Customer Reviews

The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book One)

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I've read many - at least a thousand, certainly - fantasy books, and The Summer Tree (and the entire trilogy) is simply one of the very best. The 'Fionavar Tapestry' is so painstakingly crafted that it must have been a labor of love (and probably a first book), and I can never understand why I don't hear far more about it.

The language is frequently lyrical, far above the usual standard for fantasy writing; "words more strung with fire", to use one of Kay's own phrases, than any but the likes of, say, Bradbury's. The whole really IS a tapestry; a complex and intricate interweaving of different characters, plot strands, and fantasy elements. And so tightly and carefully woven that it's unbelievable - half a sentence in one book can subtly foreshadow a major event in another book three hundred pages later - yet it's never slow, as I'd expect given all the connections and resonances. You just don't normally find this level of plaited storytelling, even in the endless 300 pound series.

Obviously I was blown away by this trilogy - will probably read it every few years for life - but many of the Amazon reviews were negative and I'd like to address some of the comments. First, a number of the reviewers seemed to be giving Kay low marks mostly because he hadn't written some other book. For instance, some would have preferred a book in which all the characters came from the one world, not some from Fionavar and some from earth. Or some would have preferred a book that was more like Tolkien, or less like Tolkien, etc. I'd say that these are simply valid alternate choices as to the form, and he should be judged on the job he did, not downgraded because he didn't write another book entirely.

A few reviewers thought the plot cliche or even PREDICTABLE. I'll just flat-out claim that noone could have predicted his plot; it was simply too complex and detailed. It could only be honestly considered cliche or predictable if you simplify it to the level of Good vs. Evil; who's going to win? If that's the criterion then many, if not most, fantasy books just fail.

I do agree with some reviewers that it seemed like the 'earthlings' adapted amazingly well to an entirely new existence on another world and seemed to cut loose of their pasts with almost no remorse. Though I'd almost bet that Kay had that all worked out in his mind, not enough justification made it into the pages of the books. He did give us a few reasons(and hints)to think that some of the 'earthlings' had no strong personal ties back home, and that the one who did frequently thought about that tie, (his father), but I too think that he could have fleshed that out more.

And I agree that the two female main characters weren't
delineated well enough at the beginning. At first it was hard to really tell them apart, (though after a critical event in one of their lives that problem was taken care of).

There are some smaller imperfections as well, but compared to the vast majority of fantasy books out there...!

...yet surprisingly captivating at the same time. Something about The Summer Tree held a sort of addicting quality and despite every reservation in my mind telling me not to like this book, I found myself quite entertained as I read it. While it is among countless other fantasy novels that follows a Tolkien-style storyline, I thought that it did a better job of it most other such stories that I have read, yet it is certainly not comparable in quality to Kay's later works.

My first introduction to Kay was the stand-alone novel, Tigana. It took me a while to really get into Tigana, but I really started to appreciate Kay's eloquent style, fleshed out characters and whit in dialogue and plot development. It wasn't until after I finished Tigana and thought about it that I realized how great of a book it is. I decided that before going on to read the rest of his works, I had better read Fianovar. I didn't quite find the same reading experience here.

While the characters in Tigana are well thought and believable, those in the Summer Tree are quite the opposite. The reader is given the names of our five heroes right from the get go but Kay doesn't feel that it's necessary to really introduce any of them. He goes on about these five as if you should already know them. Soon comes the mage, Loren, who will take them into Fianovar. This part I found laughable, as only one of the characters really seems to question the sense of this mage appearing out of nowhere and taking them to another world. The other four follow Loren blissfully into Fianovar and seem to go on once they get there as if nothing had really happened. Only on a few occasions do these four characters reference their own world, Earth, in comparison to this new fantastic world that they seem to accept so easily. Dave, the one character who was the exception from the beginning, was the only character of the five whose story I really enjoyed. Having been separated from the other four from the time they all entered Fianovar, Dave's story happens later in the book and almost feels like a completely separate tale. His reactions to the events that follow his arrival are much more believable than his counterparts and I thought his part of the book with the tribal hunters was very refreshing.

The book as a whole, as I mentioned, is definitely a cliché. We have a dark lord imprisoned after a war long ago, struggling to break free. This dark lord has insidious minions, sent out to foil the opposition and wreak havoc in preparation for his arrival. There are also similar races to Tolkien, such as the lios alfar, who are essentially elves with a different name, and of course the stout and noble dwarves. And one fact not to be forgotten: the fate of this world of course rests in the hands of the five protagonists that the mage has brought there.

Despite these obvious discrepancies, Kay imbues this story with his talents as a writer and somehow spins a tale of cliché into a fairly enjoyable yarn. He has the tendency to make you visualize his environments and settings with picturesque quality and towards the end, some of the characters do start to grow on you. The dialogue between his characters is one strong points that Kay had even with this novel, which I find to be a weak point for many other fantasy authors. Overall as I read this, I started thinking of the story as a legend being told. You know how in fantasy novels there is always some great war or fantastic tale that happened hundreds of years before that story actually took place? This story reads like one of those tales and in that sense, it does make the obsurdity of it all that more interesting.

If you count yourself as an avid fan of fantasy, I would recommend that you pick this up, if not to take it seriously, than at least to read it for being counted as a classic. If it is your first venture into Guy Gavriel Kay, then don't be too judgmental as the quality and consistency of his later books really does improve and I count Kay among the fantasy greats.

If you have read some of Kay's later works--Tigana, the Last Light of the Sun--stop there! You have seen what he has to offer. Don't look here, back in 1984, when he wrote a book without really knowing what he wanted to say or how to say it. Where do I begin? OK, think of it this way: 5 Canadians in King Arthur's Court. These grad students from Toronto are whisked away into a distant land, where they find themselves to be somehow 'chosen' to save the world.

OK, OK, a bit cliche, but I can handle that as long as the plot is good, the characters worthwhile. Well, they aren't. They're not quite stock characters. I wish they were, because then they would at least have the recognizability of the overly painted masked characters from a medieval morality play. Instead, they're just basically anonymous.

And then the magic starts. Not the magic that great stories work on your brain, making you want to stay up all night just to get to the next chapter. No, this is the magic of Fionavar. Objects will just pop up out of nowhere and we're told that they have some great power. OK, cool, I guess. But could you at least tell me something why this thing got here? Does it have a history? A reason? No. And that's it.

The plot stumbles along, seemingly skipping pages of very necessary explanation. You can't tell if this is some sort of attempt at artistry and mystery, or if Mr. Kay just forgot about it. It doesn't matter, though. You're still forced to manually restart your suspension of disbelief and try to get back into the book, hoping that by page 321, it will have been worth it. So you trudge along.

And then a dark lord comes in with orcs to try and take over the world.

And then a unicorn comes to save the day. Wait a minute: Unicorns? Yes. Unicorns. Really. Well, one unicorn, actually, but it doesn't matter. And it is written to be some sort of grand moment in the history of the world, and supposedly it is, but you don't really care, because this is a tiny, fake world about which we know nothing, and one which we haven't seen enough to care about at all!

On the tinyness: don't let the map fool you. This is not some grand work of imagination. The entirety of Fionavar is about the size of Lithuania. Not ancient pagan Lithuania; Modern, Russia-dominated, Cold-War shrunken Lithuania. You can ride across this imaginary world in about 3 days--on horseback! He says so himself.

As it happens, most all of the important scenes of the book are just like the unicorn stunt. Some ridiculous, probably avoidable dilemma is resolved by the sudden appearance of a predictable, cliche stroke of good luck. Ugh.

To his credit, Mr. Kay does have some skill at describing places and feelings. It appears in his later works. All in all, however, this is a frantic, sloppy thing. Don't bother reading it, and do not DARE call it a "classic."

I consider myself an intellectual reader who can't even stand to look at the pictures on most fantasy books, let alone read them!

Mr. Kay has changed my perception of the fantasy genre and his stories have increased my love for reading!

This book started it all for me with it's story of five college students who attend a lecture which ultimately changes their lives by offering them the opportunity to enter another world, where their personalities and previous life experiences combine with new revelations, ancient history, magical, mythological events and the oldest battle ever waged to give each a sense of their unique purpose and destiny.

Mr. Kay's book does not meander aimlessly down a narrow story path full of cliches, but keeps you constantly guessing, hoping, feeling and experiencing every unique and satisfying moment through the eyes of each well-developed character.

Though this book stands on it's own, you will cheat yourself if you don't read the other two books in the Fionavar Tapestry. I was overjoyed when I realized that this book was just the first of three! I have read the Trilogy four times myself and have loaned the complete set out to many friends of varied personalities and interests. Each one has had only positive comments. I never received one set back!!!

Do yourself a favor and indulge in every one of Mr. Kay's fabulous fantasies! This is just the book to start with!

The Fionavar Tapestry left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, some of the writing is very well done and some parts of the story, particularly Dave's first meeting with the Dalrei, are moving and enjoyable to read. On the other hand, the story isn't very original and I never felt very involved with the characters. The women in particular seemed to be poorly drawn and weren't very likable.

The story revolves around five college students who have been brought to the fantasy land of Fionavar, a Middle Earth-like world which Kay tells us is the one true world. The world of the college students, which is our own world, is but an imperfect reflection. Kay tells us that problems in Fionavar will be reflected in all other worlds, including our own, but never gives any examples of this.

The biggest problem with the trilogy is that the students interact amazingly well with Fionavar and its inhabitants right from the start. I never understood why it was necessary to have the students originate in our world, because the story as a whole would change very little (and would make more sense) if they had been born and raised in Fionavar. The students never use the knowledge and skills they've gained in their own world to aid Fionavar. For instance, when they travel back home, why don't they take firearms and manuals on how to manufacture gunpowder and grenades with them on their return to Fionavar? Fionavar is a world at war with an ancient evil, and yet they never mention or express a desire for any modern weaponry or a modern means of communication or transportation. Furthermore, the students never get homesick, they never have trouble adjusting to this new and different culture, and oddly enough, when one of them is killed, no one ever wonders what they'll tell his family and friends back home.

After the students are taken to Fionavar, Kay also adds King Arthur and Lancelot to his tale. For some unexplained reason, Guinevere has been reincarnated but Arthur and Lancelot have to be resurrected. Once in Fionavar, Arthur and Lancelot don't actually do much and almost seem to be superfluous. Arthur's dog actually comes across as more heroic and has more personality Arthur does. It felt like Kay couldn't decide whether he wanted to write an Arthurian novel or a fantasy novel and so decided to blend the two, with results that are less than satisifying.

There is a subtle current of sexism running throughout the trilogy that made me uncomfortable. While some of the most powerful people in Fionavar are women, the women are all involved in either religion or mysticism of some sort. When it comes to battles, the women are either kept on the sidelines and expected to heal the injured or are left at home. Kay describes nearly every woman as being earth-shatteringly beautiful and seems to feel that a woman must be beautiful to be important. Part of Fionavar's history involves a woman called Lisen, who apparently never did anything more than look beautiful and act as an aid to her husband, yet the entire world still mourns her passing.

...

This was the first Guy Gavriel Kay book I read and at the time I picked it up I was having a hard time finding any fantasy novels I liked (Kept reading Mckinley over and over). This book introduced me to the Fionavar Tapestry that is key to understanding his other books such as Tigana. I have since read the Tapestry trilogy, Tigana and Song for Arbonne. This book is about a group of college students who are taken to a world where each discovers their true identity. In finding that identity, they also learn more about the new world they are now woven into. There is, of course, an impending war, gruesome creatures, deaths, deceptions and deep romance. If you are looking for a new author to read (as I was), I would suggest starting with the Fionavar tapestry and try Kay out! I look forward to and hope to enjoy all his works.

Guy Gavriel Kay is someone who can always be relied on to take any book above it's characters and plot, and make it far more than the sum of it's parts.

The three Fionavar Tapestry books do not compare especially well to some of Kay's other novels, but I have to ask myself, what does? Every author must have an 'off-series' now and again; it is a great credit to Kay that his worst set of books is better by far than the majority of works around.

Focusing on five 'real life' protaganists, and putting them into a fantasy world, Kay creates the out of place feeling that domintates most of his works. Each of these characters has their own personal problems, and each one is slowly exorcised over the course of the series. Some have accused the people in these books of being unreal and two-dimensional, but to me they worked well; combining both normal traits with a personality twisting slowly seeping in from the new world they find themselves in. Kay's storyline does not supply an 'everyone goes away happy' ending, something that goes rather in his favour concerning the unbelievable elemets to the book.

The book is pure fantasy, with virtually no basis in fact, something that Kay doesn't often try. In doing this, he has forced the issues he raises to become purely theoretical; unlike some other novels of his, actions here hold no relation or advice on the real world.

Critics have also decried the Aurthurian elements of the story, but I personally think they only add to it. In keeping with the philosophies of authorial giants such Stephen Lawhead, Kay does not transport ancient legends unabridged into his books, but adapts them to fit his own literary needs, with good result.

While not the best of his books, the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is still a great series in it's own right, not merely a lesser work of an accomplished writer. A good suggestion for newer readers might be to read these books first, as an introduction, then proceed to those stories that highlight the real genius of the man.

This is not a book where worlds are built; this is a book where I delve into wonderful prose and drink it like water, as I lick up every scrap of wonder at his ability to link such wonderful language with the absorbing psychology of his characters and their cultures. I first came across Guy Gavriel Kay when I was 12 years old. At the time, I also loved Madeline L'Engle, Alexander LLoyd, C.S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Ray Bradbury Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tamara and Meredith Pierce and of course, Tolkien, to name a few. Since I had read extensively in Welsh, Greek and Arthurian mythologies as well, perhaps this helped when I read the Fionavar tapestry. Fantasy stories of this genre tend to follow a certain path that I will not at all call cliche in this case. Some spoilers ahead! In the storyline, some college friends are transported to the "world of all worlds" or what Kay refers to as the first world, where all stories come from, by a professor in our world who is a powerful person in his world. An important element to note is the many different threads from different Welsh and Celtic mythologies used, as well as Native American legends. I loved this book because it was like a grown up Narnia or Never-Ending Story in some ways, while bringing my favorite characters from different myths to life, like Arthur and Guenevere, a unicorn, and the Black Swan and much, much more. When reviewing a story like this, it is important to note that there are many different kinds of fantasy such as there are sci-fi. For instance, People get on Bradbury's case because he's not Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov, and therefore, often scientifically inaccurate. The point they're really missing, is that Bradbury is a DIFFERENT kind of storyteller than Asimov or Clarke. In much the same way, Kay is not Tolkien. He does not have to totally build worlds. This is THE world, the first world. Each of the characters who come on the journey are called there, they find, because they fill a need in that world. For instance, Paul must overcome his personal tragedy of losing his girlfriend on Earth to a car crash. Each character sacrifices themselves in some way. One character must overcome being ravaged in one of the most psychologically intense scenes ever written. In fact, Fionavar continually acts as a catalyst for each person's character. That is the most attractive element about Kay's books to my mind is the peronal struggle each character faces in the trilogy. Each reader makes about style preference. Those of us who like both character and world building love Robert Jordan, for instance. If you like characters more than technical explanations for everything, and a bit of mysterious mythology intertwined with it all, and great lanuguage, this trilogy will go straight to your heart. As it will if you'd like the final word on Arthur Lancelot and Guenevere, because since Fionovar is the original world, it is also their home, they are summoned there. For me, the Fionavar tapestry is very satisfying for these reasons, whereas I don't like Kay's other books. This is a very pure work with such fluid lyricisms in prose. Reading it aloud is often like reading poetry. I feel for these reasons, the Fionavar tapestry is what it is, and should be appreciated on its own merit.

I've been re-reading (for the fourth time) The Summer Tree and felt moved to write a small review here. This is a story of epic fantasy, full of memorable characters and heart-breaking drama. Kay is a master with words, and no place showcases his poetic talent better than the Fionavar Tapestry. The Summer Tree draws you into his world of Fionavar from the first pages, and never leaves you wanting. Kay's ability to make the character's experiences the reader's experiences as well is something I can not understand, but only look on and gape. (No author I've read has so successfully made me believe in the emotions and passions of a set of characters.)

I can NOT recommend this series enough. It will truly make you laugh and cry. Make you FEEL, which is what all good literature should ascribe to do.

The Summer Tree is not, I must admit, the most finely designed book I've read, nor the best G.G. Kay has written. The dialogue seems a bit contrived, as is the ease with which five earthlings enter the life and language of Fionavar. (Maybe GG Kay found it hard to have a "common tongue" as did Tolkien; they are, after all, from a different world. GG Kay, though, could have done after C.S. Lewis, who used a "cosmic language" in Perelandra)

Nevertheless, I must say the work is beautiful, if only for the depth with which GG Kay portrays human emotion, be it the grief of losing someone loved, or the horror of being victim to cruelty. That, and the sense of wonder that pervades the novel makes the book admirable.

I guess it's not so much a mind-novel-- you can dissect the plot and element quite easily-- as it is a heart book. It's not often that a writer can make us feel, and that would be reason enough to read it.