[Abyss]

D, on 13 August 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:

It's kinda mean to compare Tigana with his later works, though. Tigana seems obviously, to me, GGK's first try with playing around with the whole modified-historical-place motif (the Tigana peninsula being Italy), and his later stuff has the benefit of him having already tried the ideas that don't work in Tigana and not using them again, hence why Tigana seems to not be in the shared world of Lions, Last Light, Arbonne and the Sarantine duo.

Unlike most of his later 'alt-hist-fantasy' books, aside from loose geography and the 'city-state' system that existed before the two sorcerors walzed in, there is little analogy to Italy, unlike LIONS, SARANTINE, ARBONNE or HEAVEN that work with strong analogies to real countries (Spain, Roman Empire, France, Japan iirc) and historical periods.

Use Of Weapons, on 16 August 2012 - 06:02 PM, said:

I loved Tigana, and it remains my favourite of Kay's works. (I've read everything up to the Sarantine Mosaic.)

Abyss and I differ in this, which is strange because in general, our tastes run along fairly similar lines. I re-read Tigana recently, and so my impression was confirmed. It does have a slow burn beginning, in the mould of more traditional fantasy, unlike Malazan which is very much in medias res. But Kay's strength has always been his characters, and Tigana's characters have an aching depth that is lacking in so much fantasy these days.

Bear with it. If the denoument doesn't move you, then blame me. But don't consign it to the scrapheap until you've read the ending.

I think that Kay generally hits a brilliant level of depth with his characters, but i thought Tigana was a weaker effort on this point as well.

But i utterly agree with you that the book is worth reading to make up one's own mind about.

[Macros]

I have to disagree with driss saying its kinda mean to compare as its an early book.

GotMisms aside, GotM is one of mu favourite Malazan books
Magician is one of mu favourite Feist books
The Colour of Magic is definitely one of my favourite Prachett offerings.

Not meanig to sound nitpicky but of the defences of the book, that's the weakest yet

For me the characters nearly all fell flat, so I had little or no investment in them at all.

[Mentalist]

Otataral Toblakai, on 10 August 2012 - 12:08 PM, said:

My advice - don't compare anything to Malazan. Been there, done that, regretted it. Nothing, I repeat nothing, compares to it and I do speak after reading a sizeable amount of whatever fiction is present in this drab world today. Malazan is like the undisputed liege of fantasy - for those who've read it - the Holy Grail of Fantasy, as I like to call it. Once you've tasted it you, sadly, feel the same way an addict does after withdrawal. Its pure delight and it has no comparison.

However, there are similar series that do come close to the Malazan style, so to speak, and ill recommend some to you.

A Song of Ice and Fire (if not already read)
A Wheel of Time (if not already read)
Everything by Joe Abercombie - and I mean everything since its filled with pure badassery though not much scope
Glen Cook's Black Company (inspired SE)
Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards
Robin Hobb's books set in the Farseer world
Jacqueline Carey's duology (told from the 'evil' side)

Nick Perumov's "Chronicles of the Rift" are comparable. Too bad they aren't translated to English...

[LadyMTL]

I know I'm a bit late to this party but, having read everything that GGK has put out (with the exception of Lions of Al-Rassan) I think I'm able to weigh in.

I personally don't understand the loathing for Tigana because I did like it, though I wouldn't call it my favorite GGK book. Mind you, I enjoyed it much more the second time around but that's often the case with books that I'm initially on the fence about. Originally I found it way too wordy and slow, but after read number 2 I found myself enjoying the internal dialogue, for the most part. Not everything has to be action packed and full of explosions and dragons and whatnot to be interesting (IMHO, of course). I will admit that I did get annoyed at how emo the characters tended to be when it came to Tigana the place but other than that, I really liked it...and the surprise twist near the end is just cool, lol.

I also wouldn't compare it to SE or GRRM or Abercrombie or any of those writers' works, because they're all so very different, in style and in substance...never mind that our tastes can vary sooooo much. I myself didn't find Elantris anything to write home about, for example, but I know a lot of people really enjoyed it. Anyway! There's my 5c worth of opinion, make of it what you will.

[Salt-Man Z]

On the subject of Tigana, on the very last page of the book,

Spoiler

did anyone else have to flip back and find that one poem to see what three men seeing a riselka meant? It was kind of annoying, but at the same time, a very "Whoa. Wow!" moment.

[Serenity]

Salt-Man Z, on 27 August 2012 - 09:05 PM, said:

On the subject of Tigana, on the very last page of the book,

Spoiler

did anyone else have to flip back and find that one poem to see what three men seeing a riselka meant? It was kind of annoying, but at the same time, a very "Whoa. Wow!" moment.

Oh yes. I loved that.

It's a while since I read Tigana but I remember really enjoying it, and it was enough to get me to go and get his other books. It's not my favourite, for sure, but I don't remember having any major issues with it.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 04 January 2018 - 12:26 AM, said:

Tigana is an epic masterpiece! Loved it so much.

You necroposted an Aug 2012 thread to praise Tigana.

Words fail me (and interpretive dance would take too much effort).

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 04 January 2018 - 04:57 PM, said:

It's your owwwwwnnnnnnnnnnn fault! I clicked your links!

From 2012?

Are you a time traveller????

[End of Disc One]

I hope to read this later in 2018. I just saw on reddit that GGK delivered the manuscript for his next novel to his editor. But no word on what the novel is.

[Salt-Man Z]

I mean, does anyone here really HATE it besides Grumpy Cat?

[Macros]

Not a fan

[Mentalist]

It's certainly the weakest Kay I've read (which is everything except Ysabel and Children of Earth and Sky), and I doubt I'll ever be tempted by a re-read, but hate? no, I don't hate it.

[Tatterdemalion]

I just finished it in December and I loved it. I felt like Kay covers a HUGE story fairly quickly, really, with most chapters having something impactful occurring politically. I agree there are some parts that drift away, but I never felt like it was really slow. The chapter in the cabin was awesome and early on. The premise is great, too.

The one thing is holey-moley does he ever love the passive voice. The whole story is told like this: memories, hop forward to moment of importance, memories, hop forward to moment of importance, memories... etc. I found his prose very elegant and engaging, as I did with Lions of Al-Rassan, and I would say it is my favourite of his I've read thus far (Fionavar is my other titles). Lions had the better ending, though.

Salt-Man-Z: I've been wondering what the riselka thing was since finishing the book! Do you remember? I can't find where the poem is in the text. I would love to know, if you would.

[Tatterdemalion]

Also: should we all go dig up ancient threads to bug Abyss? This seems dope.

[acesn8s]

Tatterdemalion, on 18 January 2018 - 05:20 AM, said:

Salt-Man-Z: I've been wondering what the riselka thing was since finishing the book! Do you remember? I can't find where the poem is in the text. I would love to know, if you would.

“One man sees a riselka: his life forks there.
 Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die.
 Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

One woman sees a riselka: her path comes clear to her.
 Two women see a riselka: one of them shall bear a child.
 Three women see a riselka: one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.”

[Salt-Man Z]

acesn8s, on 18 January 2018 - 12:44 PM, said:

“One man sees a riselka: his life forks there.
 Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die.
 Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

One woman sees a riselka: her path comes clear to her.
 Two women see a riselka: one of them shall bear a child.
 Three women see a riselka: one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.”

Thanks, it's been 5½ years since I read it; I barely remember the story, let alone a poem I had forgotten by the time I finished the book!

[Abyss]

Salt-Man Z, on 18 January 2018 - 03:52 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 18 January 2018 - 12:44 PM, said:

"One man sees a riselka: his life forks there.
 Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die.
 Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

One woman sees a riselka: her path comes clear to her.
 Two women see a riselka: one of them shall bear a child.
 Three women see a riselka: one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child."

Thanks, it's been 5½ years since I read it; I barely remember the story, let alone a poem I had forgotten by the time I finished the book!

"One man reads Tigana: his life wasted there.
 Two men read Tigana: one of them is a happy guy.
 Three men read Tigana: one is bored, one loves it, one wishes he never asked what the other two thought."

[Macros]

Briar King, on 09 October 2018 - 12:51 AM, said:

Oh man I saw this thread just now browsing and I had to bump it cause this book is awesomely bad

True dat