Guy Gavriel Kay

[Alexia]

I've heard a lot of really good things about Guy Gavriel Kay and want to finally read some of his works. I was reading the descriptions on Amazon and am becoming more and more intrigued.

Any suggestions for which of his books to start with? There's a lot of choices. :)

[Imagica]

Definitely Lions of Al-Rassan - it's a masterpiece of his, I'd say.

Myself, I've tried reading Last Light of the Sun, Sailing to Sarantium, Song of Arbonne and none of them really stand up to Lions (although Sarantium is pretty good, just not my cup of tea when it comes to characters). Heard good things about Tigana, but it seems it's a "love it or hate it" kind of book, and Fionavar Tapestry isn't regarded as well as his "historical fantasy" works.

[pat5150]

Either Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan, for sure. If by then you're not hooked, you never will be...

Patrick

[BookWyrm]

Generally people tend to point you in the direction of Tigana if you're new to Kay.

[Caligula_K]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I liked the Sarantine Mosaic (Sailing to Sarantium/Lord of Emperors) the best. Doubly recommended if you like Byzantine history.

After that, my ordering goes:

The Lions of Al-Rassan

Tigana

The Last Light of the Sun

A Song For Arbonne

Ysabel

The Fionavar Tapestry

I enjoyed all of these except for The Fionavar Tapestry, which GGK fans are pretty heavily divided over. I'd say you can't go wrong trying Sarantine, Lions or Tigana.

[Ran]

I'd also recommend The Lions of Al-Rassan as the best place to start. It's his most polished, commercial novel, featuring all the hallmarks of his prose, plotting, and characterization.

[automne]

I too recommend The Lions of Al-Rassan as it is such a wonderful book.

And you know I envy you, getting to read Kay for the first time is a real treat.

[Alexia]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! The Lions of Al-Rassan it is. If I like it (and it sounds like I will) I'll try Tigana after that. :)

[Datepalm]

I just wanted to add that while I don't think Fionovar is one of his better works, and a bit cheesy overall, its got its moments and 15 year old me found it immensely satisfying on a feeding the id sort of level. Its perfect reading for when just a bit too ill to concetrate on anything better.

Enjoy Lions!

[polishgenius]

I really need to get hold of Lions of Al-Rassan. I thought Tigana was a wonderful book. Liked Last Light of the Sun too.

[kuroishi]

I must say that I didn't like Lions of Al-Rassan that much (I liked it, but not as much as most of his other books).

My preference order for his "historical fantasy" novels woud be :

A Song for Arbonne

Tigana

The Sarantine Mosaic

Lions of Al-Rassan

The Last Light of the Sun

Arbonne is a very personnal preference though (a lot to do with the setting), and if I had to select a "best one", I'd go with Tigana.

I always felt that Lions of Al-Rassan was too close to its historical counterpart (which could also be said about the Sarantine Mosaic I guess, but I'm less familiar with Byzantine history), which kind of bothered my suspension of disbelief. It's still a pretty good book.

The trilogy of Fionavar is very different from his other books, I've always liked it but a lot of people to whom I lent it disliked it, so they're not books I'd easily recommend. I didn't like Ysabel very much (some good stuff though, knowing all the places where the action takes place and seeing a familiar landscape altered into a fantasy setting was kind of cool).

[Ormond]

I have not yet read The Sarantine Mosaic, Last Light of the Sun, or Ysabel myself. However, I am someone like Kuroishi who liked Tigana much better than Lions of Al-Rassan. It's not that I think Lions was a bad book in any way, but I personally found it a bit frustrating. I guess there is so little fantasy content in that book, and its world is so obviously medieval Spain with only a few minor changes, that I kept wondering why he hadn't just written a full-out historical novel instead of disguising it as a "fantasy".

Fionavar Tapestry is indeed very different and not as good as the other books by GGK I've read. You can really tell it was his first work, and it's a bit too derivative of Tolkien (and Arthurian legend). GGK was obviously working out his feelings about Tolkien from having been employed by Tolkien's estate for several years. However, I still think Fionavar is a lot better than Raymond Feist or Terry Brooks.

[Caligula_K]

I always felt that Lions of Al-Rassan was too close to its historical counterpart (which could also be said about the Sarantine Mosaic I guess, but I'm less familiar with Byzantine history), which kind of bothered my suspension of disbelief. It's still a pretty good book.

Actually, one of the interesting things about the Sarantine Mosaic is that at a certain point, it heads in a completely different direction from the actual historical narrative of Justinian's reign. I enjoyed that, because I agree that at times, there doesn't seem to be much reason for Kay to not have just used medieval Spain instead of Al-Rassan. That said, I do appreciate his rationale: Unlike some historical fiction authors (cough, Conn Iggulden, cough), Kay respects historical figures enough that he would prefer to use an analogue so he can write the story the way he wants, rather than claiming that something about El-Cid that isn't true.

[williamjm]

I just wanted to add that while I don't think Fionovar is one of his better works, and a bit cheesy overall, its got its moments and 15 year old me found it immensely satisfying on a feeding the id sort of level. Its perfect reading for when just a bit too ill to concetrate on anything better.

I agree, Fionavar has some really good bits in it (I thought the 'three nights on the Summer Tree' section was well written and very memorable, for example) but also had quite a few flaws, I thought, and I wasn't keen on some aspects of the plot (I didn't really care about the Arthurian love triangle, for example). Overall, I'd say the good bits are good enough to make it worth reading, but it is probably the weakest Kay book.

The general recommendation of Lions as a good place to start seems reasonable. I did prefer Tigana, but Lions is still very good. I liked the Sarantine Mosaic more than Lions as well, but Sailing to Sarantium does start off fairly slowly so maybe it isn't the best choice to start with. A Song For Arbonne was also similar quality to Lions, with Last Light of the Sun and Ysabel not being quite as good.

[AverageGuy]

A lot of his books seem to have a relatively distinct tone (Tigana is different from Lions is different from Fionavar), so if you don't like one, I wouldn't give up on Kay immediately. The great thing is that he's got so many standalones that it isn't such a blow to the wallet to give him a second chance. My order of preference:

Lions of Al-Rassan

Sarantine Mosaic (actually a duology)

Last Light of the Sun

Tigana

Fionavar Tapestry (trilogy)

Ysabel (semi-sequel to Fionavar)

Song for Arbonne

I think I'm somewhat unique in putting Arbonne last, but I've never been tempted to re-read it (or Ysabel), unlike his other books.

[Fenryng]

I am not really sure that I could successfully rank the books without reading all of them from cover to cover again.

I can say that I think it is easy to tell that the Fionavar Tapestry is the first of his works. I also agree that the trilogy is sporadic, having very good parts and some not so much. I think that it is inconsistent.

I have not read Ysabel yet, so I cannot judge that one.

I can say that I was not impressed with the Last Light of the Sun, although to be fair, I have only read it the one time. I do not think that it was bad, per se; but I do consider it to be .... weak? Uninspired? I am not sure that I can even specify what I thought wrong with it unless I read it again.

I consider the second Mosaic novel to be better than the first. I like that he actually did a duology; I cannot say that I know of another novelist who has done one.

Would I be alone in considering Urte de Miraval an antagonist, not a villain? Galbert of Garsenc and Alberico of Barbadior certainly are. You can argue that Brandin of Ygrath also is, but he has more panache and style than Alberico. Galbert I appreciate for his planning, and it is damn near impossible to find someone better than Brandin for knowing how to take vengeance for something.

I am looking forward to the one coming out in April; the setting sounds much different than the ones he has done before.

[mashiara]

Tigana is the one that I read first and since then I've read almost all his books but from Ysabel and The Last Light of the Sun and. I would recommend either that or The Lions of Al-Rassan to start with. My personal favorite is the Sarantine Mosaic Duology but that's because Byzantine history is a subject close to my heart.

The Fionovar Tapestry doesn't get a lot of love here but it was one of the first fantasy series I read after Tolkien and I have to say I did enjoy it very much back then. I'm not sure how it would feel now, so many years later, but I wouldn't call it a bad series. Inconsistent is indeed a good word for it, I think.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Like many people on this topic, Lions of Al-Rassan is my favorite followed by the Sarantine Mosaic. Song of Arbonne and Tigana I enjoyed and I did not like the Last Light of the Sun for some reason. I found the Fionavar Tapestry a bit too raw and inconsistent for me. I quite liked Ysabel, despite its YA style. It is quite different in tone compared to the rest of his other novels. You can't go wrong with G.G. Kay. I myself just "discovered" him in the last few years!

[Multaniette]

ysabel is not a bad piece of fiction but it doesnt really compare in terms of plotting, scope and storytelling :)

of course it's a damned sight better than anything churned out by the majority of authors writing fantasy

[Calibandar]

I'm holding out hope that his new one due in April, Under Heaven, will be really good.

I would second any recommendation for Lions of Al-Rassan and the Fionavar Tapestry. Tigana for certain as well, then Last Light of the Sun. Still need to read Ysabel, the only book by Kay that I did not care for at all was Sailing to Sarantium, so I rank that well below the rest of his work, which is all excellent.