Banshee16 said:
Guy Gavriel Kay is one author I've never read.
He might be better known up here in Canada than elsewhere, since he's from here, but I'd heard of him when I lived in the U.S.
I really liked Stackpole's "Cartomancy", but again....waiting for the sequel to come out in paperback..are his other books of similar style?
No idea. I only read the Dark Glory one, and it didn't really wow me. It wasn't bad, but it read more like a setup novel than a real "stuff happening" novel -- which is borne out by what people have said, that it's more like a preparation novel for the actual trilogy, which begins later.
It wasn't bad, though -- and if you liked his other stuff, I'd say that it was solid enough to merit a read. Or, heck, skip it and go right to the main trilogy, which is the Dragon Crown somethingorother.
I'm gradually working on Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series, but can usually only take two of them in a row. Similar with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. So I'm switching between genres pretty regularly. Hence wanting to fill in the blanks with some fantasy as well. The best nonfiction I've read recently was Romeo D'Allaire's "Shake Hands with the Devil".
Good stuff! Kay's stuff isn't real-world historical, but it's just about. "Tigana" is based on the era of the Italian city-states, and "Arbonne" is based on the troubadours of France. "Last Light of the Sun" is his viking book, and "The Sarantine Mosaic" (which is two books, "Sailing to Sarantium" and "Lord of Emperors", I think) is the Byzantine empire. "The Lions of Al-Rassan" is pretty much "Spain vs. the Moors".
I liked all of 'em. "Tigana" had the most magic, and "Last Light of the Sun" had some parts with fairy-like creatures, while the magic in the other books was pretty much stuff like divination and twist-of-fate type abilities. Still fantasy, but not wizard-throws-fireball type fantasy.
Last question...I've noticed the Farseer trilogy before, but have never read Robin Hobb. What's it about? She wrote the Assassin's Apprentice, or King's Assassin or something like that, didn't she?
Yep, that's the Farseer Trilogy. If I remember right, it's Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and... the third one. Assassin's Quest, maybe. If you like those, you can hit the Tawny Man trilogy next, which picks up with the same characters about fifteen years later, or you can try the Liveship trilogy, which is in the same world but a mostly different set of characters (and a much different tone, which I liked just as much but other people have been irritated by).
Thanks for the tips. I might have to check out a few of your suggestions. I've noticed Tigana before, but never picked it up. You enjoyed it?
I enjoyed it a ton. It's funny, because I write, and it's almost the exact opposite of what I write. I'm great at dialogue and fight scenes and, well, lousy at setting, and Kay is GOOD at dialogue, but the dialogue is so light relative to his massive setting parts that it mostly gets overwhelmed. You'll have a hundred pages go by chronicling the events of one night, and it's not dull handwavey stuff but politicking and scheming from four different viewpoints. Really really good stuff.
Oh, and every Kay book has at least one duel or race or contest that takes an absurdly long time, because he's going from the mind of a contestant or warrior into the mind of somebody watching into the mind of somebody ELSE watching, and so forth. I love it, because it's got some incredibly complex fight-scene explanation, but it bores my friends, who do not share my love for fight scenes to the same extent.
If you were gonna try one, I'd suggest "Tigana", "A Song for Arbonne", or "The Last Light of the Sun". That'd be Italy, France, or Vikings. Choose whichever one interests you most, or whichever one the bookstore has.
Again, good luck!
