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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Every one of Kay's books deserves a re-read. The first read through (for me anyway) is to get the "feel" of the world and the story. The second read through is to really savor and explore. I've only done my first read on this one before I had to return the book to the library, but I can give you my preliminary impressions.
Kay is a wonderful, wonderful writer. He creates absorbing, lyrical worlds that are both self-contained and internally consistent. I did not "bond" with these characters as immediately as I have with some of his others. However, I didn't really like [b:The Lions of Al-Rassan|104101|The Lions of al-Rassan|Guy Gavriel Kay|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171506640s/104101.jpg|955081] very much my first time through, and now it's my very favorite book of all time. Using Chinese culture was both very interesting to me and in some ways a natural extension of writing about Constantinople. That the main beauty, though, was a green-eyed blonde threw me a little bit.
To sum up, I loved it, but in a bit of an abstract way. I look forward to reading it again.
Kay is a wonderful, wonderful writer. He creates absorbing, lyrical worlds that are both self-contained and internally consistent. I did not "bond" with these characters as immediately as I have with some of his others. However, I didn't really like [b:The Lions of Al-Rassan|104101|The Lions of al-Rassan|Guy Gavriel Kay|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171506640s/104101.jpg|955081] very much my first time through, and now it's my very favorite book of all time. Using Chinese culture was both very interesting to me and in some ways a natural extension of writing about Constantinople. That the main beauty, though, was a green-eyed blonde threw me a little bit.
To sum up, I loved it, but in a bit of an abstract way. I look forward to reading it again.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Simply spectacular.
My ships are never fulfilled with this man, it is something I will always reproach him for, but this book is simply beautiful, brilliant, spectacular. I can't say anything else. It's just beautiful.
My ships are never fulfilled with this man, it is something I will always reproach him for, but this book is simply beautiful, brilliant, spectacular. I can't say anything else. It's just beautiful.
Rich, detailed and complex, Kay weaves a story that starts in a simple and moving place: one man seeks to honor his father by burying the dead of a battle that his father helped lead. For two years, he lives in almost complete solitude, kept company a night by the sounds of the ghosts on the lands around him; and supported in the harsh lands by occasionally visits from representatives from governments from both sides of the battle.
The soldiers have been reduced to bone; so he buries them all to quiet their voices.
He is gifted at the end of his labors by a gift he does not want - 250 of the finest horses known to his people; horses that are valuable beyond anyone's desires. They are bred only by the the very enemy that he has been burying; and to even try to get them home again means his death. To own them means being thrust back into the politics of the imperial court that he left two years ago as a scholar in training, and everything has changed in two years; and his country is on a brink of changes he can't even imagine.
Kay immerses the reader in a Chinese-influenced environment, rich in detail, and threaded through with fantasy and magical elements, while never loosing sight of the complex political and court environments in which the characters move. All over over, he creates a fascinating and detailed read.
The soldiers have been reduced to bone; so he buries them all to quiet their voices.
He is gifted at the end of his labors by a gift he does not want - 250 of the finest horses known to his people; horses that are valuable beyond anyone's desires. They are bred only by the the very enemy that he has been burying; and to even try to get them home again means his death. To own them means being thrust back into the politics of the imperial court that he left two years ago as a scholar in training, and everything has changed in two years; and his country is on a brink of changes he can't even imagine.
Kay immerses the reader in a Chinese-influenced environment, rich in detail, and threaded through with fantasy and magical elements, while never loosing sight of the complex political and court environments in which the characters move. All over over, he creates a fascinating and detailed read.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a fun book! The plot didn't really lead where I thought it would, but it was written well. I just had major whiplash reading this immediately after reading a danmei novel - the style of writing is so different, even though the settings overlap! I had a hard time reconciling those differences while reading at first, so I've rated it a little lower than I would normally.
As a Chinese person who isn't really culturally or historically steeped in Chinese as much as my Chinese teachers would have liked, this was a lyrically beautiful, needful and meaningful book. Sure, it moved at a relatively slower pace - but that gave me so much space to savour and imagine the landscapes and worlds my (probably imagined) farfarfarfaraway ancestors could have inhabited. This was a glorious tale, and it makes me want to know more about China now.
I've never read any GGK in my 30 years as a fantasy reader. Finishing this, I believe I have erred. Expansive, engaging, well-realised characters and world. And simply beautiful prose. Damn.
This story is every bit as lovely and exquisite as so many of the people and places described in it. Beautifully written and very moving.
If I have any quibbles at all it is with the ending. Unlike some of my other favorite authors, Guy Kay definitely writes endings. However, the last chapter basically summarises the rest of the lives of most of the main characters. After the measured pace of the rest of the novel, I felt a little breathless reading this. On the other hand, I did get to find out what became of everyone so I feel petty complaining. As I said, a very, very minor quibble.
More please.
If I have any quibbles at all it is with the ending. Unlike some of my other favorite authors, Guy Kay definitely writes endings. However, the last chapter basically summarises the rest of the lives of most of the main characters. After the measured pace of the rest of the novel, I felt a little breathless reading this. On the other hand, I did get to find out what became of everyone so I feel petty complaining. As I said, a very, very minor quibble.
More please.
Hmmmm, I'm going to have to let this one sink in a bit more before I can place it amongst Kay's other novels.
Did I like it? Of course. I love Guy Gavriel Kay. As usual, his depiction of historical settings (this time 8th century China) with a twist was spot on. Very enjoyable.
But for some reason, at times Under Heaven seemed to be going through the Kay "motions" for me, as if he felt he has to have female characters who are stronger than history would expect, star-crossed lovers, characters who must make impossible choices, etc.
Sure, I still dug it. But Kay is veering close to formulaic on this one--not quite, but close.
I think my biggest problem with this particular novel is one of plotting. Under Heaven depicts a time of change, when the emperor is old and the kingdom will be different soon. Shen Tai is an ordinary man thrust into the middle of the inevitable upheavals, as both sides of the pending power struggle want the gift has has been unexpectedly given by the White Jade Princess.
My problem is this--yes, the struggles come to a head and a war breaks out. Historically, it has to happen. My problem is the fact that most of the war takes place "off stage" from the novel. I'm sure this was a conscious choice by Kay. The characters in the novel make moves and decisions that are as important as the grand battles of a war, but take place away from the battlefield. These characters are making the large political moves, not the large military moves.
But for me, when the novel was over it felt anti-climactic, because we never get to see the great battles "on stage". The results are told as stories from history, leaving the reader (or me, at least) feeling a tad ripped off.
Even so, it was a wonderful novel, and I already wish Kay had another book for me to read. If you are a Kay fan, this is a must buy. If you've never read him, then you won't be disappointed.
Did I like it? Of course. I love Guy Gavriel Kay. As usual, his depiction of historical settings (this time 8th century China) with a twist was spot on. Very enjoyable.
But for some reason, at times Under Heaven seemed to be going through the Kay "motions" for me, as if he felt he has to have female characters who are stronger than history would expect, star-crossed lovers, characters who must make impossible choices, etc.
Sure, I still dug it. But Kay is veering close to formulaic on this one--not quite, but close.
I think my biggest problem with this particular novel is one of plotting. Under Heaven depicts a time of change, when the emperor is old and the kingdom will be different soon. Shen Tai is an ordinary man thrust into the middle of the inevitable upheavals, as both sides of the pending power struggle want the gift has has been unexpectedly given by the White Jade Princess.
My problem is this--yes, the struggles come to a head and a war breaks out. Historically, it has to happen. My problem is the fact that most of the war takes place "off stage" from the novel. I'm sure this was a conscious choice by Kay. The characters in the novel make moves and decisions that are as important as the grand battles of a war, but take place away from the battlefield. These characters are making the large political moves, not the large military moves.
But for me, when the novel was over it felt anti-climactic, because we never get to see the great battles "on stage". The results are told as stories from history, leaving the reader (or me, at least) feeling a tad ripped off.
Even so, it was a wonderful novel, and I already wish Kay had another book for me to read. If you are a Kay fan, this is a must buy. If you've never read him, then you won't be disappointed.
I feel like if i finish a book this long it has to be better than 3 stars. Especially with how short my attention span has been recently.
However if I was reading more books, i'm not sure I would have enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars. But I did find the characters interesting, and the plot new, and the magical themes well done.
I found the abrupt switch from limited 3rd person, to an omniscient 3rd person historian a bit jarring. Maybe that was intended. To increase the shock from that event?
However if I was reading more books, i'm not sure I would have enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars. But I did find the characters interesting, and the plot new, and the magical themes well done.
I found the abrupt switch from limited 3rd person, to an omniscient 3rd person historian a bit jarring. Maybe that was intended. To increase the shock from that event?
Two years of living in solitude is a long period, especially if you live in a place where the wind carries through the night the cries of restless souls whose bones are scattered along the field where a great battle took place a few decades before. It is precisely this life led by Shen Tai, the son of a celebrated Kitai general, once a promising warlord and diplomat, now just a hermit who wants to pay tribute to his father in two years of self-exile by burying the bones of Taguran and Kitan soldiers mixed in the field by lake Kuala Nor, in no man's land between Taguran Empire and Kitai. It’s an act that earns him respect from both sides.
His period of mourning is coming to an end, but then his serene life is interrupted by two sudden visits. The first is from the Taguran delegation. They came to tell him that the Empress personally, as a tribute to him for his work, gifted him 250 Sardian horses known as Heavenly Horses. One such horse is an invaluable treasure that even the Emperor of Kitai himself cannot so easily afford, but 250? This is already something that is worth empires and puts Tai at the very top of the most influential people of Kitai overnight. The only condition is that he has to come personally to take them.
The second visit is that of his friend and his female bodyguard, a Kanlin warrior. A friend brings the news of Shen’s sister. Their brother gave her to the leader of the nomadic Bogü tribes beyond the Wall. Court intrigues are underway, Shen is aware of this especially after an assassin kills his friend and tries to kill him. Who wants him dead? Why?
Reluctantly, Shen decides to return home and to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, where every word is carefully weighed, every deed is carefully measured, unaware that there are bigger things in motion of which he is only one small but essential part. He and his Sardian horses because in the events to come, those horses can give the upper hand to whichever side Shen hands them over.
Kay may not write a long series that takes ages to be written and published. He does not have a hero who is predestined by a prophecy to save the world of evil that looms over him nor does he have dragons. What he has is a wonderful style and beauty of a sentence that is rarely possessed by any author; emotions woven into the word and such weaving of a story that some can only learn because the first chapter of "Under Heaven" is worth as much as some novels.
Kay skillfully leads Tai on his path, at the same time telling the story of his sister on the other side of the Wall, there in the steppes, among wolves and nomads where the yarn of a story long begun, never finished, unravels.
All that characteristic of Kay, you will find here: beautiful and strong women, men equally skilled in art and warfare, and a story within the story, all colored by romanticism and sprinkled with a pinch of fantasy. Once again, the motifs of honor, love, friendship, and revenge are intertwined in the richness of his written word and give us an unforgettable experience at times giving us the impression that we are watching the films "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in which, just like here, romance and martial arts are skillfully intertwined.
Just as good wine gains quality by standing in barrels, Kay gains quality with each subsequent novel and grows as an author, offering something that may not please everyone and is not everyone's "cup of tea", but it is indisputably good.
His period of mourning is coming to an end, but then his serene life is interrupted by two sudden visits. The first is from the Taguran delegation. They came to tell him that the Empress personally, as a tribute to him for his work, gifted him 250 Sardian horses known as Heavenly Horses. One such horse is an invaluable treasure that even the Emperor of Kitai himself cannot so easily afford, but 250? This is already something that is worth empires and puts Tai at the very top of the most influential people of Kitai overnight. The only condition is that he has to come personally to take them.
The second visit is that of his friend and his female bodyguard, a Kanlin warrior. A friend brings the news of Shen’s sister. Their brother gave her to the leader of the nomadic Bogü tribes beyond the Wall. Court intrigues are underway, Shen is aware of this especially after an assassin kills his friend and tries to kill him. Who wants him dead? Why?
Reluctantly, Shen decides to return home and to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, where every word is carefully weighed, every deed is carefully measured, unaware that there are bigger things in motion of which he is only one small but essential part. He and his Sardian horses because in the events to come, those horses can give the upper hand to whichever side Shen hands them over.
Kay may not write a long series that takes ages to be written and published. He does not have a hero who is predestined by a prophecy to save the world of evil that looms over him nor does he have dragons. What he has is a wonderful style and beauty of a sentence that is rarely possessed by any author; emotions woven into the word and such weaving of a story that some can only learn because the first chapter of "Under Heaven" is worth as much as some novels.
Kay skillfully leads Tai on his path, at the same time telling the story of his sister on the other side of the Wall, there in the steppes, among wolves and nomads where the yarn of a story long begun, never finished, unravels.
All that characteristic of Kay, you will find here: beautiful and strong women, men equally skilled in art and warfare, and a story within the story, all colored by romanticism and sprinkled with a pinch of fantasy. Once again, the motifs of honor, love, friendship, and revenge are intertwined in the richness of his written word and give us an unforgettable experience at times giving us the impression that we are watching the films "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in which, just like here, romance and martial arts are skillfully intertwined.
Just as good wine gains quality by standing in barrels, Kay gains quality with each subsequent novel and grows as an author, offering something that may not please everyone and is not everyone's "cup of tea", but it is indisputably good.