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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Derivitive? Yes! Full of tropes you've seen before? Yes!
I know these things are normally reasons to avoid this book and the rest of the series but please read on.
The tldr; is It's C.S. Lewis without the sermon, Tolkien without the boring and Thomas Malory with excellent writing and a much better ending.
Let's start with the prose. As with any Guy Gavriel Kay book you have to begin with the writing style because the author has a gift for words. This is one of Kay earliest efforts so it's not refined as it is in his newer works but early and rough GGK prose still blows 85% of the prose of contemporary authors out the water.
Tropes: Dark lords, Dwarves, gifted young people... really? At first you want to laugh but then you realize that these are only ingredients that G.G.K is using to cook a delicious remix version of some very old stories. It's almost like GGK is giving us a chance to hear the stories again, the right way. The book and especially the larger series holds together incredibly well
This remains one of my top fantasy trilogies and will probably reread later this year.
Triggers:
I know these things are normally reasons to avoid this book and the rest of the series but please read on.
The tldr; is It's C.S. Lewis without the sermon, Tolkien without the boring and Thomas Malory with excellent writing and a much better ending.
Let's start with the prose. As with any Guy Gavriel Kay book you have to begin with the writing style because the author has a gift for words. This is one of Kay earliest efforts so it's not refined as it is in his newer works but early and rough GGK prose still blows 85% of the prose of contemporary authors out the water.
Tropes: Dark lords, Dwarves, gifted young people... really? At first you want to laugh but then you realize that these are only ingredients that G.G.K is using to cook a delicious remix version of some very old stories. It's almost like GGK is giving us a chance to hear the stories again, the right way. The book and especially the larger series holds together incredibly well
This remains one of my top fantasy trilogies and will probably reread later this year.
Triggers:
Spoiler
There is a non explicit rape scene near the end of this volume
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It took me a while to get a grip on what was going on but all the while I was still loving it, it was just a story with descriptions that just pulled at me.
I've now experienced the true knife-to-the-heart storylines of Guy Gavriel Kay long may it continue.
Can't wait for the next one.
I've now experienced the true knife-to-the-heart storylines of Guy Gavriel Kay long may it continue.
Can't wait for the next one.
One of the few fantasy books that does not sink under a comparison to "Lord of the Rings". In fact, it rises to the challenge with it's aching portrayals of loss, sacrifice, and love gives the Fionavar Tapestry series a profound and tangible emotional depth that Tolkien only rarely achieves.
The start of this novel was so slow that I had to put it aside for awhile, because the audio was putting me to sleep on the long morning commute. I loved Kay's Tigana. Reading another of Kay's fantasies with roots in my own world (nearly... 1980 feels like an eternity away from this vantage point) seemed like an obvious fit.
I think part of the lack of pizzazz comes from the very traditional feel of this fantasy adventure. Kids - college-age in this case - get swept up from their mundane lives into another world, one which - of course - turns out to be deeply troubled and in desperate need of their help. We know there's something special about ONE of the five students (Kim) from the beginning. The rest are apparently only along for the ride. What's more, the reason given for them being brought into Fionavar is essentially as circus animals, a novelty to be on display at the 50th anniversary of the king's coronation. Who WOULDN'T agree to go along for that ride??
For those first few chapters, I found the students nearly indistinguishable from each other. (It didn't help that the British reader tried to give them all American accents and did an appalling job.) Nothing about any of them stood out especially, though. Not until the five break up and go separate ways do they get at all interesting, with one joining ranks with a young prince on a mission to seduce a princess, one deciding to give his life to save the kingdom (like, literally his life in payment for the world not being destroyed), one accidentally apprenticing to the local swamp witch, one getting kidnapped by a giant swan, and one falling in with the local nomadic tribes. WHY would they decide to split up in this strange world that has been only very inadequately explained to them? I have NO idea.
A lot that happened in this telling felt convenient rather than well-plotted, but it's also easy to see that this book is setting up for the bigger story to be told in books 2 and 3. I'll probably come back to those eventually, but I think I'll dip into some of the edgier current fantasies first.
I think part of the lack of pizzazz comes from the very traditional feel of this fantasy adventure. Kids - college-age in this case - get swept up from their mundane lives into another world, one which - of course - turns out to be deeply troubled and in desperate need of their help. We know there's something special about ONE of the five students (Kim) from the beginning. The rest are apparently only along for the ride. What's more, the reason given for them being brought into Fionavar is essentially as circus animals, a novelty to be on display at the 50th anniversary of the king's coronation. Who WOULDN'T agree to go along for that ride??
For those first few chapters, I found the students nearly indistinguishable from each other. (It didn't help that the British reader tried to give them all American accents and did an appalling job.) Nothing about any of them stood out especially, though. Not until the five break up and go separate ways do they get at all interesting, with one joining ranks with a young prince on a mission to seduce a princess, one deciding to give his life to save the kingdom (like, literally his life in payment for the world not being destroyed), one accidentally apprenticing to the local swamp witch, one getting kidnapped by a giant swan, and one falling in with the local nomadic tribes. WHY would they decide to split up in this strange world that has been only very inadequately explained to them? I have NO idea.
A lot that happened in this telling felt convenient rather than well-plotted, but it's also easy to see that this book is setting up for the bigger story to be told in books 2 and 3. I'll probably come back to those eventually, but I think I'll dip into some of the edgier current fantasies first.
Detta var min favoritbokserie när jag var 14-15 år gammal. Jag har inte läst den sedan dess så det var nervöst att ge sig på boken nu, några decennier senare.
Den håller fortfarande! Det är klassisk, episk portalfantasy. Underbart vackert skriven. Det allvetande berättarperspektivet lyfter sagokänslan. Jag njöt av att läsa, både av själva historien och av språket.
Visst har den tydliga Tolkienvibbar, visst är det väl praktiskt att de fem kanadensiska personer som hamnar i Fionavar klarar av både långa, tuffa ridturer och vapenskrammel omgående. De anpassar sig osannolikt lätt till fantasyvärlden.
Visst är världen uppbyggd som ett oräkneligt antal andra fantasyvärldar med det huvudsaktliga kungariket baserat på europeisk medeltid och dess grannar: Det obligatoriska ryttarfolket, det mellanösterninspirerade folket, det svekfulla dvärgriket och det mystiska alvlika folket.
Men det stör mig inte ett dugg i denna boken. Kanske pga nostalgin, men även för att jag tycker det fungerar bra.
Den håller fortfarande! Det är klassisk, episk portalfantasy. Underbart vackert skriven. Det allvetande berättarperspektivet lyfter sagokänslan. Jag njöt av att läsa, både av själva historien och av språket.
Visst har den tydliga Tolkienvibbar, visst är det väl praktiskt att de fem kanadensiska personer som hamnar i Fionavar klarar av både långa, tuffa ridturer och vapenskrammel omgående. De anpassar sig osannolikt lätt till fantasyvärlden.
Visst är världen uppbyggd som ett oräkneligt antal andra fantasyvärldar med det huvudsaktliga kungariket baserat på europeisk medeltid och dess grannar: Det obligatoriska ryttarfolket, det mellanösterninspirerade folket, det svekfulla dvärgriket och det mystiska alvlika folket.
Men det stör mig inte ett dugg i denna boken. Kanske pga nostalgin, men även för att jag tycker det fungerar bra.
A much loved reread from my original read in 1993 (??).
GGK is one of my favorite authors and having just completed A Brightness Long Ago, I felt compelled to hearken back to his earlier days. The Summer Tree does not have the richness of prose or intricacies of plot that his later novels do, but the glimmer is there. The beauty of an interwoven plot and the depth of character that begins the Fionavar Tapestry is the foundation to the rest of his worlds.
It may not be the best written or tightly plotted, but it remains one of my favorite novels to read time and time again.
Reread: 9/26/24 - yep. Still one of my faves. Not sure why I only gave it four stars the first time I reviewed it. Fixing that now.
GGK is one of my favorite authors and having just completed A Brightness Long Ago, I felt compelled to hearken back to his earlier days. The Summer Tree does not have the richness of prose or intricacies of plot that his later novels do, but the glimmer is there. The beauty of an interwoven plot and the depth of character that begins the Fionavar Tapestry is the foundation to the rest of his worlds.
It may not be the best written or tightly plotted, but it remains one of my favorite novels to read time and time again.
Reread: 9/26/24 - yep. Still one of my faves. Not sure why I only gave it four stars the first time I reviewed it. Fixing that now.
A great example of the high fantasy genre. The story is well paced and has plenty of action, but the author takes time to tell the story from more than one point of view. There's plenty of political sparring to go along with the swordplay. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, there is a lot of time devoted to character introductions and back-story. There is a nice balance of light and dark shown in many of the heroes and even some of the antagonists. Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Robert Jordan, and George R. R. Martin will find lots to like in this series.
This novels deserves a place on the bookshelf of any fantasy lover. Kay's Fionavar series has been my getaway space for the summer and what a fine place to spend time in .