Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was a blade in my soul, June 4, 2000
I was hesitant to review this book, because I'm not sure I can do it justice. This is one of those stories in which the very extremes of human emotion can tear the reader apart. And no one does it like Guy Gavriel Kay. The ideas are revolutionary in a genre whose readers normally subsist on casual magic and Sword & Sorcery. Themes of memory, identity, destiny and freedom are seamlessly interwoven in a breathtaking tapestry; identity can only be founded on the recovery of memory, and it is only with a sense of identity that one can attain the freedom to fulfill one's destiny. 'Tigana' features characters who have had their identities brutally torn from them, and the result is that they are left empty and searching for a way to fill the void in their souls. Their desperate attempts sometimes lead them in the wrong directions, toward things which are cruel or unnatural, but provide temporary solace from the emptiness. The tragedy of their existence is especially wrenching in Kay's portrayal of love, as he shows that it cannot exist as long as there is no sense of identity, and hence, no freedom. Without these things, it is only a selfish grasping for rescue from emptiness, turning the act of love into a degradation. Kay's portrayal of the characters is one of the high points of this book's brilliance. Who is the enemy? This is a question difficult to answer in a book which has characters on the 'good' side committing terrible acts, while the designated 'enemy' is a wonderfully complex character; and the fact that Brandin inspires such loyalty in his followers--and such love in Dianora, who had sworn to kill him--is totally justifiable, and may be shared by the reader. On the other hand, the soul-deep pain for which he is responsible--and for which he has no remorse--makes a strong case against him. There are no evil people or good people in this book: there are only evil actions, bringing this book into a realm of 'grayness' in its approach to good and evil which most fantasy avoids. In addition to his skill in characterization, Kay knows how to plumb the very depths of human emotion, yet somehow without once lapsing into melodrama. All the extremes of pain and suffering are there, as well as the extremes of love and tenderness. And there is no better vehicle for these powerful emotions than Kay's gorgeous writing. The ending fit perfectly with the rest of the story, tying together the themes of identity and destiny which the riselka had come to symbolize all along. Like a graceful end note to a piece of music, the last lines rounded it off and trailed away, softly. For anyone who enjoys an unconventional fantasy with ambivalent characters, this is a must-read. Fans of George R.R. Martin should have no trouble with this aspect of the work. It is also recommended to anyone who wants some depth and power in their reading fare, regardless of the genre.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is wonderful., December 30, 1999
A quick warning for all of you into the more visceral, fast-reading fantasy authors... this book may not be for you. Tigana is one of those rare fantasy novels that transcends the genre to become a pure work of literature. Compared to most modern fantasy authors today, Kay writes very carefully and makes an extra effort to force you to care about all his characters and the situations they find themselves in. This extraordinary novel can force you to redefine your expectations of fantasy writing.Tigana's world is based loosely on Renaissance Italy. The Peninsula of the Palm has been split down the middle by two separate conquerors from larger countries. The conquerors were able to subjugate the peninsula easily due to the rivalries between the seven formerly independent provinces of the Palm. The final province to be conquered, Tigana, managed to kill the son of one of the tyrants. In a fit of wrath, the tyrant descends upon Tigana and crushes it utterly. However, he also takes the extra step of erasing the country's name from the minds of every citizen on the Palm except for the survivors of Tigana. Non-citizens cannot hear or speak the name; instead, Tigana is renamed after its most bitter rival in the old provincial struggles. Years later, a small group of Tiganese rebels begin a campaign to bring their name back to the Palm and expel both tyrants... And this just doesn't convey the subtleties and character interaction the plot has. The use of Italian linguistics and political situations gives the book an atmosphere of plausibility but doesn't ram it down our throats (as Jordan's Aes Sedai mythos or Goodkind's descriptions of the Mother Confessor's office tend to do). The characters, though, are what drive the book. Even those characters that only make a brief appearance are startlingly well-crafted and at times even touching. An episode early in the book which examines very closely the relationship between a proud, authoritarian father and his doomed son moved me to tears- and it happened in the first one hundred and fifty pages. Bottom line: if you enjoy fantasy that is literate, well thought-out, and exquisitely crafted, then buy this book. If your taste leans more toward the Jordan/Goodkind/Feist vein, be warned that Kay takes his time getting to where he wants you to go... but for me, that makes him the finest living fantasy writer.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I never cry. But I should have., January 15, 2000
I have often said that GG Kay is intent on taking all of the magic out of fantasy literature. Starting with the Fionavar Tapestry, where you get Loren Silvercloak, the average, everyday, Gandalf-inspired, gray-cloaked, staff-wielding wizard...to the Lions of Al-Rassan, where the weirdest thing is a little kid with minor -I repeat MINOR- psychic abilities. Both extremes are very sad specimens. However, Tigana sits astride all that, by far the greatest Kay novel. Most of the punch in this book comes from sentiment, and Guy is a master in the field. He just wraps each character's whole world around you every time the perspective changes. Tigana, rather that what you'll read in the back cover, is about how the world makes men and women out of us, but pain -others' as well as our own- makes us human. Kay will not presume to name good guys and bad guys. That is for you and me to decide, not according to who wears black or who sounds nicest, but to what they have done, and most importantly, under what conditions. Better still, Kay has great understanding for the currents of politics as well as commerce, but also makes so sure you know where the common folk really fit in, he could lecture Karl Marx. Some have blamed Kay for using common, utterly non-heroic characters in his books. They better quit watching the X-Files, they should get their Lords of the Rings posters off the walls, snap out of it and get a life in this world. Otherwise, they'll never, ever get any notion whatsoever of the heroic. Kay has, and that's that
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