Review of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

I bought the mass market paperback of Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora a couple of years ago but I just never got around to reading it.  Originally published in 2006 to critical acclaim as the best debut novel in years, I feel late to the party.  After feasting on Joe Abercrombie’s books, Lamora bubbled to the surface again.  Praise for Lynch’s work on Abercrombie’s blog only nudged me all the more.  As has become my habit, I left the paperback alone and experienced Lamora in audiobook form.  Lo and behold, Michael Page (who did Abercrombie’s last two books), performed as narrator and was outstanding once again.

Lamora definitely lived up to all the hype and Lynch has cemented himself for me as a fabulous new writer to follow in the fantasy genre.

The story takes place almost entirely within the island city of Camorr which seems to be modeled after Venice with its canals, architecture, names, and climate.  The descriptions of the alien Elderglass, the alchemical inventions, and strange cross-bred plants and fruits were a nice flourish.  Lynch does a fine job of invoking all of our senses.  Camorr has just survived an outbreak of the Black Whisper plague in the Catchfire district and there’s lots of orphans running around some of whom end up under the guardianship of a man called the Thiefmaker.  The orphans he gathers up make their home in an old graveyard called Shades’ Hill, which has been turned into a sort of ant mound of tunnels between various burial vaults and family crypts.  Here they are tutored in the ways of thieving and then are sent out on jobs and special tasks to earn their keep.  A scrawny boy named Locke Lamora finds his way into the group but quickly proves to be quite the troublemaker.

“HE BROKE the Secret Peace the first night I had him, the cheeky little bastard.”

Locke develops an uncanny skill for “teasing” – creating distractions or staging ruses aimed at fooling people out of their coin or creating opportunities for an accomplice to do so.  Soon the other young thieves would rather watch him work than do any of their own.  After Locke takes the initiative to loot a whole tavern by causing a Black Whisper scare which leads to a fire and rousing of the Duke’s Ghouls (the quarantine guard), the Thiefmaker is eager to be rid of him.

“Nobody has ever been hungry for stealing like this boy.  He steals too much.”

The Thiefmaker takes Locke to the nearby temple district and sells him to Father Chains, a blind priest of Perelandro (one of the gods in Lynch’s world, known as “Lord of the Overlooked”).  The temple of Perelandro is actually a front for one of crime-boss Barsavi’s elite thieving gangs.  Lamora joins a few other orphans taken in by Father Chains who then sets them all on a path of broad learning to reach their full thieving potential.  Their little family comes to be known as The Gentlemen Bastards.

The meat of the story takes place some 15 years later and centers around an extremely elaborate con known as the Don Salvara Game.  However, at various points in the story, there are interlude chapters which return us to Locke’s youth and help to fill in the full depth of his character as well as that of his companions.  The most interesting of these is Jean Tannen.  If Locke is the brains of their gang, Jean is the muscle.  A younger member of the gang named Bug, befuddled by all the layers of thieving within Camorr society, wonders “so that makes us… robbers of robbers?”

Locke’s  answer:  “think of what we do as a sort of… secret tax on nobles with more money than prudence.”

The Don Salvara Game was incredibly well-conceived and entertaining.  But things go awry and the gang finds themselves caught in someone else’s game, a game of revenge.  The story takes on a much more serious tone then and takes some gruesome turns.  This became the most engrossing part of the story as Locke fights to outwit the Gray King.  In Locke, I think Lynch really dispels the idea that there is no honor among thieves.

Overall, The Lies of Locke Lamora was a fantastic read.  There really aren’t any flaws to speak of but there were some minor things I thought could have been done slightly better.  First, the Salvara’s – Lorenzo and Sofia – seemed like a really nice couple.  I actually sympathized with them as the ruse played out.  I don’t know that this effect was intended.  Maybe Lynch could have made them a bit more dislikeable?  Second, Locke seemed a tad too wimpy.  Why not give him skill with a rapier or throwing knives?  Third, there is scant romance.  Lynch hints at a love interest in Locke’s past with one Sabetha but not much is revealed.  And while there’s the possibility of real romance with Nazca, Barsavi’s fiesty daughter, Lynch steers away from it.  Lynch plans to write a total of seven books about the adventures of the Gentlemen Bastards.  The next one is calling to me, Red Seas Under Red Skies.

9/10

Review of The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

note:  I experienced this is audiobook form, read superbly by Michael Page.

The Heroes is Joe Abercrombie’s second standalone novel set in the same world as his excellent First Law Trilogy.  It takes place 8 years after the supposed death of Logen Ninefingers at the hands of Black Dow who then took Logen’s place as King of the Northmen.  The Union wasn’t too pleased about that, since Logen had just promised to hold the Northmen clans to their side of the Whiteflow River and even to offer military support when called upon.  Black Dow’s reputation for being unpredictable was unsettling to say the least.  The Union would rather that a different man was leading the Northmen.  Aided by Logen’s friend, Dogman, and a group of other Northmen sworn to him, the Union is compelled to remove Black Dow from his throne.  He isn’t giving it up so easily though.  Pockets of fighting break out along the vast border but there is little progress made on either side.  After dragging on for years, the Union army is no closer to its goal.  While it has the advantage in numbers, it’s spread out in three divisions.  Black Dow has the higher ground and always seems to be a step ahead.  The campaign has grown costly and the Union has other problems rearing up, including a new threat from Styria in the east, apparently now in cahoots with Kahlul and the Gurkish.

The wizard Bayaz shows up at a meeting of the Union army’s leadership as they are going over fresh battle plans.  He basically gives an ultimatum that the Northern war be brought to a swift and decisive close.  While he doesn’t want to concern himself with details, he brings some “inventions” to lend a helping hand.  Meanwhile, in Black Dow’s camp, the war-chiefs are gathered discussing their own strategy.  We meet a freakish giant of a man named Stranger-Come-Knocking, who is eager to join the fight with a host of his savages behind him.  He styles himself as the greatest warrior in the world.  Caul Shivers, featured in Best Served Cold, counts himself among Dow’s supporters too and has come to be known as his dog.  He’s even more dark and creepy than he was in Best Served Cold.  And then there’s Prince Calder who wants the Northern throne for himself – though he wouldn’t say so to Black Dow’s face.

Forces on each side converge near the town of Osrung on a hill crowned by ancient statues, a place called The Heroes.  Over a span of three bloody days, the two sides clash to decide the fate of the North.

The story is related mainly through three principal characters although there are some other viewpoint characters that fill in.  The first of these is Curnden Craw, a respected Northman leading a dozen warriors for Black Dow.  Craw exemplifies the role of an honorable seasoned warrior.  While he sometimes ruminates on the dark business of war, he doesn’t let that deter him from following his orders.  The other Northmen call him a straight edge.  Second, there is Prince Calder, the younger of Bethod’s two sons.  What he lacks in martial prowess he makes up for in guile.  He wants his father’s throne back for himself.  Finally, there is Bremer dan Gorst, master swordsman and former member of King Jezal’s esteemed Knights of the Body.  Ever since his disgrace in Cardotti’s House of Leisure in Sipani in Best Served Cold and subsequent removal from his high station, he has been a tortured man.  He is sent to the Northern war as “a royal observer”.  He yearns to redeem himself.  Finree, the daughter of Lord Marshal Kroy (who leads the Union army), also gets a fair amount of page time.  She desperately wants to elevate the standing of her husband, Colonel Harod dan Brock.  That’s tough to do, given that Brock’s father was exiled as a traitor.  These and other characters make it pretty clear that there is no right or wrong side to the conflict, no good or bad guys.  It all depends on your point of view.

The story is action packed and hard edged, however I was hoping for at least a couple confrontations that never occurred.  In particular, a re-match between Gorst and Shivers was sadly missing.  I felt that Abercrombie sort of chickened out on that one, not wanting to kill off either character maybe?  Gorst’s inner monologues were funny and sort of reminiscent of Glokta from First Law but sometimes he seemed unbelievably extreme in his self-pity.  My hopes for him kept me engaged though.

Calder with his blithe confidence, charm, and intrigues emerged as the most enjoyable character.  You can’t help but admire a man that uses his wit to master a situation.  Some of his jibes were hilarious.

Shivers, my favorite from Cold, really got tossed into secondary status, which was a disappointment.  With that metal eye and gravelish voice, he seems more monster than man now.  You get a sense of ferocious strength and fury smouldering just below the surface.

Heroes is very much a “low” fantasy, focused on characters facing real problems.  There’s not any awesome magic being thrown around to turn the course of events.  Still, I couldn’t help but think Bayaz and Kahlul (via Ishri) were making puppets of everyone to fight their own personal war.  A direct confrontation between those two would have been cool.  Maybe in the next book.

Overall, The Heroes was immersive and entertaining.  Limited in scope (which was intentional) but I rather enjoyed taking in the continued development of Abercrombie’s world.  I look forward to more and I really hope he brings back the Bloody-Nine so he can kick the shit out of Stranger-Come-Knocking.

8/10

Review of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

note:  I experienced this in audiobook form.  Initially, I was disappointed that Steven Pacey wasn’t narrating but Michael Page proved to be a superb voice talent as well.

Best Served Cold takes place in the same world as Abercrombie’s outstanding debut The First Law Trilogy.  A few secondary characters from First Law show up in more prominent roles and some of its leading ones are mentioned in context.  The main character of Cold, Monzcarro Murcatto (more often simply Monza), is entirely new though.
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First, some backstory:  Monza and her brother Benna awake one night to the sound of bandits breaking in the door of their farm house.  They slip out a window and hide in the woods.  Frustrated by the lack of coin to be found, the bandits burn their crop leaving them destitute.  Not knowing which way to turn but outraged by the injustice done them, Monza (with younger Benna in tow) joins a posse to hunt down the bandits.  She discovers she has a taste for killing.  This then ushers in a bloody mercenary’s life where Monza and Benna rise in fame and fortune and soon they’re leading their own large and illustrious band of swords.

The story of Cold begins with the Murcattos paying a visit to Duke Orso of Styria, supposedly to discuss their next assignment.  But they are betrayed.  Soon after they’re escorted into the Duke’s study, a wire is drawn tight against Monza’s throat while she’s held fast from behind and forced to watch Benna’s murder.  Her hand is caught under the wire and denies her own would-be killer.  She manages to escape his embrace but a second assassin stabs her in the ribs and the two wrestle on the floor.  Just when it looks like she might gain the advantage, the strangler returns and stomps repeatedly on her sword-hand turning it into a hideous mess.  Finally, Monza is tossed over the balcony down a mountainside to be finished off on the rocks below.  She survives – barely – cushioned by her brother’s corpse.  A mysterious stranger finds her and puts her back together – or as best he can anyway.  When she regains consciousness, Monza is overcome with grief over her dead brother and a burning hunger for payback.  Barely able to stand, she breaks out of the stranger’s dungeon lab on a dark and stormy night… like Frankenstein’s monster.

Supported by a monetary stash gathered over a decade’s worth of leading mercenaries in nobles’ squabbles across the land, Monza embarks on a mission to kill the Duke and the six other men present in his study on that fateful day.  The story proceeds fairly straightforwardly from there as she maneuvers and puzzles her way to bringing her vengeance down on these men.  Easier said than done.

On the surface, the whole business sounds rather off-putting.  Thankfully, a good deal of fun and intrigue is supplied by a handful of wicked henchmen that Monza employs to help see her plan through.  Among them:  two Poisoners (Morveer and his apprentice Day), a convict obsessed with numbers named Friendly, and three familiar faces from First Law – Vitari (the blade-on-a-chain red-head Practical), the hardy Northman named Shivers, and the flamboyant spirits-loving Nicomo Cosca, Monza’s former Captain and mentor.  They all distrust one another and at any moment could come to blows yet somehow they manage to work together… for a while.  As in First Law, Abercrombie delves into all their heads and does an amazing job of developing each of their psyches.  Cosca provided a great deal of comic relief while Shivers provided a great deal of pathos.

At first, I was sympathetic to Monza’s quest for vengeance, but some of the men she killed I felt didn’t rightly deserve their fate.  In addition, as more of Monza’s past came to light and new conflicts and underhanded gambits played out, I began to squirm and climb up the wall in disgust.

Monza’s cold resolve wavers a little as the death toll rises beyond her control and the lines blur between friend and foe.  But she can’t settle on leaving her quest unfinished, no matter who or what stands in her way.  I found it difficult to stay connected with Monza’s motivation as the deaths were counted off.  She didn’t seem to be fueled by anger or passion so much as simply a matter of principal.

Shivers emerged as my favorite character.  He was easy to identify with, despite his flaws.  At the least, he was more sympathetic than Monza.  I understand that he reappears in Abercrombie’s next book – The Heroes.

There were some enjoyable plot twists toward the end of the book.  However, one was a little cheesy.  An overpowered being conveniently drops into a climactic scene and alters the outcome of a fight.  I believe this was done to show the influence of bigger outside forces at play within Abercrombie’s world, but I felt cheated out of a great climax.  The ending wasn’t bad really, it’s just that I was expecting a different twist.

Abercrombie revealed that strong influences for Best Served Cold came from the Lee Marvin film Point Blank (which was later remade into Mel Gibson’s Payback) and the colorful history of the Condottieri from Renaissance Italy.  It’s also not hard to see parallels to Tarantino’s Kill Bill or the more recent revenge flick Faster with tough guy Dwayne Johnson.

Overall, Best Served Cold was a rousing good read loaded with visceral action and sprinkled with dark humor.

8/10

Review of The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie:
book 1:  The Blade Itself
book 2:  Before They Are Hanged
book 3:  The Last Argument of Kings

note:  I experienced these in audiobook form, read by Steven Pacey.  His masterfully varied voice was enthralling and lent even more personality to the many characters.

The First Law Trilogy breaks many of the norms of typical medieval fantasy fare.  Abercrombie wastes little time on world-building or complicated history, but rather brings his world to life through intricately developed characters and a visceral narrative layered with intrigue.  He makes his characters growl and bleed and squirm and ache until you can barely stand it.  He shows us their resilience and their vulnerability too – and they become utterly believable as a result.  His style is oft described as gritty and he’s not shy about using expletives in his dialogue for impact.  Needless to say, you’re pulled up close to the characters.  In fact, you can taste the blood and dirt in your mouth and feel the steel slide into your guts in the fight scenes.  What a breath of fresh air compared to the more usual recipe of archetypal heroes whom emerge from battles with nary a scratch.

The main plot of First Law moves a little slowly as various characters are introduced but that’s okay because it allows you to really get into them and understand their motivations, their colorful backgrounds, and their faults.  Abercrombie uses multiple points of view to great effect.  In addition, there’s several little intrigue plots which were dark delights on their own.

The opening scene of The Blade Itself was breakneck – it reminded me of the opening to Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Soon after we are introduced to Inquistor Glokta, painfully hobbling his way through the dark depths of the House of Questions cursing at the inventor of stairs.  What an unexpected delicious piece of work he was!  His wistful aside remarks were an absolute riot.

The first book lays a lot of the groundwork, but by the second book the main plot gets moving.  The relatively stable but rather complacent central kingdom known as The Union is confronting threats from two sides:  In the North, the Union-controlled territory of Angland is being re-conquered by an army of Northmen.  In the south, the Gurkish Empire is pushing northward, starting with an assault on the port city of Dagoska.  To stir the pot even more, there is corruption within the power circles of the Union, civil unrest, and some frightful beings known as “Eaters” appear with an appetite for human flesh.  A mysterious incredibly self-inflated wizard who calls himself “The First of the Magi” is stirred to action.  A quest takes shape to retrieve a weapon of awesome power that supposedly will help the Union defend itself but if fallen into the wrong hands would open a gateway to the “Other Side” allowing demons into the world once again.  The wizard pulls together a mismatched party to aid him in his quest – namely three of the main characters – Logen Ninefingers, Jezal dan Luther, and Ferro Maljinn.  Meanwhile, Glokta – the forth main character – is having a ball (not really) defending Dagoska from the Gurkish army and dealing with all sorts of machinations within the high council there.   I was enrapt until the end.

Book 3 spends a lot of time in the North with the main force of the Union army confronting Bethod’s invasion into Angland.  Glokta comes home and has a whole range of problems to sort out.  All hell breaks loose when the Gurkish army (aided by the prophet Kahlul and his Eaters) arrives and lays siege to Adua, the Union capital.  The ending was bereft of warm fuzzies but it made sense.  At least a couple main characters didn’t make out too badly.  I was satisfied with how things were tied up and I appreciated that Abercrombie left some ambiguity as to whether some characters might live on and reappear.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Law Trilogy. What an outstanding debut for a new writer!

9/10

***
Just some lingering thoughts about some of the characters…

Ferro Maljinn – yikes! Initially, I loathed Ferro’s hard-boiled super-bitchiness but I warmed up to her somewhat in book 2 during the journey to the Old Empire. More was revealed about her past and she became more interesting.

Jezal dan Luther – an extremely dislikeable character as well… and for a long time. Reminded me a bit of Luke Skywalker crossed with Joffrey Baratheon. However, of the 4 protagonist characters, I saw the most growth in him towards “a better person,” by the end of book 3. I don’t foresee him devolving into a Prince Ladislaw or worse, the former King. Jezal is still naive but at least he has his heart in the right place after seeing more of the real world beyond the sheltered life of a privileged Union officer.  I thought it was funny how he wanted to build free houses for the homeless.

Collem West – he seemed genuinely righteous and noble.  A bit of a hot-head, sure, but capable of recognizing and righting his mistakes.  He seemed motivated to always want to do the right thing… only that his temper would sometimes push him too far. The Northmen named him Furious after all.  I wanted to see him grow out of that and make amends with Ardee.

Bayaz – “The First of the Magi” – was a total ass, as wizards often are. I never warmed up to him though I found him quite funny at times. I kept thinking he was Kahlul in disguise and that he’d reveal his true self after he’d secured the seed’s power.

Practical Frost – he didn’t say much but I just found him to be a funny as hell sinister character.

The Dogman – another character that seemed to follow a righteous/noble path. I never really took to him though. I just saw him mainly as a stout companion of Logen’s, the only one who truly understood him and who helped him find his humanity. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the image of him surrounded by big badass Rottweilers or Wolfhounds. The other Northmen were quite entertaining, particularly Crummock.

Logen Ninefingers/The Bloody Nine – loved by the moon! What a masterfully wrought complex character! A tough as nails Northman but a clever sonuvabitch too. His Jekyl and Hyde persona was a source of many thrilling moments. Logen’s humanity shown through in wanting to own up to his past life as a senseless killer… to try and be a better man. To find a little out of the way spot and grow things. He was never very realistic after all…

Sand dan Glokta – ah, the best for last. Glokta, once a master swordsman and hero, a survivor of torture in a Gurkish prison, now a shrewd and methodical inquisitor and torturer himself. His cynical wit, his quick mind, his fierce sense of purpose, his pathos, his whole being was just so incredibly mesmerizing and entertaining. He ranks up there with A Song of Ice and Fire’s Tyrion as one of my all time favorite characters from speculative fiction. The image of Glokta as described by Abercrombie is so revolting and sad though that I sort of rendered him in my mind as resembling Gru from Despicable Me – just to soften it.

Review of A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Once a publish date for A Dance With Dragons was announced on GRRM’s site, I decided to go back and re-read the first four books.  I was a little daunted by the magnitude of the reading ahead but I really wanted to get reacquainted with the characters in A Song of Ice and Fire before digging into the latest book.  A friend of mine convinced me to get audio versions of the books and listen to them on my commute.  Damn, was I amazed at how much reading I could get done that way!  I devoured the first four books over a span of about 7 weeks and then snapped up the audio version of Dance as well.  I ended up buying a hardcopy too, to fill out my permanent collection.

So, was it worth the wait?

Sadly, no.

You see, my expectations were exceedingly high.  The first 3 books – A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords – all rank a 10.  Book 4, A Feast for Crows, was more like a 9, since it was muddled with too many new storylines and there were no chapters on Tyrion.  I love GRRM’s writing style and I literally drank up every page of Dance with relish.  Unfortunately, there were no huge events to speak of.  Everyone was constantly in transit somewhere.  Important questions were put off or brushed under the rug.  Certain cliffhangers from books 3 and 4 were not resolved.  Arghhhh…

From his “Cavil on Chronology” in the first pages of Dance, I learned that GRRM intended for book 5 to run parallel to book 4, separated by geography versus chronology.  I didn’t have an issue with that.  It’s just that… for the stuff going on in book 5, most of it wasn’t that interesting.  I expected certain confrontations to occur… perhaps a big battle or two.  Some plot threads did advance, but led to no big climaxes.  There was mainly a lot of building up instead.

I could address specific things, but I don’t want to spoil others from experiencing the full expanse of the story.  The writing is immersive and the dialogue as amusing as ever, but based on how long it took GRRM to write Dance and its length, more of those 1000 or so pages should have been devoted to action versus what Tyrion broke his fast on.  I felt let down.  Honestly, GRRM’s obsession with food filled too many pages.

Some characters continue in their coming of age which was the most rewarding part of Dance, others – that I’d grown quite attached to – were barely touched.  They had brief cameos and don’t really do anything in them.  It seemed like GRRM was merely jostling players around in preparation for the real stuff… which I kept hoping was coming as I got closer and closer to the end…  but it never came.  Instead, I was rewarded with a stomach-lurching cheap shot.  Bastard.

Dance isn’t in the same league as the previous books.

I’ll certainly continue reading the series and I fully expect it will get back on the track of greatness.  I just hope to hell the next book is out in less than 6 years.

7/10

Review of The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson:
book 1 – The Final Empire
book 2 – The Well of Ascension
book 3 – The Hero of Ages

note:  I experienced these in audiobook format, read by Michael Kramer.

The Mistborn Trilogy is an extremely well-crafted story with sympathetic characters struggling to survive on a dying planet – a mysterious dystopian world that is doused in ash-fall by day and shrouded in thick mists by night.  The setting is a change of pace from your typical “medieval style” epic fantasy.  It has more of a sci-fi feel to it, though the décor and socio-political environment seem akin to the French Revolution period.

The “magic system” is refreshingly unique and is perhaps the most memorable aspect of the story.  More like science than magic.  In essence, it relates to the use of various metals that are consumed or worn which allow a person (with inherent skill) to tap powerful mental and physical abilities.  Sanderson handled the rules for this brilliantly and consistently and it made for some very cool fight scenes.

The stylish fighting actually reminded me of the physical rule bending in The Matrix films.  But Sanderson’s system has more credibility, I think.  Mistborn is set in a real world after all, not a virtual construct.  So, when I found myself muttering “hmmm… where have I seen that before?” a few times, I just smiled and enjoyed the ride.

The two stories have obvious similarities in theme as well.  Namely:  two forces trying to gain control (or at least balance each other out), survival in the face of imminent destruction, and, actions have consequences.  But their settings and back-story differ vastly and each builds up in a unique way.  Just to be clear, Matrix fandom is not requisite to enjoying these books.

Mistborn’s main character, Vin, is too cool for words and I fell absolutely in love with her from the start.  She’s a svelte brunette hottie endowed with a full arsenal of Mistborn enhanced abilities and not afraid to use them.  Brave, fierce, honest, sensitive, clever…  there’s little about her not to like.  She’s Trinity but with more depth.  Much of the story unfolds through Vin’s eyes.  On the critical side, I thought she was a bit too sad and withdrawn.  Fortunately, by book 2, she makes some tough choices and finally sheds some of her morose demeanor.  As the story proceeds, she gains confidence and an inner fortitude.  In book 3, there’s a showdown between Vin and a bunch of Inquisitors which sort of resembles Neo’s brawls with a bunch of Matrix Agents.  In a particularly sweet moment, Vin soars above the ash clouds and finds the sun.

Kelsier was inspiring and made a great teacher for Vin (I sort of likened him to Morpheus).  Elend, Vin’s love-interest, seemed like he had his head in the clouds a lot (or buried in books rather).  He turned into more of an action man as the story moved ahead.  Sazed, Spook, and Tensoon – all were nicely developed and full of surprises.

Sanderson kept me guessing on the plot’s direction.  Sometimes things seemed completely hopeless, especially with an overwhelmingly bleak cast to the whole latter part of the story – particularly in book 3.  I kept wondering – what the hell are they going to do now?  The puzzle came together well enough at the end but I was hoping for a different result.

A minor gripe I have about Sanderson’s style is that his narrative can feel a bit wooden.  I prefer more grit.  There was blood and pain doled out, yes, but it often felt off-hand or superficial.  Also, too many meandering mental musings by the viewpoint characters took the edge off.  Some of the dialogue sounded unnatural.  But these were minor flaws and style issues.  Overall, I came to understand the characters well, cared about them, and remained engaged until the end.

8/10

Review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
note:  I originally wrote this review back in May ’07.

Tigana is an epic fantasy masterpiece.

Originally published in 1990, it remained undiscovered by me until I started looking for more books by Guy Gavriel Kay after having truly enjoyed The Lions of Al Rassan.  Tigana was written before Lions but they can be read out of order.  Each parallels a European country at turbulent periods in its history.  Tigana and surroundings are reminiscent of Renaissance Italy.

I was easily drawn in, utterly bewitched, and enjoyed the ride all the way.  When the truth of Tigana’s “erasure” was exposed, the already captivating story acquired an almost mythic quality.  I loved the theme of cultural identity and the importance of memories, the characters, the magic, the setting, and especially Kay’s distinctive eloquent prose.

Kay has an uncanny ability for digging in and tugging the reader’s guts and this story does a real number on you.  Another hallmark of his style are incredibly well choreographed action scenes.  Suspense and pace are handled masterfully and the imagery pops off the page in lights.  I returned to several passages and re-read them for the sheer pleasure of the amazing word-craft.

Kay starts slow and paints an intricate, richly detailed world with an enigmatic cast.  About 1/4 into Tigana, the main conflict takes shape and the story just rolls along effortlessly from there.  It was painful to set the book down.  Kay handles exposition beautifully.  Usually this is a flaw in a lesser writer – the old adage “show don’t tell” just doesn’t apply with him.  He tells more than he shows but he does it so damned well it will leave you reeling with awe.  In the last third of the book, things really heat up.  The beautiful prose is still present, but action takes precedence.

Curiously, Kay favors the women in Tigana for his best characterizations.  They initiate key actions that drive the plot.  The men seem more reactive and are generally less forthcoming.  Devin and Baerd stand out though.  In fact, if I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Baerd (though I could have done without one specific dark deed from his past).

Tigana is definitely a book I would read again.  While my exposure to Kay’s writing is still rather limited, I’m hugely impressed.  I eagerly look forward to reading more of his work.

10/10