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A review by chronolynx
All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay
4.0
All the Seas of the World is a novel by Guy Gavriel Kay – and, if you are familiar with any of his work, that should already tell you a great deal about the contents of this book. Lots of characters. A rotating cast of limited third-person points-of-view (and one first-person). Brief interludes in an omniscient voice. Chekhov’s guns you never even noticed paying off 400 pages later. Characters and places from previous novels showing up. The two moons, the sun, the stars. It’s all there.
Somewhat unusually for Kay, this book serves as an almost direct sequel to his previous work, A Brightness Long Ago, taking place merely a few years later and featuring many of the same characters and locations. This is, effectively, the middle entry in a trilogy-of-sorts, with Children of Earth and Sky serving as the ultimate conclusion.
As is often the case with Kay, however, the conclusion isn’t the point. There’s a reason he has most of his characters tip-toe around actually being involved in the story – his own, quarter-turned version of history – instead of being straight up heroes. They each have their own lives separate from what will be written down as history, and their stories matter.
Unfortunately, All the Seas lacks that special something to elevate it above “a good Guy Gavriel Kay novel” - which is hardly a slight, coming from me especially. This book simply never reaches one of those heart-achingly beautiful highs for which he is loved. A Brightness Long Ago made me cry, several times. All the Seas of the World didn’t. Simple as that. Perhaps it’s a case of my own biases here (the theme here, home, never resonates with me the way A Brightness’s theme of loss does). That doesn’t mean it’s not a good book, though.
Somewhat unusually for Kay, this book serves as an almost direct sequel to his previous work, A Brightness Long Ago, taking place merely a few years later and featuring many of the same characters and locations. This is, effectively, the middle entry in a trilogy-of-sorts, with Children of Earth and Sky serving as the ultimate conclusion.
As is often the case with Kay, however, the conclusion isn’t the point. There’s a reason he has most of his characters tip-toe around actually being involved in the story – his own, quarter-turned version of history – instead of being straight up heroes. They each have their own lives separate from what will be written down as history, and their stories matter.
Unfortunately, All the Seas lacks that special something to elevate it above “a good Guy Gavriel Kay novel” - which is hardly a slight, coming from me especially. This book simply never reaches one of those heart-achingly beautiful highs for which he is loved. A Brightness Long Ago made me cry, several times. All the Seas of the World didn’t. Simple as that. Perhaps it’s a case of my own biases here (the theme here, home, never resonates with me the way A Brightness’s theme of loss does). That doesn’t mean it’s not a good book, though.