[Fist Gamet]

Just finished Lions of Al-Rassan. Brilliant. The end made me . I am impressed by the emotion in Kay's writing, an all too oft-ignored aspect of fantasy writing, imho. He writes such believable characters, well rounded and breathing. I am sure I am not the only one who felt he could have made it twice as long and still produced a terrific story. Ammar has now found a place in my all time favourite characters of literature list, the man is a legend.

[Use Of Weapons]

The end made me weep into my cornflakes too. Worth a reread, I think, cos 1) it's been over 10 years since I read it, and 2) I barely remember anything apart from the doctor and the son.

[Abyss]

I lent my copy to a friend.
He up and moved to the middle-east with it.

But vengeance will be mine. Oh yes it will...

This was the first GGK book i read after much pimpage on the forum. Totally enjoyed it and immediately went out and acquired most of his other books at that time (up to SARANTINE).

[Fist Gamet]

So which one next?

[Use Of Weapons]

TIGANA!!!

[stone monkey]

Kay does have a tendency towards melodrama, which I find a little wearing sometimes. But, that said, when he gets it right, which he really does in Lions, it's absolutely devastating. You learn to care about a group of very likeable and attractive (if occasionally flawed) characters, and then he goes and does that to them. It reminds me of a review I read about Tim Powers, years ago, that said that he was "expertly hurting his characters"; Kay can do that too. There's an awful inevitability about the end of this book; Kay's gift is that he makes it so that you can't turn away from it.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

"Come, brother. Shall we show them how this is done?" is now one of my favorite lines. For some reason while reading this book the relationship between Ammar and Rodrigo made me think of Rake and Brood, idk why because I've always complained about how we never get to really see how the friendship started, but maybe its just that Rake and Brood had that instant connection like Rodrigo and Ammar? And the friendship was just set in stone from the beginning.



Edit: p.s. which book of GGK's should I be looking to read next? This was my first one.

This post has been edited by WhiskeyJackDaniels: 06 August 2010 - 04:17 PM

[D'rek]

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 06 August 2010 - 06:22 AM, said:

Edit: p.s. which book of GGK's should I be looking to read next? This was my first one.

Might as well go to the Sarantine duo and then Last Light of the Sun, since you'll have the references back to Lions in memory.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

Oh cool, I didn't realize his books were connected/in the same universe.

[D'rek]

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 09 August 2010 - 08:01 PM, said:

Oh cool, I didn't realize his books were connected/in the same universe.

Those 4 are.

The Fionavar tapestry and Ysabel are.

[Abyss]

D, on 09 August 2010 - 10:02 PM, said:

WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 09 August 2010 - 08:01 PM, said:

Oh cool, I didn't realize his books were connected/in the same universe.

Those 4 are.

The Fionavar tapestry and Ysabel are.

There are bits and pieces of cross refs in various books. TIGANA has a very brief (unimportant but nodwink to readers) reference to FIONAVAR, by example.

[Mentalist]

so did A Song for Arbonne, I believe....

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 04 January 2011 - 09:46 PM, said:

so did A Song for Arbonne, I believe....

i believe you are correct but it was even more obscure.

[acesn8s]

Abyss, on 05 January 2011 - 03:23 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 04 January 2011 - 09:46 PM, said:

so did A Song for Arbonne, I believe....

i believe you are correct but it was even more obscure.

It was mentioned in a song that Lissuet sang to Blaise. If my memory serves, they don't really explain what Fionavar is, like they did in Tiganna. It appears that in A Song for Arbonne, magic has lost most of its sway in the world so Fionavar has less meaning to the characters.

[QuickTidal]

Fuck.

So I was in the bookstore yesterday and saw THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN (the latest edition with the stone lionhead on the cover, but in the stupid tall paperback format we all hate) and recalling that I really didn't like YSABEL, but that Abyss amongst others always seemed to champion this book...I picked it up and bought it thinking I'd give Kay another go.

I sat down last with the intent of reading the prologue, just to get it started, and then watching a movie for the rest of the evening.

Well, I'll be damned if I couldn't put the gods damned thing down. Next thing I knew I was rounding the 70-page mark. It's bloody fascinating, amazingly well-written and totally UN-PUT-DOWN-ABLE.

I concede (man I hate conceding, LOL), this book is fucking phenomenal. This morning on the way to work I was nearing page 100 and all I really want to do is keep reading it.

Damn, this is fine writing!

Funny Aside: My copy of the book misspells Jehane's name on the back cover blurb as Jeanne. Printer FAIL. LOL

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 02 September 2011 - 11:59 AM

[acesn8s]

QuickTidal, on 02 September 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Fuck.

So I was in the bookstore yesterday and saw THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN (the latest edition with the stone lionhead on the cover, but in the stupid tall paperback format we all hate) and recalling that I really didn't like YSABEL, but that Abyss amongst others always seemed to champion this book...I picked it up and bought it thinking I'd give Kay another go.

I sat down last with the intent of reading the prologue, just to get it started, and then watching a movie for the rest of the evening.

Well, I'll be damned if I couldn't put the gods damned thing down. Next thing I knew I was rounding the 70-page mark. It's bloody fascinating, amazingly well-written and totally UN-PUT-DOWN-ABLE.

I concede (man I hate conceding, LOL), this book is fucking phenomenal. This morning on the way to work I was nearing page 100 and all I really want to do is keep reading it.

Damn, this is fine writing!

Funny Aside: My copy of the book misspells Jehane's name on the back cover blurb as Jeanne. Printer FAIL. LOL

Is Ysable the only other Kay book you've read? If it is, I think you've got a couple more books to look forward to. I don't think I'll ever reread Ysable, but I'll reread the rest of his books every couple of years.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 02 September 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

...Abyss amongst others always seemed to champion this book...

And now you know why.

Enjoy!

Btw if you haven't read them, ARBONNE is damn close and the SARANTINE duology is different but brilliant.

[Use Of Weapons]

And don't leave out _Tigana_. Abyss may not like it, but lots of us others who love Kay rate _Tigana_ as highly as _Lions_, if not moreso.

[QuickTidal]

If I can get into some of his other work like I did with this one, then I think I have to add a few to the TBR pile.

Thanks everyone!

[Abyss]

Ultimately TIGANA falls into the 'make your own mind up' category. The forum is prety split between love/hate on that one.

Relatedly I think FIONAVAR is fun but has the usual portal fantasy first book/series flaws, and LAST LIGHT was just plain dull. To be fair, i read LIONS first, then ARBONNE, then SARANTINE, and after those, Kay's earlier works were doomed to suffer by comparison.

UNDER HEAVEN sits atop my TRP at this very moment.