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The Green Lion trilogy #1
Child of Saturn
Teresa Edgerton's acclaimed debut novel available again after thirty years, and now in ebook for the first time. The wizard Glastyn, defender of the realm, tamer of the Wild Magic, had disappeared, leaving behind a disillusioned king and an order of complacent and indolent knights. The Princess Diaspad, royal step-sister, worker of wicked magics, thought this would be a good time to move into the castle and make a play for power. Who could stop her? Teleri was Glastyn's apprentice, and had only completed part of her training when Glastyn had left. At the age of twelve she had made up her mind against growing any older and used what magic she had to make it so. Half-trained wizards who happened to be female always ran the risk of accusations of witchcraft, which was illegal and punishable by death. So she cultivated a type of invisibility, the kind that largely depended on being small and harmless-looking—most of all on not drawing attention to herself. Ceilyn was the most valiant young knight in the castle, widely known as a moral example to all—and deeply resented on both counts. But Ceilyn had a secret, one that could prove deadly. It also, surprisingly, drew him to Teleri, as the only person he dared trust with the truth. And once they became friends, it seemed it was somehow up to them to stop whatever the Princess was up to. But had they the ability to thwart her, or were they putting themselves into inescapable Teleri by being noticed, and Ceilyn by accidentally revealing his own secrets? Edgerton spins history, mythology, magic, and alchemy into a fascinating web of chance and circumstance. Editorial Reviews "A grand story told with sly wit, CHILD OF SATURN will gain Teresa Edgerton a devoted following." —Raymond E. Feist "A fine, bright tapestry of a book!" —Katharine Kerr "CHILD OF SATURN marks the appearance of a new and exciting talent. —Tad Williams "A nicely balanced mix of intrigue and sorcery." —Locus "One of fantasy fictions most interesting trilogies ... breathtaking. —Rave Reviews
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 1989
11 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Teresa Edgerton
23 books82 followersI believe I began telling stories as soon as I learned to talk. More than sixty years later I am still inventing them.
On paper, my life looks more glamorous than it was in actual fact (most peoples' lives do). My husband and I met at our local Renaissance Faire. I've made and sold puppets, spent twenty years as a professional fortuneteller, worked in a craft store, and been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. My hobbies are Halloween and Christmas.
Currently, I am working as an editor for Tickety Boo Press, heading a new imprint Venus Ascending, which will be publishing fantasy and science fiction romance novels. For submission guidelines http://www.ticketyboopress.co.uk/tere...
My own published work includes eleven fantasy novels, written under my own name and my pseudonym, Madeline Howard, as well as short fiction, reviews, interviews, and articles on writing.
I live with my husband, two adult children, a son-in-law, two grandsons, assorted pets, and more books than you might think would fit in the remaining space.
On paper, my life looks more glamorous than it was in actual fact (most peoples' lives do). My husband and I met at our local Renaissance Faire. I've made and sold puppets, spent twenty years as a professional fortuneteller, worked in a craft store, and been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. My hobbies are Halloween and Christmas.
Currently, I am working as an editor for Tickety Boo Press, heading a new imprint Venus Ascending, which will be publishing fantasy and science fiction romance novels. For submission guidelines http://www.ticketyboopress.co.uk/tere...
My own published work includes eleven fantasy novels, written under my own name and my pseudonym, Madeline Howard, as well as short fiction, reviews, interviews, and articles on writing.
I live with my husband, two adult children, a son-in-law, two grandsons, assorted pets, and more books than you might think would fit in the remaining space.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 10, 2017
Next in the 2011 Haven't Read This In A Hundred Years series is Child of Saturn by Teresa Edgerton. It's set elsewhere – almost – and elsewhen, but it's a place and time where there is Christianity (Michelmas and Christmas and All-Hallows, christenings and crucifixes) and something not quite like the faerie that once walked this world (or so they say).
There are some beautifully unique characterizations here. The evil princess, Diaspad, is beautifully evil, not content with following all of the stereotypical paths an attractive wicked woman usually sticks to. Her coterie is an assortment of varying strengths, from a vapid son to a maid who might just have a backbone; it's a little scary to think what could have been accomplished by this lot if they were all clever and competent. The king, her half brother, is neither a great ruler nor a terrible one, but a rather capricious mediocre one – such as probably sat on many thrones throughout the centuries. He is, however, possessed of a Diaspad-shaped blind spot, and she has him trained so that he will not hear anything against her. His queen is brave and beleaguered, and not stupid, which is refreshing: so often a lady in her situation takes comfort where she oughtn't, which makes everything worse.
The two main characters acting against this background are the two most unique and fascinating (happily). The king's wizard, Glastyn, disappeared many years ago, leaving his very young and nearly invisible half-trained apprentice Teleri to fill in – which she does when pressured, preferring to remain invisible in her tower trying to complete her education with books that only open when certain circumstances are fulfilled. What she knows she knows, and what she does she does well, but she has no confidence, no security. And to add to her lack of stability, the queen's champion, Ceilyn, intrudes on her life, and he isn't altogether the parfait gentil knight he appears to be and tries so hard to be …
The upshot is that very few characters behave as I expect them to – and in a library full of clichés and well-filled pigeonholes, that's tremendous. The writing is superb; the plot is engaging; the characters live and breathe. Wonderful stuff, not to be missed.
There are some beautifully unique characterizations here. The evil princess, Diaspad, is beautifully evil, not content with following all of the stereotypical paths an attractive wicked woman usually sticks to. Her coterie is an assortment of varying strengths, from a vapid son to a maid who might just have a backbone; it's a little scary to think what could have been accomplished by this lot if they were all clever and competent. The king, her half brother, is neither a great ruler nor a terrible one, but a rather capricious mediocre one – such as probably sat on many thrones throughout the centuries. He is, however, possessed of a Diaspad-shaped blind spot, and she has him trained so that he will not hear anything against her. His queen is brave and beleaguered, and not stupid, which is refreshing: so often a lady in her situation takes comfort where she oughtn't, which makes everything worse.
The two main characters acting against this background are the two most unique and fascinating (happily). The king's wizard, Glastyn, disappeared many years ago, leaving his very young and nearly invisible half-trained apprentice Teleri to fill in – which she does when pressured, preferring to remain invisible in her tower trying to complete her education with books that only open when certain circumstances are fulfilled. What she knows she knows, and what she does she does well, but she has no confidence, no security. And to add to her lack of stability, the queen's champion, Ceilyn, intrudes on her life, and he isn't altogether the parfait gentil knight he appears to be and tries so hard to be …
The upshot is that very few characters behave as I expect them to – and in a library full of clichés and well-filled pigeonholes, that's tremendous. The writing is superb; the plot is engaging; the characters live and breathe. Wonderful stuff, not to be missed.
April 28, 2016
This one was a bit frustrating. The main characters are rather tiresome : one is a little grey mouse wishing to be ignored (she succeeds), the other is convinced he's sinful, unworthy of his knighthood, etc. Not my kind of pals. It was difficult to get engaged in the plot even though the political and religious situation is rich and well developped.
November 27, 2018
Teresa Edgerton is one of my all-time favorite authors, and it is primarily because of this trilogy and the following Celydonn trilogy. Her writing is incredibly elegant and she builds the story world slowly, bit by bit, in such a way that I was instantly hooked. It's refreshing how unglamorous the magic is in this world, and yet the backdrop is lush with this medieval-type world that has its own long history and supernatural mysteries. I liked the slow, careful pace of the book, because it built upon the personalities of the two main characters so that I could get to know them more intimately and understand their actions and motivations especially in later books in this trilogy.
I like shy heroines and Teleri is invisible, unnoticed by most people, which appealed to me as a reader. Ceilyn's secret took me by surprise but it also explained so much of his behavior and his flawed but tragic personality.
I have reread this book many times and love it just as much each time. The plot and the story world are both so complex that each reading seems fresh and brings out new nuances to the story.
This book may not be for everyone, but it is exactly my cup of tea. I desperately wish the author had written more in this story world.
I like shy heroines and Teleri is invisible, unnoticed by most people, which appealed to me as a reader. Ceilyn's secret took me by surprise but it also explained so much of his behavior and his flawed but tragic personality.
I have reread this book many times and love it just as much each time. The plot and the story world are both so complex that each reading seems fresh and brings out new nuances to the story.
This book may not be for everyone, but it is exactly my cup of tea. I desperately wish the author had written more in this story world.
July 3, 2018
I liked that book a lot! It took me a while to finish it, not being a Native English speaker, but I really liked it! It has a lot of names, and the writing is from 40 years ago but the story is very good and I can't wait to read the next one! If only I find it!
February 13, 2026
I have loved this series since it came out eleventy mumble years ago (to the point where if I create characters in a video game often they're named after characters from here.
The series itself is a bit like "What if King Arthur's court was Welsh and also didn't fall apart but his son was a weak king.
The series is hard to find these days unfortunately, it seems that they released the first two books as ebooks not that long ago but the third one never came out (which makes me sad. I just picked up the first two as ebooks, especially because my copies of the books are over thirty years old at this point)
Anyway, if you can find it give it a read. The only one thing that hasn't aged super well is that the main character, Teleri, has been, either through action of her master (the book's Merlin equivalent) or through misdirecting her own power, maintained at about the age of twelve despite being 18. This is actually a plot point in this book and does get resolved early in the series but the main love interest of the series does start developing feelings for her before this happens (to be fair to him, it's only when he has to lift her over a wall that he realizes that she's just not a tiny woman because she IS 18) But I could see that bothering some people.
The series itself is a bit like "What if King Arthur's court was Welsh and also didn't fall apart but his son was a weak king.
The series is hard to find these days unfortunately, it seems that they released the first two books as ebooks not that long ago but the third one never came out (which makes me sad. I just picked up the first two as ebooks, especially because my copies of the books are over thirty years old at this point)
Anyway, if you can find it give it a read. The only one thing that hasn't aged super well is that the main character, Teleri, has been, either through action of her master (the book's Merlin equivalent) or through misdirecting her own power, maintained at about the age of twelve despite being 18. This is actually a plot point in this book and does get resolved early in the series but the main love interest of the series does start developing feelings for her before this happens (to be fair to him, it's only when he has to lift her over a wall that he realizes that she's just not a tiny woman because she IS 18) But I could see that bothering some people.
January 15, 2022
Oh this is such a hard one! I've had this book in my home library - like, a physical copy of it - for at least 15 years, just waiting for the urge to read it. I finally did. It...maybe wasn't worth the 15 year build-up? I love Teresa Edgerton's voice - her writing really does have a sly wit to it, and her descriptions are gorgeous - but things didn't gel very well, and the omniscient/POVs were disjointed and left me not super invested in most of the action. I would have rather followed Teleri for more of the novel. I hated where she plopped the ending, but I wouldn't mark a novel down just for that, because A Game of Thrones was similarly arbitrary.
Ultimately, more beautifully written on a surface level than GRRM, like SO much more artistic, and just as plotty, but the soul isn't there, the fierce character drawing, the awareness of who we love as a character and who we want to actually hear from, whether it's because we root for them or because we love to hate them or just because they're fascinating. I have several more books by Edgerton in my collection, and I may try another series, but so far The Green Lion is not really doing it for me.
Ultimately, more beautifully written on a surface level than GRRM, like SO much more artistic, and just as plotty, but the soul isn't there, the fierce character drawing, the awareness of who we love as a character and who we want to actually hear from, whether it's because we root for them or because we love to hate them or just because they're fascinating. I have several more books by Edgerton in my collection, and I may try another series, but so far The Green Lion is not really doing it for me.
November 19, 2022
I cannot express in words how important this series was to me. I had always been a reader but i got extremely sick with the flu one winter when i was a teenager and my mom got me these books and I never looked back. So good. So we'll written. I've lost track of how many times I've read them. For some reason, Amazon only has the first 2 books available by ebook so
you'd have to find the third somewhere. Anyway to me totally worth it.
you'd have to find the third somewhere. Anyway to me totally worth it.
July 30, 2024
All the usual plot devices are here: the young wizard wannabe, the dashing knight, the evil princess, a forsaken birthright... But Edgerton's very loose retelling of the King Arthur saga somehow still seems fresh and dynamic. I just wish she'd ease up on the faux Celtic names because after a while all I see is Tryfnndd Mcgrllwgynnt and Ctsall Morgrgwwdff.
January 15, 2024
After a short acclimation period to the names and language conventions, I got sucked into Edgerton's world. It pulls from pieces of existing lore and comes away as something unique. A piece of fiction that isn't quite like anything else I've read. Excited to find book two.
September 2, 2025
The Black Book of Tregalen is one of those fake books I've always wanted to read.
May 13, 2010
Back to rediscovering my own library... I have this entire trilogy on my shelf, but cannot say if I have ever read it... so... here we go!
Well. This one took a lot of work to get into the meat of the story... back history... Welsh names to wade through... but once you got to the meat of it, I was fascinated and captured by the characters. It took me a very long time to get through, but that was due to mundane life, not the flow of the story. I liked it. I give it 4 out of 5. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the second one!
Well. This one took a lot of work to get into the meat of the story... back history... Welsh names to wade through... but once you got to the meat of it, I was fascinated and captured by the characters. It took me a very long time to get through, but that was due to mundane life, not the flow of the story. I liked it. I give it 4 out of 5. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the second one!
May 31, 2013
Plot: 2 stars
Characters: 2 stars
Style: 2 1/2 stars
Pace: 2 stars
This was one from the Random Work Books pile, and since the pile had books 1 and 3 in it, I figured I'd give it a read, and if it was any good, I'd snag 2 from the used book store to add to the office library.
Alas. I just found it needlessly slow, boring, and convoluted. I never felt any real tension, just a bunch of characters being needlessly obtuse.
Characters: 2 stars
Style: 2 1/2 stars
Pace: 2 stars
This was one from the Random Work Books pile, and since the pile had books 1 and 3 in it, I figured I'd give it a read, and if it was any good, I'd snag 2 from the used book store to add to the office library.
Alas. I just found it needlessly slow, boring, and convoluted. I never felt any real tension, just a bunch of characters being needlessly obtuse.
August 22, 2007
Beautifully written, exquisitely characterized beginning to a panoramic story set in a stylized Celtic world. Teleri is one of the most unusual fantasy heroines I've ever read.
September 16, 2010
An excellently written and highly enjoyable Medieval-period-peice fantasy: each book is a gem.
Read
March 6, 20162016 reread.
April 21, 2011
An old favorite, recently revisited. Love the heroine and hero and the Celtic setting.
July 13, 2011
Like an old friend it's good to catch up with...
August 16, 2011
I have reread this trilogy and the follow up so many times the covers are about to fall off...I really love basic fantasy and these are wonderful.....
August 9, 2013
Got this in a bookswap event. Cover looked interesting. Plot was so-so.
February 15, 2014
First-rate chivalric fantasy with Celtic-Arthurian-alchemical styling without trying to recreate anything specific. Recommended for those who liked the first Deryni books
May 21, 2021
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
September 6, 2007
My friend's mom wrote this trilogy and I really enjoyed it. I think it gets better as it goes on.
April 29, 2017
I ate this whole trilogy in one big, hungry week-bite. It's excellent.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews