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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
The worldbuilding was nice and it had its good moments that's why it gets two stars instead of one. This book is not for me. If I wanted to read terrible scenes it should at the very least be from a bad horror book, not a fantasy one with a very lyrical writing style.
Tolkien pastiche with too many Tolkien-style digressions, a lot of flowery language occasionally combined with outdated slang, a lot of mindless sex at various points with nameless ladies, and a long and horrifying rape scene, but nonetheless super readable.
I just found this book to be very slow and boring. I had to force myself to keep reading...I wasn't interested at all in what happened to the characters or in the book. I won't even bother reading the rest of the books in the series.
You can definitely tell this is early Kay. The prose was awesome as always, and the characters were workable, especially in the later half of the book. However, the plot was all over the place. And by that I mean the Deus ex Machina was all over the place. And everything happened in 8 days! Star Wars episode 8 anyone?
I was quite surprised that I just didn't care for this book, mainly for his writing style. This trilogy was one of Kay's earlier works and that showed. I won't read the remaining books in the trilogy, but that doesn't mean I don't love his later works. His later works are far better. Many do enjoy this trilogy so try it out!
Story was too slow and then switched story arcs just when I got into it a little
Beautiful novel. I was intrigued by the fact that the framing concept (normal people drawn into fantasy world and become integral players in saving the world, etc.) is similar to Chronicles of Narnia, and yet it keeps getting compared to Lord of the Rings. I'll be honest by saying that I was ready to dislike it, and I was completely blown away. Frankly, the only thing I didn't like about it was that it's only the first part in a trilogy. I've already started the second one. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all continues. Rather incidentally, I could probably wax poetic about Kay's skill in drawing such fully realized, human, relatable characters, even (especially?) the minor ones, but I would probably repeat the same praises in every review I write for a book of his. Oh darn. I just did it again, didn't I?
I started out not liking this book. The introduction is clunky and the characters keep making decisions and saying things no real person would say. After getting through that, and reading a comment about the simple fantasy style it was using (which was compared to C.S. Lewis), I continued on hoping to come around.
And sometimes it felt like I was.... But every time it took one step forward, it took two back. For every simple-yet-beautiful turn of phrase, there was an awkward and unrealistic conversation. For every plot moment I liked, there were 10 tropes and ideas taken straight from Tolkien and Lewis (and the bible/Norse mythology, and King Arthur, and other cultures, and... ). For every likable character, there were many more stereotypes and inconsistent choices. It feels like there are some ideas here, but the execution is lazy and clunky.
Finally, while how it incorporated sex into the world was interesting at first (as I haven't see it often in fantasy like this), its terrible use of gender stereotypes then ruined that. The male characters were constantly (and I mean every night) sleeping with different women. But the female protagonists are all chaste and "good". Whenever a new female character was introduced, I could play the "which male character are they the love interest for" game. The two female protagonists get sidelined into the "mystic witch" (with instant white hair and all) and the "damsel". It felt very old-fashioned, which being written in the 80's it may be. But there are many other fantasy books to read now that I think do everything this does but better.
And the final straw that settled my decision to abandon the series was the Game Of Thrones-level sexual violence that ends the series. It comes out of nowhere to help establish the evil of the villain which is just so unnecessary and gratuitous. If you have to use a female character like that to establish a villain, or motivate a hero, or provide some trauma to show how strong the woman is, you are a bad writer!
Perhaps Guy Gavriel Kay went on to write good books. But as far as I'm concerned, this isn't one.
And sometimes it felt like I was.... But every time it took one step forward, it took two back. For every simple-yet-beautiful turn of phrase, there was an awkward and unrealistic conversation. For every plot moment I liked, there were 10 tropes and ideas taken straight from Tolkien and Lewis (and the bible/Norse mythology, and King Arthur, and other cultures, and... ). For every likable character, there were many more stereotypes and inconsistent choices. It feels like there are some ideas here, but the execution is lazy and clunky.
Finally, while how it incorporated sex into the world was interesting at first (as I haven't see it often in fantasy like this), its terrible use of gender stereotypes then ruined that. The male characters were constantly (and I mean every night) sleeping with different women. But the female protagonists are all chaste and "good". Whenever a new female character was introduced, I could play the "which male character are they the love interest for" game. The two female protagonists get sidelined into the "mystic witch" (with instant white hair and all) and the "damsel". It felt very old-fashioned, which being written in the 80's it may be. But there are many other fantasy books to read now that I think do everything this does but better.
And the final straw that settled my decision to abandon the series was the Game Of Thrones-level sexual violence that ends the series. It comes out of nowhere to help establish the evil of the villain which is just so unnecessary and gratuitous. If you have to use a female character like that to establish a villain, or motivate a hero, or provide some trauma to show how strong the woman is, you are a bad writer!
Perhaps Guy Gavriel Kay went on to write good books. But as far as I'm concerned, this isn't one.
Since I just read Tigana it's hard not compare it. The Summer Tree is bigger in scope and the writing is still very good. I can see why other writers like e.g. Sanderson really likes it.
The story is engaging and interesting. Lots of books from back then had a story line with people from the 'real' world going to other worlds to play a part in the history of the new world. The Chronicles of Narnia (though from the 1950s) are probably the most famous one, but series like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (awesome if you like anti-heroes) and the Chronicles of Amber are clearly inspiration. Kay has a great imagination and he shows this again in this one.
However, the story relies heavily on namedropping and (somewhat uninteresting) history lessons that slows the story down and doesn't give the intensional depth to the world. It also fails to expand on the main characters so far.
I should have read Kay before. He really is an exceptional story teller.
3,5 stars.
The story is engaging and interesting. Lots of books from back then had a story line with people from the 'real' world going to other worlds to play a part in the history of the new world. The Chronicles of Narnia (though from the 1950s) are probably the most famous one, but series like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (awesome if you like anti-heroes) and the Chronicles of Amber are clearly inspiration. Kay has a great imagination and he shows this again in this one.
However, the story relies heavily on namedropping and (somewhat uninteresting) history lessons that slows the story down and doesn't give the intensional depth to the world. It also fails to expand on the main characters so far.
I should have read Kay before. He really is an exceptional story teller.
3,5 stars.
This was one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read. Early on I was surprised by the number of similarities to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time - but then I discovered it was written well before WoT. And it's so much better. It's exciting and unusual and told with a bare minimum of words rather than detailing every last thing. Kay keeps the reader in ignorance when it will be useful to the story, but also assumes a brain on the part of the reader and therefore doesn't repeat himself. I loved this book.