Tigana

Rating:
Summary: I never cry. But I should have.
Review: I have often said that GG Kay is intent on taking all of the magic out of fantasy literature. Starting with the Fionavar Tapestry, where you get Loren Silvercloak, the average, everyday, Gandalf-inspired, gray-cloaked, staff-wielding wizard...to the Lions of Al-Rassan, where the weirdest thing is a little kid with minor -I repeat MINOR- psychic abilities. Both extremes are very sad specimens. However, Tigana sits astride all that, by far the greatest Kay novel. Most of the punch in this book comes from sentiment, and Guy is a master in the field. He just wraps each character's whole world around you every time the perspective changes. Tigana, rather that what you'll read in the back cover, is about how the world makes men and women out of us, but pain -others' as well as our own- makes us human. Kay will not presume to name good guys and bad guys. That is for you and me to decide, not according to who wears black or who sounds nicest, but to what they have done, and most importantly, under what conditions. Better still, Kay has great understanding for the currents of politics as well as commerce, but also makes so sure you know where the common folk really fit in, he could lecture Karl Marx. Some have blamed Kay for using common, utterly non-heroic characters in his books. They better quit watching the X-Files, they should get their Lords of the Rings posters off the walls, snap out of it and get a life in this world. Otherwise, they'll never, ever get any notion whatsoever of the heroic. Kay has, and that's that

Rating:
Summary: This book is wonderful.
Review: A quick warning for all of you into the more visceral, fast-reading fantasy authors... this book may not be for you. Tigana is one of those rare fantasy novels that transcends the genre to become a pure work of literature. Compared to most modern fantasy authors today, Kay writes very carefully and makes an extra effort to force you to care about all his characters and the situations they find themselves in. This extraordinary novel can force you to redefine your expectations of fantasy writing.

Tigana's world is based loosely on Renaissance Italy. The Peninsula of the Palm has been split down the middle by two separate conquerors from larger countries. The conquerors were able to subjugate the peninsula easily due to the rivalries between the seven formerly independent provinces of the Palm.

The final province to be conquered, Tigana, managed to kill the son of one of the tyrants. In a fit of wrath, the tyrant descends upon Tigana and crushes it utterly. However, he also takes the extra step of erasing the country's name from the minds of every citizen on the Palm except for the survivors of Tigana. Non-citizens cannot hear or speak the name; instead, Tigana is renamed after its most bitter rival in the old provincial struggles. Years later, a small group of Tiganese rebels begin a campaign to bring their name back to the Palm and expel both tyrants...

And this just doesn't convey the subtleties and character interaction the plot has. The use of Italian linguistics and political situations gives the book an atmosphere of plausibility but doesn't ram it down our throats (as Jordan's Aes Sedai mythos or Goodkind's descriptions of the Mother Confessor's office tend to do).

The characters, though, are what drive the book. Even those characters that only make a brief appearance are startlingly well-crafted and at times even touching. An episode early in the book which examines very closely the relationship between a proud, authoritarian father and his doomed son moved me to tears- and it happened in the first one hundred and fifty pages.

Bottom line: if you enjoy fantasy that is literate, well thought-out, and exquisitely crafted, then buy this book. If your taste leans more toward the Jordan/Goodkind/Feist vein, be warned that Kay takes his time getting to where he wants you to go... but for me, that makes him the finest living fantasy writer.

Rating:
Summary: not bad but not good either (with a question for fans)
Review: Tigana is not a bad fantasy novel, but it is not a good one either. Is is just a novel you can read and have some enjoyment, but it is not great reading and it is not a work of a master storyteller and writer. A good book is one that you can not put down (any of the books of A Song of Ice and Fire Saga), that you feel transported to that world and you do not want to leave it (The roman empire in "Quo vadis?"), that you care about the characters and miss them when you end reading it (Gratillonius in The King of Ys), and that the story seduces you and you can not live without knowing all of it (Foundation Trilogy). Well, nothing of this happens in this book. The story is slow, not much happens and the characters are unapealing. It took me eights months to read this novel. I got bored very often, I did not care about the characters and it did no matter to me what happened to them. I prefered reading Aristotle or Heidegger than this. Only the last 150 pages were kind of interesting. Besides the writing is artificially elaborated and aimed for a young teenage public. Take for example the relations between female characters and male ones: Catriana and Alessan, Devin and Alais. If you are 13 years old and you are looking for a fantasy story more mature in tone than Eddings or Jordan, this book is a place to begin. But great fantasy is to be found in other authors and books, like George R.R. Martin, Poul Anderson or Jack Vance; at least for the ones of us which are in our lates twenties.
Finally, I would like to ask some fan of this book about the identity of Devin's mother and father before the fall. Many times the other characters seem to know who they where but at the end of the book it is not clear.

Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Read
Review: And I should know, I think I've read it at least four times straight through, now, and certain of my favorite parts have been reread even more often. And each time, Tigana sucks me right back in simply because I love the story so much. (The Lions of Al-Rassan is a close, close second favorite.) For me, if a book is only good for one read and doesn't draw me back into that world again, then the author has only been partially successful. Guy Gavriel Kay really hit a chord within me, because I'm now on my second copy of Tigana, the first one having fallen apart after one reread too many. I love long novels full of interesting people I can care about and in which LOTS of things happen. Tigana fills this bill excellently.

After reading all the reviews from the various people who've already reviewed this, you've probably got a pretty good idea of the plot, so I will not recap that here. What drew me in initially and what keeps me coming back for more is the premise of Tigana's lost name and history--an unusual theme for a fantasy novel. Everyone in the Peninsula of the Palm is incapable of remembering that Lower Corte ever bore the name Tigana, unless they were born IN the province of Tigana before Brandin's curse was laid upon it. They cannot read the word if it is written, nor hear it if it is spoken aloud. Once the last generation of those born in the province are dead, Tigana will truly and irrevocably be lost. I must respectfully disagree with other reviewers who complain about the "lack of magic" in Tigana. There is PLENTY of magic in Tigana, it's just that most of the time, it doesn't involve people actively waving wands. And at that, there are plenty of scenes where people do perform magic.

The Lord of the Rings is the ultimate "Quest" fantasy novel, having been the first and the best, and fantasy authors have been copying it or varying on this theme with differing levels of succes ever since. The protagonists of Tigana are also on a quest but not to just find a THING or to destroy a potentially malevolent object, but to bring their land back to its rightful place within their world, and to be able to live there freely and rebuild what was destroyed. And the journey is not easy, nor the routes direct for anyone.

For Brandin the Sorceror King of Ygrath has exacted a terrible vengeance and is implacable in his hatred of Tigana, but has done this thing out of love for his slain son who died trying to conquer Tigana. His vengeance has caused suffering and not only for the remnants of Tiganese people but for his own family. Dianora, a woman of Tigana manages to be chosen for Brandin's Saishan with the intent of killing him, and cannot bring herself to do it, for even as she becomes his favorite concubine, her own love for him makes her original goal impossible. And the reader never wonders what she sees in him, despite everything he and his magic have done to her and her land and family. Tigana also shows what the people of the province endure under the occupation of their conqueror-which I've never seen handled better in any other novel about an oppressed people. There's never a question of what motivates either the protagonists or the antagonists.

I suppose that Kay COULD stand to be a bit more disciplined and concise in his story-telling, but he tells this wonderful story so well, I wouldn't know where to begin to cut things out. And after all, I'm not his editor. If a book is as engrossing as this one from first page to last, then I'm all the happier if it's nice and LONG. The only thing I DIDN'T like about Tigana (Other than occasionally wanting to kick Catriana) was the place where the Epilogue ended. The first time I read Tigana, I kept looking for the REST of the pages that I was sure MUST be somewhere at the back of the book. And I still find it both intriguing and frustrating to wonder what will happen to these three men I've grown to love after they see the Riselka together. If Mr. Kay reads these reviews, I hope he heeds this plea: Please, sir, I want a sequel to Tigana! Failing that, I want another NEW novel from you and SOON.

Rating:
Summary: Tigana is Epic Fantasy at its finest.
Review: If you pick up one fantasy book this year (or any other year!), please let it be Tigana. The characters are compelling, complex, and incredibly real, the plot twists and turns without being hard to follow, and the scenery is beautiful; both foreign and familiar. The twist at the end really floored me, which isn't easy for a book to do when you read as much as I do! I actually felt emotionally drained by the time I reached the Epilogue... I couldn't believe that there weren't any pages left for me to share with Alessan, Baerd, Brandin, Dianora, Devin, and Sandre. If you like Eddings, Tolkein, Jordan, or Lackey, give Tigana a try, and if you liked Tigana, pick up one of Kay's other books (I also loved The Lions of Al-Rassan). Kay's books are the kind of stories that change your view of what really great fantasy should be, and Tigana is one of his best works.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty Full!
Review: I started reading this book based on the librarian's recommendation, with no expectations at all. I found myself spellbound.

Rating:
Summary: OK world/plot, windy sentimental adolescescent style
Review: This book avoids many of the common errors of the ubiquitous epic fantasy genre, most particularly in plotting. Moreover the basic world structure is pretty coherent, and, unlike Goodkind for example, he doesn't lazily and randomly introduce new characters/creatures with no attempt to make sense of them in the history of the place. The climax is not the usual anti-climactic afterthought where we've all known exactly what was going to happen since about page 30: we still know the goodies are going to triumph, but the action feels like it could go a few different directions right to the wire. And when he is writing action, Kay can do it well: the dramatic events of the vigil over Sandre's funeral, for example. And thank goodness it's a single (if 700 page) book.

However...

There is actually surprisingly little action in this book of sensational events. Rather we get indulgent pages trying unsuccessfully to persuade us of just how noble or wise or fascinating our basically one-dimensional characters are. Nowhere is this more painful than in the consistently tedious Dianora. Just telling us (in oh so many words) that someone is the cleverest of manipulative wives, and/or a tortured soul won over by the powerful charms of her enemy, doesn't make it so. Dianora says or does nothing to convince us of her diplomacy, and Brandon likewise does nothing to make us even sympathetic to why she would fall for him. Kay could say it was just the sexual electricity between them, but some writers can actually write some dialogue that creates this impression. There really is a lot of, "this king, right, he's really noble and wise, and his right hand man, like, he's so clever and incisive, whereas this girl, she's really intelligent" - with very little noble, wise, clever, incisive or intelligent being said or done. Whole chapters read almost like explanations of the book Kay would like to have written - while the actual characters and narrative fall way short. I might have forgiven him this if he had've carried me along with action, but when you get down to it there are a lot of pages where nothing much actually happens.

Instead you might get the sort of bizarrely common cross between blushing teenage romance and James Bond womanising farce. The boys and girls in the story interact with stammering coyness and at times nauseating sentimentality (eg. with Rovigo's family), yet these are meant to be hard bitten, sexually experienced, guerrilla killers. We pause for absurd group hugs ("I love you guys," - very David Eddings) and fantasy one night stands as the odd nympho just happens to pop by. We're supposed to even take the 'keep 'em happy' occasional titillation seriously, but the perspective is overwhelmingly adolescent. It doesn't get totally pornographic, more it's got the feel of a nerdy kid trying to act knowing, "Yeah, sure, I've done it, man, f'waaaaar" (think of Arnold Rimmer's "I gave her one!"). Likewise the frequent attempts to sound cool by mentioning khav (i.e. like a million teenagers dropping the secret password to supposed worldliness, 'beer'). Again, there are some grown ups who can actually write about sex, or alcohol, with some insight - this sort of stuff is embarrassingly tryhard.

As indeed is the style at too frequent intervals. Again, how long can you think it's sophisticated to write pompous self-satisfied paragraphs like:
'There had been another mail packet waiting from Rovigo in Astibar. Which, when opened, proved to contain two letters this time, one which gave off - even after its time in transit - an extraordinary effusion of scent.
Alessan, his eyebrows elaborately arched, presented this pale blue emanation to Devin with infinite suggestiveness...
The perfume, unmistakably, was Selvina's. Devin's expression, as he took cautious possession of the envelope, must have been revealing because he heard Catriona giggle suddenly. He was careful not to look at her.
Selvina's missive was a single headlong sentence - much like the girl herself. She did, however, make one vivid suggestion that induced him to decline when the others asked innocently if they might peruse his communication.'
What's next??? We could reasonably expect:
"Ooooh, lovers..."
"You shut-up."
Maybe, just maybe you could handle something of this (although the style here is simply bad) if you liked the naïve young character, but he's being sold to us as a highly intelligent analyst, a blooded assassin, a supremely confident professional performer, and an experienced lover (who's held his dying love) who's up for a bit of tail if it presents itself in a cupboard or involves some S & M with a total stranger. It amazes me how common (McCaffrey, Asimov, Eddings, Jordan, Goodkind...) this sort of immature tosh is in supposedly adult fiction. It would be much better if they simply cut the sex out (they're not that good at it) and unashamedly wrote innocent adolescent fiction.

Finally, Guy, this is something you need to pay attention to if you're writing about music: text is NOT an aural medium. No matter how much you tell us just how fabulous the performances are in this story, it just doesn't work when you're only using words. It's like someone saying, "I heard this hilarious joke the other day - honestly, it was soooo funny. It was, um, about this cow and this, um, windmill or something, but, boy, sheeesh, did I laugh." Now I'm not saying that you can't write a good book about musicians (Ian Banks' Espedair Street; Peter Goldsworthy's Maestro), but if you are, it's pretty absurd to just keep bleating on about just how damn good they sound to an audience who, by definition, can't hear them. Oh, and as a PS, do you think it was particularly wise to allocate the harp as the instrument of choice of a wizard who a) is missing two fingers (Django Rhineheart aside), and b) is at pains to keep people's attention off his unusual hands?

Rating:
Summary: Not really my cup of tea...
Review: but the book Guy Kay wrote is probably just about what he wanted it to be. I read this book within a couple weeks of Frank Herbert's masterpiece "Dune", which was exactly as I would wish for a book to be. And it contrasts absolutely with Tigana.

Both books have a similar premise. Revenge against a foe who has tried to destroy your legacy. Dune is a tale deep in politics and physical combat, where you are actually made to understand the machinations of each character's mind. But in Tigana, the hows are left to the imagination, and the writer focuses instead on the sensation of the what. One doesn't understand what the characters are doing, but he can understand how they feel, which one often could not do with the alien cultures of Dune.

This depth of romance carries into all facets of the book. Every character is guided by waves of passion, and only the uncompromising villain shows the long contemplation and calculation of Dune's mentats. In my opinion, it is the writer's voice coming through Brandin's words when condemns this logical man for just that. If you yourself are a person of rationale rather than romance, this book was *not* written for you. But there is still an engrossing story and fairly likeable characters that may be enough for you to enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: More than historical fantasy, this is a world. Kay's best.
Review: Comparing Tigana to Tolkien or the rest of the brainmush that is pulp fantasy badly misses the point. While Kay's previous trilogy the Fionavar Tapestry competes in those realms (and does it well), Tigana is instead a construction of a lush psuedo-Italy in which magic plays a role, but much less than pride, history, culture, love, might, economics, and lastly but most importantly, brainpower. Clearly, Kay's best novel by far as the plot compels and the characters are believable.

Essentially, there are two very simple plotlines here. First is that a band of rebels from a conquered land, Tigana, go throughout the other 8 provinces to raise support against the two conquerors of the psuedo-Italian provinces. Second, a concubine in a foreign court weighs love against revenge for her homeland. On the surface, neither is the grand tapestry you expect in a fantasy. However, it works spectacularly.

Why? The depth of the characters and plotline. Kay must have had reams of notes on each character before writing the novel; from good guy to bad guy, every character has flaws and every character has valid motivations. An example: Alberico, the psuedo-Viking sorceror/conqueror of the 4 eastern provinces and probably worst of the bad guys. He's certainly malevolent, but from his perspective, he makes sense. Oversimplified, he's simply lining up to make a run at his Emperor's throne, is permanently frustrated by getting nowhere despite having brought a new land into the realm, and dashes between greed, fear, and simple malice against those who get in his way.

Likeable? No. But combine the interaction of about 20 characters this complex and the two plots take care of themselves. No one is prenaturally gifted with foresight or following a prophecy - in fact, Kay takes an amusing potshot at that in the disussion of the natural right of the princes of the provinces to rule - but what moves it is common sense and common passion. The world is similarly well constructed. As you'd expect, where would a psuedo-Italy be without wine, music, poetry, and love?

As warned, this is more an alternate history than a fantasy. Nature spirits and legends make appearances, as well as some really interesting speculation on the cost and sources of magic, but the only evil doers here are human. If you're looking for good-guy-zapping-dragon-with-magic-to-save-world-from-Dark-Lord, wrong book and something you'd probably give one or two stars. For everyone else, the best of this genre (and sadly given how many other novels he's published since) easily Kay's best work.

Rating:
Summary: Forget Tolkien, just read this book!
Review: Tigana is not only one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read, but also one of the best novels, period, I've ever read. Forget Tolkien - I know there are obvious comparisons to be made, but if you leave Tolkien aside and read Tigana you'll discover a world entirely its own. Tigana - an emotionally driven fantasy - owes more to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez than anything by Tolkien. Excellent for fantasy lovers but excellent for anyone who loves a well told story, as well. All of Kay's work is good, but this is best, by far.