A review by ianbanks
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay

5.0

I loved this book and I may gush a bit in a manly way. You have been warned.

It takes place in the same world that most of Mr Kay's novels have taken place in over the last twenty years: a world a "quarter-turn" away from our own in which history played out in a way that was fairly similar to what happened here.

It also follows a lot of beats from his seminal (IMNSHO) pair of novels, The Sarantine Mosaic: an artist is given a task by the ruler of his city and must travel to a far-off city; a young woman, a stranger in her town, does something risky that could kill her or at very least, place her life at risk; a man - on the cusp of turning a boring career into something glorious - finds that his life forks; we are given glimpses of the mighty at work and play; and there are glimpses of the numinal in the ordinary, everyday lives of the characters. Put like that it seems as though he's retreading the same story, but there is so much more to it than that. He goes deeper, and takes turns that you don't expect - one scene that involves reunited siblings feels as though it is about to hit every cliche in the book, but Kay subverts it beautifully and turns it into something unexpected and wonderful, especially if you've read the previous books and realise where the scene takes place.

There are flaws: there are often scenes on the verge of something dramatic and action-packed which then stop and we are given the scene after that scene, or a retelling of the scene from another perspective. This happens often enough that you start to wonder if Kay was having a problem writing some bits, but after a while you click to why it is happening, especially when you realise that one of the themes of this book is of things that might have happened: there are several times when we are given glimpses into possible futures or alternate presents. The conclusion is also a little too pat and maybe ten pages too long - but I wouldn't begin to wonder at where to cut them because unless you are completely curmudgeonly you won't begrudge the opportunity for characters to finish their stories.

It lacks the depth and grandeur of some earlier novels but there is enough here to enjoy, that this really isn't a problem, especially for die-hard fanboys like me.