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Tigana
A masterful epic of magic, politics, war, and the power of love and hate � from the renowned author of The Fionavar Tapestry and Children of Earth and Sky.
Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...
But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name...Tigana.
Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.
Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...
But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name...Tigana.
Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.
676 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1990
1,812 people are currently reading
78.6k people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
40books8,790followersGuy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid. Those works are published and marketed as historical fantasy, though the author himself has expressed a preference to shy away from genre categorization when possible.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,564 reviews
June 1, 2013
I hated this book, but I'm an oddity; in fact, virtually every other human being seems to love it unconditionally. So if you stumble upon it, give it a try, chances are you'll find it awesome.
So.. what didn't I like about it?
Well, pretty much everything.
This book, in short, tells about the vengeful crusade of a group of refugees from the once-great city of Tigana, destroyed years before by the mage Brandin.
Cool, uh?
Nope.
For starters, nobody cares about the destruction of Tigana.
In fact, the protagonists want revenge simply because Brandin erased the name of the city from the memories of everyone.
Thousands of deaths? Who cares!! But don't you dare touch the name of our city!
This is a pitiful excuse to set the plot in motion but every time it's mentioned every character in the scene will start crying like a baby at the atrocity. When Devin, a famous singer, learns he's a descendant of a Tiganian (?) he immediately abandons his career to swear eternal vengeance against Brandin and spend the rest of his life despairing on "Oh how horrible" a fate his native country had.
Really?
Really????
He didn't even know it existed 5 minutes ago!
Not to mention that the war that destroyed Tigana has been over for decades.
Overreactions like this one are constant because Tigana strives SO hard to be emotional, ALWAYS.
Not a chapter will come to pass without someone crying and despairing over the silliest things or without a completely random scene of oppression at the expenses of an equally random previously-unseen character.
This, together with the incredibly contrived dialogues and a plot that relies entirely on happenstance, contributes to create a story that feels forced from start to finish.
The single most obnoxious thing that alone would have made me drop this book is the narration.
You will never, NEVER see anything happen. An action scene is approaching? Nope! There's always a fade out and then someone will tell you what happened in a couple paragraphs.
At least half of this book is made of digressions and internal monologues telling you things that should have been shown.
What's more? The use of sex as plot device is pitiully cheap, the prose is so flowery it made my eyes bleed, the pace is awfully slow, the characters are cardboard cutouts that will constantly try to be as annoying as humanly possible.
Brandin, the only vaguely interesting character, is a puppet made of cheesy cliches: he's a morally gray woe-stricken antagonist pitied by the female protagonist, and an all-powerful mage that can do ANYTHING... but won't... because... uh... you know.. the laws of magic and all that.
But rest assured he IS the most interesting character by far.
The few good details (such as the riselka, mysterious spirit that will sometimes appear to humans as an omen)are completely overshadowed by the bad ones.
So.. what didn't I like about it?
Well, pretty much everything.
This book, in short, tells about the vengeful crusade of a group of refugees from the once-great city of Tigana, destroyed years before by the mage Brandin.
Cool, uh?
Nope.
For starters, nobody cares about the destruction of Tigana.
In fact, the protagonists want revenge simply because Brandin erased the name of the city from the memories of everyone.
Thousands of deaths? Who cares!! But don't you dare touch the name of our city!
This is a pitiful excuse to set the plot in motion but every time it's mentioned every character in the scene will start crying like a baby at the atrocity. When Devin, a famous singer, learns he's a descendant of a Tiganian (?) he immediately abandons his career to swear eternal vengeance against Brandin and spend the rest of his life despairing on "Oh how horrible" a fate his native country had.
Really?
Really????
He didn't even know it existed 5 minutes ago!
Not to mention that the war that destroyed Tigana has been over for decades.
Overreactions like this one are constant because Tigana strives SO hard to be emotional, ALWAYS.
Not a chapter will come to pass without someone crying and despairing over the silliest things or without a completely random scene of oppression at the expenses of an equally random previously-unseen character.
This, together with the incredibly contrived dialogues and a plot that relies entirely on happenstance, contributes to create a story that feels forced from start to finish.
The single most obnoxious thing that alone would have made me drop this book is the narration.
You will never, NEVER see anything happen. An action scene is approaching? Nope! There's always a fade out and then someone will tell you what happened in a couple paragraphs.
At least half of this book is made of digressions and internal monologues telling you things that should have been shown.
What's more? The use of sex as plot device is pitiully cheap, the prose is so flowery it made my eyes bleed, the pace is awfully slow, the characters are cardboard cutouts that will constantly try to be as annoying as humanly possible.
Brandin, the only vaguely interesting character, is a puppet made of cheesy cliches: he's a morally gray woe-stricken antagonist pitied by the female protagonist, and an all-powerful mage that can do ANYTHING... but won't... because... uh... you know.. the laws of magic and all that.
But rest assured he IS the most interesting character by far.
The few good details (such as the riselka, mysterious spirit that will sometimes appear to humans as an omen)are completely overshadowed by the bad ones.
August 8, 2017
4.5/5 Stars
I have this belief that 90% of the time, standalone high fantasy just won’t satisfy me. I still stand by it, but Tigana luckily is not one of those cases.
Memories and names, something that breathes life into the people and possessions we lost. Both of these can be summed up as the fabric of identity. Despite all the war, deaths, sex, hardships, betrayal, magic, deception, subterfuge, the main essence of Tigana is reclaiming your freedom, home, memories and the implication of holding on to the past.
Once you’ve read the author’s note, you’ll understand why this specific quote about destiny became even more impactful for me.
I do have to remind you that this is a slow paced book. Throughout the entire book, the characters spent their time mostly talking and planning for their respective final purposes. The amounts of action that can be found here are also really low, with only two heavy action sequences IIRC, but believe me, this is for a good reason because the conclusion, the last two chapters were really well done, thrilling, and satisfying.
For a standalone, the characters cast are quite huge and were explored properly. GGK did a great job in providing personality to the characters within the span of one book. However, for me, GGK’s main strength in this book will have to be in how he creates this sense of ambiguity and gray area for all the characters, both villain, and protagonists. One or two characters aside, I truly understand and can connect with their motivations and reasoning.
The world building is superb, to say the least. Taking place in a place ravaged by two tyrants; Peninsula of the Palm is a great setting which reminds me a lot of Renaissance Italy. Do remember that this is a standalone book, GGK doesn’t have a lot of room to work on every element necessary to make this a great standalone but in my opinion, he did it wonderfully.
This is due to the reasons I mentioned above, but mostly his prose. This is the first time I’ve read anything written by GGK and my god, I’m completely in love with his prose. It’s addictive, beautiful, elegant, enchanting, and never gets too flowery to read. Considering that this book was published in 1990, I envisioned he must’ve improved his prose with all his books after this one.
There are however two minor cons I had with the book.
I did feel bored during few chapters of the book, specifically almost all the POV that revolves around Dianora. No matter how many reasoning was given to this character, I just can’t bring myself to relate with her decisions. Also, I can never understand the romance and sex scenes in this book. They all happened abruptly and I don’t even know how person A can fall in love with person B and so on and so on. Luckily romances aren’t a big part of the book but when it happened, I can’t help but rolled my eyes.
In the author’s note, GGK has explained his source of inspiration for the creation this novel and how he wanted it to be remembered, mostly on the importance and implication of memories. After reading Tigana and the note, I can’t disagree that he did what he set out to do magnificently. This is the first time I read any novels written by GGK, it certainly won’t be the last. Tigana is truly a great stand-alone that all fantasy fans must try. If all his other books are better than this, there is a chance GGK could be included in my lonely list of favorite authors.
I also would like to thank my good friend, Celeste, who I'm buddy reading with and who gave me this book on my birthday last January. I received it without any knowledge about the book or the author, and I'm thankful she brought it to my attention. :)
You can find and the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at
I have this belief that 90% of the time, standalone high fantasy just won’t satisfy me. I still stand by it, but Tigana luckily is not one of those cases.
Memories and names, something that breathes life into the people and possessions we lost. Both of these can be summed up as the fabric of identity. Despite all the war, deaths, sex, hardships, betrayal, magic, deception, subterfuge, the main essence of Tigana is reclaiming your freedom, home, memories and the implication of holding on to the past.
“There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.�
Once you’ve read the author’s note, you’ll understand why this specific quote about destiny became even more impactful for me.
I do have to remind you that this is a slow paced book. Throughout the entire book, the characters spent their time mostly talking and planning for their respective final purposes. The amounts of action that can be found here are also really low, with only two heavy action sequences IIRC, but believe me, this is for a good reason because the conclusion, the last two chapters were really well done, thrilling, and satisfying.
For a standalone, the characters cast are quite huge and were explored properly. GGK did a great job in providing personality to the characters within the span of one book. However, for me, GGK’s main strength in this book will have to be in how he creates this sense of ambiguity and gray area for all the characters, both villain, and protagonists. One or two characters aside, I truly understand and can connect with their motivations and reasoning.
The world building is superb, to say the least. Taking place in a place ravaged by two tyrants; Peninsula of the Palm is a great setting which reminds me a lot of Renaissance Italy. Do remember that this is a standalone book, GGK doesn’t have a lot of room to work on every element necessary to make this a great standalone but in my opinion, he did it wonderfully.
This is due to the reasons I mentioned above, but mostly his prose. This is the first time I’ve read anything written by GGK and my god, I’m completely in love with his prose. It’s addictive, beautiful, elegant, enchanting, and never gets too flowery to read. Considering that this book was published in 1990, I envisioned he must’ve improved his prose with all his books after this one.
There are however two minor cons I had with the book.
I did feel bored during few chapters of the book, specifically almost all the POV that revolves around Dianora. No matter how many reasoning was given to this character, I just can’t bring myself to relate with her decisions. Also, I can never understand the romance and sex scenes in this book. They all happened abruptly and I don’t even know how person A can fall in love with person B and so on and so on. Luckily romances aren’t a big part of the book but when it happened, I can’t help but rolled my eyes.
In the author’s note, GGK has explained his source of inspiration for the creation this novel and how he wanted it to be remembered, mostly on the importance and implication of memories. After reading Tigana and the note, I can’t disagree that he did what he set out to do magnificently. This is the first time I read any novels written by GGK, it certainly won’t be the last. Tigana is truly a great stand-alone that all fantasy fans must try. If all his other books are better than this, there is a chance GGK could be included in my lonely list of favorite authors.
I also would like to thank my good friend, Celeste, who I'm buddy reading with and who gave me this book on my birthday last January. I received it without any knowledge about the book or the author, and I'm thankful she brought it to my attention. :)
You can find and the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at
March 24, 2022
Beautiful prose, but the story falls incredibly flat
I really wanted to like this book as I've had a lot of people I trust tell me that both this book, and Guy Gavriel Kay as a writer are incredible. Unfortunately, it's just clearly not written for my tastes.
I'm a fantasy fan, and I like an epic story with interesting twists. Instead what I got was a book that was essentially a historical non-fiction with some minor fantasy elements and a story that was rather limited in scope.
Guy Gavriel Kay clearly is a wonderful writer, and his prose is some of the best I have ever read. But I don't really care if prose is good or not because what I want is a wonderful story. I much prefer something like Brandon Sanderson who is the opposite of Guy Gavriel Kay, where he comes with a wonderful story and limited prose. Or even better, a Steven Erikson who comes with both.
If you are someone who gushes over the way something is written, than you may enjoy this book. If you are someone who enjoys an epic fantasy, look elsewhere.
I really wanted to like this book as I've had a lot of people I trust tell me that both this book, and Guy Gavriel Kay as a writer are incredible. Unfortunately, it's just clearly not written for my tastes.
I'm a fantasy fan, and I like an epic story with interesting twists. Instead what I got was a book that was essentially a historical non-fiction with some minor fantasy elements and a story that was rather limited in scope.
Guy Gavriel Kay clearly is a wonderful writer, and his prose is some of the best I have ever read. But I don't really care if prose is good or not because what I want is a wonderful story. I much prefer something like Brandon Sanderson who is the opposite of Guy Gavriel Kay, where he comes with a wonderful story and limited prose. Or even better, a Steven Erikson who comes with both.
If you are someone who gushes over the way something is written, than you may enjoy this book. If you are someone who enjoys an epic fantasy, look elsewhere.
October 2, 2017
Imagine a state that ceased to exist. It has been swallowed on the map by hungry neighbours, swept away by winds of history and not even an empty space remains to bear witness to what once was. Things like that have happened before. Take Poland, partitioned by her three neighbours and for 123 years disappearing from the face of the world.
But where the state had vanished, the people survived. And so the people of Poland cultivated their language, their arts, their traditions, their culture. They nurtured their collective memory and so the memory made it possible to resurrect the state even three generations later. What if the invaders erased these memories along the physical borders of the state and its landmarks? Would the idea of their country be able to live in the hearts and souls of its people?
Now, imagine a different land, a peninsula shaped like a human hand with third and fourth fingers curled. Welcome to the Palm divided into nine proud provinces incessantly engaged in the political dance of alliances, betrayals, wars and conflicts.
It is not surprising then that when two powerful sorcerers arrive to the Palm, one from East and one from West, they conquer the divided peninsula without greater problems. The most prominent of those is the defiant stand the people of Tigana make at shores of River Deisa against the army of Brandin of Ygrath led by his son Steven. Unexpectedly, they win, but the victory is short lived as the sorcerer unleashes the whole might of his power in wrath and vengeance. The army of Tigana is obliterated, its Prince and his two sons slaughtered, its populace savaged, its cities and cultural heritage destroyed, and, worst of all, its very name cursed into oblivion. He made it as if they had never been.
“Let my memory of you be like a blade in my dzܱ.�
The book follows the footsteps of the descendants of those who fought and lost on the Deisa and their allies as they strive to save one nation and province from being forgotten and liberate the whole peninsula.
But before you will fall in love with the amazing variety of characters, you will be awed by the mastery of the prose. The language is so beautiful and the same time ascetic without going full-fledge flowery baroque. Each sentence is just perfect and even the most meaningless background details contribute to the overall picture. When reading, I kept thinking about the impressionist pictures where the separate blobs of paints from up close do not make much sense but create a masterpiece the moment you step away. Or perhaps, it is more fitting to compare Tigana to a piece of music, especially that main protagonists are musicians sharing with the world “the notes of grief, the sound of love, held fast in the spell of a music shaped by loss.�
In the grand canopy of the main story, you will find a breathtaking richness of the the minor strands, some motifs balancing each other, some repeating the slight variations of themselves just like in Bach’s toccatas and fugues, the same at core but so very different. You will have a motif of a person living in disguise, both becoming the disguise and transcending it. Of a son trying to meet expectations of his parents. Of a final reckoning between somebody who dies and somebody who needs to carry on. Of a revenge carried out through love (and against it). Of being ready to die for dreams larger than things so achingly small by which our lives are measured and marred. Of family. Of tyranny. Of many other things touching upon the deepest and darkest corners of human soul.
The question of evil committed on political as oppose to personal level is particularly interesting in Tigana. The very question political scientists have been asking all the way from down to . On some level Kay is doing what Hannah Arendt did in or more recently Slavenka Drakulic in after the Balkan war (I do recommend both books to those interested in this theme). That is, trying to show that you can be good father, caring husband and still able to wipe out the whole nations and/or ethnic groups, precisely the very difference between personal level and the impersonal sphere is crucial here. This is one of the main arcs of the tale, told with a voice of Dianora who planned to kill the Tyrant but instead, fell in love with him. Somehow Dianora obliterated this difference in her mind and heart and soul and personally, I cannot excuse this very thing.
In the end, personal qualities notwithstanding, the man she loves is still a genocidal monster consumed by revenge. Interestingly, while Brandin is painted in bloody hues, it feels like the Tyrant occupying the Eastern Palm, Alberico, is even worse. But that made me wonder because in the end, they are precisely the same when it comes to methods of governance only Brandin seems more refined, more cultured as it were. Where Brandin is sophisticated, Alberico is crude. One has an eye for beauty, appreciates arts and artists, the other runs an utilitarian state where mercenaries are the ultimate courtiers. But Brandin exhibits is merely a veneer of civility, a wrapping. And yet, it seems that the wrapping makes him somewhat more acceptable. As if Kay wants to absolve the Tyrant who did as awful things because “he loved much� while condemns the one who was driven only by his own greed for power.
Do not expect fast-paced action, gory battle scenes and fighting; this is kept to minimum. You will get excellent story telling, retrospective narrative and very nuanced character development of superb quality. The weakest points in this overall exquisite read is the fact that at times plot-pace slows down to weakest trickle, and the random sex scenes (that stand out as disjointed, albeit very well written). The final scene was very well done by Kay in an uneasy, not obviously neat way.
And the epilogue.
And the last sentence especially!
We will never know how Tigana ends and this is the power of this last sentence that it hides three new tales we will always be dying to hear.
More standalones like this please!
------
If you liked this book, consider reading Kay's duology set in Byzantium-like world: Sailing to Sarantium and the Lord of Emperors.
But where the state had vanished, the people survived. And so the people of Poland cultivated their language, their arts, their traditions, their culture. They nurtured their collective memory and so the memory made it possible to resurrect the state even three generations later. What if the invaders erased these memories along the physical borders of the state and its landmarks? Would the idea of their country be able to live in the hearts and souls of its people?
Now, imagine a different land, a peninsula shaped like a human hand with third and fourth fingers curled. Welcome to the Palm divided into nine proud provinces incessantly engaged in the political dance of alliances, betrayals, wars and conflicts.
It is not surprising then that when two powerful sorcerers arrive to the Palm, one from East and one from West, they conquer the divided peninsula without greater problems. The most prominent of those is the defiant stand the people of Tigana make at shores of River Deisa against the army of Brandin of Ygrath led by his son Steven. Unexpectedly, they win, but the victory is short lived as the sorcerer unleashes the whole might of his power in wrath and vengeance. The army of Tigana is obliterated, its Prince and his two sons slaughtered, its populace savaged, its cities and cultural heritage destroyed, and, worst of all, its very name cursed into oblivion. He made it as if they had never been.
“Let my memory of you be like a blade in my dzܱ.�
The book follows the footsteps of the descendants of those who fought and lost on the Deisa and their allies as they strive to save one nation and province from being forgotten and liberate the whole peninsula.
But before you will fall in love with the amazing variety of characters, you will be awed by the mastery of the prose. The language is so beautiful and the same time ascetic without going full-fledge flowery baroque. Each sentence is just perfect and even the most meaningless background details contribute to the overall picture. When reading, I kept thinking about the impressionist pictures where the separate blobs of paints from up close do not make much sense but create a masterpiece the moment you step away. Or perhaps, it is more fitting to compare Tigana to a piece of music, especially that main protagonists are musicians sharing with the world “the notes of grief, the sound of love, held fast in the spell of a music shaped by loss.�
In the grand canopy of the main story, you will find a breathtaking richness of the the minor strands, some motifs balancing each other, some repeating the slight variations of themselves just like in Bach’s toccatas and fugues, the same at core but so very different. You will have a motif of a person living in disguise, both becoming the disguise and transcending it. Of a son trying to meet expectations of his parents. Of a final reckoning between somebody who dies and somebody who needs to carry on. Of a revenge carried out through love (and against it). Of being ready to die for dreams larger than things so achingly small by which our lives are measured and marred. Of family. Of tyranny. Of many other things touching upon the deepest and darkest corners of human soul.
The question of evil committed on political as oppose to personal level is particularly interesting in Tigana. The very question political scientists have been asking all the way from down to . On some level Kay is doing what Hannah Arendt did in or more recently Slavenka Drakulic in after the Balkan war (I do recommend both books to those interested in this theme). That is, trying to show that you can be good father, caring husband and still able to wipe out the whole nations and/or ethnic groups, precisely the very difference between personal level and the impersonal sphere is crucial here. This is one of the main arcs of the tale, told with a voice of Dianora who planned to kill the Tyrant but instead, fell in love with him. Somehow Dianora obliterated this difference in her mind and heart and soul and personally, I cannot excuse this very thing.
In the end, personal qualities notwithstanding, the man she loves is still a genocidal monster consumed by revenge. Interestingly, while Brandin is painted in bloody hues, it feels like the Tyrant occupying the Eastern Palm, Alberico, is even worse. But that made me wonder because in the end, they are precisely the same when it comes to methods of governance only Brandin seems more refined, more cultured as it were. Where Brandin is sophisticated, Alberico is crude. One has an eye for beauty, appreciates arts and artists, the other runs an utilitarian state where mercenaries are the ultimate courtiers. But Brandin exhibits is merely a veneer of civility, a wrapping. And yet, it seems that the wrapping makes him somewhat more acceptable. As if Kay wants to absolve the Tyrant who did as awful things because “he loved much� while condemns the one who was driven only by his own greed for power.
Do not expect fast-paced action, gory battle scenes and fighting; this is kept to minimum. You will get excellent story telling, retrospective narrative and very nuanced character development of superb quality. The weakest points in this overall exquisite read is the fact that at times plot-pace slows down to weakest trickle, and the random sex scenes (that stand out as disjointed, albeit very well written). The final scene was very well done by Kay in an uneasy, not obviously neat way.
And the epilogue.
And the last sentence especially!
We will never know how Tigana ends and this is the power of this last sentence that it hides three new tales we will always be dying to hear.
More standalones like this please!
------
If you liked this book, consider reading Kay's duology set in Byzantium-like world: Sailing to Sarantium and the Lord of Emperors.
August 14, 2016
oh Tigana! 20 years ago, the warring lands of the peninsula known as The Palm were invaded and conquered by two opposing Tyrants, and split into two. during this time of war and magic, one land was punished, transformed, forgotten.
20 years later, a band of men and women fight to reclaim that land, its history, their memories. oh Tigana!
SPOILERS FOLLOW
memories of a distant life can be a strange and beautiful and sorrowful thing. i can remember places, scenes, people in the land where i was born, far away from here, long ago. a dilapidated mansion in the fields. muddy streets, the smell of cooking meat and the sound of laughter, the sour tang of the food, mangos. a great-grandmother in front of a cookpot in a dark house, a grandmother drunk and curled up in a corner, an uncle holding my hand. do these things define me, are they a part of what make me who i am today? it is hard to say. at times, they feel like stories i've read, scenes from a forgotten movie. gone, all gone. but yet they live still, in their way.
the tragedy at the heart of Tigana is the erasure of history, the stealing away of memory. the transformed and forgotten land of Tigana lives still in the hearts of its former citizens, in the minds of those who work to see it reclaimed, to see themselves made whole. the idea of Tigana drives them forward. the reclaiming of Tigana is a slow-moving battle, one that costs many lives, innocent and otherwise. the towns burned, the children tortured to death, the battle costing so many lives... is it all worth it? of course it is, of course. but one of the many wonderful things that Kay accomplishes in this novel is to show the ambiguity at the core of this quest. it is not a black & white matter and Kay deals only in shades of grey. memory is a place that defines us; it is a place that we recreate to give our lives meaning. but clinging to memory, using the past as the sole thing that defines who we are, holding past misdeeds in our hearts to give us a kind of furious purpose - that is also a sad place, and a place fraught with peril. the entirety of the novel is a narrative about reclamation, about making a memory and a place whole. but at the very end of the tale, a minor character decides against revealing a key secret, in which the history told would shatter those who heard it. he purposely decides to leave a story un-whole, to allow Tigana's protagonists a kind of peace in their ignorance, to stop the past from continuing to rule the present. it is a brave, quiet, humane decision. sometimes the past should not rule us. that both ideas - dueling conceptions of how to see the past - are able to live in one novel, and so empathetically, is a sublime accomplishment.
one of many such accomplishments. where do i even start?
props for creating a world that is an alternate version of the city-states of warring old Italy, and yet is entirely its own place. props for balancing heavy themes and brisk adventure. props for Dianora, who whores herself out to her oppressor, no matter her original intent for vengeance... Kay does not reinvent this familiar type - he breathes new life into it, he makes her intentions and her actions understandable, her love real, her death a tragic one - but also a death full of tenderness and meaning. props for his sympathetic and clever gay character, one who uses simpering stereotype as shield and decoy. props for his inclusion of Alienor and her sadomasochism... i've read a score of tales that supposedly explore s&m, and few that so clearly open the heart of this kind of sexuality with such honesty - and brevity. props for Kay's ability to understand sexuality as central to experience, his skill at writing a love scene, his unwillingness to dwell on sex in a way that drools - that makes the experience a stroke fantasy. Kay illustrates sex as somehow both ambiguously mythic and prosaically real; how often does that occur in a fantasy novel? props for centralizing magic in this tale and yet making that magic just one part of the whole. this is not a novel of magic misadventure; it is a novel of people and politics and memory and longing. props for the portrait of one of Tigana's villains - the Tyrant Brandin. the character is larger than life, remote, inaccessible - and so tragic, so understandable. he commits terrible crimes; one of the worst is revealed in the closing pages. and yet this is a father who acts from grief, who destroys out of love for his slain son, who commits unforgiveable atrocities in the name of the most relatable of emotions - the love of a parent for their child, the rage of that parent towards those who have destroyed that child.
and BIG PROPS for the writing itself. my gosh, the man can write. his prose is often stunning: impressionistic, delicate and airy, blunt and earthy, real. he is what many writers aspire towards: a poet who writes in narrative prose. he can depict the colors of a sunset and the chill of night without cliché; he can describe a royal garden reshaped to reflect nature's chaos with language that brings you right there, that make a place both real and unreal. he can create mystery and wonder with words that are blade sharp; with sentences that are full of sad and terrible honesty; with paragraphs whose substance and meaning feel ephemeral at first, like the sound of wind through trees, but that can be read again, and again, and gain meaning with each re-reading. he can shape a reader's experience by putting them briefly in a character's life, sharing their perspective, and then smoothly moving the reader along as one voice fades and another one comes into focus - in a flow of prose that is never jarring or abrupt, that feels natural, organic. scenes are viewed from multiple angles, in a way that illustrates the defintion of even-handed.
have you heard of the director Otto Preminger? he was a favorite of the French New Wave, a hollywood director reconstructed as a genuine auteur. his defining hallmark: a very specific even-handedness in his storytelling, a visual manner that links all characters in a scene as equals, each having their own personal and equally important perspective and meaning, each potentially key to the narrative. Kay has the same kind of widespread focus. there are heroes and there are villains, and yet they are all recognizably human. and they are linked - by their past, by their goals, in ways that they are often slow to understand, in their shared humanity. each has their own perspective, their own fears and hopes and dreams. one hero enslaves a man. one villain makes the roads safe. another hero callously rejects his son and executes that son's boyhood lover. another villain is a man whose heart nearly died with his son, only to be born again, in love, in an effort to change himself and his ill-gotten world.
the novel has a central sequence that details a stark conflict taking place on another world, perhaps another reality. it is in many ways a timeless passage: the story of a fertility rite, a harvest war, a struggle in an alien yet familiar place - a place where actions resonate throughout all of the worlds. this was my special favorite part of many favorite parts in the novel. the timelessness, the simplicity, the sense of many lives, many worlds, linked together so that one skirmish, one win or one loss, has profound impact on all other worlds.
i love how Kay is focused on this connectivity between all things. it is a holistic and genuinely spiritual perspective on life. i love how he connects Tigana to his Fionavar Tapestry - the idea of a central world that gives life to all others, one where we may be reborn. patterns of peace and war; myths that resonate beyond one world into many others; a tapestry of worlds. Prince Alessan's quest is a mosaic of small actions aiming themselves towards one great possibility. the Prince's quest parallels the meaning of the novel itself: many parts that compose one great whole; many memories of one great loss, histories forgotten and remembered anew; many voices and many lives, paths that cross and move apart and may or may not come together again, bodies and souls that live and die and may yet live again.
20 years later, a band of men and women fight to reclaim that land, its history, their memories. oh Tigana!
SPOILERS FOLLOW
memories of a distant life can be a strange and beautiful and sorrowful thing. i can remember places, scenes, people in the land where i was born, far away from here, long ago. a dilapidated mansion in the fields. muddy streets, the smell of cooking meat and the sound of laughter, the sour tang of the food, mangos. a great-grandmother in front of a cookpot in a dark house, a grandmother drunk and curled up in a corner, an uncle holding my hand. do these things define me, are they a part of what make me who i am today? it is hard to say. at times, they feel like stories i've read, scenes from a forgotten movie. gone, all gone. but yet they live still, in their way.
the tragedy at the heart of Tigana is the erasure of history, the stealing away of memory. the transformed and forgotten land of Tigana lives still in the hearts of its former citizens, in the minds of those who work to see it reclaimed, to see themselves made whole. the idea of Tigana drives them forward. the reclaiming of Tigana is a slow-moving battle, one that costs many lives, innocent and otherwise. the towns burned, the children tortured to death, the battle costing so many lives... is it all worth it? of course it is, of course. but one of the many wonderful things that Kay accomplishes in this novel is to show the ambiguity at the core of this quest. it is not a black & white matter and Kay deals only in shades of grey. memory is a place that defines us; it is a place that we recreate to give our lives meaning. but clinging to memory, using the past as the sole thing that defines who we are, holding past misdeeds in our hearts to give us a kind of furious purpose - that is also a sad place, and a place fraught with peril. the entirety of the novel is a narrative about reclamation, about making a memory and a place whole. but at the very end of the tale, a minor character decides against revealing a key secret, in which the history told would shatter those who heard it. he purposely decides to leave a story un-whole, to allow Tigana's protagonists a kind of peace in their ignorance, to stop the past from continuing to rule the present. it is a brave, quiet, humane decision. sometimes the past should not rule us. that both ideas - dueling conceptions of how to see the past - are able to live in one novel, and so empathetically, is a sublime accomplishment.
one of many such accomplishments. where do i even start?
props for creating a world that is an alternate version of the city-states of warring old Italy, and yet is entirely its own place. props for balancing heavy themes and brisk adventure. props for Dianora, who whores herself out to her oppressor, no matter her original intent for vengeance... Kay does not reinvent this familiar type - he breathes new life into it, he makes her intentions and her actions understandable, her love real, her death a tragic one - but also a death full of tenderness and meaning. props for his sympathetic and clever gay character, one who uses simpering stereotype as shield and decoy. props for his inclusion of Alienor and her sadomasochism... i've read a score of tales that supposedly explore s&m, and few that so clearly open the heart of this kind of sexuality with such honesty - and brevity. props for Kay's ability to understand sexuality as central to experience, his skill at writing a love scene, his unwillingness to dwell on sex in a way that drools - that makes the experience a stroke fantasy. Kay illustrates sex as somehow both ambiguously mythic and prosaically real; how often does that occur in a fantasy novel? props for centralizing magic in this tale and yet making that magic just one part of the whole. this is not a novel of magic misadventure; it is a novel of people and politics and memory and longing. props for the portrait of one of Tigana's villains - the Tyrant Brandin. the character is larger than life, remote, inaccessible - and so tragic, so understandable. he commits terrible crimes; one of the worst is revealed in the closing pages. and yet this is a father who acts from grief, who destroys out of love for his slain son, who commits unforgiveable atrocities in the name of the most relatable of emotions - the love of a parent for their child, the rage of that parent towards those who have destroyed that child.
and BIG PROPS for the writing itself. my gosh, the man can write. his prose is often stunning: impressionistic, delicate and airy, blunt and earthy, real. he is what many writers aspire towards: a poet who writes in narrative prose. he can depict the colors of a sunset and the chill of night without cliché; he can describe a royal garden reshaped to reflect nature's chaos with language that brings you right there, that make a place both real and unreal. he can create mystery and wonder with words that are blade sharp; with sentences that are full of sad and terrible honesty; with paragraphs whose substance and meaning feel ephemeral at first, like the sound of wind through trees, but that can be read again, and again, and gain meaning with each re-reading. he can shape a reader's experience by putting them briefly in a character's life, sharing their perspective, and then smoothly moving the reader along as one voice fades and another one comes into focus - in a flow of prose that is never jarring or abrupt, that feels natural, organic. scenes are viewed from multiple angles, in a way that illustrates the defintion of even-handed.
have you heard of the director Otto Preminger? he was a favorite of the French New Wave, a hollywood director reconstructed as a genuine auteur. his defining hallmark: a very specific even-handedness in his storytelling, a visual manner that links all characters in a scene as equals, each having their own personal and equally important perspective and meaning, each potentially key to the narrative. Kay has the same kind of widespread focus. there are heroes and there are villains, and yet they are all recognizably human. and they are linked - by their past, by their goals, in ways that they are often slow to understand, in their shared humanity. each has their own perspective, their own fears and hopes and dreams. one hero enslaves a man. one villain makes the roads safe. another hero callously rejects his son and executes that son's boyhood lover. another villain is a man whose heart nearly died with his son, only to be born again, in love, in an effort to change himself and his ill-gotten world.
the novel has a central sequence that details a stark conflict taking place on another world, perhaps another reality. it is in many ways a timeless passage: the story of a fertility rite, a harvest war, a struggle in an alien yet familiar place - a place where actions resonate throughout all of the worlds. this was my special favorite part of many favorite parts in the novel. the timelessness, the simplicity, the sense of many lives, many worlds, linked together so that one skirmish, one win or one loss, has profound impact on all other worlds.
i love how Kay is focused on this connectivity between all things. it is a holistic and genuinely spiritual perspective on life. i love how he connects Tigana to his Fionavar Tapestry - the idea of a central world that gives life to all others, one where we may be reborn. patterns of peace and war; myths that resonate beyond one world into many others; a tapestry of worlds. Prince Alessan's quest is a mosaic of small actions aiming themselves towards one great possibility. the Prince's quest parallels the meaning of the novel itself: many parts that compose one great whole; many memories of one great loss, histories forgotten and remembered anew; many voices and many lives, paths that cross and move apart and may or may not come together again, bodies and souls that live and die and may yet live again.
September 19, 2021
Tigana was one of the few remaining popular high fantasies on my tbr list that I haven’t read yet. I was glad when it was picked as the book of the month in my book club because I never got around to reading it. I wanted to buy the physical copy (I rarely do). It’s a good thing that I’ve only borrowed it. I even recommended it to strangers as a good high fantasy standalone (mentioning that I haven’t read it) but still� I regret that. It’s not bad but it’s the type of book that the more you think about it, the less you like it and the fewer positive things you have to say about it.
The weird thing is that most of us who read the book in the club had similar thoughts and our average rating was around 3 stars so I was really surprised when I noticed that none of my friends on GR rated 4 stars, which is very rare. It’s a good thing I wasn’t reading it on my own or I would’ve thought it’s a “me not you� kind of book but it really is not here.
� Summary:
If you want to read Tigana, I highly recommend reading a bit about the world before you start because it can be very confusing at the start and this made it difficult for me to enjoy the book at first, the simplified version:
Basically, we have Peninsula of the Palm, a region is like Italy (Renaissance period), and just like the European country at the time, it was divided into multiple small “countries� (using the term very loosely here) who were always at war with each other.
Enter two tyrant sorcerers (very powerful):
- Alberico who conquered the east of the Palm, a very cold person
- Brandin, who came from a faraway place and conquered the rest of the Palm, a person driven by his emotion (basically the opposite character was of Alberico.) But something happened in Tigana (one of the countries in the Palm) and he was well, very pissed off he decided to wipe its name from the memory of every living person except those born on its soil. He also massacred many of its people.
The son of Prince Valentin, Alessan escaped and now 19 or so years later, after years of political plotting, is waiting for the right moment to make his move. The two tyrants need to be destroyed at once you see, or the other will simply conquer the rest of the Palm.
� The characters:
Alessan is not the main character though. Please, let me introduce you to one of the most useless (if not most useless) characters I have yet to come across: Devin. But before I get to that I need to explain something:
The book is told from soo many perspectives. Every one of the main cast gets at least a passage at a certain point, lots of minor characters also have passages but Devin was the main character in a way that we saw the story mostly from his perspective.
He was pretty much useless. He didn’t add anything to the story. Other than spotting or noticing something before the rest of the group a few times, he had zero value in the plot. I wish I was exaggerating but usually main characters do something or have more going on even in multiple PoVs? We were mostly seeing the story unfold from his eyes and I guess GGK wanted to add some “mystery and charismatic� vibes to some characters but if that’s his aim, it affected the story negatively more than helped it. He also dropped his career right away once he learned about Tigana, uhm, sorry what? Just take a moment to think about it?
We were also repeatedly told about his strong memory but it was never used in this story.. I understand it’s for “impact�. Devin forgot about Tigana (he was born there but after the war family left) but it’s more like he didn’t know, to begin with since he left when he was around 1 year old. So yeah, the repetition of this was useless.
The rest of the cast was very meh and boring. I really couldn’t care about the characters nor feel their sorrow. In every few chapters, we had someone weeping the loss of the NAME of Tigana instead of the people Brandin wiped out during the war. They cried for the destruction of their homeland more than its people� I found it hard to share their sadness and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t connect with them.
Brandin was the most interesting and complex character and my opinion of him changed several times while reading the book.
Something I liked, however (and hated it at first) was Alessan’s characterization as the “good� guy doing “bad� stuff justifying them by his noble cause. The main characters at the time this book was written (1990) were mostly black and white so it was interesting to see that reality isn’t always so simple. I hated what Alessan did but actually after reading the acknowledgments and found out what was GGK true motive, I ended up appreciating it.
There are a few things I didn’t like about the female rep, for example, we had a woman always crying over nothing, and then two others just trying to kill/sacrifice themselves to be useful, and a fourth well, Alienor. I have no idea what she added to the plot other than that weird BDSM scene that was out of nowhere. Everyone was simply crushing over Devin and wanted to sleep/slept with him� sorry? Why?
I also liked Tomasso, I wish we saw more of him, however. I assumed he was a main character at first but oh well.. that’s why his part at first being so detailed wasn’t needed imo.
� The romance and romantic relationships:
I have so much to say about this. But I’ll try to be brief.
The sex scenes. The awful, random, useless sex scenes. We had several sex scenes and most of them if not annoyed me, added nothing to the story:
1- so a virgin decides to have sex for the first time in a closet to distract someone even though she doesn’t see him that way (we were given such vibes, but she doesn’t). The people they were eavesdropping on were just outside the closet. They were of course silent and the closet didn’t make any sound nor them. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
2- Incest scene and it can’t be skipped because at the end of it there’s a shocking factor! We would’ve been shocked without it. Well, I wasn’t even shocked I predicted that twist.
3- the BDSM scene between a 19 yo guy and a woman in her 40s (at least) was very pointless and disturbing in a way.
Also some people have shelved this book as Children/Middle Grade/YA, it’s not. Lots of graphic sexual and violent scenes. Plus, everyone of the main characters is 18+
As for the romance, apparently, everyone needed a match! There was no chemistry whatsoever nor even hints or a slow burn then bam two characters confess their love for each other. Excuse me what?
But there was a relationship I liked and it was Brandin and Dianora’s. Okay look, I know it didn’t add much to the plot but it was so sad and I have a soft spot for tragic stories. Dianora was supposed to kill Brandin and avenge Tigana but instead, she falls in love with him. And yes, I know her actions are annoying especially since she could’ve killed him before the book even began after spending so much time with him but their relationship was the only thing that “moved� while me reading this book.
� The world-building:
This honestly felt more like a historical fiction set on a planet similar to Earth but with two moons. There was a lot of history of Peninsula of the Palm but considering my lack of interest in the story I found it difficult to focus on them. I wish however more was mentioned about the outside world. I also understand this is a standalone, one of the very few fantasy standalones that aren’t related whatsoever to their other books. There was a focus on Tigana and its culture and civilizations too naturally, I sadly couldn’t care since the whole “loss of Tigana� didn’t affect me.
There was magic in this world but it was so vague, I had no idea how it works nor there was any basis for it, I also didn’t understand why wizards were prosecuted in the Palm� I understand that magic before Brandon Sanderson the 2000s was mostly vague and without clear rules, in this book was too random and underexplained.
I also liked the Slavic mythology that was included: the lake witch: the riselka. It was a nice addition to the story and probably the only “fantasy� element other than magic. Not sure if the Night Walkers part is considered magic but what they did was too much “can be shaped however the author likes�
� The writing:
The writing was too descriptive sometimes and flowery. I understand why a fantasy standalone needs to be 800 pages but sadly, there was no need here. The cast was very big and like I said, most didn’t interest me so giving a small “past� about each + random flashbacks + moving from one character’s perspective to another (sometimes new one) without extra space between paragraphs (at least on my ebook) was tiring. I really struggled with Part 3 because of this. The book is told from the third perspective which works here. The book is 5 parts and each part (probably except the last) had the same cycle:
- no idea what’s happening
-things make sense � kinda
- interesting ending
Then the next part starts and I was completely lost again. There was a part I read multiple times (a new character’s perspective) but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t register what I was reading, simply my mind refused to process the words. I skimmed through it and it was fine.
While there is no info dump in a way that we have all of the histories told at the same time, which I probably could’ve used in this book because I was often confused, especially at the start. The writing style while not difficult and had some nice prose, tired me. This is also because of the pace that I’ll discuss in the following section.
We also had a lot of repetition, especially in Dianora's chapters. And the sorrow everyone feels for Tigana (which I didn’t feel even). Another issue I had is that the chapters were way too long, 800 pages across 22 chapters doesn’t work for me. I was never a fan of long chapters and here I spent over an hour on some since I couldn’t focus all the time on what I’m reading.
� The plot:
The prologue was honestly interesting, yes I had no clue what was going on other than an upcoming battle, but there was a deep sense of doom. I also really liked the ending, not all of it but and that the very last scene
Sadly, everything in between was mostly boring except for the occasional interesting chapter. The pace in this book was agonizingly slow and there were too many details about the characters that could’ve been introduced in another way. They would’ve probably had more impact because since we meet so many characters, I will not remember someone I read about in chapter 2 for example and if anything happened to them, I won’t understand that moment’s significance. But if I met them through the main character’s eyes, at least, I’d remember their impression (the MC) of them.
This book could’ve been a much more interesting story if we had fewer characters, fewer details and descriptions, and a faster pace because the latter was off for sure sometimes and the plot was stretched thin among so many characters. For example, a particular event was more to give Baerd, a somewhat main character, an "arc" rather than add value to the story. It would've made sense if this wasn't standalone but since it is, I didn't see the necessity of it.
Another thing that would’ve been better if maybe we had Alessan tell his story from the war till today. There was a lot of political planning and scheming with different regions in the peninsula so again given that we were only told about it later, I personally didn’t appreciate it much. But if we had a summary of Alessan’s tale across the years and this “quest� of avenging Tigana and killing the tyrants, it would’ve worked better perhaps. Because, after all, there is a reason why such stories are usually successful.
TLTR:
Sadly not much happens for such a big book and I wasn’t invested in the story nor the characters. The book started on a high note with a prologue of the last battle before Tigana was destroyed and ended on a high note too because finally stuff happened and I liked some elements of the ending. However, everything in between was dull in comparison. Except for the occasional gripping chapters, the pace was slow and I couldn’t care about most of the characters nor their cause. We also had multiple PoVs of people who didn’t add much to the story and lots of flashbacks.
However, the ending was slightly redeeming and made it rate it 3 stars instead of just 2. A particular relationship fascinated me for some reason. Dianora and Brandin love story was simply tragic and doomed from the start but also complex and multilayered.
I thought this was a standalone fantasy I’d be recommending in the future but sadly it is not.
I did like however that plot revolves around memory and the value of one’s identity with one’s country forgotten. It is an interesting theme to write about considering we have so many dead civilizations forgotten from living memory sometimes. However, maybe if the story was written in a different way it would’ve been better/more impactful.
I'm glad I finally read Tigana. At this point, I'm not sure why I'm keeping a 3 stars rating but also 2 feels too little for reasons I mentioned above. I won't be reading GGK's other books, however. I don't think his style is for me.
June 18, 2015
Springtime morning in Avalle
I don’t care that the priests say:
I’m going down to the river today
On a springtime morning in Avalle.
When I’m all grown up, come what may
I’ll build a boat to carry me away
And the river will take it to Tigana Bay
And the sea even further away from Avalle
But wherever I wander, by night or by day
Where water runs swiftly or high trees sway,
My heart will carry me back and away
To a dream of the towers of Avalle
Twenty years ago, the nine quarrelling city-states of the Peninsula of the Palm were invaded by the armies of two conquering sorcerers: Brandin of Ygrath and Alberico of Barbadior. After having defeated Chiara, Corte and Asoli, Brandin sent his son to conquer the last free province of the Western Palm. But the men of the Principality of Tigana stood fast, and Valentin the Prince himself slew the sorcerer’s son by the River Deisa.
Maddened by grief, Brandin himself then marched on Tigana. He destroyed their armies, murdered the royal family, razed their cities to the ground, burned all their books, and finally conjured a terrible spell removing the province’s very name from the world, making it impossible to speak or to hear for anyone not born there. And thus, for twenty years, all that was known about the most southwestern province of the Peninsula of the Palm, was lost�
Tigana is the tale of those who survived the death of their nation, and their efforts to restore both their home and its lost name, and the freedom of the entirety of the Peninsula from the tyranny of the sorcerers. For years they have planned to simply assassinate Brandin to remove the hold of his spell, but even so dangerous a plan is doomed to fail even if it succeeds. For if the Ygrathan sorcerer dies, all of the Palm falls to the Empire of Barbadior and Alberico, who is a far more brutal and tyrannical ruler than Brandin is.
A particularly interesting aspect about this book is its setting. Based on Renaissance Italy, the Peninsula of the Palm is a collection of city-states who have been at war with each other for centuries, thus making themselves ripe for the picking by foreign invaders. For the last twenty years, the Palm has been at peace because of the precarious balance of power between Brandin and Alberico.
The characters of the book are good. Nothing more and nothing less. There are no exceptional, larger-than-life figures, but in the end I found myself enjoying them all. The main characters of the book, Alessan, Devin and Catriana, all start out as musicians in the company of the great Mennico di Ferraut, and the focus on music and art is important throughout the whole book. Another interesting character is Dianora, one of Brandin’s mistresses, who is secretly a survivor of Tigana herself.
Perhaps most interesting when it comes to characterisation are the differences between the two tyrants currently ruling the Palm. Alberico is a cold, emotionless man driven only by greed and ambition. He is brutal, cynical and sadistic. His goal is to take the throne of the Emperor of Barbadior, and his invasion of the Palm is only a means to that end. But Alberico wants power for the sake of power itself, and because of that he’s only driven into an endless cycle of hungry ambition. Brandin of Ygrath on the other hand, is a man driver entirely by his emotions. His love for his son and his grief for his death was what drove him to destroy Tigana, and his passionate vengeance is still binding to the Palm. Brandin, despite all he has done, is often portrayed as a competent ruler who cares about the lands he rules, and even as a good man deep within. Thus it happens to be that the main enemy in the fight to restore lost Tigana, is the better man by far of the two tyrants.
There are two excellent parts of the book: the beginning and the ending. The prologue is simply beautiful, taking place before the second Battle of the River Deisa twenty years ago and is really just a simple conversation between two men on the eve of battle: Valentin, Prince of Tigana, and the artist Saevar. The battle in the end, on the other hand, is one of the best scenes I have ever read in the fantasy genre, because of its dramatic twists and turns, its shocking revelations and the brilliantly chosen points of view describing it.
Everything in between is sadly a bit uninteresting. There is nothing much going on, except for the occasional great scene. That makes the book seem a bit longer than it should, and I was wondering several times while reading when things would start happening. Fortunately, though, the fantastic ending and the beautiful writing is more than enough to make up for it.
Essentially, Tigana is a book about history and memory. What happens to the people of a province when its very existence is snatched away, never to be spoken of again? Kay states in the afterword that this topic was inspired by events during and after the 1968 uprising in Czechoslovakia, where people who had led the uprising were not only executed, but were edited away from all official pictures and historical records. And it is a theme that is handled exceedingly well in this book.
In addition to that, the book is morally ambiguous, and constantly toys with the reader’s emotions and preconceptions, by looking at the consequences of the righteous struggle for the restoration of Tigana. Is it right to force the world into another war, to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people and to threaten the lives of an entire Peninsula in order to restore a name? Add to that the portrayal of Brandin of Ygrath as a sympathetic and just ruler, and you are left with no choice but to question the protagonists� cause.
I think this is the first time I have ever read a standalone fantasy novel that does not even take place in the same world as others, and where there is no hope of getting to know more. Because of that, I was very skeptical, but in the end I was definitely positively surprised. This book was not perfect, but it was definitely good enough that I would recommend it to just about everyone.
”There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.�
I don’t care that the priests say:
I’m going down to the river today
On a springtime morning in Avalle.
When I’m all grown up, come what may
I’ll build a boat to carry me away
And the river will take it to Tigana Bay
And the sea even further away from Avalle
But wherever I wander, by night or by day
Where water runs swiftly or high trees sway,
My heart will carry me back and away
To a dream of the towers of Avalle
Twenty years ago, the nine quarrelling city-states of the Peninsula of the Palm were invaded by the armies of two conquering sorcerers: Brandin of Ygrath and Alberico of Barbadior. After having defeated Chiara, Corte and Asoli, Brandin sent his son to conquer the last free province of the Western Palm. But the men of the Principality of Tigana stood fast, and Valentin the Prince himself slew the sorcerer’s son by the River Deisa.
Maddened by grief, Brandin himself then marched on Tigana. He destroyed their armies, murdered the royal family, razed their cities to the ground, burned all their books, and finally conjured a terrible spell removing the province’s very name from the world, making it impossible to speak or to hear for anyone not born there. And thus, for twenty years, all that was known about the most southwestern province of the Peninsula of the Palm, was lost�
Tigana is the tale of those who survived the death of their nation, and their efforts to restore both their home and its lost name, and the freedom of the entirety of the Peninsula from the tyranny of the sorcerers. For years they have planned to simply assassinate Brandin to remove the hold of his spell, but even so dangerous a plan is doomed to fail even if it succeeds. For if the Ygrathan sorcerer dies, all of the Palm falls to the Empire of Barbadior and Alberico, who is a far more brutal and tyrannical ruler than Brandin is.
A particularly interesting aspect about this book is its setting. Based on Renaissance Italy, the Peninsula of the Palm is a collection of city-states who have been at war with each other for centuries, thus making themselves ripe for the picking by foreign invaders. For the last twenty years, the Palm has been at peace because of the precarious balance of power between Brandin and Alberico.
The characters of the book are good. Nothing more and nothing less. There are no exceptional, larger-than-life figures, but in the end I found myself enjoying them all. The main characters of the book, Alessan, Devin and Catriana, all start out as musicians in the company of the great Mennico di Ferraut, and the focus on music and art is important throughout the whole book. Another interesting character is Dianora, one of Brandin’s mistresses, who is secretly a survivor of Tigana herself.
Perhaps most interesting when it comes to characterisation are the differences between the two tyrants currently ruling the Palm. Alberico is a cold, emotionless man driven only by greed and ambition. He is brutal, cynical and sadistic. His goal is to take the throne of the Emperor of Barbadior, and his invasion of the Palm is only a means to that end. But Alberico wants power for the sake of power itself, and because of that he’s only driven into an endless cycle of hungry ambition. Brandin of Ygrath on the other hand, is a man driver entirely by his emotions. His love for his son and his grief for his death was what drove him to destroy Tigana, and his passionate vengeance is still binding to the Palm. Brandin, despite all he has done, is often portrayed as a competent ruler who cares about the lands he rules, and even as a good man deep within. Thus it happens to be that the main enemy in the fight to restore lost Tigana, is the better man by far of the two tyrants.
There are two excellent parts of the book: the beginning and the ending. The prologue is simply beautiful, taking place before the second Battle of the River Deisa twenty years ago and is really just a simple conversation between two men on the eve of battle: Valentin, Prince of Tigana, and the artist Saevar. The battle in the end, on the other hand, is one of the best scenes I have ever read in the fantasy genre, because of its dramatic twists and turns, its shocking revelations and the brilliantly chosen points of view describing it.
Everything in between is sadly a bit uninteresting. There is nothing much going on, except for the occasional great scene. That makes the book seem a bit longer than it should, and I was wondering several times while reading when things would start happening. Fortunately, though, the fantastic ending and the beautiful writing is more than enough to make up for it.
Essentially, Tigana is a book about history and memory. What happens to the people of a province when its very existence is snatched away, never to be spoken of again? Kay states in the afterword that this topic was inspired by events during and after the 1968 uprising in Czechoslovakia, where people who had led the uprising were not only executed, but were edited away from all official pictures and historical records. And it is a theme that is handled exceedingly well in this book.
In addition to that, the book is morally ambiguous, and constantly toys with the reader’s emotions and preconceptions, by looking at the consequences of the righteous struggle for the restoration of Tigana. Is it right to force the world into another war, to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people and to threaten the lives of an entire Peninsula in order to restore a name? Add to that the portrayal of Brandin of Ygrath as a sympathetic and just ruler, and you are left with no choice but to question the protagonists� cause.
I think this is the first time I have ever read a standalone fantasy novel that does not even take place in the same world as others, and where there is no hope of getting to know more. Because of that, I was very skeptical, but in the end I was definitely positively surprised. This book was not perfect, but it was definitely good enough that I would recommend it to just about everyone.
”There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.�
May 28, 2009
The greatest strength of -- 's masterpiece -- is the "ambiguity" of his characters' ethics. Fantasy, as a genre, suffers from the widespread simplicity of its expressions of good and evil. Kay consistently transcends this genre weakness, and marks his first and greatest break with the good vs. evil tradition. Tigana is full of characters who struggle with their decisions and the impact those decisions have on others.
Alessan, the "hero" of the piece, enslaves a wizard to his cause and must wrestle with the deaths he is responsible for in the name of an ideal. Brandin, the "villain" of the piece, knows two loves greater than all the other loves in the novel combined, and those loves are inextricably linked with his equally powerful hate. And both of these characters are nearly impossible to dislike. They are not good men, nor are they bad men. They are just men, albeit men with power and powers that put them in positions where they can hurt masses of people. They are two of the greatest fantasy characters ever imagined, and the people they touch make a supporting cast of compelling depth.
Some have complained that Kay spends too much time with character and not enough with plot. This criticism speaks more to the feelings of readers than it does to a failing of the author. Kay intentionally chooses character as his focus because it is only in depth of character that he can explore ethical ambiguity. And ethical ambiguity is everything in .
The expansion of and focus on ethical ambiguity can save the fantasy genre. Kay is at the heart of that movement, and is his keynote address to the fantasy faithful. If you take your fantasy seriously, you must read . Just make sure you read it with an open mind, and let yourself feel compassion for all the people doing nasty things for reasons they believe are right.
Alessan, the "hero" of the piece, enslaves a wizard to his cause and must wrestle with the deaths he is responsible for in the name of an ideal. Brandin, the "villain" of the piece, knows two loves greater than all the other loves in the novel combined, and those loves are inextricably linked with his equally powerful hate. And both of these characters are nearly impossible to dislike. They are not good men, nor are they bad men. They are just men, albeit men with power and powers that put them in positions where they can hurt masses of people. They are two of the greatest fantasy characters ever imagined, and the people they touch make a supporting cast of compelling depth.
Some have complained that Kay spends too much time with character and not enough with plot. This criticism speaks more to the feelings of readers than it does to a failing of the author. Kay intentionally chooses character as his focus because it is only in depth of character that he can explore ethical ambiguity. And ethical ambiguity is everything in .
The expansion of and focus on ethical ambiguity can save the fantasy genre. Kay is at the heart of that movement, and is his keynote address to the fantasy faithful. If you take your fantasy seriously, you must read . Just make sure you read it with an open mind, and let yourself feel compassion for all the people doing nasty things for reasons they believe are right.
April 1, 2022
Tigana is one of the slowest and most intricate fantasy novels I have ever read; yet, for all its deliberate pacing, it is peppered with bursts of action and surprising plot reveals.
I’m not going to sugar coat it for you: this is a difficult book to read. I've also found it quite difficult to write a review because I really liked parts of the book, but took issue with many other elements. So I will unload my critical thoughts here whilst still doing the book justice.
After a very well written prologue, we are introduced to a huge host of characters; it takes quite some time for their place within the story to make any sense. Eventually, it does all come together but it takes a large amount of time to get there fully, and this is lengthened by random asides and late character additions to the already huge narrative. It’s convoluted. It’s wordy. And I almost gave up on it. Had I not been buddy reading this, I may have done so.
Despite these problems, Tigana is not without its merits. The quest that drives the story forward, revenge for a lost homeland, is rather powerful and unique because the homeland has not just been destroyed: it has been erased from memory by powerful magic. This was an interesting concept because even the word “Tigana� is lost. This device is what kept me reading. I wanted to see what would happen. The final action sequence was superbly written, and it delivered all it needed to. I’ve not read anything quite like it before: it was magic on a very grand scale that has clearly influenced other writers of fantasy.
Unfortunately, it's a VERY male driven story
I feel it would be remiss not to write a paragraph on the poor representation of females in the novel. To put it simply, every woman seems to be an object of sex and that seems to be the sole object of her power and how she accomplishes anything of significance in the novel. You could argue that perhaps this representation is an element of the medieval era in which fantasy is often set, limiting the status and opportunities available and means to execute influence, but this is still problematic. Not all writers fall into this pit. Whilst I would not go quite as far as to call the novel completely and unforgivably misogynistic, there is certainly an imbalance here. It is very male driven, taps into male fantasies and failed to allow the female characters to grasp opportunities that could have completed their character arc and missions more effectively (and without the need for sex.) Not to mention how horrifically bad and laughable some of these scenes were actually written.
Standalone fantasy novels of this calibre are very difficult to pull off, and whilst this has many problems (some of which are glaringly big problems), it sill manages to achieve everything it set out to. I also liked how dense the political structure was and how significant actions could be in the larger scheme of things.
So for me, this is a very mixed bag but I still enjoyed reading it and I especially enjoyed finishing it and seeing the final sequence of events unfold in a blaze of glory and bloodshed.
__________________________________
You can connect with me on social media via .
__________________________________
I’m not going to sugar coat it for you: this is a difficult book to read. I've also found it quite difficult to write a review because I really liked parts of the book, but took issue with many other elements. So I will unload my critical thoughts here whilst still doing the book justice.
After a very well written prologue, we are introduced to a huge host of characters; it takes quite some time for their place within the story to make any sense. Eventually, it does all come together but it takes a large amount of time to get there fully, and this is lengthened by random asides and late character additions to the already huge narrative. It’s convoluted. It’s wordy. And I almost gave up on it. Had I not been buddy reading this, I may have done so.
Despite these problems, Tigana is not without its merits. The quest that drives the story forward, revenge for a lost homeland, is rather powerful and unique because the homeland has not just been destroyed: it has been erased from memory by powerful magic. This was an interesting concept because even the word “Tigana� is lost. This device is what kept me reading. I wanted to see what would happen. The final action sequence was superbly written, and it delivered all it needed to. I’ve not read anything quite like it before: it was magic on a very grand scale that has clearly influenced other writers of fantasy.
Unfortunately, it's a VERY male driven story
I feel it would be remiss not to write a paragraph on the poor representation of females in the novel. To put it simply, every woman seems to be an object of sex and that seems to be the sole object of her power and how she accomplishes anything of significance in the novel. You could argue that perhaps this representation is an element of the medieval era in which fantasy is often set, limiting the status and opportunities available and means to execute influence, but this is still problematic. Not all writers fall into this pit. Whilst I would not go quite as far as to call the novel completely and unforgivably misogynistic, there is certainly an imbalance here. It is very male driven, taps into male fantasies and failed to allow the female characters to grasp opportunities that could have completed their character arc and missions more effectively (and without the need for sex.) Not to mention how horrifically bad and laughable some of these scenes were actually written.
Standalone fantasy novels of this calibre are very difficult to pull off, and whilst this has many problems (some of which are glaringly big problems), it sill manages to achieve everything it set out to. I also liked how dense the political structure was and how significant actions could be in the larger scheme of things.
So for me, this is a very mixed bag but I still enjoyed reading it and I especially enjoyed finishing it and seeing the final sequence of events unfold in a blaze of glory and bloodshed.
__________________________________
You can connect with me on social media via .
__________________________________
April 4, 2019
I have been listening to this from the library for a few days! SIMON VANCE! I love him as a narrator! Next I need to get that beautiful anniversary edition to actually read, in my hands! I can never say much when I listen to books the first time around 🙄 Actually, sometimes I don’t say anything just because! 🤣😂
Anyhoo, Happy Reading!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Anyhoo, Happy Reading!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
August 6, 2017
*** 4.66 ***
A Buddy Read with the Fantasy Buddy Reads Group, because we wanted a stand-alone for a change...
How do I even start on writing a review for this book? I think, just as most everyone else has done, I have to begin with the style of writing. It is a throwback to a time long past, it carries a lyrical magic which simmers in every sentence, and without being in itself overly flowery, it conveyed a sense of Gothic melodrama, which made me feel as if a bard of old was telling the story of an even older legend he learned on the road. Although I know myself to be a person who loves all styles of writing and all sorts of genres, I have to say that the easiest way to my heart is through old-fashioned feel in the prose, be it bouncy and playful, or dreamy and lulling. Thus I often find myself in love with books for reasons others find detrimental to the story. In this case, the pace of the story seems to be overly slow and the prevailing theme itself often hard to relate to, especially if you come from a culture which has been dominant in its history.
"..."'TIGANA!'
Through the square that cry rang, along the streets, up to the windows where people watched, over the roofs of houses running westward to the sea or eastward to the temples, and far beyond all of these-- a sound, a name, a hurled sorrow in the brightness of the air.�..."
More than twenty years ago, the city-state of Tigana, one of the nine such in the Peninsula of the Palm, was a place of beauty, prosperity and pride, exalting in its culture and arts and lead by Prince Valentine, a handsome and beloved ruler. Its people were known for their passion and fervor, but most of all for their stubborn pride. The nine provinces were always competing, to the point of enmity, often warring among themselves, and this is what made them an easy mark for the conquering sorcerers on two different sides of the Peninsula. On the one side is the Empire of Barbadior, and the brute of a warrior-sorcerer Alberico, on the other is the Kingdom of Ygrath with the sorcerer-king Brandin. After spliting most of the provinces, King Brandin sends his favorite son to lead a force against the Prince of Tigana and they meet for the first time at the River Deisa. The young man is defeated and the father is mad with grief. He leaves his wife and other children behind and heads to the river at once, overwhelming Prince Valentine and slaughtering all of his host, destroying its cities and killing most of its people. But that is not enough. He puts a curse on Tigana so only the ones that have been already born in the place and survived the aftermath, can remember or hear its name, while the rest of the world will never hear it again. He will erase not only the people, but the mane and the memory of it itself, only thus he would satisfy his revenge.
"...“He carried, like baggage, like a cart yoked to his shoulders, like a round stone in his heart, images of his people, their world destroyed, their name obliterated. Truly obliterated: a sound that was drifting, year by year, further away from the shores of the world of men, like some tide withdrawing in the grey hour of a winter dawn. Very like such a tide, but different as well, because tides came back.�..."
Twenty years later, Devin, Alessan, and Catriana are members of a traveling musicians troupe and are about to sing in the funeral rights for an exiled Duke, where their lives become truly intertwined, starting on a road to make the world remember their birthplace of Tigana. The three of them are part of the few survivors who were left behind, together with Baird, a friend to Alessan, and other who join them on their quest, some more willingly then others. It is hard to add people to their cause, not only because the two Tyrants have a murderous grip on the populations they have conquered, but because there are some things that seem to be going better under their rule. There is a rule of law, despite it giving a very free hand to the occupying armies, but with it comes a semblance of peace, the trade routs are safe, and the crime in the population at large is low. Those who are killed are usually the ones who have come to the attention of the rulers. And this is where the truth lies...
"...“Tigana, let my memory of
you be like a blade in my
dzܱ.�..."
For five hundred years the country I come from originally had been under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire. If you look at the maps of the world from this time, you will barely find the name of Bulgaria, a country which saw its greatest glory in the 9th-10th century. Before that the Byzantium Empire and later the Greeks did their best to erase its name and all that came from its people as well. Only the memory of its history, the preservation of its language and religion, as well as the pure stubbornness of that independent spirit of the Bulgarian people kept the nation in existence, as small and insignificant as it might seem on the map of the Balkans and the world in present times. Many felt that under foreign rule the country did better, there was less crime, the people were protected, despite the heavy price of lives and freedom that had to be paid. Many converted, married into the conquerors families, and became a part of the despised oppressors, mostly because of need for survival or ambition. But the name lived because of the memory of it and those who did their part, big or small, to keep that memory alive.
"...“The heart has its own laws... and the truth is... the truth is that you are the law of mine.�..."
In Tigana we are talking about the same thing, only attempted to be done with magic, instead by years of assimilation politics and the fear of the sword. Although, the sword plays a very heavy and formative role in the Peninsula of the Palm as well. Through the years the people have lived in despair with the knowledge that their pride and love for their heritage will die with them. Some, like Dianora, one of Brandin’s mistresses, had also started with that hatred for Brandin in their hearts, but find themselves taken by this enigmatic, attractive and powerful despot, justifying in their minds his murderous cruelty as something that is apart of him, since he is so erudite and charming in person. He is human and has human emotions, but he is ruthless when it comes to his enemies and cares not for what the innocent people caught in his revenge have to suffer. He is also cruel, manipulative and unyielding, but in the body of a handsome, rich, powerful and smart, intelligent and educated middle-aged man, who knows many ways to please a woman, I guess it would be easy for the woman so pleased to forget his less attractive qualities... I have always grieved for women like Dianora, who often are a part of reality when such Tyrants wield power in any culture, at any time in history... However, she had chances to redeem herself and she failed miserably in my eyes.
"...“The lesson of her days, Dianora thought, was simply this: that love was not enough. Whatever the songs of the troubadours might say. Whatever hope it might seem to offer, love was simply not enough to bridge the chasm in her world.� ..."
It is so much easier to hate the brutish, barbaric, bloodthirsty Alberico, who is just what he appears to be. What you see is what you get with him, and hating and resisting him comes way more naturally to the oppressed. He is everything we imagine our enemies to be, while in reality those caricatures of evil are usually only peons for the sleek, GQ Models-like monsters pulling their strings.
This leads us to the complexity of most of our main characters and the balance the author has achieved with the way he introduces them to us. I loved that none of the characters were truly good or truly evil. They did good or evil things, but their personal characters were complex, capable of things that would surprise you. That ambiguity of character is what made me love this book so much! I wanted to hate some of them, but I was tempted to put myself in their shoes and at times understand their decisions, despite completely disliking them. I think we all love clearly good or bad players, so we could freely root for one or the other. We do not want to see similarities between ourselves and the bad guys, because we want to believe we will always choose the path of Light. Through life experience I have learned not to expect those hopes to come to pass. We are all ruled by the need to survive, to keep going, to protect those we love, and we might find ourselves making decisions which might not always be on the up and up. When you are left with no discernible choices, you do the best you can find the strength to do... And then you seek absolution...
"...“Bright star of Eanna, forgive me the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul’s journeying.� ..."
To those who intend to read this book, be prepared for a slow developing plot, at times very slow and introspective, while at other times we would all have liked to have a bit more detail or foreshadowing. It is all presented in some very beautiful prose with undertones of old-school melodrama. The author does a great job at achieving his goal and bringing to light the importance of "Memory", the history of who we are and where we come from. I am a firm believer of History being our best teacher, but I am also very cognoscente of such "Memory" being an easy string to pull on when someone needs a wound to be reopened and old enmities to be awakened for who knows whose purposes and why... In places like this Peninsula of the Palm, or like the Balkans, old hatreds and the memories of them have never died, and it is easy to be manipulated for the purpose of destabilization. I hope people can remember why it is better to know, but also to learn to live with the strife for a better world for all of us...
Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you Need in the pages of a Good Book!!!!
A Buddy Read with the Fantasy Buddy Reads Group, because we wanted a stand-alone for a change...
How do I even start on writing a review for this book? I think, just as most everyone else has done, I have to begin with the style of writing. It is a throwback to a time long past, it carries a lyrical magic which simmers in every sentence, and without being in itself overly flowery, it conveyed a sense of Gothic melodrama, which made me feel as if a bard of old was telling the story of an even older legend he learned on the road. Although I know myself to be a person who loves all styles of writing and all sorts of genres, I have to say that the easiest way to my heart is through old-fashioned feel in the prose, be it bouncy and playful, or dreamy and lulling. Thus I often find myself in love with books for reasons others find detrimental to the story. In this case, the pace of the story seems to be overly slow and the prevailing theme itself often hard to relate to, especially if you come from a culture which has been dominant in its history.
"..."'TIGANA!'
Through the square that cry rang, along the streets, up to the windows where people watched, over the roofs of houses running westward to the sea or eastward to the temples, and far beyond all of these-- a sound, a name, a hurled sorrow in the brightness of the air.�..."
More than twenty years ago, the city-state of Tigana, one of the nine such in the Peninsula of the Palm, was a place of beauty, prosperity and pride, exalting in its culture and arts and lead by Prince Valentine, a handsome and beloved ruler. Its people were known for their passion and fervor, but most of all for their stubborn pride. The nine provinces were always competing, to the point of enmity, often warring among themselves, and this is what made them an easy mark for the conquering sorcerers on two different sides of the Peninsula. On the one side is the Empire of Barbadior, and the brute of a warrior-sorcerer Alberico, on the other is the Kingdom of Ygrath with the sorcerer-king Brandin. After spliting most of the provinces, King Brandin sends his favorite son to lead a force against the Prince of Tigana and they meet for the first time at the River Deisa. The young man is defeated and the father is mad with grief. He leaves his wife and other children behind and heads to the river at once, overwhelming Prince Valentine and slaughtering all of his host, destroying its cities and killing most of its people. But that is not enough. He puts a curse on Tigana so only the ones that have been already born in the place and survived the aftermath, can remember or hear its name, while the rest of the world will never hear it again. He will erase not only the people, but the mane and the memory of it itself, only thus he would satisfy his revenge.
"...“He carried, like baggage, like a cart yoked to his shoulders, like a round stone in his heart, images of his people, their world destroyed, their name obliterated. Truly obliterated: a sound that was drifting, year by year, further away from the shores of the world of men, like some tide withdrawing in the grey hour of a winter dawn. Very like such a tide, but different as well, because tides came back.�..."
Twenty years later, Devin, Alessan, and Catriana are members of a traveling musicians troupe and are about to sing in the funeral rights for an exiled Duke, where their lives become truly intertwined, starting on a road to make the world remember their birthplace of Tigana. The three of them are part of the few survivors who were left behind, together with Baird, a friend to Alessan, and other who join them on their quest, some more willingly then others. It is hard to add people to their cause, not only because the two Tyrants have a murderous grip on the populations they have conquered, but because there are some things that seem to be going better under their rule. There is a rule of law, despite it giving a very free hand to the occupying armies, but with it comes a semblance of peace, the trade routs are safe, and the crime in the population at large is low. Those who are killed are usually the ones who have come to the attention of the rulers. And this is where the truth lies...
"...“Tigana, let my memory of
you be like a blade in my
dzܱ.�..."
For five hundred years the country I come from originally had been under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire. If you look at the maps of the world from this time, you will barely find the name of Bulgaria, a country which saw its greatest glory in the 9th-10th century. Before that the Byzantium Empire and later the Greeks did their best to erase its name and all that came from its people as well. Only the memory of its history, the preservation of its language and religion, as well as the pure stubbornness of that independent spirit of the Bulgarian people kept the nation in existence, as small and insignificant as it might seem on the map of the Balkans and the world in present times. Many felt that under foreign rule the country did better, there was less crime, the people were protected, despite the heavy price of lives and freedom that had to be paid. Many converted, married into the conquerors families, and became a part of the despised oppressors, mostly because of need for survival or ambition. But the name lived because of the memory of it and those who did their part, big or small, to keep that memory alive.
"...“The heart has its own laws... and the truth is... the truth is that you are the law of mine.�..."
In Tigana we are talking about the same thing, only attempted to be done with magic, instead by years of assimilation politics and the fear of the sword. Although, the sword plays a very heavy and formative role in the Peninsula of the Palm as well. Through the years the people have lived in despair with the knowledge that their pride and love for their heritage will die with them. Some, like Dianora, one of Brandin’s mistresses, had also started with that hatred for Brandin in their hearts, but find themselves taken by this enigmatic, attractive and powerful despot, justifying in their minds his murderous cruelty as something that is apart of him, since he is so erudite and charming in person. He is human and has human emotions, but he is ruthless when it comes to his enemies and cares not for what the innocent people caught in his revenge have to suffer. He is also cruel, manipulative and unyielding, but in the body of a handsome, rich, powerful and smart, intelligent and educated middle-aged man, who knows many ways to please a woman, I guess it would be easy for the woman so pleased to forget his less attractive qualities... I have always grieved for women like Dianora, who often are a part of reality when such Tyrants wield power in any culture, at any time in history... However, she had chances to redeem herself and she failed miserably in my eyes.
"...“The lesson of her days, Dianora thought, was simply this: that love was not enough. Whatever the songs of the troubadours might say. Whatever hope it might seem to offer, love was simply not enough to bridge the chasm in her world.� ..."
It is so much easier to hate the brutish, barbaric, bloodthirsty Alberico, who is just what he appears to be. What you see is what you get with him, and hating and resisting him comes way more naturally to the oppressed. He is everything we imagine our enemies to be, while in reality those caricatures of evil are usually only peons for the sleek, GQ Models-like monsters pulling their strings.
This leads us to the complexity of most of our main characters and the balance the author has achieved with the way he introduces them to us. I loved that none of the characters were truly good or truly evil. They did good or evil things, but their personal characters were complex, capable of things that would surprise you. That ambiguity of character is what made me love this book so much! I wanted to hate some of them, but I was tempted to put myself in their shoes and at times understand their decisions, despite completely disliking them. I think we all love clearly good or bad players, so we could freely root for one or the other. We do not want to see similarities between ourselves and the bad guys, because we want to believe we will always choose the path of Light. Through life experience I have learned not to expect those hopes to come to pass. We are all ruled by the need to survive, to keep going, to protect those we love, and we might find ourselves making decisions which might not always be on the up and up. When you are left with no discernible choices, you do the best you can find the strength to do... And then you seek absolution...
"...“Bright star of Eanna, forgive me the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul’s journeying.� ..."
To those who intend to read this book, be prepared for a slow developing plot, at times very slow and introspective, while at other times we would all have liked to have a bit more detail or foreshadowing. It is all presented in some very beautiful prose with undertones of old-school melodrama. The author does a great job at achieving his goal and bringing to light the importance of "Memory", the history of who we are and where we come from. I am a firm believer of History being our best teacher, but I am also very cognoscente of such "Memory" being an easy string to pull on when someone needs a wound to be reopened and old enmities to be awakened for who knows whose purposes and why... In places like this Peninsula of the Palm, or like the Balkans, old hatreds and the memories of them have never died, and it is easy to be manipulated for the purpose of destabilization. I hope people can remember why it is better to know, but also to learn to live with the strife for a better world for all of us...
Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you Need in the pages of a Good Book!!!!
December 29, 2022
History is written by the victors.
If it does not get reported, it never happened.
There are a few things that happened while I was deployed to Iraq that are not a part of the official story. I saw some things with my eyes, experienced an event with hundreds of other people. But, what we saw, what we know to be true, is not recognized by the government, was not reported, is not now a part of the history books, and so “it never happened�. I’ve always thought that was a surreal bit of fiction and it made me wonder what else was never reported and so was buried in the landfill of history.
Fans of Raiders of the Last Ark will recall the final scenes in that wonderful film, where we learn that the Ark of the Covenant is going to get buried, again, lost this time not in the sands of the desert but in a government warehouse, and bureaucrats are going to keep the secret of this treasure.
There are footnotes to history of cultures, peoples, languages, that have been razed from the global consciousness. Poets and writers who cannot, under penalty of law, speak the words of their native tongue. Teachers who cannot instruct children about who they are, or where they came from, and must not even use the oppressed language. Think of the Native American tribes, whose children were forced to attend schools where only English was taught, where the mores and customs of their society could not be extended to a next generation.
Guy Gavriel Kay, in an afterword of this remarkable book, commented that this concept, this idea that facts and events can be erased from history was a theme he explored in the peripheral fiction of fantasy. He noted a photograph he had seen where a leader of an anti-Soviet movement in Prague had been removed from the scene. Not only had the Soviets taken him away to some gulag, perhaps even killed him, but had erased him from pictures. I can also think of the closing scenes of David Lean’s film Doctor Zhivago, where Alec Guiness� character comments about Lara that she was lost, a “nameless number on a list that was later misplaced�.
In Tigana, we are introduced to a world, modeled after Renaissance Italy, where years before invading armies, led by sorcerers, had defeated the land, and in a crushing blow to the people of Tigana, had erased the memory of that place from peoples minds. They had cursed the country so that no one could remember, could not even say the name. Only natives of Tigana could recall the truth of their history and so were doubly cursed to live out their lives erased from history, knowing a truth that could not be shared, heirs to a history that had been lost; and so theirs was a fight, not just for independence from an occupying force, but for their identity.
As good as this idea is to be a defining element of this work, Kay’s writing makes it even better.
Like Cormac McCarthy, Kay eschews a Disney story, loaded with labels and clearly defined aspects of right and wrong, good and evil. Life is complicated, without clear paths, and so literature from these great writers follows the chaotic trails of authentic existence . Good people fail and die and do bad things. Villains turn out to be decent and have genuine emotions and can love deeply. Enemies can have complex feelings about one another. There may be happy endings, but more frequently we see that stories never really end but trials and tribulations go on long after the credits would have otherwise rolled.
Kay describes a group of rebels who plot and struggle for freedom but along the way we are also introduced to a myriad of colorful characters and scenes that make this an exceptional work. Some readers may be turned off by the “fantasy� label, but in Kay’s able hands the magic is minimal and understated. More than that even, Kay demonstrates that he can masterfully depict a fight scene as well as he can a scene of lovemaking and his virtuosity with prose is something to experience.
Great book.
If it does not get reported, it never happened.
There are a few things that happened while I was deployed to Iraq that are not a part of the official story. I saw some things with my eyes, experienced an event with hundreds of other people. But, what we saw, what we know to be true, is not recognized by the government, was not reported, is not now a part of the history books, and so “it never happened�. I’ve always thought that was a surreal bit of fiction and it made me wonder what else was never reported and so was buried in the landfill of history.
Fans of Raiders of the Last Ark will recall the final scenes in that wonderful film, where we learn that the Ark of the Covenant is going to get buried, again, lost this time not in the sands of the desert but in a government warehouse, and bureaucrats are going to keep the secret of this treasure.
There are footnotes to history of cultures, peoples, languages, that have been razed from the global consciousness. Poets and writers who cannot, under penalty of law, speak the words of their native tongue. Teachers who cannot instruct children about who they are, or where they came from, and must not even use the oppressed language. Think of the Native American tribes, whose children were forced to attend schools where only English was taught, where the mores and customs of their society could not be extended to a next generation.
Guy Gavriel Kay, in an afterword of this remarkable book, commented that this concept, this idea that facts and events can be erased from history was a theme he explored in the peripheral fiction of fantasy. He noted a photograph he had seen where a leader of an anti-Soviet movement in Prague had been removed from the scene. Not only had the Soviets taken him away to some gulag, perhaps even killed him, but had erased him from pictures. I can also think of the closing scenes of David Lean’s film Doctor Zhivago, where Alec Guiness� character comments about Lara that she was lost, a “nameless number on a list that was later misplaced�.
In Tigana, we are introduced to a world, modeled after Renaissance Italy, where years before invading armies, led by sorcerers, had defeated the land, and in a crushing blow to the people of Tigana, had erased the memory of that place from peoples minds. They had cursed the country so that no one could remember, could not even say the name. Only natives of Tigana could recall the truth of their history and so were doubly cursed to live out their lives erased from history, knowing a truth that could not be shared, heirs to a history that had been lost; and so theirs was a fight, not just for independence from an occupying force, but for their identity.
As good as this idea is to be a defining element of this work, Kay’s writing makes it even better.
Like Cormac McCarthy, Kay eschews a Disney story, loaded with labels and clearly defined aspects of right and wrong, good and evil. Life is complicated, without clear paths, and so literature from these great writers follows the chaotic trails of authentic existence . Good people fail and die and do bad things. Villains turn out to be decent and have genuine emotions and can love deeply. Enemies can have complex feelings about one another. There may be happy endings, but more frequently we see that stories never really end but trials and tribulations go on long after the credits would have otherwise rolled.
Kay describes a group of rebels who plot and struggle for freedom but along the way we are also introduced to a myriad of colorful characters and scenes that make this an exceptional work. Some readers may be turned off by the “fantasy� label, but in Kay’s able hands the magic is minimal and understated. More than that even, Kay demonstrates that he can masterfully depict a fight scene as well as he can a scene of lovemaking and his virtuosity with prose is something to experience.
Great book.
Shelved as 'sampled-and-declined'
December 31, 2016Abandoned at 25% after a valiant effort not to. And this is my third Kay novel dropped in a row...
To say I'm sorely disappointed is an understatement. Baffled might be more like it, because it's hard to see that an author who has written one of my favourite novels has also turned into an author whose works I cannot get into after that first novel. Each book has had varying reasons for abandoning, and if I were to give a summary of those for abandoning Tigana, it'd be:
1. The group of Tigana survivors are annoyingly self-righteous and self-important as well as whiny and overemotional. Not traits that make for likable nor interesting characters. And that includes the two characters usually hailed as "layered" and great. The "villain" is interesting, but cannot carry the weight of the plot all by himself.
2. The first romance to develop is silly, and the sex scenes cringey. The second romance is less so, but still not compelling. The third one, involving the antagonist and one of the Tigana survivors is negatively impacted by the woman's constant hand-wringing over not being able to carry out her one mission in life because of her feelings. I know that's supposed to be a Big Dilemma, but it was pathetic.
3. The two females in the novel, Catriana and Dianora, and the musician Devin are insufferable.
4. The prose is good, but the writing isn't. It meanders through the pages, it's ponderous, pretentious, tells too much and shows very little.
5. Too much sentimentality and emotionality that fails to convey the point, and rather reads theatrical and overdone.
Not sure I want to continue trying more of Kay's books after such a bad record in every attempt made with him in 2016, at least not for a while and after a lot of palate-cleansing reads.
To say I'm sorely disappointed is an understatement. Baffled might be more like it, because it's hard to see that an author who has written one of my favourite novels has also turned into an author whose works I cannot get into after that first novel. Each book has had varying reasons for abandoning, and if I were to give a summary of those for abandoning Tigana, it'd be:
1. The group of Tigana survivors are annoyingly self-righteous and self-important as well as whiny and overemotional. Not traits that make for likable nor interesting characters. And that includes the two characters usually hailed as "layered" and great. The "villain" is interesting, but cannot carry the weight of the plot all by himself.
2. The first romance to develop is silly, and the sex scenes cringey. The second romance is less so, but still not compelling. The third one, involving the antagonist and one of the Tigana survivors is negatively impacted by the woman's constant hand-wringing over not being able to carry out her one mission in life because of her feelings. I know that's supposed to be a Big Dilemma, but it was pathetic.
3. The two females in the novel, Catriana and Dianora, and the musician Devin are insufferable.
4. The prose is good, but the writing isn't. It meanders through the pages, it's ponderous, pretentious, tells too much and shows very little.
5. Too much sentimentality and emotionality that fails to convey the point, and rather reads theatrical and overdone.
Not sure I want to continue trying more of Kay's books after such a bad record in every attempt made with him in 2016, at least not for a while and after a lot of palate-cleansing reads.
January 17, 2022
If GGK would leave out his gratuitous sex scenes, he could be a new favorite author, easily.
Read
January 16, 2013This is a review with pictures in it. I see people doing this, and I want to as well. I can haz cats also, yes?
Anyway, this ye old secondary world fantasy, with maps and kingdoms princes and things and everything.
No, not like that, silly. It is Deep and Melancholy and Meaningful. Like this:
Do you SEE? It is FUZZY and PASTEL COLORED and there is BOOBS. That means it is PROFOUND.
Women in this book are not marginalized onto these pedestals replete with bizzaro stupid sexualization for no discernable reason (except BOOBS) like this
but for complex things about THEMES. IT IS LIKE FUCKING SHAKESPEARE, YO.
Themes:
Doctor Who has Themes.
(Look, I believe in equal opportunity eye-candy, yes?)
This all the MORE DEEPER, because it is PURPLE.
There are also other themes, except BOOBS.
For example, there is FREEDOM and IDENTITY and NATION-THINGY-NESS.
[image error]
This is INEFFABLE and SAD, because, you see, once there were SONGS, and now there are NO MORE SONGS. And there is MEMORY. SECRET MEMORY. And it is SAD.
BUT! Fear not, brave readers. Where there is PROFOUND SAD and BOOBS, there are...
No, unfortunately there are no X-Men.
But there are MEN.
REAL MEN.
But also not like that. Not ALL testoroney and nasty and things.
No, these real men SING.
And are NICE TO ANIMALS. And are NICE TO WIMMINZ. Whom they make CRY. But with JOY.
Well, SAD JOY. This is DEEP.
So, folk, it's ok - we can sit back and marvel at these men be men. Sometimes, they kill people or take people prisoner or are generally nasty and shit, but it's OK because IT HURTS THEM IN THEIR HEART.
Poor Troy.
The point is, a little bit of judicious forgivable killing is what forges the MANLY HEART.
Forged on the CRUCIBLE. Of WAR. Into MEN.
And it SAD. But with JOY, also.
(This book is very long.
All right, it is also very thick.)
So we have the MEN who weep INSIDE, and the WOMEN, who weep OUTSIDE, and the LAND that weeps to be REDEEMED.
Oh, the GLORY of the PAIN. And the RESOLVE. The STEELY resolve. Tempered by the CAMRADERIE. Of WAR. Of MEN.
[image error]
BUT! I don't know if they win. Because I didn't finish the book. Because I was overwhelmed.
Yes, also because I swooned with all the TRAGIC MANLINESS,
but also because,
well,
fuck the fascists.
Also,
well,
Purple.
Over and out.
Good god this takes forever.
Since I'm here anyway, hot-dude-spam, k? It's like a palette cleanser and makes me feel better after this book.
Sexy George Orwell. And he didn't even sing.
I would have stayed in tiny Paris garrets and drunk cheap red wine with you while getting tuberculosis anyday, Eric.
Commodity fetish, you say, Young Karl Marx?
Jaquen H'ghar is the sexiest ASOIAF character it is known shut up ok?
Anyway, this ye old secondary world fantasy, with maps and kingdoms princes and things and everything.
No, not like that, silly. It is Deep and Melancholy and Meaningful. Like this:
Do you SEE? It is FUZZY and PASTEL COLORED and there is BOOBS. That means it is PROFOUND.
Women in this book are not marginalized onto these pedestals replete with bizzaro stupid sexualization for no discernable reason (except BOOBS) like this
but for complex things about THEMES. IT IS LIKE FUCKING SHAKESPEARE, YO.
Themes:
Doctor Who has Themes.
(Look, I believe in equal opportunity eye-candy, yes?)
This all the MORE DEEPER, because it is PURPLE.
There are also other themes, except BOOBS.
For example, there is FREEDOM and IDENTITY and NATION-THINGY-NESS.
[image error]
This is INEFFABLE and SAD, because, you see, once there were SONGS, and now there are NO MORE SONGS. And there is MEMORY. SECRET MEMORY. And it is SAD.
BUT! Fear not, brave readers. Where there is PROFOUND SAD and BOOBS, there are...
No, unfortunately there are no X-Men.
But there are MEN.
REAL MEN.
But also not like that. Not ALL testoroney and nasty and things.
No, these real men SING.
And are NICE TO ANIMALS. And are NICE TO WIMMINZ. Whom they make CRY. But with JOY.
Well, SAD JOY. This is DEEP.
So, folk, it's ok - we can sit back and marvel at these men be men. Sometimes, they kill people or take people prisoner or are generally nasty and shit, but it's OK because IT HURTS THEM IN THEIR HEART.
Poor Troy.
The point is, a little bit of judicious forgivable killing is what forges the MANLY HEART.
Forged on the CRUCIBLE. Of WAR. Into MEN.
And it SAD. But with JOY, also.
(This book is very long.
All right, it is also very thick.)
So we have the MEN who weep INSIDE, and the WOMEN, who weep OUTSIDE, and the LAND that weeps to be REDEEMED.
Oh, the GLORY of the PAIN. And the RESOLVE. The STEELY resolve. Tempered by the CAMRADERIE. Of WAR. Of MEN.
[image error]
BUT! I don't know if they win. Because I didn't finish the book. Because I was overwhelmed.
Yes, also because I swooned with all the TRAGIC MANLINESS,
but also because,
well,
fuck the fascists.
Also,
well,
Purple.
Over and out.
Good god this takes forever.
Since I'm here anyway, hot-dude-spam, k? It's like a palette cleanser and makes me feel better after this book.
Sexy George Orwell. And he didn't even sing.
I would have stayed in tiny Paris garrets and drunk cheap red wine with you while getting tuberculosis anyday, Eric.
Commodity fetish, you say, Young Karl Marx?
Jaquen H'ghar is the sexiest ASOIAF character it is known shut up ok?
August 16, 2017
Full review now posted!
Original review can be found at .
The best books in any genre are the ones that move you. And I just found a new one in my very favorite genre.
“There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.�
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that I’ve read hundreds of fantasy books in my lifetime. I’ve taken so many adventures through extravagantly strange worlds with casts of immensely varied characters on a multitude of nigh impossible quests. Fantasy is a genre that never gets old for me, because there’s no limit to what the human imagination can spawn onto a page. That doesn’t mean that every single fantasy book I read is a hit for me. I’ve had disappointments. But my first foray into the writings of Guy Gavriel Kay was definitely not a disappointment. I think I’ve found a new favorite author.
“Language. The process of sharing with words seemed such a futile exercise sometimes.�
GGK has an exquisite way with words. My favorite fantasies are always those with breathtaking prose, and GGK delivers that is spades with Tigana. But the lovely language is just a vehicle for the amazing story he has crafted. In a world where magic is very real, what happens when an entire land and people are torn from their name, and to what lengths will they go to recover that identity? That is the central plot of the book, but there is so much more to the story. What truly defines you? How important is a name? When does seeking vengeance cross a line and become not worthy of its cost? Where does the line between love and loyalty break, and which wins in your heart? Is a dream worth sacrificing not just your life, but your quality of life? Is it easier to die for a dream than live without it? There were so many deep questions raised here. Philosophy and religion are always one of my favorite aspects of fantasy worlds, and both were very well developed here.
“Words were power, words tried to change you, to shape bridges of longing that no one could ever really cross.�
There is such a beautiful, eclectic cast of characters in this book. And they all have so much personality and depth. Devin, a young man with the voice of an angel but the face of a child, is my very favorite character. I also loved Alessan, Baerd, Catriana, Alais, Dionara, and a couple of others whose names I can’t even use because they’re almost spoilers. I will say this, though: I appreciate so much how GGK made his characters gray instead of black and white. Even the characters who were supposedly “bad� had so many redeeming qualities. Except for Alberico. He was just a douche. But every character had understandable motivations, and it was nearly impossible to choose a side. I loved that. Because people are nuanced and deep and almost never see themselves as evil, and it takes a really great author to get that point across in his work.
“In this world, where we find ourselves, we need compassion more than anything, I think, or we are all alone.�
Because GGK was able to make the vast majority of his characters so sympathetic, reading this book was an incredibly emotional experience for me. Seriously, I was reading through tears for hundreds of pages. There was just something about the way GGK strung together his prose and plot that resonated deeply with me, and moved me more than most fantasy novels are able to. I was profoundly invested in the story and the characters and the fate the Palm as a whole and Tigana in particular. The ending was beautiful and devastating, and I’m still trying to come to terms with the amount of both joy and sadness it inspired within me.
On last thing I loved about this book: the importance of hope. Even when things looked dire, even when people were devastated or torn, there was hope. The worldview felt so bright, even in the midst of despair. I don’t know exactly what GGK believes, but I feel like he has to believe in something in order to create a world this broken that still has so much room for hope.
If this level of craftsmanship is what I can expect from the rest of GGK’s catalogue, I will be reading every book penned by him I’m able to get my little hands on. I heartily recommend it to any fan of high fantasy.
A buddy read with the always wonderful Petrik!
Original review can be found at .
The best books in any genre are the ones that move you. And I just found a new one in my very favorite genre.
“There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.�
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that I’ve read hundreds of fantasy books in my lifetime. I’ve taken so many adventures through extravagantly strange worlds with casts of immensely varied characters on a multitude of nigh impossible quests. Fantasy is a genre that never gets old for me, because there’s no limit to what the human imagination can spawn onto a page. That doesn’t mean that every single fantasy book I read is a hit for me. I’ve had disappointments. But my first foray into the writings of Guy Gavriel Kay was definitely not a disappointment. I think I’ve found a new favorite author.
“Language. The process of sharing with words seemed such a futile exercise sometimes.�
GGK has an exquisite way with words. My favorite fantasies are always those with breathtaking prose, and GGK delivers that is spades with Tigana. But the lovely language is just a vehicle for the amazing story he has crafted. In a world where magic is very real, what happens when an entire land and people are torn from their name, and to what lengths will they go to recover that identity? That is the central plot of the book, but there is so much more to the story. What truly defines you? How important is a name? When does seeking vengeance cross a line and become not worthy of its cost? Where does the line between love and loyalty break, and which wins in your heart? Is a dream worth sacrificing not just your life, but your quality of life? Is it easier to die for a dream than live without it? There were so many deep questions raised here. Philosophy and religion are always one of my favorite aspects of fantasy worlds, and both were very well developed here.
“Words were power, words tried to change you, to shape bridges of longing that no one could ever really cross.�
There is such a beautiful, eclectic cast of characters in this book. And they all have so much personality and depth. Devin, a young man with the voice of an angel but the face of a child, is my very favorite character. I also loved Alessan, Baerd, Catriana, Alais, Dionara, and a couple of others whose names I can’t even use because they’re almost spoilers. I will say this, though: I appreciate so much how GGK made his characters gray instead of black and white. Even the characters who were supposedly “bad� had so many redeeming qualities. Except for Alberico. He was just a douche. But every character had understandable motivations, and it was nearly impossible to choose a side. I loved that. Because people are nuanced and deep and almost never see themselves as evil, and it takes a really great author to get that point across in his work.
“In this world, where we find ourselves, we need compassion more than anything, I think, or we are all alone.�
Because GGK was able to make the vast majority of his characters so sympathetic, reading this book was an incredibly emotional experience for me. Seriously, I was reading through tears for hundreds of pages. There was just something about the way GGK strung together his prose and plot that resonated deeply with me, and moved me more than most fantasy novels are able to. I was profoundly invested in the story and the characters and the fate the Palm as a whole and Tigana in particular. The ending was beautiful and devastating, and I’m still trying to come to terms with the amount of both joy and sadness it inspired within me.
On last thing I loved about this book: the importance of hope. Even when things looked dire, even when people were devastated or torn, there was hope. The worldview felt so bright, even in the midst of despair. I don’t know exactly what GGK believes, but I feel like he has to believe in something in order to create a world this broken that still has so much room for hope.
If this level of craftsmanship is what I can expect from the rest of GGK’s catalogue, I will be reading every book penned by him I’m able to get my little hands on. I heartily recommend it to any fan of high fantasy.
A buddy read with the always wonderful Petrik!
November 27, 2016
It's been long time since I read standalone fantasy book.
So far I mostly avoided Kay for no particular reason and I came into possession of this book almost by accident. What a happy accident it was as this turned out to be wonderful and pretty unique book.
I already encountered combination of heroic fantasy characters in grimdark setting from another Canadian author, Steven Erikson, but Kay does it with his own unique flavor.
World building in this book is just wonderful.Without too detailed descriptions Kay managed to build one live and vibrant world with it's myths, folklore, different mentalities and cultures.Here I could feel atmosphere of every city and every tavern.
Story is also very strong.Yes we have heroes and villains and great quest but every character have some shades of grey beneath the surface.Heroes have their flaws and quirk and villains have moments when they are releatable and plausible(well at least one of them) and everything is done with touch of subtlety to it.
Conclusion: Easy 5 stars and warm recommendation.
So far I mostly avoided Kay for no particular reason and I came into possession of this book almost by accident. What a happy accident it was as this turned out to be wonderful and pretty unique book.
I already encountered combination of heroic fantasy characters in grimdark setting from another Canadian author, Steven Erikson, but Kay does it with his own unique flavor.
World building in this book is just wonderful.Without too detailed descriptions Kay managed to build one live and vibrant world with it's myths, folklore, different mentalities and cultures.Here I could feel atmosphere of every city and every tavern.
Story is also very strong.Yes we have heroes and villains and great quest but every character have some shades of grey beneath the surface.Heroes have their flaws and quirk and villains have moments when they are releatable and plausible(well at least one of them) and everything is done with touch of subtlety to it.
Conclusion: Easy 5 stars and warm recommendation.
March 27, 2018
What more can be said other than everyone should read this book. At least once. Get a feel for the beauty of language and images in motion. You won't be disappointed. Guy Gavriel Kay is a great prose writer. It doesn't even matter if fantasy isn't your thing because this book does not read like fantasy. It reads like the sort of well-written historical fiction that weaves in myths to tell the tales of a lost time. A personal favorite combination, I must admit. Also, I'm coming off of a dramatic final battle confrontation scene that had me on the edge of my seat for the last three days... so this is a hugely biased review.
There isn't much that can be said about this book without giving the story away, but I'll try to sum up the foundation on which the story is built.
The Palm, where the story takes place, is a peninsula that Kay modeled after Renaissance Italy. Music plays a big part in the narration, and at times, you can almost hear music in the prose. There's a somber tone and a Mediterranean feel to the atmosphere that's hard to describe, but you feel it when you read.
The main players are:
Brandin of Ygrath, a sorcerer, king, and tyrant from the West
Alberico of Barbedior, a sorcerer, barbarian, tyrant from the East
Valentin, a prince of Tigana, a small corner of the Palm.
On the eve of the battle that would later wipe Tigana from existence, we learn that Brandin came with force and magic to take over the Palm. Prince Valentin, who had already foreseen his fate and knew he couldn't win, killed Brandin's son on the battlefield--he had no other choice. This led Brandin to unleash all of his wrath on Tigana, ultimately wiping it off the map and from the memory of everyone who wasn't born in the land. Only the people born in Tigana before the fall remember its name and history. Brandin renamed the land Lower Corte, as an insult to the people of Tigana because Corte was a former formidable enemy, and he enslaved the whole population.
That is just the prologue. The rest of the story is set twenty years after Tigana's fall with the rise of a quiet rebellion. Alessan, the only surviving son of Valentin, leads a small band of rebels across the Palm to do the impossible, overthrow both Brandin and Alberico at once to take back the land. It has to be both at once because, if one tyrant falls, the other would easily take his place and continue his reign of terror.
Somewhere on the other side of the Palm, on a similar path, Dianora, the daughter of Valentin's close friend and adviser who was also killed by Brandin, has plans for a quiet upheaval of her own that starts at the heart of Brandin's court, but she goes at it alone. I think it's because she's alone that she fails in executing her plans, and because she's alone, it's easy to fall for Brandin after having lived with him as a concubine for twelve years.
The plot is revealed gradually as you learn more about each character, their inner turmoil and redemption, and the history of the Palm. The tyrants get almost as much time on the page as the other main characters. There is a lot of grief, loss, and pain in this book. As a reader, a casual observer, you feel most, if not all, of it because the writing is just that good. It's poetic and lyrical, like Alessan's music. At times I could swear I can hear music playing in the background.
What Kay does extremely well is capture the loss of a homeland, history, culture, and the name of a group of people. Only they alone have memory of this piece of land that no one else remembers. When they try to speak of it, people born outside of the land can't even hear the name because it's been magically erased from the collective memory. In essence, this is a story of the side that lost the war and the consequences they suffer because they lost. This particular narrative transcends genres, I think, and we don't often see it told, or rather told well, not in fantasy. Because narrative belongs to those who win wars and capitalize on their success.
I'm certain there are a couple things I didn't like or had trouble imagining in the book. I just can't think of any right now.
A few memorable moments:
[...]
[...]
[,,,]
Cross-posted at
There isn't much that can be said about this book without giving the story away, but I'll try to sum up the foundation on which the story is built.
The Palm, where the story takes place, is a peninsula that Kay modeled after Renaissance Italy. Music plays a big part in the narration, and at times, you can almost hear music in the prose. There's a somber tone and a Mediterranean feel to the atmosphere that's hard to describe, but you feel it when you read.
The main players are:
Brandin of Ygrath, a sorcerer, king, and tyrant from the West
Alberico of Barbedior, a sorcerer, barbarian, tyrant from the East
Valentin, a prince of Tigana, a small corner of the Palm.
On the eve of the battle that would later wipe Tigana from existence, we learn that Brandin came with force and magic to take over the Palm. Prince Valentin, who had already foreseen his fate and knew he couldn't win, killed Brandin's son on the battlefield--he had no other choice. This led Brandin to unleash all of his wrath on Tigana, ultimately wiping it off the map and from the memory of everyone who wasn't born in the land. Only the people born in Tigana before the fall remember its name and history. Brandin renamed the land Lower Corte, as an insult to the people of Tigana because Corte was a former formidable enemy, and he enslaved the whole population.
That is just the prologue. The rest of the story is set twenty years after Tigana's fall with the rise of a quiet rebellion. Alessan, the only surviving son of Valentin, leads a small band of rebels across the Palm to do the impossible, overthrow both Brandin and Alberico at once to take back the land. It has to be both at once because, if one tyrant falls, the other would easily take his place and continue his reign of terror.
Somewhere on the other side of the Palm, on a similar path, Dianora, the daughter of Valentin's close friend and adviser who was also killed by Brandin, has plans for a quiet upheaval of her own that starts at the heart of Brandin's court, but she goes at it alone. I think it's because she's alone that she fails in executing her plans, and because she's alone, it's easy to fall for Brandin after having lived with him as a concubine for twelve years.
The plot is revealed gradually as you learn more about each character, their inner turmoil and redemption, and the history of the Palm. The tyrants get almost as much time on the page as the other main characters. There is a lot of grief, loss, and pain in this book. As a reader, a casual observer, you feel most, if not all, of it because the writing is just that good. It's poetic and lyrical, like Alessan's music. At times I could swear I can hear music playing in the background.
What Kay does extremely well is capture the loss of a homeland, history, culture, and the name of a group of people. Only they alone have memory of this piece of land that no one else remembers. When they try to speak of it, people born outside of the land can't even hear the name because it's been magically erased from the collective memory. In essence, this is a story of the side that lost the war and the consequences they suffer because they lost. This particular narrative transcends genres, I think, and we don't often see it told, or rather told well, not in fantasy. Because narrative belongs to those who win wars and capitalize on their success.
I'm certain there are a couple things I didn't like or had trouble imagining in the book. I just can't think of any right now.
A few memorable moments:
She would be near the water by now. She would not be coming back this time. He had not expected her to return on the morning of the Dive; she had tried to hide it, but he had seen something in her when she woke that day. He hadn't understood why, but he had known that she was readying herself to die.
She had been ready, he was certain of it; something had changed for her by the water's edge that day. It would not change again.
[...]
“She lifted her hands and closed them around his head... and it seemed to Catriana in that moment as if that newborn trialla in her soul began to sing. Of trials endured and trials to come, of doubt and dark and all the deep uncertainties that defined the outer boundaries of mortal life, but with love now present at the base of it all, like light, like the first stone of a rising tower.�
[...]
“And in that moment Dianora had a truth brought home to her with finality: how something can seem quite unchanged in all the small surface details of existence where things never really change, men and women being what they are, but how the core, the pulse, the kernel of everything can still have become utterly unlike what it had been before.�
[,,,]
“He could guess, analyze, play out scenarios in his mind, but he would never know. It was a night-time truth that became a queer, private sorrow for him amid all that came after. A symbol, a displacement of regret. A reminder of what it was to be mortal and so doomed to tread one road only and that one only once, until Morian called the soul away and Eanna’s lights were lost. We can never truly know the path we have not walked.�
Cross-posted at
March 20, 2020
There is a lot to love about Tigana and for Guy Gavriel Kay in general. His writing is often prose-poetical, smooth and impressionistic, and also, at times, lush. His core strengths always revolve around vast worldbuilding, complex and detailed characterizations, and fantasy worlds that are often close, if not perfectly like, real historical settings in our world.
That's not to say there aren't magic or dual moons, because there is.
This particular book is all about memory. Magic stole away the very name of a city when a grieving magician/lord plowed through the offending kingdom of Tigana and then cursed it (and its people) to forget the very NAME of Tigana.
Of course, the family name of Tigana, as well as the members of this family, are affected. They remember their own name, but no one else in the kingdom can. This is is both their tragic story and how they deal with this loss after 20 years and it is a story of a whole culture forced underground.
We have plenty of examples of this in our own world.
Maybe not to the same extreme as magically erasing whole cultures, but there are many methods that can do this as completely and tragically right here.
I was struck by such unutterable sadness as I read this. So many scenes were memorable, emotional, and deeply ironic. More were simply introspective and a matter of living each day, taking that next step.
I admit, for all the things that I loved about this book, I also grew somewhat *bored*. The characters, while often holding my attention, sometimes... didn't. A lot of the time, I really had to struggle to want to keep reading or do something else. It was more like my appreciation was pretty much the only thing keeping my eyes glued to the page during certain long passages, and that's... not great.
Still, a lot more than not, I really liked this book and I have nothing bad to say about his prose. Indeed, he's a lot better than most. :)
That's not to say there aren't magic or dual moons, because there is.
This particular book is all about memory. Magic stole away the very name of a city when a grieving magician/lord plowed through the offending kingdom of Tigana and then cursed it (and its people) to forget the very NAME of Tigana.
Of course, the family name of Tigana, as well as the members of this family, are affected. They remember their own name, but no one else in the kingdom can. This is is both their tragic story and how they deal with this loss after 20 years and it is a story of a whole culture forced underground.
We have plenty of examples of this in our own world.
Maybe not to the same extreme as magically erasing whole cultures, but there are many methods that can do this as completely and tragically right here.
I was struck by such unutterable sadness as I read this. So many scenes were memorable, emotional, and deeply ironic. More were simply introspective and a matter of living each day, taking that next step.
I admit, for all the things that I loved about this book, I also grew somewhat *bored*. The characters, while often holding my attention, sometimes... didn't. A lot of the time, I really had to struggle to want to keep reading or do something else. It was more like my appreciation was pretty much the only thing keeping my eyes glued to the page during certain long passages, and that's... not great.
Still, a lot more than not, I really liked this book and I have nothing bad to say about his prose. Indeed, he's a lot better than most. :)
January 15, 2023
I once had a chief recommender, and everything he recommended to me was a 5 stars. Among them was Guy Gavriel Kay, so I have started Tigana a couple of years back but didn't grip me, so I abandoned it. Last week I came across it and I thought to give it another try. Well, it looks like some books must be read when their time comes. And now it was just that time. So, my dear chief recommender, you were right about this one too!
How I loved it now! Such beautiful and piercing writing! It has indeed a slow start, with a long exposition, but afterwards it caught me and didn't let me go. It kept me reading long into the night, which didn't happen for quite some time. Numerous times my breath stopped while reading some scenes; goosebumps were all over - it utterly made me live in it.
The story is a mix between historical fiction and various myths, with just a drop of magic to make things more enticing. The characters are incredible, I think only Robin Hobb and Robert Charles Wilson are at the same level.
So, yes, I have found another favorite writer, and I plan to read everything he ever wrote and will write.
---
Trivia: the author says in the epilogue that Tigana was named after the football player Jean Tigana. Lol, I would have never guessed, I read the name with a different accent to make the connection.
How I loved it now! Such beautiful and piercing writing! It has indeed a slow start, with a long exposition, but afterwards it caught me and didn't let me go. It kept me reading long into the night, which didn't happen for quite some time. Numerous times my breath stopped while reading some scenes; goosebumps were all over - it utterly made me live in it.
The story is a mix between historical fiction and various myths, with just a drop of magic to make things more enticing. The characters are incredible, I think only Robin Hobb and Robert Charles Wilson are at the same level.
So, yes, I have found another favorite writer, and I plan to read everything he ever wrote and will write.
---
Trivia: the author says in the epilogue that Tigana was named after the football player Jean Tigana. Lol, I would have never guessed, I read the name with a different accent to make the connection.
June 6, 2019
While there was much to appreciate about Tigana, there was one key aspect of the story that I couldn’t get past and roughly speaking it ruined the book for me. It’s hard to describe this matter without revealing some plot spoilers so much of this review will be hidden with a spoiler tag. I think my issue doesn’t necessarily ruin the story, but for those who already like Kay and want to read this, it would probably be better to skip what is hidden below.
The story of Tigana is essentially about the overthrow of two tyrants by a few scrappy political revolutionaries whose former country had been utterly conquered by one of the two tyrants. Tigana is set on another planet with two moons, but all the characters are indistinguishable from humans and the planet is much like Earth. The two tyrants happen to be the most powerful magicians in this region, and they both vie for control of a small continent or large island. Tigana was the name of one of the countries on this continent, which had been wiped out by one of the two wizards in a previous war. The rebel forces are lead by a surviving prince of Tigana who uses methodical strategy to build up a confrontation between the two opposing wizards in the hopes of defeating both of them.
In many ways, it was a story of honor and commitment to a cause. The most interesting parts were essentially about the personal sacrifices required to resist authoritarian rule
I had one primary issue with the story and that relates to one of the lead characters, Dianora, who survived the conquering of Tigana.
Tigana is a fantasy novel written with literary flare and clever plotting. Unfortunately, the taint of thoughtless patriarchy ruined it for me.
The story of Tigana is essentially about the overthrow of two tyrants by a few scrappy political revolutionaries whose former country had been utterly conquered by one of the two tyrants. Tigana is set on another planet with two moons, but all the characters are indistinguishable from humans and the planet is much like Earth. The two tyrants happen to be the most powerful magicians in this region, and they both vie for control of a small continent or large island. Tigana was the name of one of the countries on this continent, which had been wiped out by one of the two wizards in a previous war. The rebel forces are lead by a surviving prince of Tigana who uses methodical strategy to build up a confrontation between the two opposing wizards in the hopes of defeating both of them.
In many ways, it was a story of honor and commitment to a cause. The most interesting parts were essentially about the personal sacrifices required to resist authoritarian rule
I had one primary issue with the story and that relates to one of the lead characters, Dianora, who survived the conquering of Tigana.
Tigana is a fantasy novel written with literary flare and clever plotting. Unfortunately, the taint of thoughtless patriarchy ruined it for me.
February 23, 2025
Reread update: I reread this on audio, and was considering lowering it's score a touch, and then I read the last chapter and a half physically, and nope. Book absolutely rules, and I learned that if I continue to do audio rereads, I will never change a score based on an audio reread. Because I just enjoy good books more physically
Lower Corte by Guy Gavriel Kay is a book that needs to go straight to horny jail, but also straight to my favorite shelf on ŷ, because damm it was fantastic.
“Tigana, let my memory of
you be like a blade in my
dzܱ.�
Tigana is the story set in the palm peninsula, which is based on the period of the Italian renaissance. (Palm instead of boot, haha) This peninsula is dominated by 2 tyrants, Alberico of Barbadior, and Brandin of Ygrath. One of them in the midst of conquering half the land stripped a land of its memory and name using magic. Tigana is the story of the importance of memory, but also the cycle of performing actions for the sake of the dead.
The first thing to mention about this story is that the writing itself is gorgeous. As everyone else says Guy Gavriel Kay is truly among the best prose writers in the genre. The prose is so grandiose, and rich, that it really does add to the story. However this is not a story that needs to be carried by the prose, because it also has compelling characters, and incredibly rich world, interesting themes, and it is just well plotted.
Dianora especially is my favorite character in this book, her character arc, and just everything about her was so well done. It is not top heavy in terms of characters though, lots of the side characters almost feel like main characters just because of how they are fleshed out, and there is a case to be made that the main character is someone who doesn't even get Point of Views.
The other thing to note about the characters, is that they are all horny. All of them. In fact the author said this in the afterward.
I don't know how I feel about this, but you have being warned, so you can expect it.
“It's the simple truth that mortal men cannot understand why the gods shape events as they do. Why some men and women are cut off in fullest flower, while others live to dwindle into shadows of themselves. Why virtue must sometimes be trampled and evil flourish amidst the beauty of a country garden. Why chance, sheer random chance, plays such an overwhelming role in the life lines and fate lines of men.�
The next part of the novel I want to heap praise on is the handling of the theme of memory. At points through the novel I didn't really buy that the memory of a land was as important as people were saying, and I think by the end it was clear this was deliberate. Early in the novel I thought maybe the author went a bit to far in one direction with the theme he inserted in the text, but it ended up being an incredibly nuanced exploration.
Finally, the ending. I'm not going to say what emotions it got from me, because I think knowing the tone of the ending is a spoiler, and it bothers me when people say in a spoiler free review that an ending is tragic, or happy, or bittersweet. Let it just be said that this is one of the best endings to a novel I have read in a long time. I don't mean the best climax, I mean the best resolution and falling action. Strong emotions were felt, it made me think, and conflicting emotions were felt. You will have to read the novel to get an idea of what they are.
Overall this was maybe the best stand alone fantasy novel that I have ever read, and I give it a 9.3/10
Lower Corte by Guy Gavriel Kay is a book that needs to go straight to horny jail, but also straight to my favorite shelf on ŷ, because damm it was fantastic.
“Tigana, let my memory of
you be like a blade in my
dzܱ.�
Tigana is the story set in the palm peninsula, which is based on the period of the Italian renaissance. (Palm instead of boot, haha) This peninsula is dominated by 2 tyrants, Alberico of Barbadior, and Brandin of Ygrath. One of them in the midst of conquering half the land stripped a land of its memory and name using magic. Tigana is the story of the importance of memory, but also the cycle of performing actions for the sake of the dead.
The first thing to mention about this story is that the writing itself is gorgeous. As everyone else says Guy Gavriel Kay is truly among the best prose writers in the genre. The prose is so grandiose, and rich, that it really does add to the story. However this is not a story that needs to be carried by the prose, because it also has compelling characters, and incredibly rich world, interesting themes, and it is just well plotted.
Dianora especially is my favorite character in this book, her character arc, and just everything about her was so well done. It is not top heavy in terms of characters though, lots of the side characters almost feel like main characters just because of how they are fleshed out, and there is a case to be made that the main character is someone who doesn't even get Point of Views.
The other thing to note about the characters, is that they are all horny. All of them. In fact the author said this in the afterward.
"The novelist Milan Kundera fed my emerging theme of oppression and survival with his musings about the relationship between conquered peoples and an unstable sexuality: what I have called "the insurrections of night." The underlying ideas, for me had to do with how people rebel when they can't rebel, how we behave when the world has lost its bearings, and how shattered self-respect can ripple through to the most intimate levels of our lives."
I don't know how I feel about this, but you have being warned, so you can expect it.
“It's the simple truth that mortal men cannot understand why the gods shape events as they do. Why some men and women are cut off in fullest flower, while others live to dwindle into shadows of themselves. Why virtue must sometimes be trampled and evil flourish amidst the beauty of a country garden. Why chance, sheer random chance, plays such an overwhelming role in the life lines and fate lines of men.�
The next part of the novel I want to heap praise on is the handling of the theme of memory. At points through the novel I didn't really buy that the memory of a land was as important as people were saying, and I think by the end it was clear this was deliberate. Early in the novel I thought maybe the author went a bit to far in one direction with the theme he inserted in the text, but it ended up being an incredibly nuanced exploration.
Finally, the ending. I'm not going to say what emotions it got from me, because I think knowing the tone of the ending is a spoiler, and it bothers me when people say in a spoiler free review that an ending is tragic, or happy, or bittersweet. Let it just be said that this is one of the best endings to a novel I have read in a long time. I don't mean the best climax, I mean the best resolution and falling action. Strong emotions were felt, it made me think, and conflicting emotions were felt. You will have to read the novel to get an idea of what they are.
Overall this was maybe the best stand alone fantasy novel that I have ever read, and I give it a 9.3/10
September 10, 2018
A masterpiece teeming with richness, complexity, beauty, sorrow, courage, love, heartbreak, poetry, brutality, and transcendence. One of the finest books I’ve ever read.
March 1, 2018
Those of you who read my reviews regularly know that Guy Gavriel Kay can do no wrong in my eyes. I adore his novels and this one is no exception. The bonus this time? I met Mr. Kay at a convention last August and I can now hear his voice in my head, reading the novel to me (he has a very nice voice).
Tigana is a kingdom under a curse: the people were conquered and the name of their country can no longer be heard or remembered (except by those who lived through the conquest). When a former citizen says “Tigana,� others hear only a garble or an empty spot. Can those who remember find a way to break the curse and restore Tigana to its former glory? Their lives get braided together in some convoluted and heartbreaking ways.
As with any sweeping tale like this one, there are casualties along the way, some expected, some surprising. The ending was a bit messy, something I appreciate in a book, as I find that real life endings are rarely neat. I read most of the novel on a long plane flight and it was the perfect distraction—I was able to submerge in this fantasy world and ignore the passage of time.
Book 271 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
Tigana is a kingdom under a curse: the people were conquered and the name of their country can no longer be heard or remembered (except by those who lived through the conquest). When a former citizen says “Tigana,� others hear only a garble or an empty spot. Can those who remember find a way to break the curse and restore Tigana to its former glory? Their lives get braided together in some convoluted and heartbreaking ways.
As with any sweeping tale like this one, there are casualties along the way, some expected, some surprising. The ending was a bit messy, something I appreciate in a book, as I find that real life endings are rarely neat. I read most of the novel on a long plane flight and it was the perfect distraction—I was able to submerge in this fantasy world and ignore the passage of time.
Book 271 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
June 14, 2019
Nothing to say other than this is some top-notch quality entertainment right here. Story, characters, setting, dialogue, emotion... this does all that shit and it does it all very well. I read Lions of Al-Rassan years ago, loved it. This has been sitting on my Kindle since then, I bought it as soon as I finished that one, and now I'm pissed off at me for not reading this sooner. Tigana was so rich and juicy in just about every way I love books to be I can now see why this is one of Kay's more popular books. The overall story line was amazing enough but there are also enough dangling carrots among the scattered characters that their slow reveals and the questions being answered were a thrill to experience as well. I am also impressed with his ability to command tone and mood, this goes from being light-hearted to dark, from funny to intense, from sad to uplifting with absolute ease and sometimes with just a few well placed words, but everything always felt real and organic and nothing was ever forced. Five stars for sure.
March 27, 2021
✍️ 📖 🐦 📷 �
Reading this one with The Fantasy Guild ~DNF @50%~
Tigana was a book that I had so many expectations for because literally all my friends gave it a rating of 4 or higher save for a couple of friends who rated it lower than that. This is my first time reading the author’s books but I guess the writing style is not just for me. I don’t know how much this review will be helpful because as I said, I am in the minority here and I will be ranting so take it with a pinch of salt! I am going to break up my thoughts to elements as follows:
💉 The Author:
I don’t have anything against the author, I know many people are in love with his writing and many are also impressed by the fact that he helped editing some of Tolkien’s works. That is all cool but when I am reading a book, I put all these facts aside and judge what I am reading.
💉 The Genre:
This is supposed to be an adult historical fantasy book. I am not a big fan of historical novels in general and I read this for the fantasy parts. Unfortunately, it read more like a historical fiction which I don’t like -just personal preferences- and the fantasy elements were very underwhelming. I think readers of fantasy who enjoy historical fiction will most certainly enjoy this book.
💉 The Writing:
Before reading this, I heard a lot about GGK prose and how it is so beautiful and you can’t get enough of it. I honestly did not like the writing! I saw some saying it has a great and solid prologue and for me it was just many pages of confusion. The book is divided into 5 parts, the chapters are really long (like 40-60 Pages) and maybe the first 100 pages or so, I was so confused, I did not know what the hell was happening and who is who and then things started to get clear and bam, it was the end of the first part at that point. We move into part 2, a new character is introduced, there are info dumps and confusion all over again so It took me some tens of pages to start enjoying it again and then part three and I guess you know how it went and that’s when I decided to DNF. Also it was so melodramatic and garrulous, each chapter would tell us the same things again and again that could have been written in one page instead of ten!!!
💉 The Characters:
I did not care about the characters, I did not understand their motives and it was just them being loquacious, going into internal monologues for hundred of pages for no good reason. Devin realizes he is from Tigana and then wants to join the revolution for that sole reason. I appreciate characters that cry and have feelings but whenever Tigana was mentioned they would start crying and it made me roll my eyes instead of sympathizing with them. I also understand that this book was written in 1990 so I expect the writing to be different from modern writing (although I picked an Agatha Christie book after DNFing this one and I enjoyed its writing despite it being written decades before this one) and I also understand the not so great representation of women and gay people (Heavy breasts, women are only as good as they are beautiful and then there was an incest that I did not understand the point of, sometimes these things have a shock value and sometimes they just make me cringe.)
💉 The Pacing:
I think it is not a surprise that this was very slooooooow given all of what I said previously in this review. And as you probably know, I like fast pacing although I did enjoy novels with slow pacing when the other elements were well done!
💉 The Community:
It is funny how desperate I was feeling because I wanted someone to have my same feelings and “validate� them. I was going through GR reviews and ratings that were mostly rave reviews and I had to go through a lot of reviews just to find a few ones that reflected my thoughts. Funny thing is that Reddit seems to like this book less than GR so I felt relieved I was not the only one who felt this way after reading some of the discussions there. I understand the pressure to like this and conform to the community standards but I just couldn’t!
Summary: I know I am in the minority here but this felt like an amalgamation of things I am not a fan of in story telling from the extremely slow pacing to the overly descriptive writing and the plot and genre that I am not a fan of. I don’t think I will be discovering the author’s other works so here is where we depart!
Reading this one with The Fantasy Guild ~DNF @50%~
“In this world, where we find ourselves, we need compassion more than anything, I think, or we are all alone.�
Tigana was a book that I had so many expectations for because literally all my friends gave it a rating of 4 or higher save for a couple of friends who rated it lower than that. This is my first time reading the author’s books but I guess the writing style is not just for me. I don’t know how much this review will be helpful because as I said, I am in the minority here and I will be ranting so take it with a pinch of salt! I am going to break up my thoughts to elements as follows:
💉 The Author:
I don’t have anything against the author, I know many people are in love with his writing and many are also impressed by the fact that he helped editing some of Tolkien’s works. That is all cool but when I am reading a book, I put all these facts aside and judge what I am reading.
💉 The Genre:
This is supposed to be an adult historical fantasy book. I am not a big fan of historical novels in general and I read this for the fantasy parts. Unfortunately, it read more like a historical fiction which I don’t like -just personal preferences- and the fantasy elements were very underwhelming. I think readers of fantasy who enjoy historical fiction will most certainly enjoy this book.
💉 The Writing:
Before reading this, I heard a lot about GGK prose and how it is so beautiful and you can’t get enough of it. I honestly did not like the writing! I saw some saying it has a great and solid prologue and for me it was just many pages of confusion. The book is divided into 5 parts, the chapters are really long (like 40-60 Pages) and maybe the first 100 pages or so, I was so confused, I did not know what the hell was happening and who is who and then things started to get clear and bam, it was the end of the first part at that point. We move into part 2, a new character is introduced, there are info dumps and confusion all over again so It took me some tens of pages to start enjoying it again and then part three and I guess you know how it went and that’s when I decided to DNF. Also it was so melodramatic and garrulous, each chapter would tell us the same things again and again that could have been written in one page instead of ten!!!
💉 The Characters:
I did not care about the characters, I did not understand their motives and it was just them being loquacious, going into internal monologues for hundred of pages for no good reason. Devin realizes he is from Tigana and then wants to join the revolution for that sole reason. I appreciate characters that cry and have feelings but whenever Tigana was mentioned they would start crying and it made me roll my eyes instead of sympathizing with them. I also understand that this book was written in 1990 so I expect the writing to be different from modern writing (although I picked an Agatha Christie book after DNFing this one and I enjoyed its writing despite it being written decades before this one) and I also understand the not so great representation of women and gay people (Heavy breasts, women are only as good as they are beautiful and then there was an incest that I did not understand the point of, sometimes these things have a shock value and sometimes they just make me cringe.)
💉 The Pacing:
I think it is not a surprise that this was very slooooooow given all of what I said previously in this review. And as you probably know, I like fast pacing although I did enjoy novels with slow pacing when the other elements were well done!
💉 The Community:
It is funny how desperate I was feeling because I wanted someone to have my same feelings and “validate� them. I was going through GR reviews and ratings that were mostly rave reviews and I had to go through a lot of reviews just to find a few ones that reflected my thoughts. Funny thing is that Reddit seems to like this book less than GR so I felt relieved I was not the only one who felt this way after reading some of the discussions there. I understand the pressure to like this and conform to the community standards but I just couldn’t!
Summary: I know I am in the minority here but this felt like an amalgamation of things I am not a fan of in story telling from the extremely slow pacing to the overly descriptive writing and the plot and genre that I am not a fan of. I don’t think I will be discovering the author’s other works so here is where we depart!
June 20, 2017
I first time stumbled upon this book while searching for “best standalone fantasy novels�. It was ranked first in list made by bestfantasybooks.com for standalone novels. So I went ahead and gave it a shot.
First chapter of the book went straight above my head and I was totally clueless what the story was about. But I continue reading (and thank the heaven for that) and after 3rd chapter the confusion was gone. After that I was totally unable to put it down.
I don't think my review can do justice to the beauty of this book. Most of the fantasy books have few main characteristics i.e. magic, some old prophecies, a tyrant ruler and some supernatural creatures. We've magic here but only wizards and sorcerers can do that. We've two instead of one tyrant ruler here fighting for supremacy over the Peninsula of the Palm. This book also has all of these things but they never overwhelm the story.
It deviate more to emotional side of the characters. Character's struggle to bring back their long forgotten land “Tigana� into people's memory. Characters whose identity have been so brutally taken away from them. GGK's word-building was so amazing that I felt every character's pain, regret, desperation, love, solace and passion. My favorite character of the book was Dianora. GGK has so beautifully described her internal conflicts that there were moments when I actually waited for her POV to come. Every other character was also very good but Dianora was absolutely outstanding. Moments of her torments were heart wrenching.
Story was told from multiple POVs and develop beautifully in characters, word-building and plot. I liked the way in which GGK slowly reveals the truth about the characters. I think this is the first time that I felt sorry for the villains.
I usually don't re-read books but I've no qualms in reading it again.
First chapter of the book went straight above my head and I was totally clueless what the story was about. But I continue reading (and thank the heaven for that) and after 3rd chapter the confusion was gone. After that I was totally unable to put it down.
I don't think my review can do justice to the beauty of this book. Most of the fantasy books have few main characteristics i.e. magic, some old prophecies, a tyrant ruler and some supernatural creatures. We've magic here but only wizards and sorcerers can do that. We've two instead of one tyrant ruler here fighting for supremacy over the Peninsula of the Palm. This book also has all of these things but they never overwhelm the story.
It deviate more to emotional side of the characters. Character's struggle to bring back their long forgotten land “Tigana� into people's memory. Characters whose identity have been so brutally taken away from them. GGK's word-building was so amazing that I felt every character's pain, regret, desperation, love, solace and passion. My favorite character of the book was Dianora. GGK has so beautifully described her internal conflicts that there were moments when I actually waited for her POV to come. Every other character was also very good but Dianora was absolutely outstanding. Moments of her torments were heart wrenching.
Story was told from multiple POVs and develop beautifully in characters, word-building and plot. I liked the way in which GGK slowly reveals the truth about the characters. I think this is the first time that I felt sorry for the villains.
I usually don't re-read books but I've no qualms in reading it again.
June 16, 2023
I wrote a massive review for why this didn’t work for me but goodreads randomly refreshed and I lost it. So in short: beautiful writing. Interesting magic. I didn’t enjoy the cast. I never felt any emotion from the purpose behind the story and found there to be a few scenes that felt out of place. Possible victim of my reading slump. I love all other GGK I’ve read but not this one.
ŷ is terrible.
ŷ is terrible.
March 24, 2017
1.5 stars
HARD PASS
characters: boring and bland
- the character dynamics were so cringey and forced they were honestly painful to read
- I couldn't give a single iota of shit about Devin if you paid me to
- all I know about Alessan is that he likes to run his hands through his hair
- that's it, that's about how impressionable these characters were for me
female characters: boring and bland and SHITTY
- "Alais's delicate, pale beauty and diffident grace singled her out like some flower transplanted here from a garden in a cooler, milder world" ah yes I love it when female characters are Delicate and Beautiful Flowers
- Kay just LOVES using the Madonna-whore dichotomy when it comes to his female characters
- The female characters in this book are basically either: A) Beautiful (AS THE BOOK WILL REPEATEDLY TELL YOU, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THESE FEMALE CHARACTERS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! DON'T FORGET IT!!!! BUT, JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT, IT'LL REMIND YOU OF THEIR IMMEASURABLE BEAUTY ON EVERY OTHER PAGE!!!) and Perfect and Pure or B) Sexually active, which is a Big No No of course
- Because when female characters are sexually active and actually enjoy a certain kind of BDSM-oriented (CONSENSUAL) sex, Devin hits them with Dat Bullshit by claiming their sex is "an admission that somewhere in the soul we deserve no more than this, nothing that goes deeper. Since we are not free and have accepted that." MY DUDE. CHILL. DID YOU NOT WILLINGLY ENGAGE IN AND ENJOY THIS SHIT??? what is your problem.
-
- I don't know I feel like the female characters in this book were just there for the sake of being there or there for furthering some male character's plot. By the end, all the male characters are the ones who get Shit Done and all the female characters are discounted or gotten rid of or just NOT THERE. And the (very) little they do contribute is largely in the form of using their bodies for sex. :))) lovely.
plot: too damn drawn out
-
- I don't understand how this book was 800 pages it felt like not that much happened??
- also why the hell were there so many gratuitous sex scenes. like I-just-met-you-less-than-maybe-two-hours-ago-but-now-we're-having-sex-on-a-hill gratuitous.
-
- Also, just so. much. weeping.
-
writing style: repetitive and so grandiose that it lost sight of any hint of the personal
- Oh how the writing style GRATED on my nerves. It was sOooOooo MELODRAMATIC and in your face and after almost 800 pages of it I was just 1000000% ready for this book to be over
- if you love the same things being repeated in a million different ways then you're gonna love this book!!
- E.g. Dianora is all like I LOVE BRANDIN!!! but I MUST KILL HIM!! but omg I love him though!! I MUST BRING BACK TIGANA THOUGH!!!! but omg Brandin is looking at me my heart is flutterring so bad I love him so much!!!! GIRL GET IT TOGETHER
- if I had to describe my reading experience in one word it'd be "FRUSTRATING"
Conclusion: this book just read like a shitty version of The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta. If you want actually moving fantasy novels with great, complex characters (male and female), then read that series, because as far as I can tell, those things are nowhere to be found in Tigana.
HARD PASS
characters: boring and bland
- the character dynamics were so cringey and forced they were honestly painful to read
- I couldn't give a single iota of shit about Devin if you paid me to
- all I know about Alessan is that he likes to run his hands through his hair
- that's it, that's about how impressionable these characters were for me
female characters: boring and bland and SHITTY
- "Alais's delicate, pale beauty and diffident grace singled her out like some flower transplanted here from a garden in a cooler, milder world" ah yes I love it when female characters are Delicate and Beautiful Flowers
- Kay just LOVES using the Madonna-whore dichotomy when it comes to his female characters
- The female characters in this book are basically either: A) Beautiful (AS THE BOOK WILL REPEATEDLY TELL YOU, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THESE FEMALE CHARACTERS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! DON'T FORGET IT!!!! BUT, JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT, IT'LL REMIND YOU OF THEIR IMMEASURABLE BEAUTY ON EVERY OTHER PAGE!!!) and Perfect and Pure or B) Sexually active, which is a Big No No of course
- Because when female characters are sexually active and actually enjoy a certain kind of BDSM-oriented (CONSENSUAL) sex, Devin hits them with Dat Bullshit by claiming their sex is "an admission that somewhere in the soul we deserve no more than this, nothing that goes deeper. Since we are not free and have accepted that." MY DUDE. CHILL. DID YOU NOT WILLINGLY ENGAGE IN AND ENJOY THIS SHIT??? what is your problem.
-
- I don't know I feel like the female characters in this book were just there for the sake of being there or there for furthering some male character's plot. By the end, all the male characters are the ones who get Shit Done and all the female characters are discounted or gotten rid of or just NOT THERE. And the (very) little they do contribute is largely in the form of using their bodies for sex. :))) lovely.
plot: too damn drawn out
-
- I don't understand how this book was 800 pages it felt like not that much happened??
- also why the hell were there so many gratuitous sex scenes. like I-just-met-you-less-than-maybe-two-hours-ago-but-now-we're-having-sex-on-a-hill gratuitous.
-
- Also, just so. much. weeping.
-
writing style: repetitive and so grandiose that it lost sight of any hint of the personal
- Oh how the writing style GRATED on my nerves. It was sOooOooo MELODRAMATIC and in your face and after almost 800 pages of it I was just 1000000% ready for this book to be over
- if you love the same things being repeated in a million different ways then you're gonna love this book!!
- E.g. Dianora is all like I LOVE BRANDIN!!! but I MUST KILL HIM!! but omg I love him though!! I MUST BRING BACK TIGANA THOUGH!!!! but omg Brandin is looking at me my heart is flutterring so bad I love him so much!!!! GIRL GET IT TOGETHER
- if I had to describe my reading experience in one word it'd be "FRUSTRATING"
Conclusion: this book just read like a shitty version of The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta. If you want actually moving fantasy novels with great, complex characters (male and female), then read that series, because as far as I can tell, those things are nowhere to be found in Tigana.
May 30, 2024
4.0 Stars
This is such a rich piece of historical fantasy. The writing is beautiful and the other aspects of the story were equally strong. This is not the type of fantasy that I normally click with but I can't help but appreciate such an accomplished novel.
This is such a rich piece of historical fantasy. The writing is beautiful and the other aspects of the story were equally strong. This is not the type of fantasy that I normally click with but I can't help but appreciate such an accomplished novel.
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