Hi there!
It all started when I posted my interview with the author. Ever since my book review of Ysabel was posted, it continued. To my uttermost dismay, many people here don't know Guy Gavriel Kay!!! Sacrilege, I say!
No but seriously, Kay remains, in my opinion at least, one of the most underrated and underappreciated fantasy authors in the world today. So my consternation was replaced by a desire to raise awareness in a man who has been ranking among my favorite writers for years now. You know it's my sworn duty to help promote Canadian authors, so I pimp Canucks like Kay, Bakker and Erikson relentlessly!
If you haven't had the pleasure to read one of Guy Gavriel Kay's works yet, please do so ASAP! Heck, if my review of Ysabel did not intrigue you in the least, nothing I say or do will sway you. But if you've been reading about Kay on various message boards, and if you've seen his novels at your local bookstore, perhaps the time has come for you to give him a shot!;-)
Here are links to all of his books, so you can see what other people are saying about Kay. You may also want to check out www.brightweavings.com, his official website, where you'll find tons of information on Guy Gavriel Kay and his wonderful novels.
As for me, my personal favorites are Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, and both volumes of The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors. I encourage you guys to check any of these titles out. Believe me, you'll be glad you did!
Here are Kay's novels:
The Fionavar Tapestry
The Summer Tree (Canada, USA, Europe)
The Wandering Fire (Canada, USA, Europe)
The Darkest Road (Canada, USA, Europe)
Tigana (Canada, USA, Europe)
A Song for Arbonne (Canada, USA, Europe)
The Lions of Al-Rassan (Canada, USA, Europe)
The Sarantine Mosaic
Sailing to Sarantium (Canada, USA, Europe)
Lord of Emperors (Canada, USA, Europe)
The Last Light of the Sun (Canada, USA, Europe)
Beyond this Dark House (Canada, USA, Europe)
Ysabel (Canada, USA, Europe)
And to all you Kay fans out there, feel free to leave a comment so that potential readers will be even more curious to discover what a fantastic author Guy is!;-)
7 commentaires:
I'm not as enthusiast as you are.
Tigana is rather good but should have been shorter.
I tried The Fionavar Tapestry and The Sarantine Mosaic but couldn't finish them. So right now, out of 6 books I read or tried to read, I only enjoyed one of them.
I'll try his other books though, considering all the positive reviews I see here and there.
I've been a fan of Kay's from way back. Being a fan of history it is interesting to draw parallels between the world Kay has created and the real medieval world. The Lions of Al-Rassan is probably my favorite. Set in a fictional world similar to medieval Spain just before the Reconquista, it full of outstanding characters. If I had to rank them it would be as follows.
1. The Lions of Al-Rassan
2. Tigana
3. The Last Light of the Sun
4. A Song for Arbonne
5. The Sarantine Mosaic
6. The Fionavar Tapestry
For some reason there is a large gap between 5 and 6. For some reason, I never really got into the The Fionavar Tapestry.
I am excited to start reading Ysabel .
I think Kay is one of the few authors who actually is what Terry Goodkind claims to be, in that, even though Kay's writing is amazingly poetic, his focus is always on the very human, three dimensional characters he writes.
Tigana is my favourite, as it was so tragic in many parts. I have The Last Light of the Sun on my to read shelf, but now im more interested in jumping into Ysabel.
I'm a massive GGK fan. Since picking up 'Sailing to Sarantium' for $3 and being blown away by the turns of phrase, simple prose and evocative beauty within, and then having this one upped by 'Lord of Emperors' I've been pimping him to whoever was keen to borrow a book. To put it simply, GGK writes beautiful stories beautifully. There's real magic in them, and the stories always make you feel better afterwards.
ps - If you didn't get the hint, I highly recommend reading his work.
I like Terrys books and think they are quite good epics personally... but Im not an overt zealot lol. Sure im a fan of other works both sci and fantasy.
I dont get what all the bickering is about but I guess its just personal likes/dislikes.
Great Blog sire by the way
-M.D.-
Guy Gavriel Kay, as Pat has said, is a fantastic author! The characterisation, plot building, EVERYTHING, is just amazing! I've read very extensively, both in fantasy and sci-fi, but Kay truly is, something else!
As has been said, he IS for some strange reason, not massively well known. One of the mysteries of life, indeed...
I love the author. I've read every book since Tigana. Ysabel I'm sorry to say was merely ok. I actually felt that if anyone else had written it the reviews would not have been as good. Maybe it's a symbol of how much I expect from an author of his caliber. I think the most telling criticism of Ysabel is how uninteresting the characters were. They pale in comparison to every single one of his other works. Not much of an emotional tug.
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