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Marquise's Reviews > Tigana
Tigana
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Marquise's review
bookshelves: fantasy, not-my-cup-of-tea, have-reviewed, sampled-and-declined
Dec 30, 2016
bookshelves: fantasy, not-my-cup-of-tea, have-reviewed, sampled-and-declined
Abandoned 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.
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Reading Progress
September 13, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 13, 2015
– Shelved
August 4, 2016
– Shelved as:
my-library
August 4, 2016
– Shelved as:
fantasy
December 29, 2016
–
Started Reading
December 30, 2016
– Shelved as:
not-my-cup-of-tea
December 30, 2016
– Shelved as:
could-not-finish
December 30, 2016
–
Finished Reading
November 18, 2021
– Shelved as:
have-reviewed
September 20, 2024
– Shelved as:
sampled-and-declined
Comments Showing 1-27 of 27 (27 new)
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Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~*
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Jan 01, 2017 10:09AM
Iv'e tried 3 of his books and just cant get into them either.
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Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* wrote: "Iv'e tried 3 of his books and just cant get into them either."Can you tell me which ones?
A song for Arbonne,the Fionavar Tapestry and this one.
The first one I haven't read, but Fionavar is in my plans for the long run.
I completely agree with what you said here Marquise! Can you tell me the name of the Kay novel that you really liked? I may give him another go, but it may be awhile as Tigana left me with a nasty taste.
Remind me again, M. You had told me the name of the Kay novel you had liked, but I forgot! Still deciding whether to try this one or not. You review doesn't give me much hope. I can stand anything but pretentious writing! :/
Rosh [semi-hiatus] wrote: "Remind me again, M. You had told me the name of the Kay novel you had liked, but I forgot!The Lions of Al-Rassan.
Don't go with this one for your intro to Kay, try Lions instead. Then you can decide with knowledge if Kay is for you or not and come back to try this one.
Be glad you left early. You didn’t read the incest bit lmao
Maria wrote: "Be glad you left early. You didn’t read the incest bit lmao"Pfft, I'm immune to incest shock thanks to Houses Lannister and Targaryen. 🤣
Marquise wrote: "The Lions of Al-Rassan."Thank you again! Bookmarking this title right away. I knew you had told me not to begin with Tigana, but forgot the rest. :D
You're welcome, Roshy! That's the only book of Kay's I've liked. I also liked the beginning of the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, but it turned out a major crash landing for me.
I like how you named the disappointments shelf "sampled-and-declined", not just the usual DNF.
Irena wrote: "I like how you named the disappointments shelf "sampled-and-declined", not just the usual DNF."Haha, thank you. I created this shelf when I was struggling to get rid of my habit of never DNFing and wasting my time on books I wasn't liking. They're mostly Kindle samples I download and then shelf as not for me. :) Very few are actual DNFs, maybe 50-60 titles.
I was about twelve when I read this book, and it had been recommended by my mother. So needless to say the BDSM sex scene came a bit out of nowhere for me. To this day I wonder if she'd actually read it herself or was just operating through word of mouth.
Juho wrote: "I was about twelve when I read this book, and it had been recommended by my mother. So needless to say the BDSM sex scene came a bit out of nowhere for me."I hope you sent the therapist's bills to your mother. 🤣
Maybe she did read it but forgot that scene, or thought you were mature enough even if young to deal with that? I'm inclined to think your second suspicion is the correct one. That, or she forgot.
I do like Kay quite a bit. I always felt A Brightness Long Ago is his best for me. Have not read Lions but hope to in2025
Kerry wrote: "I do like Kay quite a bit. I always felt A Brightness Long Ago is his best for me. Have not read Lions but hope to in2025"Have fun with it! It's the only Kay novel I've liked.
I have only read The Summer Tree, first book of the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, and was so monstrously disappointed that I don't think I can ever read Kay again.
The only Kay book I’ve ever truly loved was The Lions of Al-Rassan. Tigana was fine. A Song for Arbonne forgettable. The Fionavar Tapestry okay for me at the time, but not a second reread so many years later. The rest� I’ll pass� To be honest, I just recently traded all of my Kay books in� 😮
Heart wrote: "I have only read The Summer Tree, first book of the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, and was so monstrously disappointed that I don't think I can ever read Kay again."You're not missing anything! That one was a disappointment to me as well, though it started well enough.
Scott wrote: "The only Kay book I’ve ever truly loved was The Lions of Al-Rassan."Same! That was my first Fantasy book ever, and which convinced me to give LOTR and ASOIAF a chance (I was prejudiced against the genre, ya know, ol' book snobbery I picked up in my more "intellectual" phase).
I gave Kay so many chances because of that, always hoping I'd hit on gold again. But nooo! And I had to sadly admit defeat and shelf him as not for me.
I'm so proud of you for DNF'ING, but I'm so sorry this was a dud for you, dollðŸ˜ðŸ’ž!!!!!!!!!
Cara wrote: "I'm so proud of you for DNF'ING, but I'm so sorry this was a dud for you, dollðŸ˜ðŸ’ž!!!!!!!!!"Thank you, darling! It was years ago, the new comments bumped this old review back into the feed. :)
Marquise wrote: "Cara wrote: "I'm so proud of you for DNF'ING, but I'm so sorry this was a dud for you, dollðŸ˜ðŸ’ž!!!!!!!!!"Thank you, darling! It was years ago, the new comments bumped this old review back into the ..."
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, it just popped up on my timelineðŸ˜ðŸ’•!!!!!!!!!!
Marquise wrote: "Scott wrote: "The only Kay book I’ve ever truly loved was The Lions of Al-Rassan."Same! That was my first Fantasy book ever, and which convinced me to give LOTR and ASOIAF a chance (I was prejudi..."
Sadly, he is a good writer, just his stories fall a little flat for me. And to think he worked with Christopher Tolkien once editing The Silmarillion!!
Cara wrote: "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, it just popped up on my timelineðŸ˜ðŸ’•!!!!!!!!!!"Nothing to be sorry about, darling. It's on GR and its perpetual glitches. :(
Scott wrote: "Sadly, he is a good writer, just his stories fall a little flat for me."I agree, yeah. He is an acquired taste, I suppose. I thought it'd work for me the more I read of him, but the outcome was the opposite of desired. Ah, well, what can you do? Tastes are tastes...
