[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 02 September 2011 - 04:08 PM, said:

UNDER HEAVEN sits atop my TRP at this very moment.

That's one I want to read, as I was looking for a dynastic-era China type read and will hopefully get to that one at some point.

[Tapper]

Abyss, on 02 September 2011 - 04:08 PM, said:

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.

For shame. Under Heaven is perhaps not on a par with Arbonne, Sailing to Sarantum or Lions in regard to its scope and the sweeping effects of the story, but it is Kay doing something slightly new and doing it very well: exploring the intricacies of a stratified society with a hero who is not only reluctant, but incredibly hesitant.

[Abyss]

Shame what?

[Tapper]

Abyss, on 03 September 2011 - 04:56 AM, said:

Shame what?

That you haven't read it yet, of course.

[Fist Gamet]

I loved Under Heaven. Tapper is right, Kay is having some fun with styles and it works beautifully. I believe he wrote it as a labour of love and you can 'feel' the attention and love in just about every word. I know that sounds pretentious but it is, imho, an elegant novel, something crafted rather than written. Kay is, after Wolfe, the most gifted writer that I have read and his use of language is impressive.

[Werthead]

Quote

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

All of Kay's books are set in the same universe, but they are also set in different worlds. YSABEL is a sequel (sort of) to THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY trilogy. Fans theorise that TIGANA and A SONG FOR ARBONNE are set on the same planet as Fionavar, but distant in both geography and time (though some suggest they are set on a different world, or two separate worlds, but with a multiverse connection to Fionavar).

LIONS OF AL-RASSAN/SARANTINE MOSAIC and LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN are all set on the same planet (an alt-history version of Earth with a slightly different geography) which is different to TIGANA, ARBONNE and FIONAVAR, but part of the same multiverse; Fionavar is mentioned in LIONS.

UNDER HEAVEN is more confusing as it is apparently set on the same planet as LIONS/MOSAIC/SUN, with references to locations in those three works (and those sometimes mention Khitai, the setting for UNDER HEAVEN), but it has a different number of moons in the sky to LIONS etc. So HEAVEN looks like it's set on an alternate version of the same planet where geography and even political entities are the same, but it has a different number of satellites.

Randomly weird. And since the connections never amount to more than Easter eggs, totally irrelevant to enjoying the books

[Abyss]

Or we could speculate that they take place on the same 'planet' but substantially separated in time, which could account for the missing moons and other elements.

But i agree that it's a total irrelevant easter egg element. YSABEL actually takes place in 'our world', which probably explains some of the problems with it, but i digress.

@Tapper - it's sitting on the TOP of the TRP. i'll get to it soon. Kay never ranks in my 'MUST PRE-ORDER AND READ IMMEDIATELY list but he's still pretty high up and it's things like TCG, DWD, GHOST STORY and the Alera books that have been pushing him back.

[Aptorian]

Maybe its time I got around to reading this guy.

Is this Fionawar Trilogy the right place to start or should I jump ahead? Is the books meant to be read in the order they are published?

I can see Abyss didn't read the first trilogy to begin with, do you think that damaged the experience?

[Abyss]

I didn't think it damaged the experience. I suppose I'd recommend reading at least one or two of the latter books (LIONS, SARANTINE, ARBONNE,
and/or UNDER HEAVEN) before reading his earlier stuff, mainly because if you read the earlier stuff first you may not be inspired to read the really good stuff and since they're all self-contained, there's no reading order to follow.

Having read his other stuff, I enjoyed FIONAVAR just fine, but TIGANA and LAST LIGHT suffered (quite a lot) for comparison.

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian Sharktopus, on 06 September 2011 - 05:42 PM, said:

Maybe its time I got around to reading this guy.

Is this Fionawar Trilogy the right place to start or should I jump ahead? Is the books meant to be read in the order they are published?

I can see Abyss didn't read the first trilogy to begin with, do you think that damaged the experience?

My ex-gf SWORE by the Fionavar Tapestry books. She LOVED them. She thought they were brilliant fantasy and I read the first one and thought "Meh"...nothing better than early Brooks or Feist certainly, probably on par with Eddings. I didn't read the rest.

LIONS, however, as I have already noted is incredible so far....

so i dunno, grain of salt, but I certainly don't think you NEED to start wih Fionavar.

[acesn8s]

Aptorian Sharktopus, on 06 September 2011 - 05:42 PM, said:

Maybe its time I got around to reading this guy.

Is this Fionawar Trilogy the right place to start or should I jump ahead? Is the books meant to be read in the order they are published?

I can see Abyss didn't read the first trilogy to begin with, do you think that damaged the experience?

You don't have to read the Fionavar Tapestry first. If you do read it first, try to keep in mind that Kay had previously partnered with Christopher Tolkien in editing all of JRR’s unpublished Middle Earth material. You can tell how it influenced the trilogy.

Otherwise, pick a novel that appeals to you. They are each set to mirror a different period in earth's history and local.
Tigana = renaissance Italy
Song for Arbonne = medieval France
Lions of Al-Rassan = medieval Spain
Sarantine Mosaic (doulogy) = Roman Empire
Last Light of the Sun = Anglo-Saxon England (Alfred the Great)

[Paran]

I actually really liked Last Light of the Sun. Kay changes his style and character to the setting, so there was the stark, abrupt feel to the viking and saxon times as well as the area. I find that Kay has a way of making you believe in magic, fate, destiny, etc without overtly making it so. My favourite Kay books are The Sarantine Mosaic, The Lions of Al Rassan, Last Light of the Sun, and Under Heaven, in that order. Tigana was really good at times, but jsut didn't have the impact of the others.

[Tapper]

acesn8s, on 06 September 2011 - 08:34 PM, said:

Aptorian Sharktopus, on 06 September 2011 - 05:42 PM, said:

Maybe its time I got around to reading this guy.

Is this Fionawar Trilogy the right place to start or should I jump ahead? Is the books meant to be read in the order they are published?

I can see Abyss didn't read the first trilogy to begin with, do you think that damaged the experience?

You don't have to read the Fionavar Tapestry first. If you do read it first, try to keep in mind that Kay had previously partnered with Christopher Tolkien in editing all of JRR’s unpublished Middle Earth material. You can tell how it influenced the trilogy.

Otherwise, pick a novel that appeals to you. They are each set to mirror a different period in earth's history and local.
Tigana = renaissance Italy
Song for Arbonne = medieval France
Lions of Al-Rassan = medieval Spain
Sarantine Mosaic (doulogy) = Roman Empire
Last Light of the Sun = Anglo-Saxon England (Alfred the Great)

If I were to nitpick about the bolded: alas, no. The historical equivalent is Byzantium under Justitian I (525-565 AD) with Leontes as Belisarios. Crispin's starting position would be (near) Ravenna in Italy. Setting and history divert from there but the parallels are obvious.

[acesn8s]

Tapper, on 07 September 2011 - 08:01 AM, said:

acesn8s, on 06 September 2011 - 08:34 PM, said:

Aptorian Sharktopus, on 06 September 2011 - 05:42 PM, said:

Maybe its time I got around to reading this guy.

Is this Fionawar Trilogy the right place to start or should I jump ahead? Is the books meant to be read in the order they are published?

I can see Abyss didn't read the first trilogy to begin with, do you think that damaged the experience?

You don't have to read the Fionavar Tapestry first. If you do read it first, try to keep in mind that Kay had previously partnered with Christopher Tolkien in editing all of JRR’s unpublished Middle Earth material. You can tell how it influenced the trilogy.

Otherwise, pick a novel that appeals to you. They are each set to mirror a different period in earth's history and local.
Tigana = renaissance Italy
Song for Arbonne = medieval France
Lions of Al-Rassan = medieval Spain
Sarantine Mosaic (doulogy) = Roman Empire
Last Light of the Sun = Anglo-Saxon England (Alfred the Great)

If I were to nitpick about the bolded: alas, no. The historical equivalent is Byzantium under Justitian I (525-565 AD) with Leontes as Belisarios. Crispin's starting position would be (near) Ravenna in Italy. Setting and history divert from there but the parallels are obvious.

Sounds right.

[Mentalist]

also, you may want to specify the parallels a bit:

A song for Arbonne--the Albigensian crusades in France.

Lions of Al-Rassan-- Reconquista in Spain.