Cyrion is a series of short stories about a hero-nomad-wanderer set in the high middle eastern civilization of Arabian Nights. It will leave you wanting more. Tanith Lee's style is mystical and dreamy. Her descriptions lift you out of your world and draw you into the book like few others I have read. Read these stories late at night, and you will find yourself looking up and blinking at the normalcy of your surroundings after ther first few pages.

Cyrion travels the desert as in a dream, wholly competent and capable, going and coming in a foggy vision as though he appears and dissapears into the sand itself. The setting in Middle Eastern folklore is refreshing after so much Celtic and Norse mythology. The perfect book to read in bed! And an excellent introduction to Ms. Lee's style.

It begins with various characters in an inn exchanging stories about the mysterious adventurer, Cyrion, and it ends up as a magical detective story filled with ghosts, witches, swashbuckling fun, and delightful duplicity. Tanith Lee never lets me down, but I wish she'd write more about Cyrion. A note to fellow females: I usually go for the tall,dark types, but I could certainly go for the Cyrion type.

I have loved this book for years. It is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. The characters and setting are rich and full of everything you need for a fantastic voyage into inagination.

There is something about the prose of Tanith Lee. You are swept into what ever world she feels like showing you. THe narrators and/or central characters seem alive. So much so, you can feel there is something they are keeping back, some vital clue, some revelation of soul. It's nearly palatable.
She sets depth of place, there is a real sense of being there. I felt like I was in Florence, in the midst of some twisted Carnivall. Or maybe in the mirror of one of the great European Palaces, seeing it from inside the flame of a candle.
The stories warrant being read several times, to absorb the majesty.

Much better than the first book, this one is coherent and riveting. Told out of sequence, yet in perfect logical order, this is the tale of a family haunted by a tragic demonic curse. There are enough shivers and surprises to satisfy even a long time fantasy/horror fan.

Tanith Lee has found a theme in the twisting of sex and horror, so the book not for the innocent or prudish, but there's less emphasis on shock value than the previous book in the series (The Book of the Damned). What is emphasized is good storytelling - few can touch her when she's at her best.

The story begins with Raolin Darksbane. He is staying in a haunted house, and he meets the ghost and learns her story and then becomes infected himself with the curse. The story then follows the exploits of a jewish exorcist and goes back to Roman Paradys where the curse begins. The story goes forward and then it goes back. I liked the story of the "doomed" Heloise and her strange destiny, intricately linked with the story of cupid and Physche and what happens if you look closer at things that you are not supposed to look at. I also liked the story of the roman soldier, his dilemma between looking life and destroying the curse once and for all. Great descriptions, you could almost hear the trumpets at the roman fort as the Roman soldier stayed up and awake to await the beast. The ending seemed rushed to me, the exorcism seemed like the easy way out and the spirituality of it left me tired and lost. But a good story.

When I first read this book (more years ago than I care to recall) it ignited my interest in so-called sword and sorcery epics. Tanith Lee's lost child-woman draws you into her story from the opening chapter and I would definitely rate this as a read-at-one-sitting book because it is absolutely impossible to put down. It is one of the most broad ranging and breath-taking adventures as the heroine-of-many-names struggles to find her lost race, her identity and her destiny. From healer to warrior to enslaved goddess and reluctant birthgiver, she enchants, saddens and delights. She and her world are beautifully detailed, as are its occupants. The only thing that makes up for reading the last page is the knowledge that the two sequels ("Shadowfire:Vazkor, Son of Vazkor" and "Quest for the White Witch") are just as brilliant and provide a most satisfying, if unexpected, conclusion. Get this if you can - then hunt for the sequels. You will not regret it!

In this tale of blood, love, violence, beauty, magic, dreams, brutal murder, swords'n'sorcery, rape, battle and deadly races, we follow a woman on a journey of self-discovery. First a Goddess, then a slave, later a pawn in the game of an emperor who shows her her true nature and leads her to understand what she is looking for. And then the end of this story.. a twist of the plot and atmosphere so totally unexpected I couldn't believe it at first. Terrific.

This was the first book I read of Tanith Lee and she has since become my favorite author. This is a story of a grown woman who wakes inside a volcano. She finds she is the last of a unknown race and this is her story of her search to find herself. Traveling through lands full of vast ancient cities and strange religions you will find yourself engulfed with the beauty and loneliness of her quest.

This was the second book I ever read by Tanith Lee, the first was the Silver Metal Lover. I stumbled across it in used book store, read it in a couple of hours and then ran out to find the rest of the series. I love Lee's fantasy novels and this series is probably her best.

The story takes place over an extended period of time and tells the tales of several different characters and how they relate to dying, death and immortality. The common thread is the Lord of Death and how humanity perceives him. There is also the side story of how he interacts with the Lord of Night and the demons. The entire series has a mythic quality, like these were the tales of some long lost culture.

The books in this series are: Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress, & Night's Sorceries.

You could read the first 3 books out of sequence and not have any spoilers. Don't read Delirium's Mistress until you have finished the first 3. The last book is a collection of short stories and can be read at any time, but it is assumed that you are familiar with the mythos of the flat earth.

I have read this volume several times. Each time I read it, it moves me beyond what mortal life can do. Through the first half of the book, I feel light and carefree as if it strips my sorrows. After the end, I drip into the bleakest, blackest melancholy, despair unlike any other. After a period, My despondence lifts and I feel free. I am cleansed of all human pressures and woes. I highly value the tome for it's pure unadulterated emotions.

Death's Master ultimately clutched me by the heart and reeled me into spirals of emotions, reviving deep regions within which I almost doubted I had. The characters are so magnificently described that you actually able to feel at one with them, experiencing their joys and weeping when tragic irony had its will (the misfortunes of beloved Zhirek and Simmu...).

This is definately one of Tanith Lee's most brilliant ventures yet.

not only is the book a great adventure, full of biblical analagy and dark humour, it's an opportunity to explore the unique relationship between Azhrarn and his daughter, with an ending that even made a twisted ... like me blub. steal, borrow and beg for this book.

The "Flat Earth" series as a whole is definitely my all-time desert island pick. I've never read anything as incredibly beautiful and magical as these books, and I read a LOT. This book has all of the lush eroticism, shimmering enchantment, and fey loveliness of the previous two books, told in the same intricate, lapidary prose, and adds the powerful themes of growth and change. _Delirium's Mistress_ is the story of Sovaz (at first), the offspring of that union between Azhrarn the Prince of Demons and the priestess Dunizel which was a major part of _Delusion's Master_. Throughout this book, there is a sense of the weight of the ages that have passed on the Flat Earth. Much of the action is the result of long-past intrigues of the various Lords of Darkness. Shades of the past appear to advise characters at key junctures. The book begins with the love affair between Chuz, Prince Madness, and Sovaz/Azhriaz/Atmeh, which is quickly interrupted by the revenge Azhrarn takes as a result ov Chuz's actions in _Delusion's Master_. The remainder of the book concerns the heroine's search for her true self- is she Sovaz, the child of Dunizel, the Moon's Soul and embodiment of good? Is she Azhriaz, the merciless, all-powerful daughter of wicked Azhrarn? Or is she something more? Azhriaz's journey of self-discovery also becomes a force for the transformation of other characters. By the book's end, Azhrarn has been forever changed by the love of Dunizel and her daughter. The cruel Zhirek of _Death's Master_ is reborn as a gentle healer and teacher through his association with Azhriaz. And a much-mellowed Chuz is eventually reunited with his beloved, who finally knows who she is and what she must do. This is a truly wonderful book... it continues all of the exotic magic and mystery of the first two books, and adds some real wisdom and humanity, too.

Tannith Lee takes us back to the flat earth to continue her tale with Azriaz, the prince of demons daughter. her fated love of chuz, the demon of wickedness and her inner light from her mother, dunizel, make this book incredible in both its narrative and descriptions. Tannith Lee is a master of words and takes you so deep into her world you may never be able to leave.

I first read this book when I was twelve, and remember it impressed me so much that I was inspired to write my own fairytale. Ever since I have been attempting to find my own copy of this timeless story, and thanks to Amazon this has finally become possible. Now at 21 years of age I find this story just as delightful as I had remembered. Tanith Lee has such a clever way of wording her narrative, which at times reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Her story, while much more light-hearted and a faster read than The Hobbit, is very imaginative and original, making it a fun read for both children and adults. With its down-to-earth heroes, unforgettable characters, and its many unexpected twists of fate, the Dragon Hoard never has a boring moment. It is my opinion, and also that of my teenage sister and cousins, that this book deserves to be called a classic and should be returned to print! Good luck finding this little treasure!

It's always refreshing to read a fantasy that can laugh at itself-- as The Dragon Hoard is constantly doing. Tanith Lee's inventiveness never lags, strolling briskly from talking goats and owls to a witch's unpaid chariot fees to a pair of silly wolves. All traditional characters are in place...with outrageous twists! The prince isn't much for heroics and scarcely knows how to seek his fortune, the princess is cursed with a kindness spell, and everything in general is turned completely upside down. Wonderful book-- pity it's so hard to find.

Superb stylist Tanith Lee offers a wry picaresque fable for the young and the young at heart. A children's book peppered with things to entertain the grownups who might be reading along. Sweet and goofy. The characters are delightful and hilarious and always heading in unexpected and wonderful directions. At times laugh out loud funny. It manages to be both a fairy tale quest and a parody of the genre... so that (unlike many books in this vein targeted at little readers) it never dissolves its own goo. My only complaint about the book is that I can't find it in print to give to the kids in my life.

From the first scene of the woman cradling the finger bone of her dead son to the final stoning in the city of dreams, this book is what fairy tales and fantasy should have been all along. Mystical this book puts you into a completely different universe and wakes you to possibilities unimagined. More profound is the painter's aesthetic running through the book. Color, lights, shading, description without running into the awful Victorian novel trap. Tanith Lee is definitely a voice to be reckoned with.

In the third book of the Tales of the Flat Earth, Tanith Lee once again takes us into the dark and mystical world where five Lords Of Darkness reign over the inhabitants of the Flat Earth. One is Azrharn, Night's master, whose beauty and cruelty riddle the lives of the mortals with living nightmares and sensuous wickedness. Another, Uhlume, Lord Death...and a third - Delusion's Master. He is Prince Chuz, and he plagues the world with madness. When his sights are set on touching Azhrarn with a bit of lunacy, he begins a war of the titans, which cannot be resolved until justice has been served..

Wow, what a great book. Originally two separate novellas, Biting the Sun was written in the 70's, back when Tanith Lee was writing exuberant, happy, bouncy stories with charming characters and wild plots. Her more recent writing is perhaps more polished, beautiful, and spare, but it's nice once in a while to read her earlier work, which make up in color and voice what they perhaps lack in streamlines and thoughfulness.

Biting the Sun takes place in a future trio of cities where no one ever dies, they just get new, personally-designed bodies. Read the previous review if you want a really good summary of the novel. The first part of the book, Don't Bite the Sun, is my favorite; it centers around the (forever unnamed) protagonist's strangling, suffocating boredom with *her* city, her life, her forced role as Jang--a young, drug-taking, factory-sabotaging, thieving teenager.

The second part of the novel, Drinking Sapphire Wine, is equally entertaining; it explains what happens to the protagonist when she breaks one of the city's few rules and chaos ensues.

The good thing about Biting the Sun is that even at its most depressing and unhappy, there's still a feeling of fun and hope in the novel that never goes away. Tanith Lee is at her most imaginative, and the book is worth reading for the hijinks and misadventures of the protagonist and her friends alone. The main character is engaging and easy to like, the supporting characters are equally entertaining and interesting, and to anyone who's read Lee's Unicorn series, the pink pet in this book seems to be a prelude to Tanaquil's peeve.

All in all, Biting the Sun is a totally fun experience, light and frothy, but not without true substance and thought-provoking themes. Lee's signature is that even in her lightest works she keeps the reader wondering and thinking and questioning; Biting the Sun is no exception.

Enjoy!

Although I have been a devoted Tanith Lee fan since I discovered her work sometime last year, I had only experienced her science-fiction work with "The Silver Metal Lover." I shamelessly adore that book; thus, when I heard that another of her earlier science-fictions was being reprinted, I both jumped to buy it and worried a bit about what it might be like. I shouldn't have even bothered to worry. "Biting the Sun" is fantastic.

The book is really two novels in one. The first, "Don't Bite the Sun," deals with traditional dystopian themes, all written in Lee's brilliant, colorful prose and enacted by a crazy and fascinating set of characters. From the beginning the story throws you off balance and pulls you in: come on, what other novel opens with its narrator committing suicide? In the futuristic city of Four-BEE a strict age-based caste system dictates its inhabitants' lives, particularly the lives of the Jang, whose adolescence seems to last at least fifty years. You can do anything when you're a Jang. Drink, do drugs, marry, have love, kill yourself, all as many times as you like in whatever body you prefer; the only thing you can't do is...stop being a Jang. Thus when the anonymous, mainly-female protagonist decides to rebel against Four-BEE, but it's hard. When nothing is forbidden, what can you protest? Apparently there's something, because the second novel, "Drinking Sapphire Wine," deals with the other half of the story: what happens when the narrator finally ticks off the Powers That Be and is exiled from Four-BEE. Although I understand that the books were originally published as separate works, they mesh seamlessly into one another. In theory one could read "Drinking Sapphire Wine" without reading "Don't Bite the Sun"...but why miss the fun? Lee's Four-BEE is a weird and wild place, where pure hedonism is ultimately revealed to be hollow, but it's a delight to read about.

(By the way, I would like to agree wholeheartedly with the prior reviewer: the moment "the pet" entered the action, I thought immediately of Tanaquil's peeve. Those of you who have no clue what we're talking about...read "Black Unicorn" and its sequels and find out!)

Having enjoyed immensely both "The Silver Metal Lover" and "Biting the Sun," two very different looks at the future, I will continue look out for more of Lee's science fiction. Meanwhile, those of you that have never read "Biting the Sun," stop wasting your time reading this review, go out and read the book! Not as though the Quasi-Robots will enforce this suggestion, but unless you do so, I doubt the following song will make much sense: "I only want to have love with you, for you are so derisann..."

Biting the Sun is made up of two novels, Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine. Don't Bite the Sun familiarizes us with with the young, mostly female protagonist (we never learn her name) and the world in which she lives. In this world you can change bodies and genders as often as you want, all you have to do is kill yourself. You can marry and divorce in the space of an afternoon and there is no such thing as crime. Our protagonist becomes increasingly unhappy with her meaningless life of pleasure and sets out to find something that makes her happy, and in her pursuit she rebels against society. Finally in Drinking Sapphire Whine she commits an act that cannot go unpunished and her life is changed forever.

Biting the Sun is one of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's everything a sci-fi novel should be. Tanith Lee creates a world that fascinates you and characters you genuinely care about. The plot is very ambitious and it's successful in that it says something important about the meaning of life. Even if you aren't fond of sci-fi you should give Biting the Sun a chance.

Tanith Lee weaves tales of demons and mortals in ways that are familiar, yet with such singular and unexpected twists that even the most well-read fan of this genre will find her work refreshing. The entire Flat Earth series is at once terrible and wonderful. What is it like to be the Prince of Demons? What would happen if a mortal suddenly was given immortality? What would the Prince of Darkness do if suddenly he had no humans to torment, much as he might despise them? All these are questions that Lee is not afraid to pose through her characters from commoners to kings; from demons to gods so strange we can scarce comprehend them. With powers of description that are as evocative as Joseph Conrad's, and with the ability to paint characters in the style of a Charles Dickens, she spins a tapestry of events that binds these series of self-standing tales into a marvelous whole. Is it any wonder I highly recommend her work? Get all five of the Flat Earth series. If you are like me, you will find yourself reading them time and again.

"Night's Master" is the first of Tanith Lee's "Flat Earth" series, but it is a complete novel in itself. Told in the form of a series of short stories that intertwine, it tells the tale of the demon Azhrarn, who loves to torment mankind, but when they are threatened, submits to at least a temporary death to save them. The prose in this tale is so rich it may be fattening. It is a sensuous pleasure to read aloud.

Night's Master was my first introduction to Tanith Lee nearly ten years ago and ever since I have been addicted to her work. Her writing is beautiful and seductive filled with lush imagery and descriptions that will have you longing to enter the pages of her novels. This is not your typical "fantasy" novel. It is powerful and moving and unlike anything else I have ever read. Of all of Tanith Lee's books, I would recommend the Flat Earth series and The Silver Metal Lover as the best. They never fail to transport me to another world, and really isn't that the great joy of reading novels?

I first read this book at the age of 16, the age our heroine Jane is in this story; it was almost eerie the way I identified with the character. Even after 16 years I still consider this my favorite book of all time. The story is beautifully written to the very last line. The characters of Jane and Silver are painted so realistically that you can believe this poingnant love story actually happened.This book also puts an emotional element into the sci-fi genre that is usually not there. Tanith Lee is my favorite author; many of her volumes are in my personal library, and I believe "The Silver Metal Lover" is the apogee of her writing career.

At a self-conscious 14, I was embarrassed borrowing a love story about a girl and a robot from the school library. That this book became one of the very few books to make me ache inside and bring me to the brink of tears even 13 years and 20 rereadings later is a testimony to Tanith Lee's skill as a writer. There are so many wonderful elements in this book: her eerily beautiful future Earth (especially Jane's mother's house in the clouds), the characters (Clovis is glorious), and the sensitive depiction of Jane and how falling in love with Silver changes her life. This book, written in the first person, is so well-written that it sounds convincingly like a sheltered 16 year old girl yet never patronises her emotions. The Silver Metal Lover will always be one of my all time favorite books.

Before I started reading this book, I expected it to be an amusing and maybe kinky sci-fi romance. The more I read, the more I was impressed not only with the well-written love story, but also with the heart-warmingly poetic writing, and most of all with the thought-provoking philosophical themes that lie just beneath the surface.

This book raises ideas about what the personality of a perfect human might be like. Silver is programmed to act human, but he is not programmed for negative emotions such as pain, fear, or anger. His kindness and eternal patience help Jane, the highly sensitive and sometimes paranoid protagonist, to come to grips with her life and her attitudes. Tanith Lee blurs the line between humans and robots, giving insight by comparison on what makes humans tick and what potential we have to better ourselves.

Though this book is not as well-known as many fantasy classics, I consider it right up there with the best. If you enjoy fantasy or science fiction that has an interesting storyline *and* some deep meaning, do yourself a favor and read this book.