[Tiste Simeon]

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:24 AM, said:

So it appears the Fionavar Tapestry is free on Audible. Dunno why or if that has always been the case but I just got the trilogy without spending any money or credits.

Don't think I've ever read any GGK so I'm looking forward to it.

A Song for Arbonne is also free. Ses the only stipulation is needing to be an active member but otherwise a good deal!

[QuickTidal]

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:28 AM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:24 AM, said:

So it appears the Fionavar Tapestry is free on Audible. Dunno why or if that has always been the case but I just got the trilogy without spending any money or credits.

Don't think I've ever read any GGK so I'm looking forward to it.

A Song for Arbonne is also free. Ses the only stipulation is needing to be an active member but otherwise a good deal!

Don't judge GGK on Fionavar, he wrote it when he was really young and had JUST finished helping Christopher Tolkien edit the SILMARILLION....the influence is unmistakable. It's very much NOT indicative of the skill level in the alt-history work in most of his other books. But fun fact is that it starts in our world, about three blocks from where I live...so that's always going to be a fun thing. Being able to sit in the area where the characters are hanging out in the book and read about them being there...is a trip.

LIONS or SARANTIUM are the books that really show you what he's capable of.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 08 September 2023 - 11:31 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

 QuickTidal, on 08 September 2023 - 11:31 AM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:28 AM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:24 AM, said:

So it appears the Fionavar Tapestry is free on Audible. Dunno why or if that has always been the case but I just got the trilogy without spending any money or credits.

Don't think I've ever read any GGK so I'm looking forward to it.

A Song for Arbonne is also free. Ses the only stipulation is needing to be an active member but otherwise a good deal!

Don't judge GGK on Fionavar, he wrote it when he was really young and had JUST finished helping Christopher Tolkien edit the SILMARILLION....the influence is unmistakable. It's very much NOT indicative of the skill level in the alt-history work in most of his other books. But fun fact is that it starts in our world, about three blocks from where I live...so that's always going to be a fun thing. Being able to sit in the area where the characters are hanging out in the book and read about them being there...is a trip.

LIONS or SARANTIUM are the books that really show you what he's capable of.

Noted, he's an author I've wanted to check for a while. But if there isn't fit free I'm not going to say no!

[stone monkey]

Fionovar is fine, I think, despite wearing its infuences so nakedly on its sleeves, and Kay's tendency towards heightened melodrama - which he was less capable of restraining that early in his career. What I don't think Kay has come close to since is the absolute gutpunch of what happens to one of the characters towards the end of the first book. Given the nature of the thing, its not a surprise that the Big Bad as archetypically evil as he turns out to be.

[Abyss]

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:28 AM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 September 2023 - 07:24 AM, said:

So it appears the Fionavar Tapestry is free on Audible. Dunno why or if that has always been the case but I just got the trilogy without spending any money or credits.

Don't think I've ever read any GGK so I'm looking forward to it.

A Song for Arbonne is also free. Ses the only stipulation is needing to be an active member but otherwise a good deal!

ARBONNE is a much better introduction to GGK.
FIONAVAR is not bad, but it's 80s portal fantasy with the usual high fantasy tropes. It's a good read, but not a good example of where GGK shines.

[pat5150]

T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead is 2.99$ on Kindle.

[amphibian]

I judge GGK on Ysabel and the not great Chinese horse books.

[Abyss]

 amphibian, on 10 September 2023 - 03:36 AM, said:

I judge GGK on Ysabel and the not great Chinese horse books.

Harsh.

[worry]

I've never read GGK so to me he's just some Guy.

[pat5150]

The Fionavar trilogy, The Last Light of the Sun, and Ysabel are GGK's weakest works to date.

Still a weaker Kay book is better than 80% of what you can find on the market these days.

Start with The Lions of al-Rassan, Tigana, or Under Heaven and you'll be amazed!

[Abyss]

 pat5150, on 10 September 2023 - 01:38 PM, said:

...Start with ...Tigana, ... and you'll be amazed!

That is a word we could use. I have a few others.

[Tiste Simeon]

 pat5150, on 10 September 2023 - 01:38 PM, said:

The Fionavar trilogy, The Last Light of the Sun, and Ysabel are GGK's weakest works to date.

Still a weaker Kay book is better than 80% of what you can find on the market these days.

Start with The Lions of al-Rassan, Tigana, or Under Heaven and you'll be amazed!

Didn't he do one more recently with a Viking style? I'm very interested in that one.

And the reason I'll be starting with A Song for Arbonne and Fionavar Tapestry is because I have them

[Tiste Simeon]

So it seems other GGK books are free on Audible here as well: I just got Under Heaven and Last Light of the Sun.

All in all I'm chuffed with these acquisitions

Which one is best to start with out of the 7 I now have? Pat mentioned Under Heaven above so probably that one but I'm open to other suggestions.

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 12 September 2023 - 11:26 AM

[Abyss]

 Tiste Simeon, on 12 September 2023 - 11:25 AM, said:

So it seems other GGK books are free on Audible here as well: I just got Under Heaven and Last Light of the Sun.

All in all I'm chuffed with these acquisitions

Which one is best to start with out of the 7 I now have? Pat mentioned Under Heaven above so probably that one but I'm open to other suggestions.

From what i see the audible freebies are Fionavar 1, Ysabel, Tigana, Under Heaven, Arbonne, Last Light.

I have read all of these. My informed opinion ranks them as follows:

Arbonne
Under Heaven
Fionavar (but need 2 and 3)
Old Archie spin-off comics
Tigana
Punching myself repeatedly in the crotch
Last Light
Rereading Tigana while punching myself repeatedly in the crotch
Ysabel

[amphibian]

It sounds like Abyss is joking about punching being a better experience, but this is the actual truth of how bad those books are.

I don't rate Under Heaven as a good book either, but I accept that I am in the small minority there.

Arbonne is good, Tigana is kinda good but there's problems. Lions of Al-Rassan is absolutely great. Fionavar is medium - although he was young when he wrote them.

[QuickTidal]

 Abyss, on 12 September 2023 - 02:36 PM, said:

Ysabel

It's such a strange book... it's not alt-history and takes place in modern day France...but also touches Fionavar directly too....but the overall themes of the book are pretty boring and typical.

I have not read TIGANA yet, but I agree that Ysabel is the worst of the worst of the lot because it doesn't know what it really wants to be, and what it actually ends up being is a story you've heard a thousand times, not done very well....papered over with GGK's decent, if occasionally melodramatic prose.

What's weird to me is that his best stuff like LIONS, SARANTIUM, UNDER HEAVEN, A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO are not just good, they are top tier books...so the bad stuff stands out all the more against them.

[Salt-Man Z]

TIGANA is great, actually.

[Tiste Simeon]

Tigana and Ysabel not part of the freebies for me, but I want to read Tigana then get punched in the crotch to see which one is better!

Also I think GGK could be the most divisive author throughout the forum history I remember a few times when he has popped up and cause arguments hah

[Abyss]

YSABEL also suffers for being a weird meta-sequel to FIONAVAR while trying really really hard not to seem like a meta-sequel to a trilo the author wrote 21 years earlier.

UNDER HEAVEN is a bit divisive, a lot of old schoool GGK fans seem to dislike it because it's not SARANTIUM or LIONS set in Asia.
I enjoyed it. Among the items on the freebie list it ranks, but my usual top GGK works stand head and shoulders above it. As it happens tho, ARBONNE is one of those faves, so hey, good free book.

TIGANA... oh, TIGANA... part of my problem w that book was probably expectations around all the raving about plus i read it after LIONS, ARBONNE, SARANTIUM, and FIONAVAR... i was riding so very very high on the GGKrack and the comedown was brutal. The core idea of a powerful mage taking vengeance by wiping an entire country and people out of existance is great. How he goes about it.. has flaws even my substantial and well practiced suspension of disbelief could not disregard. I also think it's unfocused and needlessly padded w things that add nothing to the story. But hey, that's just me i could be wrong even tho i am not wrong.

[pat5150]

I read them in order as they came out, so chances are I wouldn't have enjoyed Tigana as much if I'd read it after the other books Abyss mentioned.

As QT pointed out, the Sarantium duology is fabulous. And yes, the trio comprised of Children of Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World make for great reading. And for me, both Under Heaven and River of Stars rank among his very best works.

I'm jealous of anyone who gets to discover GGK for the first time. It's like a first visit in Paris or Rome or something like that. Nothing quite compares. . .

That said, Fionavar and Last Light of the Sun shouldn't be your gateway to Kay's body of work. Chances are you won't give him another shot if you start with either.