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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Tolkien, through a looking glass.
Which makes sense given Kay’s work on Tolkien’s writings after his death. So many parallels-a quest with elves-ish people, dwarves, a city people and a horse people. Wizards, an angry, ancient forest. A volcano tied to an ancient evil who is rebuilding his strength...humans from earth take the role of the hobbits, but there’s a lot of connections. It holds up, even though it’s very, very close.
Really enjoy Kay’s writing, and I very much see the seeds of Lions of Al-Rassan in this book. I’ll keep on reading them, (if our dang library would order them)
Which makes sense given Kay’s work on Tolkien’s writings after his death. So many parallels-a quest with elves-ish people, dwarves, a city people and a horse people. Wizards, an angry, ancient forest. A volcano tied to an ancient evil who is rebuilding his strength...humans from earth take the role of the hobbits, but there’s a lot of connections. It holds up, even though it’s very, very close.
Really enjoy Kay’s writing, and I very much see the seeds of Lions of Al-Rassan in this book. I’ll keep on reading them, (if our dang library would order them)
This is the kind of high fantasy that I can easily see re-reading, and rather wish I had come to earlier in life. (It's definitely not a kid's book, but I'd almost rather my fictional progeny read this than Narnia.) Kay takes touchstones from mythology and weaves them together in a haunting opener to this trilogy about the first world and the impact five people from our own world have on it, in the midst of an epic struggle between good and evil.
It's not without it's issues, but they're easily overlooked in favour of just how darn enticing this story is. I can't wait to read the next ones.
It's not without it's issues, but they're easily overlooked in favour of just how darn enticing this story is. I can't wait to read the next ones.
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh this book was fantastic. It was a wonderful high fantasy adventure filled with everything that makes being alive worth it: Friendship, love, bravery, loyalty and sacrifice. If you are a fan of The Hobbit, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Neverending Story then please hurry and go get this book! You will not be sorry.
Διαβάστε και την κριτική στα Ελληνικά στις βιβλιοαλχημείες.
This book along with its siblings is a fantasy trilogy sent to me for my birthday from a lovely friend, a great fan of Fantasy.
I'm not into fantasy series to be honest or any series. It is riskier than a standalone book because if you don't enjoy the first book, (or worse the second one) you are going to invest a lot of time for something you don't like. DNFing them is equally hard to do.
Thankfully this is a trilogy and I enjoy it.
I haven't really read a lot of Canadian novels besides [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)|Margaret Atwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578028274l/38447._SY75_.jpg|1119185], and [b:Life of Pi|4214|Life of Pi|Yann Martel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320562005l/4214._SY75_.jpg|1392700]. And none of those take place in Canada.
The Fionavar trilogy takes place mainly in the fictional world of Fionavar but it also takes place (usually in 2-3 chapters) in Toronto, Canada.
The thing with fictional worlds is that in order for them to feel real, the author has to dedicate a lot of time to build the world, its geography, its people, its myths, its culture, its history, its languages, and then start adding the main story in all this.
The Tolkien inspiration for this book is obvious. The author himself was working as an editor for Tolkien's [b:The Silmarillion|7332|The Silmarillion|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565193934l/7332._SX50_.jpg|4733799] in 1974-75. Eventually a decade later he published his very first book, which is also the first book of the Fionavar Trilogy, «The Summer Tree».
The first 150 pages or so, had so much exposition, so many names, legends, place-names, cultures, myths, backstories that it was heavy going and I was lost with who's who and where's where. Had to pause my reading every few pages to check the names' list as well as the map.
Kay compressed so much world building in 150+ pages.
The same amount that took Tolkien at least two 500-pages books*. And it felt chokingly thick for me.
*[b:The Silmarillion|7332|The Silmarillion|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565193934l/7332._SX50_.jpg|4733799]
[b:Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth|7329|Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1165611104l/7329._SY75_.jpg|2961645]
Of course Kay's language saved the book for me and I truly enjoyed the rest of it. And I have to say there were some original fantasy aspects in this book that I really liked.
A favourite part was the Indigenous Canadian inspired culture of the Dalrei, a nomadic culture living in the plains, having shamans, hunting bison like animals, and believing in totems.
I'm finishing later today the second book in the trilogy, and I'm already familiar with the world of Fionavar, so any exposition passes almost unnoticed.
. . .and the journey continues. . .
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
these people were very ok with just popping off to another world for a little bit, but whatever that's fine.
adventurous
challenging
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:
No
This book felt like a cheap knockoff of Tolkien and I wasn't surprised to find out that the author helped with The Silmarillion to some extent. The world in this book did come across as if the author knew more of the backstory that there was to everything, but except in his lengthy exposition dumps I didn't feel like we truly got to experience the beauty it held. I also didn't like how unrealistic it was that the Five just outright accepted everything going on with basically no skepticism to them. The book was a struggle to get through personally and I won't be interested in picking up the other two, especially not after skimming their summaries on Wikipedia and being even more confused.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape