Rating: 
Summary: Slower middle chapter, but ends well
Review: "The Wandering Fire" is the second installment in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Picking up where "The Summer Tree" left off, the second act of the trilogy brings together the elements for the series' climax in a series of slow, plodding steps.The Fionavar Tapestry tells the tale of five young people who find themselves pulled into a fantasy world. At first, just experiencing the strange land is enough to keep them busy, but soon they discover that they are at the center of something bigger. Great evil has awakened and seeks to spread itself across the lands. Epic storytelling ensues. Mixing post-Tolkien influences with Arthurian legends and time-honored fantasy standards, "The Summer Tree" manages to stand up well on its own despite its clear influences, largely based on the author's strong writing. You'll see plenty of familiar characters with changed names - elves, orcs and the like - but it never feels like More Of The Same. There is certainly a lot to like here. The story picks up quickly and thrusts us back into Fionavar. A more tense Fionavar on the brink of war. The climax, too, is brisk and thrilling, a wonderful finish to the second act that will keep readers tearing through the final 50 pages. The middle portions of the book, however, fall a bit short. Where Kay's marvelous prose are enough to keep the first book moving even when very little of consequence is taking place, "The Wandering Fire" cannot always make the same boast. The book suffers from long, slow stretches. Kay dwells in sadness and melancholy - well written sadness and melancholy, to be sure - until the reader almost feels beaten over the head with it. Second acts, however, are hard to really nail down, and when all is said and done, Kay's effort is admirable. Even in taking a step down from the first book, it is better than a good deal of the more pulpish fantasy out there. The climax is so good, you'll probably want to race right out and get the third. And after all, isn't that what the second act of a trilogy is supposed to do?
Rating: 
Summary: The Best & Truest Fantasy Series Ever !
Review: After having read the reviews preceding this one, I am sorely dismayed! For all lovers of the Fantasy genre or Celtic myth & legend - this is THE BEST TRILOGY IN PRINT! Don't let the category of fantasy make you shy away if wizards & fairies just aren't your "thing"! These volumes, while steeped in Celtic lore have a totally contempory feel. I considered myself to be not easily impressed and after reading this series for the second time, I still found myself "moved". I came to this page to purchase the entire set as a gift for my niece, as her first "grownup books" - and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it for everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: After the first book, which has its slow places and really does leave you wondering where you'll go from there, this book is a great pick up. The plot moves more quickly in this book and you can start to see where things will be going in the future. There are glimpses of things that will happen in the third book which make you cringe in horrified anticipation. I will warn you, this book did make me cry. It has been a long time since I've gotten involved enough in characters and plot to cry. Well worth the read!
Rating:
Summary: A good second book..
Review: After the first book, which has its slow places and really does leave you wondering where you'll go from there, this book is a great pick up. The plot moves more quickly in this book and you can start to see where things will be going in the future. There are glimpses of things that will happen in the third book which make you cringe in horrified anticipation. I will warn you, this book did make me cry. It has been a long time since I've gotten involved enough in characters and plot to cry. Well worth the read!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: An epic and grand adventure that captures the best and worst. Encompassing more then I could have possibly imagined. Inspiring and compelling, this tale meets and exceeds all of my expectations. I'll never view the Arthurian legend quite the same again and it is but a minor part of this in comparison. I can easily compare this to the Tolkien trilogy. Enjoy
Rating:
Summary: IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!
Review: As I mentioned in my review of The Summer Tree (first in the Fionavar Tapestry), Mr. Kay is the one and only reason I read fantasy now! This book just reinforced what I learned about his writing ability while reading The Summer Tree. The Wandering Fire picks up where The Summer Tree left off, taking the reader further into the development of five former college students and their encounters in a beautifully depicted world of magic, mythology and Arthurian legend. I knew the basic story of King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, but Mr. Kay's incredible ability to convincingly combine his created world of Fionavar with Arthurian legend and mythology made this second book even more interesting, exciting and rewarding than The Summer Tree. The story never slips and the characters are even more engaging this time around. Anyone who immerses himself/herself in this Trilogy will wish it would never conclude. Thank goodness Mr. Kay continues to write more fabulous stories!
Rating:
Summary: Very, very good
Review: Better than the first and it kept building and building. Gotta love what Kay has done to the Toronto folks who arrived in this new world. They suddenly become legends and heroes and saviors. I was never a fan of Donaldson's Thomas Covenant because I never cared for the cross over in worlds. Kay, however, sucked me, which I thought would be nigh impossible.
Rating:
Summary: A Fierce, Fantastical Epic Worthy of Every Literature Award
Review: I am an avid reader and have been since I was just a lad. This series stands out in the crowd of the thousands of books I have enjoyed over the years. Kay's use of Fantasy is a device to set in motion complex human drama that uses the foil of the Fantasy setting well, without ever succumbing to vapid sword and sorcery nonsense. I can't say enough good things about his work. I only lament that my memory isn't worse so I could reread them all with the same sense of wonder I experienced the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Classic clash of good and evil with a twist
Review: I have now read this and its prequel, The Summer Tree, and am earnestly searching for Book Three, The Darkest Road (as usual with trilogies and suchlike, bookshops never have the one you're looking for!). When I read about the Fionavar Tapestry at the back of The Lord Of The Rings, of all places, I was immediately attracted by the idea of people from our world becoming characters in a fantasy epic. Very frequently I have seen the Fionavar Tapestry compared to the works of Tolkein. In my opinion it is hard to compare them as they are very different. Tolkien's is a created mythology, supposedly preceding recorded history; Fionavar is a parallel world, and our own modern world is involved in the story by the use of the five protagonists. The characterisation is also different: Kay develops the relationships between his characters far more, at the expense of the much more complex and richly developed world of Tolkien. This is not to say that either is superior to the other, they are simply different, possibly because of their differing times of writing: Tolkien reads like classical epic or tragic poetry, whereas the Fionavar Tapestry is more modern in its treatment of characters and events, though the themes in both are the same. Comparisons with Tolkien aside, I feel that the glowing reviews of the Tapestry are well deserved. The characters, particularly the five people from our world, are believable and easy to sympathize with. The story rarely descends into cliche (I say rarely - there are one or two moments which I thought could have been more originally handled, but they were still enjoyable and it is almost impossible to avoid cliche entirely, as I have just discovered - _descends into cliche_ is itself a cliche!) and blends real folklore and the author's own ideas excellently (I recognised a lot of things, such as the lios alfar, from the work of Alan Garner, which uses folklore as well). With respect to The Wandering Fire, I thought that the new spin it brings to the legend of King Arthur was extremely clever and original. All in all, a cleverly constructed non-genre version of the classic war between Good and Evil. As a final thought, be sure to read the Summer Tree before this one, otherwise it will have a lot less impact.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Story Set in a Beautiful World
Review: I love the Fionavar Tapestry. In these books Kay has woven a beautiful, complex story. The setting is Fionavar, a gorgeous and enchanted world filled with magic and history--a world which reminds me of Narnia or Middle Earth. The story is filled with strong, compelling characters, both male and female, who sometimes have to make difficult choices. At times the story is sad but Kay's writing is so graceful that I enjoyed even the sad parts. The Wandering Fire, the second book in the triology, continues the saga begun in The Summer Tree. It contains many moments not only of excitement and action but poignant emotion, especially in the stories of Darien and Finn and that of Kevin. I would highly recommend The Fionavar Tapestry to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy with powerful magic and beautiful settings.
| 
