January Book Club - Guy Gavriel Kay (WITH SPOILERS) post

[writerlibrarian]

This is where you come to talk about the book of Guy Gavriel Kay you chose to read for the January book club and can rave/rant about the twists and turns of the story. This post allows SPOILERS.

Have fun posting which book you chose, why, isn't any good, is it really, really bad and you are changing book... etc

Comments

[archersangel]

i read guy gavriel kay's tigana a few months back & glanced through it for this post, but can't find it right now. so if this seems vague, forgive me. (bad memory)

overall i didn't like it.

it had an interesting premise; in a land of magic, a conquering king gets revenge on the country were his eldest son was killed in battle by wiping the country's name (tigana) no only from the map, but from the memory of every person not born there. if any native-born tiganaian says the name to one who isn't, the non-native can't hear it. the story is about a group out to kill the conquering king in order to break the spell.
while it had some interesting moments, it seemed to drag on. especially with the "B story" of one of the conquering king's concubines (who's a secret tiganaian) plotting to kill him, but falling in love with him instead. then in the middle of this the author through in some incest via flashback *faceplam*.
but that's not the worst part! it ends on a cliffhanger! there's some kind of near-mythical being that (according to legend) if 3 men see it at once; 1 will die & i can't recall what what's supposed to happen to the other 2 (better fates than death though) and guess what happens! 3 of our "heroes" see one & that's where it ends

[shanaqui]

"B story"? Dianora's story is intensely important thematically to the whole book. I agree she's not a very active character -- she hardly does anything she resolves to do -- but she's a strong symbol.

I'm not sure why the incest makes you headdesk, considering it's both interesting characterisation and part of later motivations.

The ending is amazing, far from being "the worst part", at least if you liked the book -- to get so far, to like all three of the characters, and then to come to that end and imagine what might be... it's much more powerful than an end in which everything is neatly tied up in a bow.

What did you consider to be "interesting moments"?

[archersangel]

well, i liked the idea that the wizards had to be "married to the land" so to speak, in order to get their full powers. the myths & general world-building i liked.
i guess you're right about the incest being a motivation for both characters later on. it's just that it was such a surprise & seemed to be treated so casually. (but i suppose people in that situation would see it as such)
as for the term "B story" i take it to mean the second story told at the same time as the first. it could be just as important at the "A story" or secondary.