Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spirals within Spirals - Stunning and Transcendant, September 9, 2000
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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than expected, but..., April 6, 2001
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...
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven and Melodramatic - But the Promise of Better to Come, November 10, 2000
This is an uneven work.The author has an exceptional gift for language - in his later, more mature works, he often attains the sublime - but here, in his earlier works, he struggles. It is as if he hasn't enough confidence in the mastery of his craft to trust to understatement and restraint. Instead, he strikes for bold effects, and ends up with melodrama. Melodrama has its place and, when done well, can be quite effective. Consider Les Miserables or A Tale of Two Cities. But here, it is not done well. Perhaps I am alone in my weariness, but I am tired of Elves and Dwarves, Dragons and Trolls, and appendices to Arthurian myth. This story parallels the Lord of the Rings so obviously that it is rendered formulaic: the fellowship of protagonists with varying characters and strengths; the wizard who leads them; the dark antagonist in his invincible fortress who is the very embodiment of malice and desolation; the lonely quest by a tortured soul, carrying a great burden into the heart of danger. Even the mountain is here. And the Arthurian elements are, frankly, tired and distracting. It's all been done before and done better. Then there are the characters. They can only be described as uni-dimensional. The antagonists are cartoon bad guys; the protagonists are stereotypical personality types; the secondary characters are introduced and have their respective moments, but are often dropped and forgotten with disjointed ease. Take the case of a southern princess seduced by a northern prince. First she loves him. Then she hates him. Then she loves him again. I'll try not to give away too much of the plot, but what motivates such conflicting emotions and what happens to her in the end? We don't know. It's unconvincing and incomplete. I don't want to leave the impression that I actively dislike the work. Some of it is quite good. Kay shows flashes of the brilliance that characterize his later works. His writing is regal and elegant. He may not have learned yet that less is better, but he shows a gift for presentation that often intrigues and occasionally compels. This is a series only for hardcore fantasy buffs. It makes no attempt to transcend its genre. It adheres to the fantasy formula so conventionally, that its main appeal will be to those readers who read fantasy for the comfort of the formula. However, the overall skill and the occasional nugget saves it from failure and earns it a guarded recommendation.
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by Guy Gavriel Kay
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