Rating: 
Summary: One man sees a riselka . . .
Review: In a time when fantasy novels can achieve best-seller status, it both amazes and troubles me that, until last year, I had not heard of GGK's splendid work. But now, fortunately, I have heard and read _The Fionavar Tapestry_ and _A Song for Arbonne_ and most recently this . . . masterpiece.It is difficult to summarize the plot, for so much of the story unfolds organically--indeed, as a near-perfect tainflower--that one fears to spoil the pleasure of becoming swept up in the narrative. That said, the tale concerns the Palm, a mythic penninsula reminiscent of Italy, a land divided between two wizard-conquerors. One conqueror has utterly blighted the province of Lower Corte with an undreamt-of dark magic. (Take a fresh look at the map of the Palm mid-way through, and you will grasp the immensity of the spell!) A handful of refugees must undo the spell . . . yet if the one wizard falls, the other will irrevocably gain control of the Palm, leaving the deadly choice: the breaking of the spell, interminable conquest . . . or, perhaps, perhaps, the smallest gleam of freedom. GGK's writing flows well, as always, fresh and lyrical and soaked with human understanding. The first chapter is a work of genius for its perspective on the heroes' way of building toward their goal, as is the surprising revelation in the climax, and--perhaps most of all--the heart-tingling last paragraph. (Wait!) The only flaw is Baerd's strange, protracted battle with the Night-walkers (a touch cliched), and (just perhaps) a touch of gratuitous eroticism in Castle Borso. Even so, these flaws are minor and only faintly detract from the beauty of the whole, which merits a solid 4-1/2 stars. "Tigana, may the memory of you be like a blade in my soul!" (And may GGK's work receive its just recognition)
Rating:
Summary: I wish I could give it a ten
Review: Guy Gavriel Kay must be one of the most gifted writers I have ever had the joy to review. In Tigana, he crafts this amazing tale told from the the eyes of a seemingly insignificant person - who ends up changing the world. Amazingly, this whole indescribably wonderful story revolves around somthing as simple, and yet still complicated, as a name. Tigana's vast range of settings and Kays amazing descriptions would make for an excellent film, but I personally prefer the book version so I can display the range of emotions through which the reader is pulled. From laughing hysterically at a snide comment to breaking into tears at a tragic moment, it's all there. Deep inside this fantastic world you find real people with true emotions that you can't help but connect with. There are characters you love to hate, and others you hate to love. Kay artfully describes the feelings of hurt and betrayal, of acceptance and grief, and of joy and hope in this expansive epic. If you have ever read and enjoyed a story - any story - you should at least try Tigana. I guarantee you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Tigana is possibly the best work of fantasy I've ever read, and one of the best books of all genres. I enjoyed Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, but this was even better. Very few fantasy books can make you feel sorry for the villain (purest evil, maniacal cackling and callous cruelty are the order of the day generally), fewer still have heroes whose decisions at times are distinctly morally ambiguous. Tigana is one of them. Brandin of Ygrath, one of the two main villains (foreign sorceror-conquerors who have split between them the land in which the story is set, a large palm-shaped peninsula with a society similar to the Italian city-states) of the book is revealed as a human and positively kind man at times, who commits what amount to atrocities in revenge for the . He's certainly nicer than Alberico of Barbiador, who is merely avaricious and cruel (but still not just pure evil - he has motivations other than simply killing people for the fun of it). The good characters' use means justified by ends in their attempt to remove the two tyrants and rebuild their land, which has been ravaged and its very name torn out of people's minds by Brandin's revenge. The story is well-crafted (the ending reminded me of a Shakespearian tragedy) and filled with multi-dimensional characters. It is also non-stereotypical - there are no axe-wielding dwarves or other Tolkien imitations, unnecessary magical pyrotechnics and suchlike. My only gripes were one slightly extraneous plotline which possibly could have been lost, and the epilogue, which I didn't like for some reason which I can't put my finger on. Apart from this, Tigana is a fantastic book and a must-read for all fans of good fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT STAND-ALONE FANTASY NOVEL
Review: I don't recall how I came to read this book, but I'm most glad that I did. Of all the many fantasy novels that I've read, this is one of the few that deserves the title ORIGINAL. There is not one evil wizard, but TWO! And both want the same piece of land. There is an excellent scene involving a cabin. As is explained in the introduction, this was a very important part of the book, and one of the best parts. Something very shocking and unexpected happens there. Another part I like involved a corn-field at night and a really exciting battle. Then, to top it all off, there's a surprise ending. Lots of memorable characters, well-written narrative and dialogue. This book has lots of Italian undertones going through it. Pronunciation, etc. Unlike some of Kay's other works, this one reads really easily.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Two: GRRM and GGK
Review: It seems, that in the minds of quite some people (that I've discovered amidst some of the message boards I hang out at), GGK is what a lot of people are reading and enjoying, while we all anxiously await A Dance with Dragons. I picked up Tigana with high hopes, and indeed, I was not disappointed. His prose is "pretty" and flows quite well. And could invoke great violent scenes as well. The part where Alberico wipes out the conspirators early in the book was definitely up to GRRM standards. Cool story. Cool characters. You see a lot of people not liking Catriana, and bemoaning Devin because he wasn't central enough, but it didn't really bug me. really the oonly part that did bug me, was when Baerd fights with the Nightwalkers. it came out of nowhere and broke the spell of an earlier scene with Devin engaging in noctural activities with a true love vixen - that one made more sense, I was funner to read... aw well. This was my first GGK book and I will definitely be reading more as the wait for Fall '02 slowly, inevitably approaches...
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable heroes, predictable denouement
Review: I had high hopes for Tigana, because of all the reviews that were written about this 700+ page epic--but those reviews must have been written by diehard fantasy addicts, because Guy Gavriel Kay has stocked this novel full of characters who are complete and standard stereotypes, who think the complete stereotypical thoughts, and who never have a layer of depth below their rather shallow existences. There's the prodigal son, the vanquished prince, the noble yet embittered princess, the spritely youth who is caught up in everything unwittingly. And each one thinks impossibly noble thoughts that only someone in a fantasy novel or a thriller thinks--they have such a predictable rapport with each other that it sounds beyond forced, to the point of high satire. I'm fairly certain that wasn't Mr. Kay's intention. At every turn, you're led to think, "of course... of course that's what he'd say, he's the evil man, and of course, the prince is handsome and noble, and of course he's going to acquiesce to the lower man, because, he's the prince and he's much bigger than that!" With such one dimensional icons, it's hard to get into the story without succumbing to a little snorting and shake of the head. It's almost fantasy paint by numbers. Much better to seek out writers like Gene Wolfe or sci-fiction writers like Jonathem Lethem... they write literature that's not in reality, Kay writes pretty standard fare that just happens to be really, really, really long.
Rating:
Summary: An Epic Adventure
Review: I just finished reading this book for the second time and remembered why I loved it so much the first time. Guy Gavriel Kay creates characters who you deeply care about as the story unfolds. The characters are so very real - there is no clear sense of evil or goodness, each character (even the enemy) comes to life and you find yourself caring about what happens to them. Even when rooting for the protagonist, I found myself feeling saddened by the life led by the enemy. I recommend this book to one and all.
Rating:
Summary: Shades of grey: internal struggles of Tigana's citizens
Review: Set in a fantasy land closely resembling Tuscany with its rolling hills, fractious city-states and tiny villages filled with tall, medieval towers, the tale of Tigana unfolds. It is after the diaspora of many of fallen Tigana's citizens, from apprentice to prince, who could not bear to live in a country where their very name is taken away by the powerful sorcery of their conqueror, heartbroken by the death of his son. Richly combining both the medieval setting of Tuscan Italy, the warring sorceror invaders who have carved up the Peninsula of the Palm bring a taste of mid-20th century cold war struggles, along with the chilling "memory hole" of George Orwell's 1984 and the deeply divided hearts and minds of its principal characters are hauntingly realistic. While Kay's masterwork is properly housed in its high fantasy genre, this is a book that offers deeply satisfying reading for any number of literary tastes.
Rating:
Summary: My very favorite book
Review: Kay's writing is full of depth and feeling. I can't get this book out of my mind, even years after I first read it. It is by far the best book I've ever read, fantasy or not, even better than The Lord of the Rings. Not even close to the typical fantasy fare; the story is extremely interesting, the characters are luminous, the events are often surprising. Never boring and never disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: The best single volume fantasy
Review: Tigana is Kay's masterpiece. Drawn loosely from the history of Italy's fractious medieval city-states and the struggles between the Holy Roman Empire and France to control the Italian peninsula, Tigana describes the ambitious struggle of a small band of people whose very heritage has been virtually exterminated. Kay's descriptions bring to life the cities and countrysides his characters roam in their quest to rid their lands of the two tyrants that have split the Peninsula of the Palm (the fictional situs) into their respective playpens. Unlike other fantasy authors at the time he wrote Tigana (early 1980s), Kay depicts the ultimate "bad guy" (the conqueror king Brandin) as a three-dimensional person whose terrible cruelty derived, in part, from personal loss. After his son died in a battle to conquer the city-state of Tigana, Brandin razed the city and banished the name Tigana from the memory of all people living in the Peninsula of the Palm except the Tiganans themselves, so only they would know of their lost heritage. Kay's prose evokes the deep emotions of the heroes subjected to the cruelty of having their very heritage crushed into powder and the conflict that can arise when a Tiganan concubine falls in love with the one person she should abhor beyond all others. This work is moving, with Kay's most lyrical prose on display and his most ambitious plotline -- how a small band of "musicians" attempt to maneuver Brandin and his rival tyrant Alberico into an ultimate battle for the Peninsula of the Palm in the hope that they will destroy each other. Only a disturbing aspect of one relationship between two main characters takes away from the impact of the work as a whole.
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