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Guy Gavriel Kay


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On 6/3/2022 at 12:37 PM, Ran said:

Glad you enjoyed it! What aspects do you prefer to Children of Earth and Sky? Admitting, as I have previously, that there's a a real structural problem with that book regarding the portion in Asharias, it does have some things that I felt this book didn't have. For example, one of the major things I love with Kay is how he writes... well, heroic sacrifice. It's a thing he writes very well. But there wasn't, really, any in AtSotW. Of course, good that he looks at different things, but... this was the first novel in a bit from GGK that didn't quite find a way to bring me to tears.

@SeanF

It's interesting how Kay handles Gurcu, both here and in Children of Earth and Sky. He definitely depicts him as very shrewd, and I agree that his handling of affairs in this book made sense. 

I'm still reading All the Seas of the World and I just reached

Spoiler

the reunion of Lenia and Carlo

which had me a bit choked up, but in a good way.

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6 minutes ago, Leofric said:

which had me a bit choked up, but in a good way.

Spoiler

That one certainly worked very well! But the effect was marred for me, a little bit, by that whole intertextual thing that led me to digging back into A Brightness Long Ago to see if Carlo having a sister who had been taken by the Assharites was mentioned (it in fact was). 

 

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43 minutes ago, Ran said:
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That one certainly worked very well! But the effect was marred for me, a little bit, by that whole intertextual thing that led me to digging back into A Brightness Long Ago to see if Carlo having a sister who had been taken by the Assharites was mentioned (it in fact was). 

 

A beautiful moment ruined by your need to see if GGK dotted his i's and crossed his t's ;).

Edited by Leofric
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12 minutes ago, Leofric said:

A beautiful moment ruined by your need to see if GGK dotted his i's and crossed his t's ;).

Guilty as charged! I suspect this book may work better on a second read now that I got that out of my system. Although even better would probably be a re-read of A Brightness Long Ago and then going straight into this one...

ETA:

Although, actually, there was another factor as to why that didn't quite work for me:

Spoiler

That quick check for the details reminded me that Carlo was a serial killer who killed innocent Assharites out of a misguided quest for vengeance for his sister. Hard to feel super choked-up for him!

 

Edited by Ran
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On 6/7/2022 at 4:58 PM, Ran said:

Guilty as charged! I suspect this book may work better on a second read now that I got that out of my system. Although even better would probably be a re-read of A Brightness Long Ago and then going straight into this one...

ETA:

Although, actually, there was another factor as to why that didn't quite work for me:

  Hide contents

That quick check for the details reminded me that Carlo was a serial killer who killed innocent Assharites out of a misguided quest for vengeance for his sister. Hard to feel super choked-up for him!

 

I honestly don't remember that about Carlo...but I agree that reading Seas right after Brightness may give a different interpretation.  Children almost feels like a bastard step child...

Edited by Jaxom 1974
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/31/2022 at 5:48 PM, SpaceChampion said:

I ordered the new book and it arrived last week, but no sign of the trade paperback copy of A Brightness Long Ago I ordered at the same time.  Hasn't left whatever warehouse it might be in, somewhere in the world, or maybe its stuck in the multiverse.  I might just cancel it from Chapters/Indigo and order it from Amazon.

Finally got Brightness this week.  Chapter/Indigo had to investigate what the hold up was, and it caused them to seek another supplier.  I wonder if that will ripple through the system and their stores will start to carry GGK novels again.  Hope so!

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The GGK books I haven't read yet: River of Stars, Under Heaven, Children of Earth and Sky, Brightness Long Ago, All the Seas of the World.

Does it matter at all in which order you read them?

Edited by 3CityApache
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12 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

The GGK books I haven't read yet: River of Stars, Under Haeven, Children of Earth and Sky, Brightness Long Ago, All the Seas of the World.

Does it matter at all in which order you read them?

I feel like Under Heaven should be read before River of Stars. And I do think that the thematic trilogy of the latter novels is best served by reading in publication order: Children of Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World.  But what is more important, IMO, is that you go from Brightness to Seas while Brightness is still fresh, IMO, because most (not all) of its thematic and story connections are between those two novels.

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  • 1 month later...

Been on the audio version of River of Stars as my latest Kay listen...maybe it's just Simon Vance's narration, but again my esteem for a story rises with a listen...I still can't rate Stars as a top five Kay novel, but listening, I do like it a little better...

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The audio version of Song for Arbonne has been my latest workout sound track.  Song for Arbonne was my second favorite Kay, after Tigana.  The reason it was second is that preposterous public cocksucking of the EviLe King in the beginning of the book, and all through it, for that matter, that kind of behavior to be meted out to women was quite fixated on within a number of other male characters. It's also related to a scene early on in Fevre Dream -- the guy could indulge publicly in sexual behavior -- this was the perk of power/fame that these guys were fantasizing about -- it was quite hateful stuff to read.

But I got past it this time around in Song for Arbonne.  Which this time around (excluding that public sexual humiliation of women -- and anybody else the king felt like humiliating and showing off how powerful he was -- felt chillingly, terrifyingly real. All the bad guys are fixated on getting rid of a kingdom in which women rule, are respected, have freedom, and even have religious power and a goddess.  They are fixated on, first, rape, two, burning them alive.  They are so terrified and horrified and filled with hatred for women, that's all they can think about.

In this country at least, we are being increasingly oppressed by these very same kinds of men in thrall to the same thinking.  Opus Dei, just for starters.  We can see all too easily what easily may become the fate of women here.

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On 6/6/2022 at 2:13 PM, Calibandar said:

A listing of Guy Gavriel Kay books by size ( cause....why not), all measured by hardcover except when otherwise noted:

 

1) The Fionavar Tapestry ( 1200 pages divided over three 400-page trade paperbacks)

2) River of Stars ( 630 pages)

3) Tigana ( 594 pages)

4) Lions of Al-Rassan ( 582 pages)

5) Children of Earth and Sky & Under Heaven (567 pages)

7) Lord of Emperors ( 530 pages)

8) Last Light of the Sun & All the Seas of the World ( 496 pages)

10) A Song for Arbonne ( 490 pages)

11) Sailing to Sarantium ( 440 pages)

12 and 13) Ysabel HC & Brightness Long Ago ( 416 pages in trade paperback)

 

This something I like about GGK, he doesn't write doorstoppers. 

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4 hours ago, LongRider said:

This something I like about GGK, he doesn't write doorstoppers. 

I wouldn't be complaining for another hundred, hundred fifty pages of additional material sometimes...even if I'm not sure how that'd work...I hate when his books end...

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  • 2 months later...

Finished Under Heaven and River of Stars. I liked them both, though the former was more engaging.

Now only the last trilogy remains unread for me, but I will probably make a pause before starting it, I love Kay in relatively small doses.

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  • 3 weeks later...
18 hours ago, mcbigski said:

Finished Under Heaven yesterday.  Solid read.

 

 

18 hours ago, mcbigski said:

Where to go next for GGK?  Tigana I ve read as well.  

If you enjoyed the faux-China setting, River of Stars.

Otherwise, well, The Lions of Al-Rassan is a great stand-alone and I recommend it as the first book to try if you want to give GGK a look. After that, yeah, The Sarantine Mosaic is excellent, and you have a set of more novels in the same setting as those two books to look forward to after that (The Last Light of the SunChildren of Earth and SkyA Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World).

18 hours ago, mcbigski said:

 

Sounds like Finovar Tapestry is a trilogy and everything else is only Easter egg sort of connected?

I would only recommend the Fionavar Tapestry at this stage if you are okay with it being a bit rougher of a work. It has some amazing high points and I adore it unreasonably, but there are those who find it a bit too emotionally-laden and flowery.

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