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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
Um clássico da Ficção – Científica, A Tapeçaria de Fionavar foi a obra que colocou Guy Gavriel Kay no pódio dos grandes escritores do género, tendo-se seguido Os Leões de Al-Rassan e Tigana. Uma aventura por um mundo paralelo, uma viagem para algo para lá da imaginação, uma fórmula reutilizada tantas vezes no cinema ou na literatura após este sucesso e mesmo antes dele, A Árvore do Verão reúne alguns dos melhores elementos da fantasia e da ficção-científica para criar uma história ímpar.
Se eu vos contar à quanto tempo estou para comprar Os Leões de Al-Rassan, vocês não acreditavam e como ainda não o consegui fazer, aproveitei ter encontrado este livro numa feira com um preço chamativo para me iniciar na escrita deste autor. A primeira coisa que me chamou a atenção foi o facto deste livro não me parecer ter alguma coisa a ver com o referido que está na minha wishlist a que tempos pois as sinopses são bastante diferentes.
Com uma fórmula usada e abusada no cinema, confesso que acabei por me identificar mais com esta do que com as do grande ecrã mesmo que a história tenha sido escrita em 1984 e estejamos em 2012 e muita coisa já se tenha passado tanto na literatura como no cinema. Em alguns pormenores, a tal fórmula é diferente, uma vez que não vamos nem para o passado nem para o futuro mas para um mundo paralelo que é todo ele um típico da epic fantasy, com anões e tudo.
A primeira coisa que reparei nas primeiras páginas é que se este livro foi um sucesso e uma “novidade” na sua época, hoje ela soou-me muito rudimentar no início. É uma história simples, concebida para entreter os fãs da fantasia que já não podiam com todos aqueles mundos pormenorizados ao milímetro mas que mesmo assim exala uma certa qualidade que a quem dera a muitos escritores hoje em dia ter.
E foi esta qualidade que acabou por me agarrar às suas páginas e fazer esquecer que vivo numa época muito mais a frente. Quando entrámos em Paras Derval é a fantasia épica no seu estado mais puro que nos espera. Com uma escrita directa e, parece-me, capaz de muito mais, Guy Gavriel Kay introduz-nos numa demanda em que cinco desconhecidos são a chave para combater um Mal que esperou mil anos. Sim, é uma solução repetida mas daquelas bem repetidas e acho que se nos colocarmos no lugar dos leitores dos anos 80, era um daqueles livros mesmo bons. E, contudo, posso dizer que repetida ou não, este livro proporcionou-me muitos bons momentos de leitura, sendo que não o larguei enquanto não o terminei e tenho mesmo de ir comprar os outros dois porque eu quero saber como isto acaba!
A construção deste mundo está bem conseguida e cada povo, cada personagem e território fez-me querer saber mais e mais. Este é daqueles bons livros introdutórios, com um bom andamento de história, grandes acontecimentos e muita acção. Ainda estão muitos segredos e mistérios por revelar, o que deixou a minha curiosidade em pulgas. Temos diversidade de personagens muito grande e parece-me que no próximo livro há muito mais por descobrir.
Um dos meus pontos favoritos deste livro é o vilão da história, apesar de só se ter um vislumbre. Sabem aquela sensação de “mas agora não um vilão a sério?”. Bem, este é a Encarnação do Mal num estado puro. Conhece os nossos medos mais obscuros e a sua própria face é a do Mal. Brilhante e deixou-me a salivar por mais.
Conclusão, vou procurar o resto da trilogia e lê-la porque não vou aguentar sem saber o que se passa a seguir. E, claro, estou com curiosidade de ler o restante trabalho do escritor. Por último, descobri que prefiro a fantasia rudimentar do que aquela que é mais evoluída e uma grande treta.
http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.com/2012/03/opiniao-arvore-do-verao.html
Se eu vos contar à quanto tempo estou para comprar Os Leões de Al-Rassan, vocês não acreditavam e como ainda não o consegui fazer, aproveitei ter encontrado este livro numa feira com um preço chamativo para me iniciar na escrita deste autor. A primeira coisa que me chamou a atenção foi o facto deste livro não me parecer ter alguma coisa a ver com o referido que está na minha wishlist a que tempos pois as sinopses são bastante diferentes.
Com uma fórmula usada e abusada no cinema, confesso que acabei por me identificar mais com esta do que com as do grande ecrã mesmo que a história tenha sido escrita em 1984 e estejamos em 2012 e muita coisa já se tenha passado tanto na literatura como no cinema. Em alguns pormenores, a tal fórmula é diferente, uma vez que não vamos nem para o passado nem para o futuro mas para um mundo paralelo que é todo ele um típico da epic fantasy, com anões e tudo.
A primeira coisa que reparei nas primeiras páginas é que se este livro foi um sucesso e uma “novidade” na sua época, hoje ela soou-me muito rudimentar no início. É uma história simples, concebida para entreter os fãs da fantasia que já não podiam com todos aqueles mundos pormenorizados ao milímetro mas que mesmo assim exala uma certa qualidade que a quem dera a muitos escritores hoje em dia ter.
E foi esta qualidade que acabou por me agarrar às suas páginas e fazer esquecer que vivo numa época muito mais a frente. Quando entrámos em Paras Derval é a fantasia épica no seu estado mais puro que nos espera. Com uma escrita directa e, parece-me, capaz de muito mais, Guy Gavriel Kay introduz-nos numa demanda em que cinco desconhecidos são a chave para combater um Mal que esperou mil anos. Sim, é uma solução repetida mas daquelas bem repetidas e acho que se nos colocarmos no lugar dos leitores dos anos 80, era um daqueles livros mesmo bons. E, contudo, posso dizer que repetida ou não, este livro proporcionou-me muitos bons momentos de leitura, sendo que não o larguei enquanto não o terminei e tenho mesmo de ir comprar os outros dois porque eu quero saber como isto acaba!
A construção deste mundo está bem conseguida e cada povo, cada personagem e território fez-me querer saber mais e mais. Este é daqueles bons livros introdutórios, com um bom andamento de história, grandes acontecimentos e muita acção. Ainda estão muitos segredos e mistérios por revelar, o que deixou a minha curiosidade em pulgas. Temos diversidade de personagens muito grande e parece-me que no próximo livro há muito mais por descobrir.
Um dos meus pontos favoritos deste livro é o vilão da história, apesar de só se ter um vislumbre. Sabem aquela sensação de “mas agora não um vilão a sério?”. Bem, este é a Encarnação do Mal num estado puro. Conhece os nossos medos mais obscuros e a sua própria face é a do Mal. Brilhante e deixou-me a salivar por mais.
Conclusão, vou procurar o resto da trilogia e lê-la porque não vou aguentar sem saber o que se passa a seguir. E, claro, estou com curiosidade de ler o restante trabalho do escritor. Por último, descobri que prefiro a fantasia rudimentar do que aquela que é mais evoluída e uma grande treta.
http://girlinchaiselongue.blogspot.com/2012/03/opiniao-arvore-do-verao.html
Reviewing to remind my future self why I gave up on Guy Gavriel Kay, and this series that everyone seems to love so much...
I got about a third of the way into the first book and quit. There was an uncomfortable seduction scene in which an annoying prince
The "pretty girl" in the adventuring party is explicitly stated to be safe from harassment by other men only because she has been "claimed" by said prince as his personal property (without her consent). The other girl, we gather, is the Not-Pretty one, or at least the text manages to talk about her without gushing over her appearance every other sentence, and she gets to actually do some stuff other than dodge unwelcome advances.
I kept reading doggedly, and found myself in a scene where several barmaids fling themselves at men they just met. Here I started to wonder if I was reading High Fantasy Letters to Penthouse.
According to other reviews, there isat the end, so I'm quite grateful I stopped when I did. This is just not a world I want to spend any more hours in. Feels like it was written when Guy was a horny 14-year-old and too afraid to talk to actual women.
*sigh*
I got about a third of the way into the first book and quit. There was an uncomfortable seduction scene in which an annoying prince
Spoiler
"conquered" a woman using strategy, accomplices, and deceit. (Risked the lives of people under his command, just to get laid, then shamed, scolded, and misled the woman he was seducing in order to put more pressure on her, but she was conveniently too "overcome with passion" to care.)The "pretty girl" in the adventuring party is explicitly stated to be safe from harassment by other men only because she has been "claimed" by said prince as his personal property (without her consent). The other girl, we gather, is the Not-Pretty one, or at least the text manages to talk about her without gushing over her appearance every other sentence, and she gets to actually do some stuff other than dodge unwelcome advances.
I kept reading doggedly, and found myself in a scene where several barmaids fling themselves at men they just met. Here I started to wonder if I was reading High Fantasy Letters to Penthouse.
According to other reviews, there is
Spoiler
an actual rape scene*sigh*
I wanted to like this book. I really did. I saw so many amazing reviews about it and I wanted to see what everyone loved in this work.
I honestly just couldn't.
I could not have cared less what happened to any of the main characters. I didn't like any of them. I felt they were caricatures of actual characters....I couldn't taken them seriously. Not even their mode of speech was believable (many scenes sounded like they were writing a script for Army of Darkess....complete with Ash....and not in a good way).
Many loved this book, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why.
I honestly just couldn't.
I could not have cared less what happened to any of the main characters. I didn't like any of them. I felt they were caricatures of actual characters....I couldn't taken them seriously. Not even their mode of speech was believable (many scenes sounded like they were writing a script for Army of Darkess....complete with Ash....and not in a good way).
Many loved this book, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why.
It was a page turner, and I found myself counting the minutes for the next break when I would have time to read again. The story grabs you almost from the beginning, and the descriptions are not too dense, so the action is always moving with relative speed, and keeps jumping from one person to the other, so you are always interested.
However, sometimes the names and the mythology are somehow unclear and I tended to get a bit lost and confused with the names of the characters.
Then we have the influences. We can see Tolkien in this book. We sense the elves (lios alfar) and the orcs (svart alfar), but the dwarfs, humans and mages are there for the taking. But there is also CS Lewis, a more sophisticated version with incantations instead of wardrobes. And if we look closer, we can also smell some GOT in there. It is difficult to be truly original when it comes to fantasy, despite the contradiction.
However, sometimes the names and the mythology are somehow unclear and I tended to get a bit lost and confused with the names of the characters.
Then we have the influences. We can see Tolkien in this book. We sense the elves (lios alfar) and the orcs (svart alfar), but the dwarfs, humans and mages are there for the taking. But there is also CS Lewis, a more sophisticated version with incantations instead of wardrobes. And if we look closer, we can also smell some GOT in there. It is difficult to be truly original when it comes to fantasy, despite the contradiction.
The way I see it, this book makes a bridge between The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time. So, needless to say, I loved it
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Fionavar Tapestry was one of the great reads of my high school years. It spoke to me in ways that Tolkien didn't and in a grand style that was very different than, say, George R.R. Martin's. Reading it again as an adult it holds up very well, but not without some problems.
'The Summer Tree', after some mythic foreshadowing, begins with five college students at the University of Toronto attending an after-term lecture by a famous and reclusive expert on Celtic culture. Dave Martyniuk is a loner who is slightly dismayed to see fellow law student Kevin Laine, and his sparkling personality, coming into the crowded lecture hall. With Kevin are Paul Schafer, Jennifer Lowell, and Kimberly Ford. It soon turns out that the lecturer is more than he appears and after some intense eye contact and reception-dodging he reveals that he and his associate are actually from the world of Fionavar - the center of the universe and the bright light that every other world reflects imperfectly. The five of them are invited to the High King's Jubilee and will be returned to their world with no time lost.
Of course the offer is too good to be true and the Five are drawn, one way or another, into the complicated, dangerous, and beautiful world of Fionavar.
Kay's writing is beautiful and he uses many narrative tricks that make the novel seem like a legend from the oral tradition. There is foreshadowing aplenty and myth-lovers will see the roots of many myths from the Nordic, Celtic, and Romantic traditions in these stories. Unfortunately, as you may have already guessed, there is no reference to mythology from other cultures - except maybe a bit of 'Arabian Nights' and the American plains - that can't be found in 'Bulfinch's'. This isn't really a problem until you think that the main conceit of this world is that it is the center of all things, so we're left with the implication that most if not all of the cultures of the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, India, the South Pacific and-and-and are all reflections or aberrations so imperfect they don't merit a place in main pattern of the Weaver's tapestry. That takes some of the enjoyment out of this 1980s fantasy trilogy.
Obviously, this was not Kay's intention. At worst this is the result of thoughtlessness. I won't blame him for it, especially as later books of his have drawn from a global and deeper historical perspective. I've written a lot and I'm just realizing I should write about the place of women in this universe, which in many ways is far less excusable than the above - next time!
This is a grand adventure story that doesn't flinch from having its characters take part in the darker elements of our folklore. Poor, benighted Jennifer has the worst of it (more on that in 'The Wandering Fire'), but the other characters suffer for a world they barely know and this continues as they become more entrenched in Fionavar. There are many other characters as well, archetypical fantasy types that refuse to be diminished because of their roles. This is a wonderful series and is a great, if flawed, beginning to Kay's mastery of the fantasy genre.
The Fionavar Tapestry
Next: 'The Wandering Fire'
'The Summer Tree', after some mythic foreshadowing, begins with five college students at the University of Toronto attending an after-term lecture by a famous and reclusive expert on Celtic culture. Dave Martyniuk is a loner who is slightly dismayed to see fellow law student Kevin Laine, and his sparkling personality, coming into the crowded lecture hall. With Kevin are Paul Schafer, Jennifer Lowell, and Kimberly Ford. It soon turns out that the lecturer is more than he appears and after some intense eye contact and reception-dodging he reveals that he and his associate are actually from the world of Fionavar - the center of the universe and the bright light that every other world reflects imperfectly. The five of them are invited to the High King's Jubilee and will be returned to their world with no time lost.
Of course the offer is too good to be true and the Five are drawn, one way or another, into the complicated, dangerous, and beautiful world of Fionavar.
Kay's writing is beautiful and he uses many narrative tricks that make the novel seem like a legend from the oral tradition. There is foreshadowing aplenty and myth-lovers will see the roots of many myths from the Nordic, Celtic, and Romantic traditions in these stories. Unfortunately, as you may have already guessed, there is no reference to mythology from other cultures - except maybe a bit of 'Arabian Nights' and the American plains - that can't be found in 'Bulfinch's'. This isn't really a problem until you think that the main conceit of this world is that it is the center of all things, so we're left with the implication that most if not all of the cultures of the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, India, the South Pacific and-and-and are all reflections or aberrations so imperfect they don't merit a place in main pattern of the Weaver's tapestry. That takes some of the enjoyment out of this 1980s fantasy trilogy.
Obviously, this was not Kay's intention. At worst this is the result of thoughtlessness. I won't blame him for it, especially as later books of his have drawn from a global and deeper historical perspective. I've written a lot and I'm just realizing I should write about the place of women in this universe, which in many ways is far less excusable than the above - next time!
This is a grand adventure story that doesn't flinch from having its characters take part in the darker elements of our folklore. Poor, benighted Jennifer has the worst of it (more on that in 'The Wandering Fire'), but the other characters suffer for a world they barely know and this continues as they become more entrenched in Fionavar. There are many other characters as well, archetypical fantasy types that refuse to be diminished because of their roles. This is a wonderful series and is a great, if flawed, beginning to Kay's mastery of the fantasy genre.
The Fionavar Tapestry
Next: 'The Wandering Fire'
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Yes
Beautiful Prose But…
Boring, boring, boring. This was slow going, but it was satisfying at the end. I liked it, but boy did it take its time getting things together.
Boring, boring, boring. This was slow going, but it was satisfying at the end. I liked it, but boy did it take its time getting things together.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes