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A review by justabean_reads
All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Penultimate Canada Reads 2023 book. I haven't read Kay since The Lions of Al-Rassan, which I read something like twenty years ago, and remember only vaguely, so wasn't sure what to expect. This is set in the same fictionalised and occasionally-magical version of European history, though a few hundred years later. It's the second in a series, the first of which I hadn't read, but I mostly was able to keep up with all the characters and city states. I think if I wasn't reasonably familiar with that period of regular history, I would've been pretty lost, though.
This book is set in 15th/16th-century made-up North Africa and Italy (primarily), and centres on a pair of merchant/smugglers/occasional corsairs who get caught up in Politics after agreeing to assassinate the Caliph of made-up Oran (probably). There either isn't a whole lot of plot in that we then just follow them around the Middle Sea having episodic adventures as the made-up Pope plots to sack made-up Algiers, or there is a lot of plot, as Politics persist in happening, and we learn a about who's at war with/peace with/plotting to assassinate whom, whether we want to or not. Other than one (1) magical element relevant to the plot, I'm not completely sure why this isn't just set in regular history.
However, I did really enjoy the characters, especially the ex-slave and very stabby heroine who's trying to figure out where she fits in the world, and the terrifying warlord Duke who knows how to make an entrance. I also liked that the book kept following minor characters off on tangents, which weren't always plot relevant, but did make the world feel more lived in. (That said, I think it could've lost about fifty pages of the narrator musing about the meaning of fate.) It was nice to have a queer protagonist, as well, though almost all of the queer secondary characters bit the dust pretty quickly. I also enjoyed the variety of female characters, rather than having an Only Girl situation with the heroine.
I'm not sure I'll seek out the rest of the series, but I did have a good time while I was here.
This book is set in 15th/16th-century made-up North Africa and Italy (primarily), and centres on a pair of merchant/smugglers/occasional corsairs who get caught up in Politics after agreeing to assassinate the Caliph of made-up Oran (probably). There either isn't a whole lot of plot in that we then just follow them around the Middle Sea having episodic adventures as the made-up Pope plots to sack made-up Algiers, or there is a lot of plot, as Politics persist in happening, and we learn a about who's at war with/peace with/plotting to assassinate whom, whether we want to or not. Other than one (1) magical element relevant to the plot, I'm not completely sure why this isn't just set in regular history.
However, I did really enjoy the characters, especially the ex-slave and very stabby heroine who's trying to figure out where she fits in the world, and the terrifying warlord Duke who knows how to make an entrance. I also liked that the book kept following minor characters off on tangents, which weren't always plot relevant, but did make the world feel more lived in. (That said, I think it could've lost about fifty pages of the narrator musing about the meaning of fate.) It was nice to have a queer protagonist, as well, though almost all of the queer secondary characters bit the dust pretty quickly. I also enjoyed the variety of female characters, rather than having an Only Girl situation with the heroine.
I'm not sure I'll seek out the rest of the series, but I did have a good time while I was here.