Review - A Song For Arbonne

I'm aware that this book supposedly has connections to real history, but I read it as pure fantasy, and loved it as such. Guy Gavriel Kay is rapidly becoming one of my favourite fantasy writers. I love the way he can pack so much into just one book -- I felt as if as much was going on here as in the three books of the Fionavar tapestry, and I felt the same about Tigana. His world building is amazing, even if it does build on actual historical events. Even completely ignorant of those, I built up an incredibly rich picture of Arbonne in my mind.

There were a few plot twists that I didn't expect, which is something I love in a book. I'm not sure Kay got it quite on the nose here: I saw foreshadowing for what happened to Aelis' child from about halfway through, but I didn't see any foreshadowing for who it would be, and nor did I really care about it when it was finally revealed.

Characterwise... I didn't get as fond of Blaise as I have been of other Kay-protagonists. I'd have liked to see him as a person built up more -- perhaps through interaction with his best friend Rudel -- although I did like his slow growth into acceptance of the goddess. I also liked Ranald's little character arc -- I wouldn't say I was fond of him, but I was quite upset when he died at that moment. I was fond of Bertram, somewhat, mostly. Other times I wanted to hit him. The women characters didn't appeal to me so much, here, but overall the characters didn't disappoint me. I hold Kay to pretty high standards! It didn't match Fionavar or Tigana, but it did beat The Last Light Of The Sun and Ysabel. It's funny: I thought those were quite good when I first read them, but now I think Kay can write much better.

In terms of handling romance, in some ways I thought Kay was better in this book than in others. I was sort of rooting for Lisseut, but I was quite glad that nothing explicit happened between her and Blaise at the end: I didn't see the build up for it on Blaise's end, or the cause of it on Lisseut's. Rosala and Bertran seemed a little out of the blue. Ariane and Blaise I kind of liked, though it could have done with more development.

Overall, I liked A Song For Arbonne quite a lot. Not his worst work, but not his best, either.

Reviews - Kushiel's Dart

I don't normally do a very long or thorough review for books that are part of a trilogy: I tend to wait for the end of the trilogy. But Kushiel's Dart is an exception, mainly because there's enough action and intrigue for a whole trilogy in the first book alone. A lot of people start their reviews by saying that this book is not for everyone. Well, bah to that. No book is for everyone. Kushiel's Dart does deal with a lot of sex. Kinky sex. I thought, on the whole, that part was well done -- and a lot of Phèdre's assignations were also plot points. I think that even a person with no interest in BDSM in itself could enjoy the books, and just skim or skip the sex scenes if they're that troubling. Now, some of the torture scenes: they made me wince.

I wasn't fond of the narrative voice, at first, but once I got into it, I quite enjoyed it. The voice is quite distinctive, being decidedly not modern English, although it does remind me a little of Fitz and Nevare in Robin Hobb's work -- I think it's mostly that they and Phèdre tell their stories from the same distance.

This book is incredibly rich in terms of world building. There is so much depth to it, woven into the story. Perhaps a little more than is exactly necessary, but if you appreciate a lot of world building, it's brilliant. You probably have to lay aside any scepticism about a land where everyone is beautiful, having the blood of the son of Jesus, but if you suspend your disbelief and let the details build up, I think it's a very compelling world. The politics that drive the plot are also amazing, and this is one of few books that kept me guessing a lot. Melisande really does play a deep and subtle game.

The characters themselves, again, you have to be willing to buy into, I think. I know that some people think she's a "Mary Sue" because she's beautiful and she's special and she's marked by a god and all of it. Yes: okay. I can see that criticism. But once you're drawn into the story, once the setup is over, the characters become incredibly compelling. The complex relationships between them are very, very interesting, and I can't wait to see how things will play out. My favourite characters were Joscelin and Hyacinthe, fairly predictably. There's something I find incredibly compelling about the depth of loyalty Joscelin and Hyacinthe have for Phèdre in their different ways. Melisande is also incredibly interesting, of course.

I loved the subplot of Ysandre and Drustan, too, including the part with the Master of the Straits. Hyacinthe's subplot in that breaks my heart, and yet I love it.

Jacqueline Carey keeps a lot of threads on the loom, in this book, and I think she manages them all admirably. I'm eager to read Kushiel's Chosen -- though I might have to take a day or two to recover first!

Review - The Eyes Of The Dragon

This one's very fun. It's aimed at a younger sort of audience, I think, than Stephen King's other stuff like The Stand, so the tone is quite light. I like the narrative style -- the storyteller flavour of it. The story itself is quite simple, really, and quite fairytale ish, but the little details are really awesome -- the things that are mentioned early on and later become relevant, such as the doll's house. I found the presence of Flagg interesting, too.

It's nothing terribly substantial, and the characters aren't as well fleshed out as in The Stand, but for what it is it's very good. It's easy to read, and I read it very fast.