, and I think one driving force in reading the book is that even when he's been driven off for a while you know he's coming back. Creates a lot of background tension.
-I like most members of the main character's family--though Freia and Gaston a bit less than the others if only bc they get less page time. Walter and Prospero and Dewar are my faves, but Alexander and Marfisa and Ulrike are also splendid.
-One minor worldbuilding note is that in Argylle, sexuality is very loose and unregulated, which means queer sex and relationships are considered fine. A few minor characters seem to be involved in queer relationships; our main character, however, is too busy running a country to really have a relationship going at all.
-This universe seems to have different branching but connected worlds, and there's an odd mix of time period elements: Argylle is a place of horses but our MC knows of cars and bicycles, and the city's beginning to be paved; language varies from pretty modern slang to "thou" and "'tis"; characters reference the medieval concept of the wheel of Fortuna; our MC's grandfather is an immortal named Prospero who makes references to Sherlock Holmes. Confusing sometimes, but fun once you decide to just go with it.
So it's an interesting read, but at the end I was kind of nonplussed--worldbuilding and characterization stronger than plot, I guess. I will probably read the sequel at some point bc the world really is pretty enjoyable. (Edit: Actually it appears the other two books in the series are prequels and therefore don't include the MC of this book, and have a lot to do with huge wars and the like... not sure I'm interested anymore.)
Some things I liked:
-The dragon, Gemnamnon, is really very scary, and I think one driving force in reading the book is that even when he's been driven off for a while you know he's coming back. Creates a lot of background tension.
-I like most members of the main character's family--though Freia and Gaston a bit less than the others if only bc they get less page time. Walter and Prospero and Dewar are my faves, but Alexander and Marfisa and Ulrike are also splendid.
-One minor worldbuilding note is that in Argylle, sexuality is very loose and unregulated, which means queer sex and relationships are considered fine. A few minor characters seem to be involved in queer relationships; our main character, however, is too busy running a country to really have a relationship going at all.
-This universe seems to have different branching but connected worlds, and there's an odd mix of time period elements: Argylle is a place of horses but our MC knows of cars and bicycles, and the city's beginning to be paved; language varies from pretty modern slang to "thou" and "'tis"; characters reference the medieval concept of the wheel of Fortuna; our MC's grandfather is an immortal named Prospero who makes references to Sherlock Holmes. Confusing sometimes, but fun once you decide to just go with it.
So it's an interesting read, but at the end I was kind of nonplussed--worldbuilding and characterization stronger than plot, I guess. I will probably read the sequel at some point bc the world really is pretty enjoyable. (Edit: Actually it appears the other two books in the series are prequels and therefore don't include the MC of this book, and have a lot to do with huge wars and the like... not sure I'm interested anymore.)
December 14, 2018
This was a bit slow to get rolling for me, as the first 100 or so pages struggled a bit to find a focus, as it was establishing a fairly non-traditional worldbuilding while setting the stage for current events as well as several sizable flashbacks to events of 20 years prior to the present day. The flashbacks turned out to be very important to where the book was eventually going, but early on, they felt very disconnected to the "present day" plot line and added to the difficulty I had settling in.
Once the main plot got rolling, I settled in and enjoyed it quite a lot, and the way the original "present day" problem (a dragon in need of slaying) intersected and caused complications with what turned out to be the real problem (related to the events of 20 years prior) made for a nice mix.
Once the main plot got rolling, I settled in and enjoyed it quite a lot, and the way the original "present day" problem (a dragon in need of slaying) intersected and caused complications with what turned out to be the real problem (related to the events of 20 years prior) made for a nice mix.
September 4, 2014
I wanted to like this book but I just thought it was sloppy tbh. Maybe I missed something but the mother had supposedly been dead for 20 plus years, and yet the secret sister was 17?
And the female characters - the fridged mother that everyone talked about in creepy, hagiographical terms, a sister incapacitated by a broken arm from the get-go, a sister who was the only person to suffer permanent disabilities in the family attack on the dragon (her brothers' injuries being conveniently healed through magic), a secret sister who is written as the definitive shrinking violet (and that the protagonist doesn't even think is a real person for a good while), and a scorned woman who turns to dark magic and gets beheaded for her efforts .... and none of them are seen really doing anything in regards to the plot of this book? Though, tbf the only people who did anything in this book were the protagonist and his uncle. But, I don't know, it struck me as strange that Willey would write in all these female characters and then do nothing with them.... Maybe the sequels are better.
And the female characters - the fridged mother that everyone talked about in creepy, hagiographical terms, a sister incapacitated by a broken arm from the get-go, a sister who was the only person to suffer permanent disabilities in the family attack on the dragon (her brothers' injuries being conveniently healed through magic), a secret sister who is written as the definitive shrinking violet (and that the protagonist doesn't even think is a real person for a good while), and a scorned woman who turns to dark magic and gets beheaded for her efforts .... and none of them are seen really doing anything in regards to the plot of this book? Though, tbf the only people who did anything in this book were the protagonist and his uncle. But, I don't know, it struck me as strange that Willey would write in all these female characters and then do nothing with them.... Maybe the sequels are better.
December 24, 2012
I love this book. It's one of my go-tos on those occasions when I don't have anything new to read. Yeah, yeah, it's derivative of Zelazny's Amber books, blah blah blah. The similarities are superficial. I love Willey's multiverse, and the gamer geek in me really wants to stat out how it works and GM a game in it sometime.
I'm a sucker for first-person narrative, and Willey reveals Gwydion as a brilliant but still young man who's had a rather huge responsibility dumped on him. He makes mistakes, but he's far from incompetent. He's a good guy driven to some pretty dark thoughts due to heart-wrenching circumstances. There are unexpectedly emotional moments, and some rollicking good displays of magical power. The portrayal of dragons, while not terribly original, are very enjoyable. It's a great read, and I've always been sad that Willey chose to go to the backstory of the multiverse instead of telling more of Gwydion's adventures.
I'm a sucker for first-person narrative, and Willey reveals Gwydion as a brilliant but still young man who's had a rather huge responsibility dumped on him. He makes mistakes, but he's far from incompetent. He's a good guy driven to some pretty dark thoughts due to heart-wrenching circumstances. There are unexpectedly emotional moments, and some rollicking good displays of magical power. The portrayal of dragons, while not terribly original, are very enjoyable. It's a great read, and I've always been sad that Willey chose to go to the backstory of the multiverse instead of telling more of Gwydion's adventures.
May 17, 2010
This is another well written fantasy that involves a complex urbane plot full of monsters, dragons, and sorcery.
A very intricate plot and elegant prose highlight the book.
I recommend it.
A very intricate plot and elegant prose highlight the book.
I recommend it.
September 9, 2020
I picked this up after reading about it in a Tor.com post about writers who had produced some promising work and then stopped writing. It is promising work, but it has its flaws.
It's clearly by someone who, like me, is enchanted with Roger Zelazny's Amber - perhaps too much so, because it reads at times like Amber pastiche. Like me, the author appears to be bothered by the fact that the female family members in Amber tend to be cyphers, and that nobody ever cares about mothers (while absent fathers are a point of obsession, as in Zelazny's work generally). She also seems to have wondered, "What if the family weren't at each other's throats?" (Which, later on in the Amber books, they're not, but here they get on well from the start - except that Alexander and Gwydion don't, really, despite Gwydion saying that all the siblings do).
The other factors that bother me about Amber - that these are more-than-usually-entitled elitists, that they smoke all the time and drink too much, that their intimate relationships are mostly casual and don't value their partners as people - apparently do not bother this author, because all of those features are here. The drinking and casual relationships feature much more prominently, in fact, and the latter is featured as a point of pride.
As in Amber, we have a powerful, immortal family whose founder-grandfather, still around, also magically founded the entire world in which they live and, incidentally, a number of connected subsidiary worlds, after breaking away from an older world still. The family, after they've been through a ritual involving the foundational mystery, can travel to the other worlds and communicate with one another magically, using artefacts that represent each of them (Keys, in this case). It's vaguely Renaissance in tech level, mostly, though there are random imports from other, higher-technology worlds - I say "random" because there doesn't appear to be any consistent plan or intention behind the imports, like Corwin's guns; in fact, guns are one of the conspicuous absences, never explained.
The tech isn't the only thing that follows the convenience of the plot rather than logic. Sometimes, Gwydion (the narrator of the story) can pop across to the other empire casually by instant magic to look at a painting, or can make his way home by instant magic when attacked on the Road; other times, he has to go the long way (such as when he's on the Road to be attacked in the first place). Sometimes an explanation is offered about why he's going the long way: he wants to see what's happening in the Borders, or he's taking his nervous sister, who doesn't like to travel by Ways. But other times it just seems to be because the author wanted to show a journey rather than an instant teleport, or because it gives a chance for Gwydion to encounter difficulties (though sometimes the journey is completely routine).
In fact, quite a few things are routine that could be made more interesting. Zelazny gives us the ordeal of the Pattern; this author gives us a brief ritual of drinking from a magical spring. Zelazny gives us beautifully painted Trumps; this author gives us Keys, which represent something vague about the person they are linked to. I felt the lack of Zelazny's sensawunda, the brio of his prose, his compact, vivid writing, and above all, a purpose and direction to the plot. There are three major subplots: the dragon incursion; the situation of Gwydion's mother; and the advent of his youngest sister. While the three do interact, their resolutions are, in the end, independent, and I never got a really strong sense of intentionality and agency from Gwydion throughout. One of the subplots he eventually does resolve when forced to, another is resolved offstage with minimal input from him and without much real difficulty considering how big a deal it is for all the characters, and the third just peters out, perhaps to be taken up again in the sequels.
Because this is the first of a trilogy. It has the awkwardness and imperfections of many first novels; it sometimes draws too closely on its inspiration, the plot is lacking in urgency and clarity, there are worldbuilding details that don't make sense if you think about them at all, and some passages take too long to describe nothing much. On the upside, it's an attractive world, though unlike Corwin or Merlin, I didn't find myself wanting to spend more time with Gwydion (or his lightly sketched siblings). Corwin, and to a lesser extent Merlin, are rogues who are committed to their roguery and comfortable with it, so they carry me with them despite their glaring faults, because those faults are integral to them. Gwydion is a blander character, but with many of the same faults, and because I miss the push and pull of a born rogue who also wants to do the right thing and see only an ordinary, earnest, sometimes ineffectual man who is blind to his bad habits, the character repels more than he attracts me.
I read the ebook edition, which has clearly been prepared through scanning and OCR, and then inadequately proofread towards the end - there are a good many misrecognized characters, along with a few punctuation glitches that may have been in the original. I will commend Prospero's Elizabethan prose, though, which rings authentic to my ear.
Overall, I'm put off reading the sequels, especially as they're priced a little higher than I am usually willing to pay for an ebook (especially an inadequately edited scan of a book that's more than 25 years old). They may well be better than this, but if they're not, the mystery of the still-living author's ending her career after three books published in the 1990s is solved as far as I'm concerned.
It's clearly by someone who, like me, is enchanted with Roger Zelazny's Amber - perhaps too much so, because it reads at times like Amber pastiche. Like me, the author appears to be bothered by the fact that the female family members in Amber tend to be cyphers, and that nobody ever cares about mothers (while absent fathers are a point of obsession, as in Zelazny's work generally). She also seems to have wondered, "What if the family weren't at each other's throats?" (Which, later on in the Amber books, they're not, but here they get on well from the start - except that Alexander and Gwydion don't, really, despite Gwydion saying that all the siblings do).
The other factors that bother me about Amber - that these are more-than-usually-entitled elitists, that they smoke all the time and drink too much, that their intimate relationships are mostly casual and don't value their partners as people - apparently do not bother this author, because all of those features are here. The drinking and casual relationships feature much more prominently, in fact, and the latter is featured as a point of pride.
As in Amber, we have a powerful, immortal family whose founder-grandfather, still around, also magically founded the entire world in which they live and, incidentally, a number of connected subsidiary worlds, after breaking away from an older world still. The family, after they've been through a ritual involving the foundational mystery, can travel to the other worlds and communicate with one another magically, using artefacts that represent each of them (Keys, in this case). It's vaguely Renaissance in tech level, mostly, though there are random imports from other, higher-technology worlds - I say "random" because there doesn't appear to be any consistent plan or intention behind the imports, like Corwin's guns; in fact, guns are one of the conspicuous absences, never explained.
The tech isn't the only thing that follows the convenience of the plot rather than logic. Sometimes, Gwydion (the narrator of the story) can pop across to the other empire casually by instant magic to look at a painting, or can make his way home by instant magic when attacked on the Road; other times, he has to go the long way (such as when he's on the Road to be attacked in the first place). Sometimes an explanation is offered about why he's going the long way: he wants to see what's happening in the Borders, or he's taking his nervous sister, who doesn't like to travel by Ways. But other times it just seems to be because the author wanted to show a journey rather than an instant teleport, or because it gives a chance for Gwydion to encounter difficulties (though sometimes the journey is completely routine).
In fact, quite a few things are routine that could be made more interesting. Zelazny gives us the ordeal of the Pattern; this author gives us a brief ritual of drinking from a magical spring. Zelazny gives us beautifully painted Trumps; this author gives us Keys, which represent something vague about the person they are linked to. I felt the lack of Zelazny's sensawunda, the brio of his prose, his compact, vivid writing, and above all, a purpose and direction to the plot. There are three major subplots: the dragon incursion; the situation of Gwydion's mother; and the advent of his youngest sister. While the three do interact, their resolutions are, in the end, independent, and I never got a really strong sense of intentionality and agency from Gwydion throughout. One of the subplots he eventually does resolve when forced to, another is resolved offstage with minimal input from him and without much real difficulty considering how big a deal it is for all the characters, and the third just peters out, perhaps to be taken up again in the sequels.
Because this is the first of a trilogy. It has the awkwardness and imperfections of many first novels; it sometimes draws too closely on its inspiration, the plot is lacking in urgency and clarity, there are worldbuilding details that don't make sense if you think about them at all, and some passages take too long to describe nothing much. On the upside, it's an attractive world, though unlike Corwin or Merlin, I didn't find myself wanting to spend more time with Gwydion (or his lightly sketched siblings). Corwin, and to a lesser extent Merlin, are rogues who are committed to their roguery and comfortable with it, so they carry me with them despite their glaring faults, because those faults are integral to them. Gwydion is a blander character, but with many of the same faults, and because I miss the push and pull of a born rogue who also wants to do the right thing and see only an ordinary, earnest, sometimes ineffectual man who is blind to his bad habits, the character repels more than he attracts me.
I read the ebook edition, which has clearly been prepared through scanning and OCR, and then inadequately proofread towards the end - there are a good many misrecognized characters, along with a few punctuation glitches that may have been in the original. I will commend Prospero's Elizabethan prose, though, which rings authentic to my ear.
Overall, I'm put off reading the sequels, especially as they're priced a little higher than I am usually willing to pay for an ebook (especially an inadequately edited scan of a book that's more than 25 years old). They may well be better than this, but if they're not, the mystery of the still-living author's ending her career after three books published in the 1990s is solved as far as I'm concerned.
January 14, 2019
I found the main character unengaging.
May 9, 2019
Excellent. Highly recommend. Worth reading as a stand-alone, even if you're not interested in the other Argylle books (which might be the right approach for some audiences).
May 31, 2020
The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey is a comedy of manners sci-fi/fantasy mashup about a prince, Gwydion, who has been thrust into the role of ruler of Argylle following his mother’s death and father’s disappearance.
This obscure book deserves more attention, though I have my problems with it. If you can’t tell from the description above, it’s a very odd little book — part Shakespeare, part fantasy, part sci-fi. There’s innumerable worlds and dimension-hopping, ruled over by a sprawling family beleaguered by intrigue and drama, and added on top are dragons and aliens and genetic cloning and refugees from Shakespearean plays and lord only knows what else. It’s all mixed up together and to be honest, I don’t actually remember very much about the plot itself because it’s so complicated and confusing and mish-mashed together. Despite that, I think the author mostly pulls it off well, and I admire her ambition. The protagonist and his (probably gay?) valet were likable enough that I wanted to stick along even when the story plodded along at a snail’s pace. (Man, I really wish the valet got more attention.)
Now you’re probably wondering why I rated it a mere 2 stars. This requires spoilers, unfortunately, so if you plan on reading this — and you should, if the description above intrigues you — stop now. It’s not a bad book, I just have this one little problem with the ending…
So Gwydion’s mother comes back to life and the first thing she does is ditch her kids — without even saying “Hi!” or “I love you” or even just “Thanks for resurrecting me!” — just ditches her kids and fucks off to go find her useless moping husband. For some reason this triggered a disproportionately furious response from me. I re-read that section twice and then actually, literally slammed shut the book and threw it against a wall. And I’m still angry about it, years later! Why? Because the author tries to justify it with “The bonds we choose are more important than the ones we don’t”. Fuck off with that, she CHOSE to have kids! I just… I just cannot fathom prioritizing your relationship with your spouse above that with your children. Spouses are important, sure fine whatever, but your kids are your kids. The whole book was about how her kids missed her and loved her and tried so hard to get her back! What was that husband of hers doing? Moping alone on an island somewhere because he abandoned his kids too! Come the fuck on. Why did you have to write it like that? Why can’t you have the whole family go together and be reunited? Aaaagh! This drives me fucking crazy. And I know how silly it is to be so riled up about it! But, augh, it just got right under my skin and remains there to this day.
Whew. I feel a little better having written that. I’ve been waiting years to get that off my chest.
Anyway, yeah. I plan on re-reading this, someday, to see how I feel about it now. It’s worth re-visiting, and maybe I’ll feel differently about the ending.
This obscure book deserves more attention, though I have my problems with it. If you can’t tell from the description above, it’s a very odd little book — part Shakespeare, part fantasy, part sci-fi. There’s innumerable worlds and dimension-hopping, ruled over by a sprawling family beleaguered by intrigue and drama, and added on top are dragons and aliens and genetic cloning and refugees from Shakespearean plays and lord only knows what else. It’s all mixed up together and to be honest, I don’t actually remember very much about the plot itself because it’s so complicated and confusing and mish-mashed together. Despite that, I think the author mostly pulls it off well, and I admire her ambition. The protagonist and his (probably gay?) valet were likable enough that I wanted to stick along even when the story plodded along at a snail’s pace. (Man, I really wish the valet got more attention.)
Now you’re probably wondering why I rated it a mere 2 stars. This requires spoilers, unfortunately, so if you plan on reading this — and you should, if the description above intrigues you — stop now. It’s not a bad book, I just have this one little problem with the ending…
So Gwydion’s mother comes back to life and the first thing she does is ditch her kids — without even saying “Hi!” or “I love you” or even just “Thanks for resurrecting me!” — just ditches her kids and fucks off to go find her useless moping husband. For some reason this triggered a disproportionately furious response from me. I re-read that section twice and then actually, literally slammed shut the book and threw it against a wall. And I’m still angry about it, years later! Why? Because the author tries to justify it with “The bonds we choose are more important than the ones we don’t”. Fuck off with that, she CHOSE to have kids! I just… I just cannot fathom prioritizing your relationship with your spouse above that with your children. Spouses are important, sure fine whatever, but your kids are your kids. The whole book was about how her kids missed her and loved her and tried so hard to get her back! What was that husband of hers doing? Moping alone on an island somewhere because he abandoned his kids too! Come the fuck on. Why did you have to write it like that? Why can’t you have the whole family go together and be reunited? Aaaagh! This drives me fucking crazy. And I know how silly it is to be so riled up about it! But, augh, it just got right under my skin and remains there to this day.
Whew. I feel a little better having written that. I’ve been waiting years to get that off my chest.
Anyway, yeah. I plan on re-reading this, someday, to see how I feel about it now. It’s worth re-visiting, and maybe I’ll feel differently about the ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 31, 2016While this may be marked as a re-read, this would be the first time I've entered it into GR. This re-read is prompted by the my wife acquiring the final book of this trilogy (which I never got around to getting and had added to my AM Wishlist.)
This is an outstanding novel - an interesting take on Shakespeare's Prospero and his children. For anyone who loves the way genteel language sings when it is used in everyday conversation, this novel, and its sequels, are right down your alley. Fantasy at its finest, a smattering of sword and sorcery, familial politics, and bit of high-tech thrown into the mix has this mash-up constantly challenging the reader. Wait - did I mention the dragon?
Although published first, chronologically I believe it comes last in the sequence after A Sorcerer and a Gentleman & The Price of Blood and Honor. While this series has most often been compared to Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and not without good reason. However, I have always found that it reminds me of The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison mainly because of the elegant language used throughout, though not quite as heavily or formally as Eddison. Still this trilogy, as well as Eddison, is a must for any fantasy library.
This is an outstanding novel - an interesting take on Shakespeare's Prospero and his children. For anyone who loves the way genteel language sings when it is used in everyday conversation, this novel, and its sequels, are right down your alley. Fantasy at its finest, a smattering of sword and sorcery, familial politics, and bit of high-tech thrown into the mix has this mash-up constantly challenging the reader. Wait - did I mention the dragon?
Although published first, chronologically I believe it comes last in the sequence after A Sorcerer and a Gentleman & The Price of Blood and Honor. While this series has most often been compared to Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and not without good reason. However, I have always found that it reminds me of The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison mainly because of the elegant language used throughout, though not quite as heavily or formally as Eddison. Still this trilogy, as well as Eddison, is a must for any fantasy library.
December 27, 2009
Like others I've read critical reviews of this book and it "descendants" but I read them years ago and liked them (well 2 of them). Yes there are some familliar ideas, but they are handled well and the story is it's own.
I plan to re-read these soon (it's just I have so many new books to read) as I have remembered them so long and (for a change) managed to keep them on my shelf. There is some humor here in a world that dosen't flinch at magic and technology existing side by side.
What's the big draw back? Long out of print.
I plan to re-read these soon (it's just I have so many new books to read) as I have remembered them so long and (for a change) managed to keep them on my shelf. There is some humor here in a world that dosen't flinch at magic and technology existing side by side.
What's the big draw back? Long out of print.
May 7, 2008
A good old-fashioned fantasy tale with a similar feel to it as Zelazny's Amber. Elizabeth Willey wrote three books in this world. This one is set some time after the other two (A Sorceror and a Gentleman, Price of Blood and Honor), although I believe it was written first. Interesting characters, family politics and the means to become all powerful in the basement!
February 24, 2009
Mic, this one's all your fault. Hope it lives up to its potential. :0)
Just finished this one -- it definitely lived up to its potential. Onward to book 2! Way back in my bookstore days, Mic aka Jerry recommended this and then apparently forgot about it just as I did. But all good things come back around. Good book!
Just finished this one -- it definitely lived up to its potential. Onward to book 2! Way back in my bookstore days, Mic aka Jerry recommended this and then apparently forgot about it just as I did. But all good things come back around. Good book!
April 12, 2014
Probably about 3.5 stars. As somewhat a novice to fantasy, I felt like this book was very comfortable. Though there were unexplained fantasy elements, they didn't really bother me in this book. I liked the development of the family and could easily see reading a series involving each of the siblings. There was enough action to keep interest, but also a gentle flow to the plot.
January 12, 2010
Perhaps what Amber would be like if Oberon had better taste in wives. I had questions about Agency (kept vague to avoid spoilers) but enjoyed this enough to look forward to reading the other two books in the trilogy, and to wish the author had written more. Also, good dragons.
August 5, 2015
It's tremendously witty and urbane in an old fashioned sort of way, with hints of Regency, Shakespeare, and a little Ellen Kushner. I remember first reading it back in the 90s and feeling myself quite ruined for other books for a while after that...
January 31, 2014
Fantasy of manners FTW!
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