Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #263062 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

A good beginning to a not so good trilogy...
Book 1 of the Fionavar Tapestry is very enjoyable. It's original, intriguing and promising. The mythology described in this book is every Fantasy fan's dream: it has been thoroughly thought of and provides a wealth of information as to a different world's creation and history. The characters are also very well conceived and described. consistent and you will not have a problem identifying with any of them.

The only drawback is Kay's inclination to whip the reader with overly complicated descriptions of his characters' psychological states and landscapes which quite frankly feel a little cheesy after the first 3 pages! In addition, he tends to stick to stereotypical descriptions that are quite banal by now (dwarves are miners, elves stick to the woods bla bla bla) which kind of drags down the originality element which is a real shame as the story itself is very unusual!

Apart from the different strands of the story being slightly predictable this book boasts a great ending which literally leaves you hanging in suspense and reaching over for the second book where the story starts to get boring... (see review of 'The Wandering Fire' for more information

Traditional Fantasy. ?
I once remember an English teacher scoffing at sci-fi/fantasy novelists as people who couldn't really write, and just used exotic setting to cover this cover-up.

After reading Guy Gavriel Kay, I realised she was right - about most writers. But she made a mistake in dismissing a whole genre - Guy Gavriel Kay shows us that a fantasy can be written with rounded characters who actually develop, and what's more, he actually makes you care what happens to them!

In fact, the traditional story of normal people teaming up with magical beings and strange creatures to defeat evil is merely a backdrop for the personal journeys the five main characters make.

It's a story about overcoming insecurities, working through loss, and pain, and guilt, and learning to live again.

Which happens to be set among princes, elves, mages and dwarves.

It's precisely because Kay uses such well-known fantasy icons that we can see how good a writer he is. It's as if he's thumbing his nose at the scoffers, and saying "look, I can create a moving, touching story with multi-dimensional characters even with these threadbare tools of a traditional Tolkienesque/Aruthurian fantasy". (Although he probably wouldn't put it quite like that!).

And who better to attempt to follow in Tolkien's footsteps than the man chosen to co-write one of his books? (The Silmarillion - though admittedly I haven't read it. Just pointing out the genealogy).

Anyway, if you find most fantasy characters a bit wooden, read this! If you like traditional scenery and sorcery, read this and see it in a differnt light. If you're after different scenery, read one of his other books.

Not a great fantasy novel - a great novel.
I more or less reluctantly started reading The Summer Tree, after fierce recommendations from a friend. Two days and a good cry later, I had finished what turned out to be one of the great reading experiences of my life so far. And I read A LOT! The five main characters, all in their mid twenties, are transported from modern day Toronto to a world beyond ours called Fionavar. That basic premise has of course been done plenty of times before, but what kept me locked in my flat for the whole weekend with an unplugged phone wasn't the initial plot or lure of a magical world beyond ours. It was the absolute conviction that these characters, every single one, had a life and a past and a future which I couldn't wait to find out more about. It is obvious that Guy Gavriel Kay researches his novels in both mythology and our own history with meticulous care so that the framework of the people inhabiting these worlds is seamless and sparkling with individual life. Much of the story of The Summer Tree and the two sequels comprising the Fionavar Trilogy, follows the various journeys of the five Torontians plunged in to this ancient, often perplexingly different world. Their journeys and adventures are highly physical, there a mountains climbed and oceans crossed, but as in all good storytelling, the inward journeys match the outward plot in complexity and tension. Paul, Kim, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their reasons for choosing to "escape" to Fionavar. Dave, always the gruff outsider, is - reluctantly - drawn into the community of the Dalrei, a plains people embracing his qualities of physical courage and determination. Kim and Paul discover powers of their own which can help to match, and battle, the evil unleashed in the Unraveller, a god outside time whose comparison in our world it is not difficult to guess at. Jennifer faces a dark destiny, but with the glimmer of a promise of something both unexpected and healing lying further ahead. Surrounding them are gods and goddesses, mythical creatures and humans, all of which are given a character you are made to believe in by the sheer force of the writer's imagination and skill. I would describe myself usually as a non-fantasy reader but all the same this is a great novel starting a great trilogy and I recommend it for everyone, whatever your usual reading habits are!