Darth Richard II Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 Well, I hath been converted to the Church of Kay. Now to order alll the other books. Cause I need more books, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scortius the charioteer Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 15 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Well, I hath been converted to the Church of Kay. Now to order alll the other books. Cause I need more books, of course. YES! Another convert! He does the bittersweet ending better than anyone, among his many gifts. He's a wonderful storyteller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninefingers Posted September 21, 2016 Share Posted September 21, 2016 On 9/19/2016 at 5:09 AM, SeanF said: Did anyone spot the shout-out to Blacadder II in Children of Earth and Sky (the episode that involves the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells?) No, but now you have my attention. /runs to order Children of Earth and Sky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First of My Name Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 I loved Tigana when I read it a few years back so I bought a copy of The Lions of Al-Rassan. Looking forward to reading Kay again, I've wanted to read more of his books for ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talleyrand Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Just finished River of Stars and Under Heaven, really enjoyed the both of them. I like the sound of Tigana and Lions, reckon I'll look them out next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 10 minutes ago, Talleyrand said: Just finished River of Stars and Under Heaven, really enjoyed the both of them. Are the two fairly different from another, in terms of the story it tells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talleyrand Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 2 hours ago, Calibandar said: Are the two fairly different from another, in terms of the story it tells? Yeah Under Heaven is a more personal story, rarely straying from the protagonists with a smaller scale whereas River of Stars is much more spread out covering a fair few more areas and characters and the characters are far more involved with the wide scale events of the book. But there both set in the same universe, though centuries apart with a couple of callbacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slurktan Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I'll second his high fantasy Fionavar Tapestry. It's true the starting premise is pretty silly and it is kind of uneven in that their are some definite lows but when he hits the highs, my God does he ever hit the fucking highs. I've read most of his other stuff and I can say pretty confidently that the high points in Fionavar pretty much eclipse everything else he's written, and quite frankly eclipse most of what I've read in the fantasy genre as a whole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
End of Disc One Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 6 hours ago, Slurktan said: I'll second his high fantasy Fionavar Tapestry. It's true the starting premise is pretty silly and it is kind of uneven in that their are some definite lows but when he hits the highs, my God does he ever hit the fucking highs. I've read most of his other stuff and I can say pretty confidently that the high points in Fionavar pretty much eclipse everything else he's written, and quite frankly eclipse most of what I've read in the fantasy genre as a whole. This is encouraging. I've already bought the first Fionavar book and was wondering whether or not that was a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted November 15, 2016 Share Posted November 15, 2016 Funny, I'd say Fionavar Tapestry is by far the weakest thing he's written apart from Ysabel. Truly, de gustibus, non disputandum est. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted November 15, 2016 Share Posted November 15, 2016 It has been 20 years that I read it, and I'd say that Fionavar will probably show its age today in many respects, e.g. some strange premises, both "college kids enter a fantasy world" and "reenacting Arthurian love triangle" seem somewhat silly. But it is still quite atmospheric and better written than a lot of more recent very popular stuff and probably overall important and interesting enough to deserve a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) I've just read A Song for Arbonne, and it's easily the worst of the Kay books I've read thus far - the others being Fionavar and Last Light of the Sun (I do have Lions on my reading pile, but it'll have to wait for the new year). Anyway: Song is a flabby nonentity of a novel. Kay spends way too much time describing facial expressions and tonal shifts in long conversations, rather than letting the characters' words speak for themselves. The characters are uninteresting, and too often fall into the Kay stereotype of "a heroic character is unnaturally good-looking, a bit emo, and has lots of sex" (Bertran being chief offender there). As for the setting - it went out its way to contrast the noble pro-feminist Arbonne against the evil misogynists from Gorhaut - problem is that the book ends up coming across as vaguely homophobic to a 2016 reader, and I say this as someone who is not normally bothered by temporal values dissonance - the early 1990s was not that long ago. And then there is the ludicrous deus ex machina conclusion to the battle. Did I mention I really hated this book? Edited December 28, 2016 by Roose Boltons Pet Leech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 So uh if I liked Fonavar and loved Last Light I should be OK? (Seriously you couldn't have posted this a few days earlier, I just ordered Song and Lions from amazon. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Yes, you'll probaby be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 6 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: So uh if I liked Fonavar and loved Last Light I should be OK? (Seriously you couldn't have posted this a few days earlier, I just ordered Song and Lions from amazon. ) Lions is an utterly awesome book. I think you will love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banjax451 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 On 12/28/2016 at 10:50 PM, Andorion said: Lions is an utterly awesome book. I think you will love it. Concur. Lions is an amazing tour de force. I sincerely believe it's Kay's masterpiece. Song is fine. I know it isn't for everyone, but he's trying to accomplish something fairly specific and if you can't buy into that, it isn't going to be your cup of tea. That said, the prose is still wonderful, even if it's a lesser story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 On 12/28/2016 at 7:50 PM, Andorion said: Lions is an utterly awesome book. I think you will love it. Here! Here! It's really great and is my fave too. Fionavar Tapestry series least interesting and not fun books of his I read. Sounds like Songs is worth passing over too. But Lions, great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 15 hours ago, LongRider said: Here! Here! It's really great and is my fave too. Fionavar Tapestry series least interesting and not fun books of his I read. Sounds like Songs is worth passing over too. But Lions, great. I'd say A Song For Arbonne is closer in style to Lions than the Fionavar books. It does get a bit overshadowed by Tigana and Lions among Kay's 90s work, but I think if you're a fan of Kay's writing then it is worth reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unJon Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Lions is fine but I thought a bit gimmicky in how Kay handles a few twists. I prefer the Sarantine Mosaic and the two Asian themed books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plessiez Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 It's been long enough since I read it for me to have forgotten almost all the details of the plot, but I remember A Song For Arbonne being a lot closer in tone and style to The Lions of Al-Rassan than it was to either the Fionavar books or The Last Light of the Sun. So I'm not sure somebody who hated Song would enjoy Lions that much -- there are plenty of stereotypical Kay characters and, as unJon notes above, Lions has a couple of potentially irritating narrative devices as well. That said, if you enjoyed LLotS and haven't read either Song or Lions yet I'd probably guess you'd be happy with both? If anything, LLotS is usually considered the weakest book of those three, I think. (Personally, the Sarantine Mosaic duology and Under Heaven are my favourite Kay novels.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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