The Darkest Road (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 3) [Paperback]

Guy Gavriel Kay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Fionavar Tapestry | Publication Date: September 1, 1992

As the Unraveller's armies march to battle and a plague-filled rain devastates the planet, the warriors of Light call upon one of the most ancient powers of evil to aid them in their struggle. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The concluding novel in Kay's trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry, opens as the fantasy world's magically prolonged winter yields to springbut a spring where showers bring death, emptying entire cities. To combat the arch evil Rakoth Maugrim, the High King of Brennin marches north with his army and allies, anticipating a final confrontation. At the same time, a crucial choice faces young Darien, the son produced by Rakoth's rape of Guinevere. Feeling rejected by the good and the light, Darien sets off on the dark road to his father. The exceptionally detailed background of this fantasy would be more impressive if it didn't suffocate a book already burdened with static narrative and turgid, poetic prose that all too fittingly captures the adolescent posturing of its transplanted college student protagonists.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'A fine, intelligent series. Probably the best of its kind' British Fantasy Society 'A remarkable achievement. The essence of high fantasy' Locus 'Kay has delivered such a magnificent conclusion -- I can't praise it enough. THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY will be read and reread for many years to come' Fantasy Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Roc (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451451805
• ISBN-13: 978-0451451804
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, but..., April 6, 2001

By 

Stephanie Noverraz "crooty" (Lausanne, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Darkest Road (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 3) (Paperback)

In this third and final volume of the Fionavar Tapestry (started with The Summer Tree and The Wandering Fire), the various armies are slowly marching northwards to meet and confront Rakoth Maugrim the Unraveller, encountering numerous enemies sent to slow them down.

And Darien the andain, son of Jennifer and Rakoth, is therefore torn by the terrible choice he has to make between Light and Dark. Deperately searching for someone to love and understand him but feared by all because of who he is, abandoned by Finn his foster brother, ignored and rejected by his mother and her friends who don't want to interfere in his choice, he's flying in the shape of an owl to Starkadh, to bring the sacred blade Lökdal to his father, in hope of his welcome.

In the mountains, Matt Sören, resurrected by Lancelot's powers but no longer Loren Silvercloak the mage's source, goes back to Calor Diman where he belongs, to reclaim his throne as King of the Dwarfs from the hands of Kaen the traitor. He'll have to challenge him according to the rules of the Dwarfmoot.

I found this last volume much more entertaining than the previous one, even though I think Kay tried to include too many fantasy themes in one series and ended up with a messy plot that made it hard to believe. I was also a bit disappointed by how fast the story was resolved. Finally, not knowing Arthur's legend, I'm also sure I missed a lot of interesting references, but then I've only got myself to blame...

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spirals within Spirals - Stunning and Transcendant, September 9, 2000

By 

K. N. Nelson (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Darkest Road (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 3) (Paperback)

The Darkest Road is the conclusion to a bittersweet story that touches the heart in ways that long after the reader has savored the final words the "melody lingers on" and on. The entire three book series starting with "The Summer Tree", followed by "The Wandering Fire" tells a story of five friends from Toronto who are gathered together one evening on campus to attend a lecture by an outstanding speaker. Unbeknown to the audience the speaker is actually from another world and is a mage by name of Loren Silvercloak who is accompanied by his magical source Matt, a dwarf king. They have crossed the dimensions of time and are on a quest to find these five friends, several of whom have alternate histories in other lifetimes. They have essential roles in this parallel universe to aid the people of Fionavar who are locked in a struggle against the god Rakoth Maugrim called the Unraveller in a near hopeless battle between the forces of chaos vs order.

The story delves into the vilest recesses of evil perpetuated by Rakoth Maugrim who captures and nearly destroys the very beautiful and queenly Jennifer/Guinevere. Amidst this horror is another that consumes her friend Paul who is haunted by guilt over his belief that he caused the death of his lover Rachel in a car accident that transpired on a rainy night in Toronto. Paul establishes a quasi friendship over a game of chess with the king of Fionavar and learns the reasons behind the drought that is destroying the land. In his desolation of guilt and grief he volunteers to be the sacrifice on the Summer Tree in the Godwood in place of the aged king so that rain will come and and halt the devastation of drought caused by Rakoth's malevolence.

The sacrifice he makes transmutes Paul from mortal to that of an andain/god-man. He becomes a channel for Mornir the god of thunder. Kim, who is a doctor in Toronto is fated to become the seer of Fionavar and to wield the warstone in defense of the beleagured kingdom.

Dave, a truculent law student locked in an angry power struggle with his father and mad at the world in general had become separated from the others during the magical translation from Toronto to Finovar and has wandered into the lands of nomads called the Dalrei. He learns to love these people as he lives among them and becomes both a brother and a warrior helping them defend their herds of eltor from ravening wolves and other evil forces sent by Rakoth Maugrim to destroy the Dalrei. In the process of seemingly insurrmountable odds he finds inner peace and himself as a man. The sweet tempered, good hearted, fun loving, irreverent Kevin is the only one who finds he has no real purpose to serve Finovar until one special night, guided by mystical forces, he travels to the place of a goddess and chooses to sacrifice his life in order to be with her again for in his moment of death, he has discovered that they were beloved of each other in a past lifetime. His sacrifice brings another shift in the stuggle of Light in its battle to overcome the darkness and destruction wrought by the Unraveller.

There are many threads to this tapestry and Kay, as usual, weaves them together in ways that can render the reader breathless with wonder over his stunning mastery of his art as he brings this magnificent saga to a close. The celtic lore of Arthur Pendragon, Guinivere, Lancelot du Lac and the dog Cavall are irredescent threads that glisten like teardrops throughout the weave for they are so heartbreaking and yet beautiful. Kay's inclusion of these figures from arthurian legend in this story adds a new dimension to a mythos that has lingered in the hearts and history of the celts.

And yet, the weaves of past lives, past loves is believable in the sense that in in the vastness of potential realities all things are possible. Who really knows?

With this saga, Kay stretches the reader's mind to encompass notions of immortality, parallel universes, alternate realities and the timlessness of love that transcends all things. The depth to which a human will strive to embrace the reality of a grand passion or to resolve an unrequited love is the ultimate power of this story. I deeply respect this author's writing for he seems to understand life from a perspective unfettered by the limitations of others' beliefs. Indeed this is a spiral of parallel universes and of celtic lore, within another spiral of the mystical and magical god-men, gods and goddesses within another spiral of contemporary human time and place and it is unforgettable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So excellent!, October 20, 2005

By 

S. Potter (Mapleville, RI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Darkest Road (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 3) (Paperback)

I remember the first time I read this series. It took me four days (it would have taken three, but there was a delay in getting the last two from a friend). I was moved more deeply than any other work in fantasy I had read. I remember staying up until 6 AM (I was in theater at the time) reading them, and weeping my way through the last third of the last book in the series.

Without doubt, Kay invokes all that is deep in us as people who have created mythos and myths to carry us. He evokes all that is strong in us, while showing that even the mythic have their weaknesses. While later works of Kay's may be more polished, this is the raw material that he still works from.

As with every reading, when I finished my recent re-read I was almost traumatised to leave the world that had been so well crafted. The end leaves all satisfied, but there is a bittersweet flavor to it, since the people he has created are no longer accessable to the reader.

This is the series I would want while stranded on a desert island. And I cannot think of anything more to say than that.