Tir Tanagiri

3 primary works

The King's Peace

by Jo Walton

Published 13 October 2000

Sulien ap Gwien is seventeen years old when the Jarnish invasion begins, and strong enough to match any one of their raiders in battle. But when they do come, she finds herself unarmed and at their mercy. As she watches her attackers walk away from where she lies bound, she vows revenge.

With the land around her disintegrating and no help forthcoming, Sulien rides out in search of King Urdo, a young ruler fighting to create unity in a country where there is none.

What follows is the beginning of an alliance that will shape the course of history in Tir Tanagiri as well as the rest of Sulien's life.

Praise for the Trilogy

'Walton writes with an authenticity that never loses heart, a rare combination . . . She can dig down to a true vein of legend and hammer out gold.' Robin Hobb

'The people, the politics, the details of warfare and daily life, all ring as true as the steel sword the heroine wields so doughtily. This is much more than a retooling of the Matter of Britain: it is a fully imagined, living, magical world.' Delia Sherman

'Beautiful and thought-provoking. Walton tells a story set in a world and a history almost like ours, but different enough to be in itself a kind of elvenland.' Poul Anderson

'Head and shoulders and sword-arm above most fantasy. Like a lost memoir from the Dark Age of a subtly different history, tough and unsentimental and all the more touching for that.' Ken MacLeod

The King's Name

by Jo Walton

Published 14 December 2001

The peace of the nation of Tir Tanagiri has been bitterly won. But after years of fighting against rival kingdoms and Jarnish invaders, the warrier Sulien ap Gwien and her lord King Urdo had finally won it, through great strength of arms - and greater strength of vision. For Sulien was inspired by Urdo's dream of a kingdom ruled by justice, whose subjects all were equal under a single code of law. But where many see a hopeful future for the land, others sense the seeds of a new tyranny. Soon the land faces civil war, and Sulien must take up arms once more. Where once her enemies were invaders and usurpers, now they are former comrades and loved ones. As the conflict tears her country and her family apart, and lifelong friends meet their destinies, Sulien must fight harder and harder to hold on to Urdo's shining dream. Continuing the epic begun in The King's Peace, this new novel in the saga of Tir Tanagiri brings the poignant and powerful story of Sulien ap Gwien to a rousing and deeply moving conclusion.

The Prize in the Game

by Jo Walton

Published 13 August 1957

THE PRIZE IN THE GAME is the tale of the intertwined fates of four friends, destined for kingship but riven by rivalry and war. Gods stalk the island of Isarnagiri, laying subtle and inescapable dooms upon the feuding kingdoms there. And to those gods, the cares of men and women are less than nothing - but still men and women strive to defy their fates and build destinies of their own. THE PRIZE IN THE GAME takes us to a shining era of dark powers, legendary heroes, and passionate loves - all of them ruled by the hand of fate.