Rating: 
Summary: One of the finest books ever written
Review: It is said that the best way to learn is learn from the best and Guy Gavrial Kay worked for years with Tokien and his son compiling " The Silmarillion " and "The Unfinished tales"
This has moulded Kay into one of the finest authors I have ever had the pleasure to read. The Fionavar Tapestry follows the destinies of five people from this world whose fates are intertwined with the fates of another. All the elements of great high fantasy are here, the plot is complex and involving the characters are some of the most well developed I have ever read and the way in which Kay slips in human legends and gives them a whole new spin is sheer genius.
Given the time and the energy I could wax lyrical about this series for hours but I won't. To sum up, Kay has a unique writing style that borders at times on the poetic and yet he keeps the story running at a flying pace. I cannot stress strongly enough the quality of these texts.
If fantasy is your thing then buy,buy,buy.
Rating:
Summary: A marvelous conclusion to one of the best fantasy trilogies.
Review: Kay's style of writing is just about the closest you can get to pure poetry in prose. The Darkest Road provides a rousing and stunning conclusion to an epic story which draws the reader deep into a magical, passionate world and just doesn't let go. Each of the main characters, vivid and real, are forced to learn that the war against evil is not waged without the most painful sacrifices along the way, but even so, the war must be fought and is worth fighting.
I've re-read this trilogy more times than I can count, and each time the emotions it evokes are real and unsullied. In fact, I've been forced to re-buy copies because the old ones got worn out, and I think that I have given this trilogy as gifts to at least 5 or 6 different friends, hoping that they will get just a portion of the immense enjoyment I have received from this masterpiece.
Hands down, this is the best of all the epic high fantasy stories I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: That's 10 hours I'll never be able to get back.
Review: Looking back, I think it was my philosophy to finish a job that got me through the series, and not the books themselves. Or to put it more gently, this is the last time I listen to my sister's (Lilanne) recommendations. The series was like a soap opera commercial, tempting to draw the audience with tentalizing titbits but really do not go anywhere or add up to anything but a long and drawn out tale with an ending that is very fitting........for a Harlequin romance. At least we all know that romance endings are not unexpected or original. The hankie that Lilanne gave me along with books is still, just like the books themselves, dry. If Mr. Kay want his readers to fill in where his imaginations lack, then he succeeded.
Rating:
Summary: a stunning masterpiece
Review: No matter how many times I re-read this trilogy (and that number is more than i can count), it never fails to move me to tears - something that does not occur very often with me. The characters are so real and vibrant that you feel everything that they feel. There are several scenes that always give me chills: at Calor Diman, at Khath Meigol.In this last book of the trilogy we really see how the characters have grown and changed; Dave Martyniuk in particular has come a long way from the somewhat angry and uncertain law student he was at the start of 'The Summer Tree'. Unlike some books which are never quite as magical after the first reading, this one and the other two of the trilogy get better every time I read them. Sweeping, majestic, imaginative, and beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: The world of Guy Gavriel Kay
Review: Reading many reviews of these books I believe that it might not be inadequate to draw a parallel between Tolkien and Kay regarding The Fionavar Tapestry, but it seems like most of those made are missing the whole point with this work. By keeping many of the well known elements you might find in the works by Tolkien togheter with ancient legends and myths (mainly celtic) Kay is bringing to life a major part of our legacy of fantasy and this time he is letting us into it by making our world a reflection of Fionavar and by the bringing of the five canadian students into the centre of it. The magic elements all carry their meaning, but only in the way they can relate to us. It seems to me that many people are reading Kay looking for something that is not there and should not be there either. Like in all his other works it is all about what it is to be human. Kay has also been criticized for making his stories so well put togheter, letting the right thing happen at the right place at the right time. This is although necessary because the settings basically only functions as a context where the important issues can be brought into light. The main thing is the characters and the way they have to deal with themselves, each other and the world around them. Deal with complex feelings ot hate, love, guilt and sorrow. Deal with conflicts both inside themselves and in the outside world. Get to know and understand the sacrifices that must be made, in every world. Here everything has a deeper meaning. Every person and every event is in some way symbolic. Every little thing that may seem unimportant has it4s given place in a larger whole. That is the true magic of Kay4s writing.
Rating:
Summary: Best Fantasy Book Ever Written!!!
Review: The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay is hands down the best fantasy book ever written. I am very well-read, and I have read some of the classics in this genre. I found these books satisfying, but none of them are anywhere near equal in calibur to this book or trilogy. Kay makes you want to read. You feel like if you don't finish that chapter just then, you'll be left out of something heavenly. And it is truly a gift from heaven, this book and this author. The characters are deep and full of life. After I finished this book and started reading a new one, I actually missed the characters and their adventures. This has only happened one other time in my life, after I finshed the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. When I look for mentions of this book in lists of classics in the genre, I am often disappointed to find that this book is not listed among these lists. But I think it is only a matter of time before the people who read fantasy recognize Kay as the best fantasy author ever, even surpassing Tolkien
Rating:
Summary: Spirals within Spirals - Stunning and Transcendant
Review: The Darkest Road is the conclusion to a bittersweet story that touches the heart in ways that long after the reader has savored the final words the "melody lingers on" and on. The entire three book series starting with "The Summer Tree", followed by "The Wandering Fire" tells a story of five friends from Toronto who are gathered together one evening on campus to attend a lecture by an outstanding speaker. Unbeknown to the audience the speaker is actually from another world and is a mage by name of Loren Silvercloak who is accompanied by his magical source Matt, a dwarf king. They have crossed the dimensions of time and are on a quest to find these five friends, several of whom have alternate histories in other lifetimes. They have essential roles in this parallel universe to aid the people of Fionavar who are locked in a struggle against the god Rakoth Maugrim called the Unraveller in a near hopeless battle between the forces of chaos vs order. The story delves into the vilest recesses of evil perpetuated by Rakoth Maugrim who captures and nearly destroys the very beautiful and queenly Jennifer/Guinevere. Amidst this horror is another that consumes her friend Paul who is haunted by guilt over his belief that he caused the death of his lover Rachel in a car accident that transpired on a rainy night in Toronto. Paul establishes a quasi friendship over a game of chess with the king of Fionavar and learns the reasons behind the drought that is destroying the land. In his desolation of guilt and grief he volunteers to be the sacrifice on the Summer Tree in the Godwood in place of the aged king so that rain will come and and halt the devastation of drought caused by Rakoth's malevolence. The sacrifice he makes transmutes Paul from mortal to that of an andain/god-man. He becomes a channel for Mornir the god of thunder. Kim, who is a doctor in Toronto is fated to become the seer of Fionavar and to wield the warstone in defense of the beleagured kingdom. Dave, a truculent law student locked in an angry power struggle with his father and mad at the world in general had become separated from the others during the magical translation from Toronto to Finovar and has wandered into the lands of nomads called the Dalrei. He learns to love these people as he lives among them and becomes both a brother and a warrior helping them defend their herds of eltor from ravening wolves and other evil forces sent by Rakoth Maugrim to destroy the Dalrei. In the process of seemingly insurrmountable odds he finds inner peace and himself as a man. The sweet tempered, good hearted, fun loving, irreverent Kevin is the only one who finds he has no real purpose to serve Finovar until one special night, guided by mystical forces, he travels to the place of a goddess and chooses to sacrifice his life in order to be with her again for in his moment of death, he has discovered that they were beloved of each other in a past lifetime. His sacrifice brings another shift in the stuggle of Light in its battle to overcome the darkness and destruction wrought by the Unraveller. There are many threads to this tapestry and Kay, as usual, weaves them together in ways that can render the reader breathless with wonder over his stunning mastery of his art as he brings this magnificent saga to a close. The celtic lore of Arthur Pendragon, Guinivere, Lancelot du Lac and the dog Cavall are irredescent threads that glisten like teardrops throughout the weave for they are so heartbreaking and yet beautiful. Kay's inclusion of these figures from arthurian legend in this story adds a new dimension to a mythos that has lingered in the hearts and history of the celts. And yet, the weaves of past lives, past loves is believable in the sense that in in the vastness of potential realities all things are possible. Who really knows? With this saga, Kay stretches the reader's mind to encompass notions of immortality, parallel universes, alternate realities and the timlessness of love that transcends all things. The depth to which a human will strive to embrace the reality of a grand passion or to resolve an unrequited love is the ultimate power of this story. I deeply respect this author's writing for he seems to understand life from a perspective unfettered by the limitations of others' beliefs. Indeed this is a spiral of parallel universes and of celtic lore, within another spiral of the mystical and magical god-men, gods and goddesses within another spiral of contemporary human time and place and it is unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Spirals within Spirals - Stunning and Transcendant
Review: The Darkest Road is the conclusion to a bittersweet story that touches the heart in ways that long after the reader has savored the final words the "melody lingers on" and on. The entire three book series starting with "The Summer Tree", followed by "The Wandering Fire" tells a story of five friends from Toronto who are gathered together one evening on campus to attend a lecture by an outstanding speaker. Unbeknown to the audience the speaker is actually from another world and is a mage by name of Loren Silvercloak who is accompanied by his magical source Matt, a dwarf king. They have crossed the dimensions of time and are on a quest to find these five friends, several of whom have alternate histories in other lifetimes. They have essential roles in this parallel universe to aid the people of Fionavar who are locked in a struggle against the god Rakoth Maugrim called the Unraveller in a near hopeless battle between the forces of chaos vs order. The story delves into the vilest recesses of evil perpetuated by Rakoth Maugrim who captures and nearly destroys the very beautiful and queenly Jennifer/Guinevere. Amidst this horror is another that consumes her friend Paul who is haunted by guilt over his belief that he caused the death of his lover Rachel in a car accident that transpired on a rainy night in Toronto. Paul establishes a quasi friendship over a game of chess with the king of Fionavar and learns the reasons behind the drought that is destroying the land. In his desolation of guilt and grief he volunteers to be the sacrifice on the Summer Tree in the Godwood in place of the aged king so that rain will come and and halt the devastation of drought caused by Rakoth's malevolence. The sacrifice he makes transmutes Paul from mortal to that of an andain/god-man. He becomes a channel for Mornir the god of thunder. Kim, who is a doctor in Toronto is fated to become the seer of Fionavar and to wield the warstone in defense of the beleagured kingdom. Dave, a truculent law student locked in an angry power struggle with his father and mad at the world in general had become separated from the others during the magical translation from Toronto to Finovar and has wandered into the lands of nomads called the Dalrei. He learns to love these people as he lives among them and becomes both a brother and a warrior helping them defend their herds of eltor from ravening wolves and other evil forces sent by Rakoth Maugrim to destroy the Dalrei. In the process of seemingly insurrmountable odds he finds inner peace and himself as a man. The sweet tempered, good hearted, fun loving, irreverent Kevin is the only one who finds he has no real purpose to serve Finovar until one special night, guided by mystical forces, he travels to the place of a goddess and chooses to sacrifice his life in order to be with her again for in his moment of death, he has discovered that they were beloved of each other in a past lifetime. His sacrifice brings another shift in the stuggle of Light in its battle to overcome the darkness and destruction wrought by the Unraveller. There are many threads to this tapestry and Kay, as usual, weaves them together in ways that can render the reader breathless with wonder over his stunning mastery of his art as he brings this magnificent saga to a close. The celtic lore of Arthur Pendragon, Guinivere, Lancelot du Lac and the dog Cavall are irredescent threads that glisten like teardrops throughout the weave for they are so heartbreaking and yet beautiful. Kay's inclusion of these figures from arthurian legend in this story adds a new dimension to a mythos that has lingered in the hearts and history of the celts. And yet, the weaves of past lives, past loves is believable in the sense that in in the vastness of potential realities all things are possible. Who really knows? With this saga, Kay stretches the reader's mind to encompass notions of immortality, parallel universes, alternate realities and the timlessness of love that transcends all things. The depth to which a human will strive to embrace the reality of a grand passion or to resolve an unrequited love is the ultimate power of this story. I deeply respect this author's writing for he seems to understand life from a perspective unfettered by the limitations of others' beliefs. Indeed this is a spiral of parallel universes and of celtic lore, within another spiral of the mystical and magical god-men, gods and goddesses within another spiral of contemporary human time and place and it is unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning end to one of the best fantasy trilogies ever!!!
Review: The Fionavar Tapestry is often compared with JRR Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and in my opinion it is more than worthy of the comparison.
This is one of the few books that I have read that has made me laugh, cry and desperatly hope all in the space of a few hundred pages.
The dramatic conclusion to the Fionavar Tapestry, "The Darkest Road" is one of the best books I have ever read. Kay has an ability to bring the characters and landscape to life so that you feel that you are there in Fionavar along with Diarmuid, Sharra and all the others. You feel as if you are there on that rise looking out over the final battle instead of curled up nice and safe and warm with a book. This book and this entire trilogy are very hard to put down once you have started reading. This trilogy got me hooked on Guy Gavriel Kay and I have subsequently read all his other books (which are of the same high standard) and this trilogy over and over again. I would recommend this trilogy to any fantasy reader at all.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Conclusion to a Great Fantasy Series
Review: The haunting stories of The Summer Tree and the Wandering Fire are brought to a spectacular conclusion in this third book of the Fionavar Tapestry. Kay's lyric voice and incredible ability to craft believable fantasy characters do not let down in this third book; if anything they increase. In large part this is due to his original and marvelous use of the Arthurian legends to tie the loose ends of his story together. If you liked Marion Zimmer Bradley's the Mists of Avalon, you will like this series. But start with the Summer Tree!
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