Customer Reviews

The Last Light of the Sun

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every Kay novel is worth reading compared to much of the drivel that is formulaic fantasy. But The Last Light of the Sun seems to be typical of Kay's more recent efforts. It's brilliantly researched, well written, has intriguing characters - but unlike his earlier works like Tigana or the Fionavar Tapestry missing a truly compelling plot. Still, very much worth a read.

The tapestry is set amid the decline of Viking influence in say 8th or 9th century England. The plot revolves around Vikings seeking vengance against the Welsh/Irish who scored the first victory against the Vikings in memory, and then moves to the English side of the border as a couple of Welsh principals ally with the first Anglo-Saxon king to both defeat and build his kingdom up against the Vikings before the main characters return to Wales for one final battle. Throw in a bit of Celtic myth as the magic/fantasy side of the plot and some interesting backplot on how the Viking raiders got to be where and who they are and you have the book. Kay does his usual great job in making all the characters, their culture, and their motivation extraordinarily well detailed and believable.

Why only 4 stars? It's the plot. I think part of the problem is that for the first time since the Fionavar tapestry Kay is back on ground that most readers know well; part of the glory of Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan is that the average reader probably doesn't have a good grip on medieval Italy, Germany, France, and Spain, where Anglo-Saxon England has been rehashed in hundreds if not thousands of fantasy novels. Kay as usual does a brilliantly well researched job of getting the background more historically accurate than his peers, but you just don't get the same sense of the characters decisions putting their world on a knife edge as you do in his early novels. There are also a number of lookback perspectives by minor characters that somewhat spoil plot twists; a sentence or two is one thing, but several pages worth of describing how a minor participant ends up an old lady years after the events in the book gives you too much of an idea of how the novel will turn out.

Another odd note is Kay's first attempt to fully include the rest of Europe and the Middle East and their religions that he's built up through his several historic novels. While other novels have the one reference or so to Fionavar, this one has Jaddite clerics, the Emperor in Sarantium, and so forth. If you've read the previous novels, you're ok - but part of the fun of reading Kay is watching him develop worlds, and it almost feels like you're not getting the full deal given he's incorporating previous concepts.

Still, as usual if you care about character development and history, its worth a read. I nitpick here more than usual because Kay is much more of a writer than usual.

Among the many things he does well, Kay specializes in writing about a court - the intricacies, the intellegence, the glittering people, the poison behind the smiles, the price of ruling and the penalties of power. This book (although it still contains a small amount of this for one of the three groups of intermingling characters) reads very much like a Kay stripped of courtliness, artifice and glamor, and well it should. It is set, unlike his other books, in a place where people are still hacking out civilization from the surrounding forests. The courts we do see are precarious, new entities still fighting for their survival. Blood and death are much closer to the surface here, with no overlay of manners or graces to soften the blow. Kay's writing reflects this, by growing slightly choppier, cruder, more blunt. As an evocation of the timeperiod and the nature of the people that inhabit this world, it works marvelously. While not as bleak as George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, this is probably the bleakest of Kay's works.

I am writing this after only one read, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that Kay's writing deserves more than this. He is a master of nuance and subtlety, so I know that when I go back to the book I will discover new things. But as of this moment, it doesn't rank first among my personal hierarchy of Kay's work. The characters I grew most attatched to in the book did not have central roles, and I admit to finding Bern and Alun difficult characters to relate to. It is a good example of reading a book that you know, technically, is very good, but still have difficulty warming up to.

This is all a long-winded way of saying that although I didn't enjoy the book as much as others by Kay (the Sarantine Mosaic duology and Song for Arbonne, specifically), saying you have a bad Kay is like saying you have a bad painting by Da Vinci. Such a beast is still head and shoulders above most other books written today.

Guy Gavriel Kay has been expanding the borders of the Fantasy genre ever since he began the Fionavar Tapestry (in 1984). This is his strength, what makes his novels a cut above the rest. "The Last Light of the Sun" is set in a world we might recognize as 9th century Britain / Scandinavia, with a few names changed and some major "philosophical" tweaks. I have read the legend of The Marsh King (aka Alfred the Great) many times, but never in such vital prose or with such pace. It is very difficult to put down, right from the start. Other authors who attempt this sort of fantasy, such as Jack Whyte, do an equally impressive job researching, but cannot convert the material into such a gripping story, or the characters into such engagingly real people. Of course, the main characters seem to be male, because it is a story of struggle between cultures, and women do not, as a rule, take up arms in such causes. Kay's women do the logical thing, influencing the male characters, which gives them as large a role, in keeping with their abilities and their culture. Many of the events hinge on the decision of a female character, and readers ignore this at their peril. Occasionally, Kay takes a few pages to illuminate a character who only brushes the central story for a brief moment. This is refreshingly original, adding to the depth of the tapestry, without cluttering the central picture with undue detail in the manner of the much maligned (but still popular!) Robert Jordan.

Kay's novels (except the Fionavar trilogy) do not deal with Great Evil & Great Good, like most fantasy, but rather with ordinary people who are more or less Good or Evil, and conflicting cultures, each with better or worse features, and their ability to adapt to each other in order to survive. His characters write poetry, fight battles, love, struggle with themselves, create and re-invent their worlds, uniquely.

Kay is my absolute favourite fantasy author, and this is one of his two best works to date. (Read "The Sarantine Mosaic", if you haven't already!) Nobody does it better.

Historical fantasy is enjoying quite a bit more respectability than "mainstream" fantasy-at least by the critical press if not by the box office. This is probably because historical fantasy requires a great bit of research from the author-something that lazier and less skilled author are unable or unwilling to do. From the ranks of Stephen Pressfield (The Last of the Amazons), Hans Bergstrom (The Long Ships), and Mary Renault (Fire from Heaven and The King Must Die) Guy Gavriel Kay takes his place among them with this book. In a bid to create literature that resonates with educated and sophisticated readers, these authors are combining fantastical elements with non-fiction and creating truly remarkable works. In many ways, taking these myths and merging them with history makes a kind of artistic sense where more straightforward historical fiction seems more at odds in walking the conflict between fact and imagination. In any event, having works by Kay on the fantasy shelves at the bookstore goes a long ways towards repairing the damage done by Goodkind and Jordan in bring respectability to this downtrodden section.

WHO SHOULD READ

Obviously, readers who enjoy the aforementioned Pressfield, Bergstrom, and Renault will be exceptionally delighted with this book. Readers enamored with Scandinavian and Celitc tales in general will also enjoy this book very much. Much more accessible than traditional sagas such as Njal's Saga and The Nibelungenlied, Last Light translates these people in to modern language without seemingly losing any of the savor of that people or age. It probably shares the greatest similarity with Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead in brining a people to light in such a way. Readers who enjoy historical fiction along the lines of James Michener will also enjoy this book a great deal finding the flights of fancy diverting and engaging. For readers mired in endless works of fantasies spanning tens of volumes, Last Light will be breath of fresh air for its brevity and its beauty (and in that it ends at all). If you're trying to show some die-hard Wheel of Time fan that there is better work out there, this is the book in which to do it.

WHO SHOULD PASS

If readers have no interest whatsoever in either the Scandinavian, Celtic, or Anglo/Saxon peoples then there probably isn't much reason to read this book. There is a certain segment of the literate population that regards this sort of work as "boys' literature." For them, battle and heroism mean very, very little and delving in to these kinds of works is an exercise in indulgence rather than edifying. These people would also similarly classify Beowulf as "boys' literature" so Kay need not feel slighted. While women figure in these stories, they are relegated to decidedly supporting roles; readers sensitive to this kind of thing might be a bit annoyed by the work as well.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM

The Last Light of the Sun is a magnificent book that stirringly depicts a relatively obscure period of history. It also establishes Guy Gavriel Kay as not only a good writer, but one comfortable in his maturity as well.

I have read all of his works, and while this is not my favourite (The Lions of Al-Rassan is), it does take a decidedly different turn from his other works. It takes a far gritier look at the life and times of its characters. None of the main characters exhibit the almost smug rapier wit found in his other books. People die unexpectedly (thank you George RR Martin).

The fantasy element is a bit more pronounced as well, consistent with the cultural milieu of the book's world. Faere are handled deftly. The evolution of Kay's writing from the Fionavar Tapestry is readily apparent. There are no more Pollyannish homilies, and simplistic heroism. The characters here are made of different stuff.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. Some negative reviews had dampened my enthusiasm. The Last Light of the Sun is a great book, however, it will displease those who are more inclined to the poetic and less violent side of things, prevalent in all of Kay's previous books. The violence here is more graphic, and the grayer characters will disappoint the more romantic fantasists. As someone who enjoys both, the expansion of Kay's range is well received.

This is the best he's written yet. Adventurous, exciting, and quite moving.

I've been a fan of Kay for a long while now (as such things go) and read this book eagerly. Like most of Kay's recent books, it's more heavily-reworked historical fiction than it is fantasy, although it contains fantastic elements, and is set in the same semihistorical setting as Lions of Al-Rassan, the two byzantine novels, etc.

As always, Kay's characterization is impeccably human. Which is, in a way, the problem with this novel. Kay spends so much time focusing on and illustrating the humanity and the human relationships between his characters that the book lacks some of the drama and larger-than-life feel of some of his earlier books. As always, what Kay does, he does extraordinarily well; the writing is excellent, the historical research superbly detailed (it took me a good many hours to track down the historical antecedent for the Viking mercenary city), and he does an excellent job of realistically bringing across the mentality of characters trying to find peace for themselves in a cold, sometimes brutally violent world.

The problem is that the characters are so realistic and human that they never seem to be much more than that. I like my fantasy to be a little larger than life, at least a little bit Epic and a little bit Romantic, with heroes that do a little bit more than the average are capable of, live a little more nobly, die a little more dramatically, etc. Writing psychologically-realistic fantasy fiction can entail walking a knife's edge between the idealized and the believable, and here, I feel, Kay errs a little too far towards the side of the believable.

I always end up comparing Kay novels to _Lions of Al-Rassan_. Ironically, that novel probably contains the least overt "magic" of any of his books, but there's a grandeur and an epic sweep in the way the characters in that book act, just a touch larger than life -- and that grand sweep is missing here.

I'd still recommend reading this book; it's Kay, it's good. Excellent writing, touchingly human characterization. But I'd recommend it to a reader of historical fiction far more strongly than I'd recommend it to a reader looking for epic fantasy.

Oh, and the book does have one major flaw: it needs a map. Badly. Hopefully they'll correct that in the paperback.

This book is... interesting. I've never read anything quite like it before. The story is set in an alternate 9th century Earth and ties together the English, Welsh, and Vikings. After finishing it a week or two ago, I'm still not sure what to think, so I'll just list my impressions:

The Good:

1. Historical setting feels very authentic and well-researched. Sure, medieval England and the Vikings have been done to death, but Kay gives them new life here. There's no sugar-coating (fans of GRR Martin will feel right at home). And settings are excellently drawn.

2. Excellent prose. Kay has a style all his own. If the character development was better, I'd be calling this literary fiction.

3. Unpredictable plot. Others have said they saw major events coming, but not so for me. And Kay is intelligent and subtle; he gives you something to think about rather than just a quick bit of entertainment.

The Bad:

1. Character development so-so. Some of the main characters are quite good, Aeldred especially. But Ceinion is the stereotypical wise-and-practical cleric, Alun the stereotypical boy-avenging-family, etc. Bern, who gets the largest chunk of page time, was the worst, a distant stranger to me for the entire book. My conclusion is that there are simply too many main characters for a work of this length (my copy just under 500 pages) to sustain.

2. Dialogue not what I'd have expected from such a renowed author. Long scenes where characters tease each other or fight about silly things always feel amateurish to me.

3. Random "romances" springing from nowhere at the end... neither believable nor romantic.

The Weird:

1. I've never read a fantasy book (even historical fantasy, which rarely uses the "save the world" plot) with quite so little at stake. As we're told many times, life is difficult in the northlands... but by the time identifiable villains appear, they're so unambitious and so lacking in passion for their goal that there's little threat to the main characters, beyond the constant danger inherent in living in a violent time period. Aeldred's backstory would have made a far more exciting story, but it's interesting to wonder what Kay's point may have been in writing this story instead.

2. Random asides of several pages giving the life stories of side characters who briefly intersect with the plot... or, in some cases, don't. For instance, we get the life of Jarmina, a girl living in a village near a battlefield; she neither witnesses nor affects the battle in any way. Embedding loosely related short stories into a novel is an odd way to add depth to the setting, if that's what they were meant to do.

3. Random philosophical lectures by the author. To give a brief example: "Time does not pause, for men or beasts, though it might seem to us to have stopped at some moments, or we might wish it to do so at others, to suspend a shining, call back a gesture or a blow, or someone lost." These can go on for paragraphs and to me seemed rather trite.

This is the first of Kay's books that I've read, and since I understand that it's not his best, I'm still looking forward to reading more. It's far from a bad book, and would have been truly great had the character development only been been better. Three stars is a little low for this one, but despite its strengths, for me it was something of a disappointment.

One of the best fantasy books. It is better than Tigana imho. Tigana was sort of epic fantasy with wizards, etc. This one is a dark fantasy reminding me of Black Company by Glen Cook but in some ways it is even better. I am not very good at reviews, so I can only say that I really really liked the book. I would most definitely recommend this one. Love, death, heroes, loyalty, battles, ugliness of the war, unpredictable events and mystery. I am stunned. I never expected so much from a single volume fantasy work. 10 out of 10 without a cloud of doubt. The only slight drawback is a missing map.

About ten years ago I read Kay's "The Lions of Al-Rassan" and enjoyed it a great deal, so when I was looking for something fairly long to settle in with, this caught my eye at the library. Some 500 pages later, I felt much as I do at the end of lengthy Hollywood epics like Gladiator: I was suitably engaged for a long time by an occasionally excellent, occasionally cheezy, generally solid work of entertainment. The book is set in the slightly alternate Earth Kay used for The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Sarantine Mosaic, a world very much the same as ours, with some glimmerings of magic, and different names. Here, the story takes place in roughly 9th-century Britain, and is devoted to showing the interactions between Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, and Viking people during a time of profound change.

This is done by introducing a fairly large cast of characters from each side. We have the Anglcyn king Aeldred (based on Aldred of Wessex) who spends his lifetime trying to build a society that can withstand Erling (Norse) raids. At his side are his four children: the playful heir, the cerebral younger son, the fiery daughter, and the good daughter with fey powers. The Cyngael (Welsh) people are represented by Alun, a prince of one of the three lands, along with Brynn, the lord of another, and his family. A priest of Jad (a benign light/sun-based faith standing in for Christianity) named Cenion travels the land trying to bring greater tolerance and understanding between Cyngael and Anglcyn. The Erling are mainly shown through a retired warrior exiled in his middle age for killing a man in a pub, and his disgraced son, who runs away to join a mercenary force of raiders. These characters are all reasonably well-drawn and come alive on the page, but tend to fall within well-worn archetypes: noble and wise king, grief-struck prince, mysterious princess, estranged father, prodigal son, proud aging warrior, wise and beloved priest, cruel and evil villain, and finally, faithful hound. This creates a little distance from the characters--we may be interested in their trials and tribulations, but it's much harder to care for them.

The book unfolds through the interactions of these and many other characters, a technique that sacrifices a strong central perspective for a wider, and arguably richer, range of viewpoints. While some readers may find the minor digressions into the lives of outlying characters distracting, I found them to be very complementary to the story. They do take one out of the specific moment, but they also provide a depth and context that is central to what Kay's attempt to show how life is a continual unfolding of interrelated events and encounters, rather than a three-act play. They also serve as primary examples the recurring theme that individual actions can change the world. Of course, the result is that the plot is somewhat formless. Things happen, which then influence other events and people, and on and on. There is a basic running theme of civilization/good vs. warfare/evil, but that's not a plot. Yet a further central theme is the idea of the world of magic fading away as people become more enlightened. This is a delicate thing to tackle, and Kay did about as good a job as possible considering that the stuff with faeries, and the dark woods, and the half-world is all pretty old hat. So, there are some biggish ideas running throughout the book, and sometimes they overwhelm the actual storytelling and characterization.

It should be said that while Kay's portrayal of time and place is very well done, and clearly a great deal of research has gone into the book, the writing is kind of staccato. Sentences are short, and paragraphs are extremely short, making for choppy reading. There are also frequent instances of excessive authorial "voice-over" in which Kay feels the need to highlight some particular aspect of the story. These often begin with the phrase "There are times..." and feel awfully heavy-handed. There's also no doubt that for a story in which geography is so important, the absence of a map is sorely felt. Still, on the whole, this is a very readable work of historically-based fantasy. It's also notable in that the villan dies in a rather unexpected and refreshingly realistic manner. One does get a sense of the difficulty of 9th-century life, especially the woeful plight of women, and any author who can pull that off deserves respect.