Customer Reviews

Ysabel

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A one sentence summary of Ysabel sounds unnervingly like the rote formula of some very, very bad pulp fantasy: a vacationing 15 year old in the South of France comes of age as he gains magic powers, works with his family, and becomes a hero. But Guy Gavriel Kay is at the height of his own powers here, and breaks out by weaving a powerful tale of love and revenge as he slowly reveals the truth - some of which will unexpectedly delight longtime fans. In general, this is his best since Song for Arbonne. A couple of minor nitpicks, but a solid 5 stars.

First, the nitpicks. The beginning part of the boy-becoming-man plotline here isn't original and in fact makes the first part of the novel drag a bit, as Kay seems slightly out of his element in dealing with both the narrative of a fifteen year old and a modern setting. Maybe kids grow up quicker now, but protagonist Ned Marriner seems a bit too mature even before what Kay calls the last day of his childhood. Kay's attempts to integrate modern technology and society actually distract from plot advancement at times and in a few years will badly date this book, even if his ruminations on how technology has changed things can be interesting. And finally, there are some minor and a couple non minor characters that could have used more stage time.

However, once Ned becomes fully engaged in the bigger picture, the book takes off. Kay settles comfortably into meticulously researched history as to why certain things are transpiring - in this case an age old struggle of barbarians versus civilization in which neither has a monopoly on good - but really hits his stride with the exploration of love and revenge and their effect on innocent bystanders. The ensemble cast supporting Ned is generally well developed and very believable. Better yet are the plot twists and denouement; you don't know where he's taking you, and the ride to find out is marvelous. He's done the love triangle story several times before, but this version is well executed and worth 5 stars on its own.

For long time readers of Kay, the delicious bonus here is that the modern setting allows the reintroduction of several major elements from the Fionavar trilogy. I won't ruin the plot surprises by saying much more, but in some senses this is almost a sequel. Where this may be Kay's best writing (probably not his best novel, though, given some of the early miscues) is that he weaves this in so effortlessly that you might not initially notice, and unlike most similar efforts it's a not a requirement to have read the previous books to understand the plot or the characters and doesn't heavy-handedly ruin the main story. It just adds delicious levels of depth and occasionally inside humor to an already good tale.

Five stars. Might be 4 1/2 stars in comparison to Kay's other work, but that's too much nitpicking.

This is a book that swallowed my weekend. I opened in on Saturday morning and put it down, finished, on Sunday night. I've missed Mr. Kay's work and this book happily joins its predecessors on my shelf.

I have read all of Guy Kay's novels and can, therefore, compare. This is very different fare from Lions, Tigana and Sarantium. Ysabel lacks that sweeping scope, the feeling of a story that will stay with you forever and characters that burn their way into you heart. Ysabel sweeps 2,500 years of history, but it is not an epic. It looks at that history from the outside. On the other hand, though I worship the three works above, I do not hesitate to admit they are not told as concisely as they might have been. Some parts drag and that takes away from the momentum of the phenomenal stories lines. Ysabel is all story; all motion. I was on the edge of my seat throughout. It is exciting, a little scary, completely engrossing. The true mark of Kay's talent and precision here is that he did not just shift from a character-driven story to a plot-driven one. Not at all. The characters are vivid. Their image is instantly before you. They are instantly complex. You do not like or dislike anyone absolutely, but take them as they are in all the shades of gray. A shameless honesty, there. There is no barrier to knowing them and getting into their heads. I cared for them all, even the more peripheral personages.

Beneath it all and all around is the history. I loved the history. The description of Provence as dripping with it is wonderful. Every inch of land is saturated with stories. All the stories are exciting and intriguing. All are worth telling. All are Real. You walk away from the book with a clear understanding that the 400-some pages of the book barely scratched the surface; that fifty more books could come out of that land and still not tell it all.

That is, perhaps, the general feeling the book left in me: motion, the promise of change, the guarantee of memory and an appreciation for the beauty of human nature, despite all we've done to each other over the centuries. I don't see myself re-reading Ysabel every year like I do Lions and Tigana, but it WAS wonderful. (Every other year, then!) My gratitude to Mr. Kay.

It was with great anticipation that I sat down to read Guy Gavriel Kay's latest offering "Ysabel" just a few days ago. I have read all of his novels and I knew that he always brings a magical genius that imbues his stories with a deep sense of history- even when those histories are formed entirely within his own creative imagination. I was not disappointed. This book is astonishing. "Ysabel" is different in that it is set in our own contemporary world with characters that at first seem familiar and understandable. Only as the story unfolds, do we realize that all (including the reader) will be drawn into to a vastly deep mystery that the world, it's history and even time itself is something much more incomprehensible than anyone could have predicted or understood. The story is set within the history-steeped beauty that is Aix-en-Provence; a place where the past bleeds beyond the defined boundaries of our modern existence and deep natural powers seem to offer alternative theories to accepted history.

It is a story in which Ned Marriner, an intelligent but seemily ordinary 15 year-old, not only comes of age, but also crosses a threshold that leads him to a surprising discovery that he is apparently much more than he thought he was. With typical Kay mastery, the author develops intriguing, intelligent and imminently likable characters that often emerge from their ordinary lives to become people who prove to do extraordinary things.

This novel is a history lesson, a multifaceted love story, a fantastic spiritual exploration and an astonishingly poignant story of people outside of time, trapped by history but vastly courageous in their love and devotion to a poetic destiny. Like the historical event it chronicles, it is intensely deep and often sad. Like the story it tells, this book is a thing of beauty.

It is highly recommended...

I've read all of GGK's novels. I own most of them and will happily admit that I re-read them at least once a year. Certain passages in the Sarantium Mosiac are etched in my mind - pieces of prose that truly transport me to another time and place, to another reality that I know and love.

I scarcely know where to begin my critique of Ysabel. So little of it made sense. The dialogues perhaps were what irked me most. I wondered, about a chapter in, if GGK had switched genres and had written this for teenagers. Where was the delicacy, subtlety and wit that he had perfected in the dialogues in the Sarantium Mosaic? That we saw the sweet beginnings of, in Lions?

About a third of the way into the book, what began to annoy me were the coy 'who-are-you', 'stay-out-of-this', 'best-if you-don't-know' conversations that Ned had, over and over. It did nothing to build suspense, added nothing to the plot and was quite frankly, clumsy all around.

I was also frustrated by the repeated history lectures that Kate constantly had to give. Now, I am a reader who is greedy for historical novels, which is why I revel in GGK's other novels. He has a gift of re-creating worlds within context of the rich historical past in Spain, Byzantium and France. Somehow this was sadly missing in Ysabel. Instead of recreating Provence's volatile past in a more evocative manner (flashbacks, perhaps? To allow us to get to know both the history and Ysabel herself?), all he's done is create know-it-all Kate, and rendering his hero to a nothing more than a stereotypical, ignorant North American teenage tourist. All in order to bring us, his readers, up to speed with Provencal history. Clumsy, clumsy narrative. In the end, the book simply smacked of being a dumbed down version of the Da Vinci Code, ie a North American guy flying by the seat of his pants, complete with a 'local' French sidekick, dealing with dark secrets from the past.

Finally, what saddened me was that none of the characters truly drew me in. It's unbelievable that the book is named after a character that we never truly spend anytime with and scarcely know. All the characters are one-dimensional, and none of them really do anything particularly noble, or even notable.

GGK is one of my all-time favourite authors and I'm very much in despair that he's come to this. All I can think of and certainly hope for, is that he had a fantastic family vacation with his wife and sons in Provence and whipped up this little homage to his family on his way home. And that given time and space, he will return to give us novels redolent with history; coloured with rich, complex characters, dialogues with danger and wit; and the achingly bittersweet twists in the plot that he creates with deft and finesse.

Ysabel is an epic love story seen from the outside. Kay returns to the idea that there are stories that transcend life and death, returning to the world over and over again to play themselves out until at last something brings them to an end.

He touches on a lot of themes in such a short book: left-brain civilization vs. right-brain barbarism, the subjective nature of time, the pain of separation from those you love and the tragedy of a conflict that refuses to be resolved, and the way technology has transformed the world. It's also a coming-of-age story, and a story about the history and geography of the Provence-- in the Provence, they're the same thing. And it's a story about stories, and a story about love, and a story about Kim and Dave, last seen returning to Earth in the Fionavar Tapestry.

Despite all that material, the story meanders, like a child trying to find the path through a pencil maze. The characters spend significant amounts of time doing things that don't contribute to the story. There are too many characters, when it comes to that. Why was Frank included? What did he do? I have no idea. Full points for avoiding the cliche of keeping the fantastic elements a secret from the ordinary people in the story, but I needed each character to be relevant somehow.

Overall, I didn't get the sense that Kay knew where he was going when the story started. I imagine a summer spent at a villa in the south of France, touring the ruins, writing down the images that come to him, and exploring the story to find out what it was about, who it was about and how it would be resolved. And that's a fine way to write a book-- but please clean it up afterwards. Why did neither Ysabel nor her lovers have names to start with? And why did they love her so all-consumingly, especially given how cruel she was? Why did the story repeat? How were they bound to it? What was the point? It wasn't tragic or epic, just... shallow. In Fionavar Tapestry, Arthur's repeating story was a punishment. There was a point. In Ysabel, there was the barest hint of a suggestion that it had to do with the development of the Roman Empire, and the triumph of light and logic over barbarism and fear and darkness. But it had no significance to the either the participants in the love triangle, or the modern world. If that had been explored further, it could have been very engaging. (Instead I was left with the impression that Ysabel and her lovers had won the 'become immortal by being this world's eternal story' lotto. Or maybe they'd been chosen based exclusively on Ysabel's good looks.)

If you enjoy beautiful, detailed descriptions of geography, architecture and light, this is a worthwhile book to read. If you're dying to see how Kim and Dave are getting on, post-Fionavar Tapestry, this is a fun book to read. If you're into overwhelming general passion for cruel, underwhelming redheads, I think you'll enjoy it. If you're new to GGK's work, please don't let this be your first exposure.

"Ysabel" is one of the best fiction books I have read in a very long time. It is at times exciting, enlightening, and confounding. It tells a story that is steeped in history and broad emotional themes, as well as visceral and immediate to the world we live in. It is a moving examination of love, conflict, and remembrance.

"Ysabel" takes place in France where Ned Mariner, a 15 year-old Canadian, is spending the summer with his father who is shooting photographs for his new book. While there, Ned meets Kate Wegner, an American exchange student. Together, they stumble upon a mysterious man deep inside a cathedral; which in turn starts them down a path towards an adventure neither expects, nor particularly wants. They are drawn in to conflict older and deeper than either knows.

It's very tempting to tell you more about the story - but for me, that would ruin part of the essential joy that I found in reading this tale. Reading "Ysabel" is like savoring a meal planned and prepared for you by a 3 star Michelin chef. You don't really know what is coming next, nor do you get things in large, unmanageable bites. There are even the occasional wonderful surprises (I will tell you that, for longtime readers, there is an unexpected and very fulfilling connection between this story and Gavariel Kay's "The Fionavar Tapestry".) It's a welcome change to so much fiction you read where, four pages in, you understand where you are going and how you are going to get there. Here, you are taken on a journey.

For fans of Gavriel Kay, or new readers, "Ysabel" is a magnificent read.

Dammit, I miss them... I finished Ysabel a few days ago now. The overall feeling's an ache, like when you wake from a dream where you liked people in it so much you ache as you wake, knowing you'll never meet them again except in memories.

You'll hopefully read some other reviews here to get an idea of plot, but I'll tell you it's not the plot that should grab you. It's wanting the heart and the characters portrayed well. And oh they are, here. They'll either win you over or you're a snob. Some reviewers ought to get off their high seat (or toilet). Stop comparing to whatever their expectations are and just read a book for what the author wants to give you... then ask yourself some deep questions. No, it's not a book intended to grab just "adults," good grief, it's a YA, about transitions into responsibility and self-knowledge, and an appreciation for what was and is, and what must end and yet never will, in the most profound ways. It's about what it takes to get what you love, and to protect it. It's about desire and pride, and about those rare people who know there's something more... It's not about creating a substitute world, it's asking us to wake up and smell Provence.

Ask yourself, when reading these reviews -- am I the kind of person who over-analyzes things? How do *you* approach a new book, a new author? If you're like me and willing to take chances to meet great characters, to put yourself in their shoes (and in the author's footprints), to get into stories that transcend place and time, then you'll really like what Ysabel has to offer you. (Now, and in your memories, and if you ever get to Provence...)

You might even learn a thing or two... Like, how you could say civilization is hinged upon the outcome of one battle hardly remembered today... Like, how we make myths is maybe more important than the stories they seem to tell... Like, how we literally walk all over the past but pretend its highest value is as entertainment, how we make it so hard to pay attention to the relative significance of things. I'd go back to Provence just to take Ysabel with me to read again. (Penguin books has a great website of Provence/Ysabel photos, etc., by the way.)

So, no, it's not like his other novels. Why should it be? GGK seems to be interested in more than repeating himself -- unlike many readers, evidently, whose taste shows they like books to be similar to the state of pop culture music (pop cereal) these days.

It's a compelling read. One of those books where there's just enough open space left in it -- enough mystery -- to sink yourself into. There's magic in his story-telling. And when he writes of it, it's not the magic of childish wish-fulfilment you might be used to. It's the mysteries, the magic that surrounds us but that we've given other names to, to disguise our sophistication from (god forbid) "superstition."

I really miss those characters, all of them, all of them... They're good people, and I feel privileged to Mr. Kay for introducing me to them. Rarely have I enjoyed being with an author's creations as much as in reading Ysabel. (Not since Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy -- but there's no comparison intended.)

This story about a timeless love triangle in sun and history drenched Provence had a lot of potential. Alas, the author bungled it by opting for sloppily written overdoses of dialogue between a number of none-too-round, present day characters, instead of fleshing out the backgrounds of the far more intriguing lovers from the past. Something is not quite right when the descriptions of archeological and historical sites are generally more interesting than the conversations people are having there. Perhaps the author should have rewritten this a couple of times before sending it off to the publisher. Sure, there are moments when the story seems to take off for real - but every time it just crashes too soon.

Ysabel is about Ned, a teenager who becomes entangled in an age-old love triangle while vacationing in France. Kay does a good job of balancing the primary plot with the subplot of Ned's adolescence, feelings toward girls, and issues with parents. He sprinkles in song references (akin to the poetry in his fantasies?) and modern technology (Google, iPods) to good effect. As usual, Kay describes the setting beautifully and poetically. You can tell that he has visited the places in the book. It is also neat to see characters from Kay's other works reappear here.

The novel reminds me of the books of Sean Stewart and Charles de Lint, who also write about normal people encountering the paranormal in contemporary settings. The main difference, however, is that Ysabel is story-driven, whereas Stewart's and de Lint's books are primarily character-driven. In my opinion, the characters in Ysabel are peripheral to the plot. They do not propel the storyline--it propels them. I think it is a mistake. While the characters are likable and sympathetic enough, they are neither complex nor flawed. Frankly, they are uninteresting.

I have a few other criticisms. First, I think that the novel is uneventful. There is a lot of talking and not enough doing. The dialogue is circular: A lot of the same things are covered in multiple conversations, and it is all too explanatory. Instead of having Ned repeat events every time a new character showed up, I would have preferred to read about a new event. Different character must ask Ned, "Who are you?" three or four times. That's redundant. Second, I think that the characters sound too alike, especially when they try to be funny. Everyone has the same puckish humor.

I was disappointed with Ysabel, which bothers me because I am a devotee of Guy Kavriel Kay. On one hand, I might be biased: I am so fond of his historical fantasies that maybe I did not know how to absorb a novel outside of his established genre. On the other hand, I have specific issues with the novel, which lead me to believe that it is not as skillfully written as his other works.

I think it was Robert A. Heinlein who said that the way to write a young adult book was to write an adult book and then to take the sex out. Heinlein's meant the comment as a compliment to young adult books, or rather to the idea of what a young adult book ought to be, just as serious, just as well written and just as complex as any other book. So, by Heinlein's definition, Ysabel is a young adult book, and the only one of Guy Gavriel Kay's books so far to have no sex, no overt sex, at least. Sex hovers in the background here, charging every element of the plot.

Ned Marriner stumbles into a 2600 year old love triangle, which would be none of his business if his father's assistant had not been magically transformed into the woman at the apex of the triangle--Ysabel. Ned's family has latent psychic powers, and his begin to flare at just the right moment. What follows is a tense, suspenseful, even heart rending search, racing against a deadline to recover the lost Melanie, and the end is typical of Kay, triumphant but bitter-sweet.

A terrific story.