Tigana Audiobook By Guy Gavriel Kay cover art

Tigana

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Tigana

By: Guy Gavriel Kay
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Acclaimed author Guy Gavriel Kay has been honored with the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (Ysabel) and the International Goliardos Award for his work in fantasy.

Eight of the nine Palm provinces of the Peninsula have been overcome by warrior sorcerers Brandin and Alberico. But the sorcerers don't know that a small band of survivors is plotting their removal. With tensions mounting, the sorcerers become increasingly at odds as each decides where his own path - and that of the land - should truly lie.

"Brilliant. Rich in intrigue and subtlety. A gracefully plotted story. Highly recommended." (Library Journal)

©1990, 1999 Guy Gavriel Kay (P)2009 Penguin Audio Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy
Beautiful Prose • Complex Characters • Unique Premise • Rich Worldbuilding • Emotional Depth • Haunting Cadence
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this is not just a beautiful fantasy book, it's a beautiful book period. this is probably the most well written book I've ever read.

absolutely beautiful

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First off, ignore all the bizarrely prudish reviews complaining about sex. There is some, but not nearly enough that I would've even thought to bring it up.
Second, the narration was great, and I had no issues regarding it.

Now onto the review of the book itself. Tigana is mentioned among the greatest fantasy novels of all time on numerous lists and you can't take two steps into fantasy novel recommendations without seeing it there, so I figured maybe the hype was real and decided to see for myself. This was my first novel by Guy Gavriel Kay, and while I liked it enough to finish the story, I am hesitant to purchase another novel by him.

Let's get some minor things out of the way.
The prose is flowery but I liked it. It was very beautiful at many points and the author definitely has a way with describing emotions in a vivid manner so that you can almost imagine what it would be like to feel that way.
The story is definitely slower than I was used to. There were also what felt like some what felt like random time skips that threw me off a little bit.
The premise of the story: an invading sorcerer-king is using his magic to erase the memory of an entire nation from the history of the world as revenge for killing his son, is incredibly unique and I think an amazing place to start a story from.

Now onto the key problems. The character motivations are incredibly unbelievable, no matter how vividly described their emotions, and many of the character arcs feels bizarre and outright silly as a result.

*Some spoilers for character motivations below*
The story plays heavily into the idea of patriotism and love for one's homeland. Now if you are someone who really, really loves your country, then maybe this will work for you. But as for me, I find this absurd, frothing at the mouth patriotism to be silly. It's simply laughable that someone like Devin, who literally never once even lived in Tigana or had any memory of it what so ever, feels this intense deep connection to it because his parents were from there. It's not ,like they raised him teaching him about his lost homeland. They specifically hid it from him, and yet when he learns about it, suddenly he just *knows* he has to drop his entire life as an amazing professional singer and instead become a guerilla warrior dedicated to restoring Tigana, a place he never lived and has no memories of.
Even characters with more of a connection to Tigana, like Catriana, are still pretty silly to me. Her entire character is centered around the fact that she felt ashamed ever since she was a child that her father made the choice to flee Tigana with his wife and young children instead of dying for his country, which ultimately turned out to be the right move, given that the army was subsequently obliterated and country devastated by Brandin.

Lastly, the romance subplots felt out of nowhere. Every major character got what felt like an obligatory romantic partner. I have no problem with romance. For example, I thought Dianora and Brandin's enemies-to-lovers thing was interesting and I wanted to know what Dianora would decide to do. However, even if we're told early on that X has an interest in Y, that doesn't mean that 1 hour before the end of the story they can just suddenly fall in love and I'll accept that it makes perfect sense.

Great prose, great premise, but too self-indulgent

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Read (listen to) this book! GG Kay masterfully uses the fantasy genre to explore some very real themes--most particularly that of power, in all its forms. Especially the power of memory and the centrality of linguistic memory to cultural identity. It is a very well-presented and compete story. I would call it perfect if it weren't for two minor plot weaknesses that I won't mention here for sake of spoilers. Since these points are minor, this book definitely deserves 5 stars.

Nearly perfect

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The themes and 'philosophy ' were intriguing but I found the book need a bit more action. There are some good characters debating the relevance of power, forgotten nations, and history's but I didn't really connect with the characters. They had their moments, but the omniscient narrative pulled me away too much.

interesting premise, but too much exposition

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I had moments with parts of this book that made me cringe a tad, but overall it was really good. A story of slow revenge!!

good

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When I selected this book I expected it to be just another young adult fiction novel. Maybe that’s what it falls into according to the “genre experts”. I don’t know. What I do know is that this book was written for people who love language. I’ve been so pleased with this book I find myself unable to put into words how I feel about the author’s use of words that have long since fallen out of use. Or the way he uses words and phrases to describe everything that other authors would have done with fewer and more commonly used words. It has been such a pleasure to listen to this one. But the way it was written has me wanting to get myself a copy to read myself just so I can exercise my mind.
All that to praise the writer’s craft, I should also say the story is surprisingly good as well. There are so many characters to meet. They are part of one great story, and yet they have a sense of individuality that draws us in and makes us hopeful for them. Beautiful characters that express feelings that are raw and often conflicting.
The narration is very well done. The reader creates voices and accents that differentiate not just the characters but even the regions from which they come.
I’m not quite done with this one yet, but I have read enough to know that it is now one of my all time favorites.

THIS is Word P*rn

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I am so glad I finally read this book that came highly recommended. Superbly written!

At long last...

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This book was recommended to me as an example of a fantastic fantasy with a great plot, and they were very right. However they did not mention how dense and slow it could be at times. The author used a lot of beautiful language to say so little that at many points it felt like a slog to get through.

Fantastic story but too dense to enjoy

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I enjoy the precise decription and the complexity if the charaters, if only it were so easy to explain our own world!

I finished this book in two days it was so captivating!

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Surprisingly, I would call this a heist story (in a structural sense), but it is so subtly and deeply human that comparing it to Oceans 11 feels absurd. Each character has quietly made their way into my heart, and I worry for and rejoice with all of them. (Except Alberico. He's just the best person to hate.)

Literary and Fantastic in All the Best Ways

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