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Guy Gavriel Kay


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I like how even though I try my best to go into new Kay as blind as possible, I've faith that even if it isn't his best work ever, I'm going to be away from it all for a bit and have a cathartic experience. And after the last year or more, this guy needs that.

Looking forward to this.   

 

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20 minutes ago, Lord Patrek said:

An okay GGK book (there's no such thing as a bad book from this author) is still better than 80% of what's out there.

And his latest is not just an okay work. :)

So far I've read the Sarantine Mosaic Duology, The Lions of Al Rassan, River of Stars, Children of Earth and Sky, and A Brightness Long Ago, and I loved them all.  I'm about a sixth into the new one, and enjoying it.

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On 5/17/2022 at 11:13 PM, Lord Patrek said:

You can read my review here.

One of Kay's best, no question! :)

 

On 5/18/2022 at 8:12 PM, Ran said:

Another good review. Will be interesting to see what others here have to say about it!

Good points about reading the last two.  The impact of Sarantium’s fall continues to reverberate around the world.  And certainly, both Lenia’s and Antemimi’s stories would be hard to follow in places (eg the assassination in the church) without having read the last book.

Halfway through, now, and this is top notch.  

Edited by SeanF
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This is not grimdark, but plenty of Kay’s characters do objectively terrible things.  But, mostly, they remain somewhat sympathetic.  They just happen to live in a world where fratricide is an accepted law in Asharite kingdoms, murder is an accepted tool of statecraft, and you just have to strike down potential enemies before they strike you.  

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The downfall of the Sarantine Empire was indeed swift.  Gurcu’s first conquest was Sardica (which roughly corresponds with Antioch, I think) , which fell eleven years before Sarantium did.

Edited by SeanF
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2 hours ago, SeanF said:

The downfall of the Sarantine Empire was indeed swift.  Gurcu’s first conquest was Sardica (which roughly corresponds with Antioch, I think) , which fell eleven years before Sarantium did.

Sarnica, not Sardica. It's mentioned a few times in The Sarantine Mosaic, as a city with a small hippodrome from which Scortius was recruited, and a riot there led to half the Kindath quarter being burned by the rioters as they spilled out into the streets. There's also a reference to very fine wine from Sarnica. I think you're right it's sort of Antioch, although the history is changing a bit more because Antioch fell decades after Constantinople.

But that he's compressing things, definitely. Having these great events happening within a single lifetime -- and even just a couple of decades -- appears to give him the right sort of scope for his stories. He did it with The Lions of Al-Rassan, where the Reconquista took all of three decades instead of hundreds of years.

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Reading this drives home just how bad the politics of Game of Thrones became.

The Khalifs and Jaddite rulers all inhabit a deadly world, where one mis-step is fatal, but most of them are playing at the top of their game.  Ruthless treachery is common, but they know you can’t be ruthless and treacherous *without facing consequences*.  Every murder, every plot, has to be carefully weighed up.

Nobody in this world could massacre the High Patriarch, his cardinals, and half the Batiaran nobility, in an explosion, and not reap a whirlwind.

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34 minutes ago, SeanF said:

I finished it.  It may be the one I’ve enjoyed reading the most.

Soooo many references across the entirety of the "Two Moons" setting, right? And even to the prior two books.

Spoiler

Particularly the shoemaker and his daughter from A Brightnes Long Ago, which was lovely

Did you catch the retcon? Or at least the one we noticed:

Spoiler

Skandir knows, trusts, and uses Andrij Djivo as a banker, whereas in Children of Earth and Sky it's clear he only knows him as someone who was part of the council of Dubrava who he briefly met when he came to ask for monetary support after the fall of Sarantium. No indication that they continued to stay in touch or that he had him hold money for him.

 

Edited by Ran
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4 minutes ago, LongRider said:

I started with Under Heaven, that was a good start for me.

Who I was going to be recommending to, this was what I thought might be best...but wasn't sure if it was the right place to start either.

Side note: Neither B&N in my area has All the Seas of the World in stock on shelves and I'm kinda furious...time to find a local place that might have it...I planned my Sunday around picking this up!

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2 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Side note: Neither B&N in my area has All the Seas of the World in stock on shelves and I'm kinda furious...time to find a local place that might have it...I planned my Sunday around picking this up!

I feel your pain, my library does not have this one on order yet, I can't put a hold on it till that happens.  

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15 minutes ago, LongRider said:

I feel your pain, my library does not have this one on order yet, I can't put a hold on it till that happens.  

Small, local bookstore in Milwaukie to patronize are also free and far between. Trying to get to one of the few now...may get lucky.

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12 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Small, local bookstore in Milwaukie to patronize are also free and far between. Trying to get to one of the few now...may get lucky.

Do they have websites?  The last book I bought was a bookstore local to it's city, not mine, and I ordered it online.  It cost more but I wanted to support that bookstore.  

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2 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

When recommending Kay to someone for the first time, do you start with Lions or one of the other stories...?

For my part, yes, The Lions of Al-Rassan. But Kay himself says he tries to learn a bit more about what people are interested in before recommending, and that makes sense now that his settings are increasingly diverse. Fan of Vikings or The Northman? Try The Last Light of the Sun. Enjoy Chinese wuxia films? Try Under Heaven. Want more magic? Tigana

But that said, Lions and maybe Under Heaven are the two standalones that perhaps provide the most concise sampling of Kay's writing style and themes.

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1 hour ago, LongRider said:

Do they have websites?  The last book I bought was a bookstore local to it's city, not mine, and I ordered it online.  It cost more but I wanted to support that bookstore.  

One of the small business owned shops here in milwaukee I tried today also didn't have it, but they offered to order it for me. That defeats the purpose of putting it my hands now.  That's my sad tale. 

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16 minutes ago, Ran said:

 

But that said, Lions and maybe Under Heaven are the two standalones that perhaps provide the most concise sampling of Kay's writing style and themes.

I can agree with that. Though I do think Last Light also fits that somewhat.  But this also reinforces what Longrider said, and I'll likely recommend starting with Under Heaven...

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