I waited and waited for this to come out and i jsut realized that i didn’t post about it (probably because i couldn’t remember my username and password)

So the latest for GGK (Guy Gavriel Kay). It’s a real departer for him. This novel is actually set in modern day. And somehow he manages to link together alot of my favorite things, archaeology, photography, storytelling, magic.

A photographer and crew including his son are summering in the south of France (the poor things) when Ned (the boy) stumbles into a 2500 year old love triangle that dates to when the Celts lived in France and the Greeks were just beginning to explore it.

So much is purposfully left unsaid that i dont’ feel right giving more away, but the prose is poetic and thoughtful and very refreshing.

Patrick and I read this novel years ago, and have agreed that it is Guy Gavriel Kay’s best. And we generally really love his work. This heartbreaking story is about a land that enraged an invading sorcerer so much that he took away the name of the land and it’s heritage. Then he stayed nearby to ensure that everyone who ever knew its true name was gone from the world.

In planning for the soon to be created/released favourite book pages, I present to you Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay’s first venture into the blending of history and fantasy and his fourth published novel. GGK is easily one of my most-cherished authors and this is possibly his finest novel.

While GGK’s Fionavar Tapestry, his classic fantasy trilogy, is one of the best defined and most original stories in recent history he truly shines when he blends two lineages, both of which he has obviously deeply studied. Since Tigana, each novel following ( A Song For Arbonne, The Lions of Al-Rassan – soon to be made into film, The Sarantine Mosaic – comprised of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emporers, and most recently The Last Light of the Sun ) has taken place in his own specific, blended historical-fantasy world. A world of two moons, diverse religions, and regions with strikingly similar coastlines to our own fair planet.

Tigana is the story of a land, conquered and stripped of its identity, its culture, its history, and most painfully its name. The story as many of his are, are not focused solely on a few main characters, but on changes in the soil, changes in the way nations or peoples operate. Guy Gavriel Kay’s work stands out because he does not trivialize the writing of a novel, it is a process that he details out to the furthest degree. He can write characters that we fall in love with, but these are simply actors in a world that is moving around them. He has created broad epics that capture the essence of changing times and a changing world, and Tigana is one of my very favourite narratives.

(Note on Amazon.ca : The photograph and link above are to Amazon-Canada, because that is the print edition I own – I have Canadian prints of all his books – and also because I enjoy the cover art, that remains synchronous through all of his historical-fantasy)

The most recent book from the acclaimed Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay, is a recreation of the events of the Viking conquest, relating the English and Welsh (the beautifully tongued) in the fantasy world that his last five novels have dwelt in. It is another wonderful novel from a man who can clearly tell a captivating story.