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A review by nooralshanti
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
2.0
Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the best fantasy writers today, but Fionavar was by far his weakest work. If you are looking for an introduction to Kay's works I would highly recommend you skip this trilogy and move on to his other, much better works.
It's been a while since I actually read this (and I never plan on doing so again, haha) but I do remember a few of the main detractors very vividly. Here they are in no particular order:
- Modern people get transported to fantasy world
- Very obvious and heavy handed lifting from Tolkien
- Love triangle
- King Arthur tip-off plot
- Characters are forced to live out the story of KIng Arthur/same story keeps being repeated through the generations
And so on.
Of course Guy Gavriel Kay has the biggest excuse for copying Tolkien since he worked with Christopher Tolkien on writing the Silmarillion, but still. It just doesn't work. It doesn't seem like it's own thing because too many elements have been copied.
Unlike many of the reviewers here I did get through all three books, but it was tough going. Any of Kay's other works would serve as a better introduction to his writing.
It's been a while since I actually read this (and I never plan on doing so again, haha) but I do remember a few of the main detractors very vividly. Here they are in no particular order:
- Modern people get transported to fantasy world
- Very obvious and heavy handed lifting from Tolkien
- Love triangle
- King Arthur tip-off plot
- Characters are forced to live out the story of KIng Arthur/same story keeps being repeated through the generations
And so on.
Of course Guy Gavriel Kay has the biggest excuse for copying Tolkien since he worked with Christopher Tolkien on writing the Silmarillion, but still. It just doesn't work. It doesn't seem like it's own thing because too many elements have been copied.
Unlike many of the reviewers here I did get through all three books, but it was tough going. Any of Kay's other works would serve as a better introduction to his writing.