A Little Something Different
or This Is Probably Wasted Effort, But...
Usually I don't take time to try to convince people to read a certain book. People don't read - this is an established fact of life, however much I might despise people for it. Tonight however, I feel the need to break precedent over the work I just finished.
Tigana, as you may have guessed from the title, is a single novel in the fantasy genre by Guy Gavriel Kay. The author admits in the Afterward that this was probably a risky place to talk about the themes he wished to discuss, only because most people who read a fantasy novel are there for action, magic, swords, and the like. Tigana has all of these; in fact, the climax had my jaw hanging open for roughly 30 pages. (1) It's the themes of the book, however - power, the ambiguity of "good" and "bad," and the way politics and partisianship can fracture a country/region - that leave you glued to your seat, turning over the story as a whole in your head long after you finish the last sentence. (2) These topics are at the heart of a lot of our own political and military actions right now around the world, so it couldn't be much more relevant to our current lives than it is. If you absolutely must, just replace any mention of "magic" with "nuclear arms."
I will give you this much, dear readers: this is a formidable book. Kay's style is difficult to get used to, mostly because he chose to use many sentence fragments as full length sentences. This makes it especially hard to read if you only get to read for five minutes at a time. The book also clocks in at nearly 700 pages as an 8" x 5.25" paperback, so it's not you can just stick in your pocket.
Tigana is not for the faint of reading-heart, but very worth the effort.
(1) - If you actually read this book and love Kay's style and that sort of ending, I would also highly recommend his Fionavar Tapestry.
(2) - Don't even THINK about reading the last sentence of the book. It doesn't really spoil the ending, but it does make one want to tear one's very long hair out at the roots once one goes back to figure out what the hell it means.
or This Is Probably Wasted Effort, But...
Usually I don't take time to try to convince people to read a certain book. People don't read - this is an established fact of life, however much I might despise people for it. Tonight however, I feel the need to break precedent over the work I just finished.
Tigana, as you may have guessed from the title, is a single novel in the fantasy genre by Guy Gavriel Kay. The author admits in the Afterward that this was probably a risky place to talk about the themes he wished to discuss, only because most people who read a fantasy novel are there for action, magic, swords, and the like. Tigana has all of these; in fact, the climax had my jaw hanging open for roughly 30 pages. (1) It's the themes of the book, however - power, the ambiguity of "good" and "bad," and the way politics and partisianship can fracture a country/region - that leave you glued to your seat, turning over the story as a whole in your head long after you finish the last sentence. (2) These topics are at the heart of a lot of our own political and military actions right now around the world, so it couldn't be much more relevant to our current lives than it is. If you absolutely must, just replace any mention of "magic" with "nuclear arms."
I will give you this much, dear readers: this is a formidable book. Kay's style is difficult to get used to, mostly because he chose to use many sentence fragments as full length sentences. This makes it especially hard to read if you only get to read for five minutes at a time. The book also clocks in at nearly 700 pages as an 8" x 5.25" paperback, so it's not you can just stick in your pocket.
Tigana is not for the faint of reading-heart, but very worth the effort.
(1) - If you actually read this book and love Kay's style and that sort of ending, I would also highly recommend his Fionavar Tapestry.
(2) - Don't even THINK about reading the last sentence of the book. It doesn't really spoil the ending, but it does make one want to tear one's very long hair out at the roots once one goes back to figure out what the hell it means.
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