The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, #1)

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The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry #1)

by Guy Gavriel Kay (Goodreads Author)

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 8,407 ratings · 485 reviews

The first volume in Guy Gavriel Kay’s stunning fantasy masterwork.

Five men and women find themselves flung into the magical land of Fionavar, First of all Worlds. They have been called there by the mage Loren Silvercloak, and quickly find themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. For Kim, Paul, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their own part to play in the com...more

Paperback, 383 pages

Published April 1st 2001 by Roc Trade (first published 1984)

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Jul 18, 2011 mark monday rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantastickal, i-will-follow-thee

this is a wonderful novel. it is hard to love at first. sometimes you get to know people who seem automatically awkward, whose social style is stilted, composed of quotes from movies or off-putting attempts to be clever, insisting on repeating tired tales, who seem eager to please yet incapable of easy connection. but you get to know them over time and those trappings fall away, the awkwardness fades and they become real, three-dimensional, a friend even. and so it is with The Summer Tree.

at fir...more this is a wonderful novel. it is hard to love at first. sometimes you get to know people who seem automatically awkward, whose social style is stilted, composed of quotes from movies or off-putting attempts to be clever, insisting on repeating tired tales, who seem eager to please yet incapable of easy connection. but you get to know them over time and those trappings fall away, the awkwardness fades and they become real, three-dimensional, a friend even. and so it is with The Summer Tree.

at first, it is pure template. The Lord of the Rings is more than an inspiration; tolkein's characters and themes and countries are all directly paralleled within. as such, it is often a very familiar novel and, just as often, that does not work in its favor. what becomes an equal problem is the staginess of the opening chapters and the awkwardness of the dialogue and characterization. both are rather off-putting and the novel starts out with a stumble.

but after that stumble...oh, the riches! what seemed to be trite characters soon flower into figures far more rich, fascinating, enigmatic, even iconic. their adventures moved quickly into the unexpected yet retained a richly mythic quality. the quality of the writing beyond the dialogue is striking: kay does not engage in lush description but rather chooses his words carefully, and the simplicity yet sophistication of word choice often made me pause, and read them again: a haiku of a tale, compared to tolkein's extravagant epic poem. the mythos itself remained entrenched in the familiar, but that becomes a virtue - at times it felt as if i was reading an original telling of these tales and a recounting of these myths, as if this were actually the original template, as if the tried-and-true depiction of celtic-flavored mysticism, the elves & dwarfs & trolls, the ancient powers and unending evils were being presented in their purest and most direct format. and its combination of modern (5 modern students cross dimensions) and classic (mythological kingdoms that are the true reality) becomes a delight - wit and sad wisdom doled out equally. i certainly was not expecting to read about one character's embarrassing hard-on; nor did i expect the tragic driving death of a loved one and the suicidal yearnings of that crash's survivor to become a touchstone drawn movingly upon during somber self-sacrifice. the two worlds become surprisingly and effectively intertwined.

the penultimate chapter is one of harrowing devastation and mortification. i'm not sure i've read such a terrible and horrifying episode of torment and despair, and one that wastes no time in excessive cataloguing of the indecent tortures visited upon a tragic character. the horrors depicted in this sequence are, again, mythic in scope and meaning, yet disturbingly modern in their ability to repulse and sadden. but at the finish, The Summer Tree ends on a hopeful note. just as i am hopeful that the remaining books in the Fionavar Tapestry will continue to impress and inspire. i can't to wait to read them!(less)

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Apr 16, 2010 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-and-scifi, fiction, 20th-century-postwar-to-late, owned, partialprejudicedandignorantopinion, grand-opera

(This will serve as my review of the entire Fionovar Tapestry- Spoiler pearl clutchers beware- there be dragons of plot and theme reveals here!)

Confession: I am a bit of a Requiem fanatic- I own several versions of the Verdi, the Mozart, the Brahms, and copies of the Cherubini, Berlioz, Dvorak, and Benjamin Britten Requiems and I am always looking for more. I am fascinated with each and every one of them personally, but when it comes time to try and explain my obsession to someone else, I always...more

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Terry Robin I liked what you had to say about this trilogy- I had a hard time with every. time. he. introduced. another. story. line. I felt as though I was getti...more
updated Jul 19, 2012 07:13pm

Kelly Sorry I am just seeing this, Terry, but thanks for your comment.

I agree with your comments about the fact that Earth was too easily left behind. It's...more
updated Jul 28, 2012 02:23pm

Aug 19, 2012 Kay rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: they're taking the hobbits to isengard-gard-gard-gard

Shelves: fantasy, gods-and-beasts, kings-queens-n-fools, myths-and-tales, war-and-conflict, epic

The first thought I had when I read the description was, "Gawd, not again *groaning moaning*". I've ~~read~~ attempted to read enough Tolkien wannabes with elves, orcs, and swords, and had enough.

Then, I read extremely favorable reviews on GR about this book. It piqued my curiosity. Wait, what? This is how Tolkien should be written??

What the...

Frankly, upon finishing this book, I'm inclined to agree with the favorable critics. This is very much like LotR, so much that I can see many fans either lov...more

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May 02, 2011 Sparrow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: grown-up Narnia fans

Recommended to Sparrow by: Kay

Shelves: reviewed

Part I of this story is in many ways a grown-up The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I read the Narnia stories when I was little, and to be honest, I think C.S. Lewis will always have a place in my heart. To me, he’s a sort of philosophical grandpa, whom I ignore when he’s spouting cultural faux pas, but who brings out something lovely and profound at least as often as he says something unfortunate. Anyway, this book is not about C.S. Lewis, but I think the affection I feel for Narnia made a dif...more Part I of this story is in many ways a grown-up The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I read the Narnia stories when I was little, and to be honest, I think C.S. Lewis will always have a place in my heart. To me, he’s a sort of philosophical grandpa, whom I ignore when he’s spouting cultural faux pas, but who brings out something lovely and profound at least as often as he says something unfortunate. Anyway, this book is not about C.S. Lewis, but I think the affection I feel for Narnia made a difference in my read of this book. I also don’t think I need Lewis to be 100% correct all the time, and that probably made a difference in me liking the way Kay made the (view spoiler) story his own.

I spend a lot of time complaining, I think, about when authors throw together a really bad recipe for a book – when they mutilate and mix ingredients that should never go together. I really liked the use of the ingredients here. There’s Narnia; Henry IV / rakishness; some wild-west, bow-and-arrow stuff; a very decent hair-color change; law and folklore; a magical mystery animal; and a giant black swan that smells like garbage. Basically pretty good. I’m not a lover of fantasy (sorry!), so I have to get past the orcs and dwarves and elves to like a story like this (and I don’t care if you call them different names, they’re still orcs and elves). I’ll probably talk more about that in my review of the second book in this series, but with this book it’s pretty easy to look past to some genuinely good stories.

Unfortunately, at this point, probably most of what I have to say is a spoiler. (view spoiler)

Okay, maybe fewer spoilers than I thought. The other problem I have with this is the characterization of the gods. Maybe this is just a personal pet peeve, but a lot of times I don’t like the characterization of deities in gender roles (the obvious exception to this is The Iliad, which, of course, rules); I prefer the Julian of Norwich god who is both male and female because I'm less likely to see the female god relegated to the kitchen. There’s some other gender stuff that goes on in these books that makes me a little put off. I don’t think it’s insidious, or anything, I just think it takes away from the entertainment. Like, the priestesses are dangerous and suspicious, but the magicians are noble and trustworthy. But, then when everything gets sexy, the girls aren’t scary anymore. I’m not saying it stays like that the whole time, but, I don’t know. It just has a little bit of a male-culture feel that isn’t super entertaining to me. (view spoiler)

Anyway, I feel like I’m kind of ragging on this book, when I really did like it. I really like the Henry IV storyline, and I like the Seer stuff. I like that they’re all a bunch of Canadian kids and that there’s a law student who really needs to study for Evidence. I like how it assumes the vital importance to the WHOLE UNIVERSE of Celtic folklore. That’s pretty cool. I think Jennifer’s story isn’t really fair, and even though I’m almost through the second book, I still don’t really get it. (view spoiler) But, in general, I think the story used some really great legends really creatively. I liked it. I think I should have felt more emotionally attached to the characters, but I think that has more to do with how I feel in general right now than the book itself. Especially if you like fantasy, and especially if you're willing to commit to thousands of pages of fantasy reading (because there is a mammoth cliffhanger at the end of this book), it is worth picking up.(less)

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Ian Meredith, you are insecure about your writing??? There are many people on GR who have reason to be insecure but you are decidedly NOT one of them. I f...more
May 01, 2011 07:48pm

Sparrow Thanks, Ian! That's really kind of you. I might take you up on that. I mostly get mixed responses to my legal writing, and my legal writing professor...more
May 01, 2011 10:04pm

Jun 16, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-challenge, fantasy

Having found Kay's Tigana overly cluttered and too much for a single novel, it was with trepidation I sat down to read The Summer Tree. Would it be better, would it be worse or would it be the same? Only the conjunction of my mind and eyes with the paper pages of the book would reveal. I was not let down by the contents of this book, overall. However I felt that were some elements of the text better handled this book could have earned a five star rating instead of the four stars I gave it.

The pl...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I'm going to start my review of this book with some, at least slightly negative comments, so...before I do so let me say that I liked the book pretty well and am giving it 4 stars (I'd probably go 3.5+ if I had that option, but I don't).

I tried to read this book (these books as it's a trilogy) some years ago and was, shall we say, far from enamored with them. I put The Summer Tree down as not worth my time and didn't go back to it. Recently I've seen some reviews by people whom I've agreed with...more I'm going to start my review of this book with some, at least slightly negative comments, so...before I do so let me say that I liked the book pretty well and am giving it 4 stars (I'd probably go 3.5+ if I had that option, but I don't).

I tried to read this book (these books as it's a trilogy) some years ago and was, shall we say, far from enamored with them. I put The Summer Tree down as not worth my time and didn't go back to it. Recently I've seen some reviews by people whom I've agreed with on other books that were "very" positive so, I decided to give it another go. I was down with a bad cold recently and on nothing but audio books (headache) so I reserved this one on audio...

Now, first the sulfur, then later you can have the molasses to help it go down. The book hits a few of my "oh my goodness this again" spots. For one thing, there was a time that I'd just been "King Arthured" to death. It seemed for a while that for every 3 books on the fantasy shelves...two of them would be a "wonderful re-imagining of the Arthurian Legend" we had books from Arthur's point of view, Guenevere's point of view, Mordred's point of view, Lancelot's point of view, Morgan Le Fay's point of view...and possibly Author's horse's point of view. I was burned out, and am not much better now. Show me a blurb that says a book is "an exciting new ,take on, version of, or re-imagining of the Arthurian legend" and I'll show you a book that's going back on the shelf.

We also have the constantly annoying "battle of the sexes" motif built into the book. Wheel of time anyone? The only saving grace is it's not quite as annoying here as it was/and still is there.

The book is liberally leavened with ideas, stereotypes, and archetypes that you will undoubtedly recognize.

Now, all that being said, the book is pretty well written and I have no doubt that should GGK run across this review or one like it, he'd say something like "ya...well show me your best seller!" He'd be right of course. Given a chance the book's story "can" draw you in. You need to let it however. I am now starting The Wandering Fire and I don't know how I'll like it, but I'll give it a chance. My final take...not a bad read. Don't love it, but I do like it, a little. 4 stars...because 3.5 isn't possible. :) (less)

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Oct 15, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Elizabeth by: Sabrina

Shelves: gods-myths-heroes, vamps-and-other-mythical-beasts, reviewed, fantasy-sci-fi

Not to enter into the great Tolkien-invented-modern-heroic-fantasy-and-everyone-else-is-just-an-imitator debate but I've loved this book for a long time and it pains me to see it dismissed as a cheap copy of The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien based middle earth on his research, and while a wonderful creation (I don't mean to belittle it at all), it isn't unique in all literature everywhere. Much of it was creative retelling or incorporation of existing legends and stories and events from real...more Not to enter into the great Tolkien-invented-modern-heroic-fantasy-and-everyone-else-is-just-an-imitator debate but I've loved this book for a long time and it pains me to see it dismissed as a cheap copy of The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien based middle earth on his research, and while a wonderful creation (I don't mean to belittle it at all), it isn't unique in all literature everywhere. Much of it was creative retelling or incorporation of existing legends and stories and events from real early British and Germanic civilizations. That someone else might also do this doesn't mean he was ripping off Tolkien. Ever read Marie-Louise Sjoestedt's Gods and Heroes of the Celts? You won't just recognize some of Tolkien but J.K. Rowling as well.

Guy Gavriel Kay knows his gods, heroes, and legends and creates something that in the very best tradition of modern fantasy manages to spin a very old tale, or better yet, several of them into a complex and beautiful tapestry. He doesn't invent every thread but draws on so many different ones that he creates something new. I would not want to discount the contribution Tolkien played but also want to recognize Malory, Spenser, Tennyson, and the anonymous scribes and poets who recorded Norse sagas, Celtic hero tales, and the Mabinogion. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Stop playing Dungeons and Dragons for a second and read some real books).

Kay does something beyond all this too. He manages to create real characters that you care about and relate to. There are no stern warrior kings that never show emotion. The ice princess has very real issues with the choices she's made in life. The sacrifice is --

Well, the sacrifice is the heart of the book. The Summer Tree is more than symbolic and Kay deftly foreshadows its many meanings. What we try to hide from ourselves affects our choices, all of our choices, and only those that are willing to look into themselves and understand; well, they are the ones who will have power in the world because they can control themselves, so they learn control over others.

I really do love this book. Kay became one of my favorite writers when I first read it, twenty years ago. This work did influence me to read all those other authors and stories that I've been talking about here. I have read it ten times or more, and it always makes me cry. Really. Real tears. I hurt for these characters. I can see myself in them, in some ways, and I certainly see men I have known. But not women. If there is a real flaw in this work, it is Kay's women (and I'm happy to acknowledge an imitation of Tolkien there). I would say that this is a man writing about how he thinks women think. And they suffer more than the male characters, in ways that I can only describe as unfair. There is some brutal stuff at the end of this book and while I know how critical it is to the plot, I feel like he could have handled it a different way. I'm struggling to explain it. It's always bothered me and since I don't want to flag this review with a spoiler alert, I'll just have to leave you, dear goodreader, with this ambiguity.

My last comment is a warning. If you are not completely swept up in this story in the beginning (or near the beginning), you may find the language jarring. When you're reading at speed because it's late, later than you should be up, and you can't put the book down, the language is lyrical. But if you're bored and reading slowly, you'll notice every choice to prioritize the flow of a line of dialogue instead of what a real person would actually say. Someone does say "hear ye the will of the Goddess" at one point. Acknowledge that the sound of the story is more important and allow the flow to continue, don't start counting how many times he writes "Oh" and "Lady" (something that after ten readings one does begin to notice). It is better to ride this book like a boat in a fast current than pick a slow path along the shore.(less)

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Mar 22, 2010 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I absolutely loved everything about Guy Gavriel Kay’s stand-alone novels Tigana and A Song for Arbonne, so it was with great excitement that I downloaded the newly released audio version of The Summer Tree, the first novel in his famous The Fionavar Tapestry.

In The Summer Tree we meet Loren Silvercloak, a wizard who has traveled from the world of Fionavar to Toronto to fetch five university students (three guys and two girls) who are needed to help fight a...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I absolutely loved everything about Guy Gavriel Kay’s stand-alone novels Tigana and A Song for Arbonne, so it was with great excitement that I downloaded the newly released audio version of The Summer Tree, the first novel in his famous The Fionavar Tapestry.

In The Summer Tree we meet Loren Silvercloak, a wizard who has traveled from the world of Fionavar to Toronto to fetch five university students (three guys and two girls) who are needed to help fight an ancient evil force that has been bound under a mountain for centuries. It is awakening, has adversely affected the weather, and threatens the future of Fionavar. The students are transported to the capital city of Caer Paravel — no wait, wrong book — Paras Derval and each discovers that (s)he has an important role to play in this strange land’s upcoming upheaval.

If I had read The Summer Tree when it was first published in 1984, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more. Or at least I would have been more forgiving back then, but at this point in my life, with many years of reading fantasy epics behind me, I just had a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for this story.

Besides the parallels to Tolkien and Lewis which you will have already noticed, we’ve got dwarves who live under mountains, elf-like creatures who live in the forests, names which require hyphens, apostrophes, or other funny symbols (Na-Brendel , Mörnir, Ra-Termaine, T’Varen), names of evil things which sound Russian (Rakoth, Starkadh, svart alfar, Rangat, Blöd, Khath Meigol, urgach), nasty creatures who are minions of the bad guy, a girl who finds out she’s the next seer, a hero who must sacrifice himself to save the blighted land…. etc. Much of it is derived from ancient myth and legend and it's presented in Kay’s eloquent and slightly overwrought style. This will likely please those who are looking for that sort of weighty epic, but to me it just felt heavy. I have no doubt that this is caused by reading this too late in my fantasy vita — I was looking for something new — so if you're not relating to me here, I encourage you to give The Summer Tree a try. Every fantasy fan should read Guy Gavriel Kay.

Kay’s use of the five modern-day characters is a bit perplexing. Their reactions to being brought to a parallel world with an ancient culture were unconvincing as they immediately adapt to the customs of Fionavar without much trepidation or wonder. They didn’t seem concerned about how or when they’d get back to their world, what their family and friends might be thinking, or what might happen if they (very likely) died in Fionavar. They never talk about modern conveniences like cars, guns, and telephones. They go along with the patriarchic culture and, though they are well-educated, they don’t use their modern knowledge to any advantage. Perhaps they will in the sequels, but there is so far no indication that they are thinking that way, which baffles me. I’m wondering why Kay used modern-day heroes at all.

As for the audio production, it’s produced by Penguin Audio and read by Simon Vance (one of my favorites) so it’s well told. However, Vance’s Canadian accent makes me cringe and, since our five heroes are all Canadian, that’s a lot of cringing.

I expected to love The Summer Tree, so I had purchased the second book in The Fionavar Tapestry, too, and I will probably read it at some point. But I greatly prefer Guy Gavriel Kay’s more recent fiction, which is really wonderful stuff.(less)

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Aug 19, 2008 Doc Opp rated it 5 of 5 stars

After a slow start, the book delivered what all the critical acclaim was about. Deep characters, elegant prose, creative and unique concepts that blend nicely with familiar mythology to be thought provoking. This is a masterful piece of epic fantasy. Not for beginners to the genre though, the complexity of the novel would lose people who didn't have a strong schema of what to expect from epic fantasy.

One of the best parts of the book was how the author uses foreshadowing to create suspense. Oft...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Maya rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of high / epic fantasy a la Tolkien

3,5 stars? 3 seems not quite enough, while 4 seems a bit too much =/

This is how you make a classic “tolkien-esque” high / epic fantasy story interesting.

It did take some time for me to get into (the beginning was basically “hey you chosen-ones. We need you in this fantasy world, you coming? Ok, let's go”) and I didn't get very much attached to the characters (there are plenty, and lots with their own agenda), but I enjoyed their journey(s).

The setting is detailed, full of imagination, but with s...more 3,5 stars? 3 seems not quite enough, while 4 seems a bit too much =/

This is how you make a classic “tolkien-esque” high / epic fantasy story interesting.

It did take some time for me to get into (the beginning was basically “hey you chosen-ones. We need you in this fantasy world, you coming? Ok, let's go”) and I didn't get very much attached to the characters (there are plenty, and lots with their own agenda), but I enjoyed their journey(s).

The setting is detailed, full of imagination, but with some political intrigue. There are plenty of twists along the way, which is why The Summer Tree doesn't read in the same “linear” way as many other epic “quest-fantasy” stories I've read. And it has a very interesting magic system, with one person being the “source” from whom the mage draws his power.

The writing is quite nice, yet weird and exaggerated at times. A bit too many “oh, … oh ...” and “God, … oh God ...” kind of lines. The little humor there is wasn't really my taste either. Some scenes were a bit too dramatic (especially with Paul and his trauma), some a bit cheesy, and sometimes too much info-dumping, but overall this is an enjoyable fantasy story. Nothing that will blow you away, but very much able to entertain.

Personally, I don't mind the typical “quest-fantasy” stories, but I need them to have at least some kind of individuality. This one has lots of it.

I also don't care for the simplistic idea of “good vs evil”, “light vs dark”, but at least the evil guy here is really evil and the dark elves are also really dark. I'd like this series a lot more if the bad guy would get some character depth though.

If you don't mind the “tolkien-esque” style (with a quest to fight against evil and save the kingdom / world, elves, dwarfs, oracles, enchanted forests etc.), or even more so if you're a fan of such stories, The Fionavar Tapestry is worth reading. Some also call it an “adult version of Narnia”, but I guess that's mostly because the main characters travel from our world into the fantasy world.

The cover somehow made me expect a MG fantasy novel, but obviously this series is for adults. Since it is also quite dark, I believe this is worth giving a try if you're a fan of Game of Thrones as well.(less)

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Jul 21, 2011 Kara rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fantasy lovers

Recommended to Kara by: Janny Wurts among others

Shelves: fantasy, i-own-it, audiobook, excellent-narrators, favorites

Audiobook. Simon Vance as narrator -> who does an amazing job.
Finished this the other night and moved right on to The Wandering Fire.

My first Guy Gavriel Kay, and I will say he writes BEAUTIFULLY. Very artistic and thoughtful prose, yet NOT flowery fluff, poetic dribble, or writing to hear oneself talk.

This is probably some of the best high fantasy out there. Storyline is good, and the characters are all strong, well developed, and likable. It has been especially interesting to me to follow...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Gette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Guy Gavriel Kay� s fantasy trilogy about a land called Fionavar is a little over 20 years old. I� ve never heard of this Canadian author before, but an online friend was so adamant that I should read it that he ordered the books from Amazon and had them delivered to me as a gift.

The trilogy is made up of Book One: The Summer Tree, Book Two: The Wandering Fire and Book Three: The Darkest Road. Since it� s essentially one huge story, I� ll be talking about all three books in one review.

In The Summ...more

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Sep 13, 2008 Mark rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: fantasy

The Review

I generally don't write a review for a book unless I finish it. I don't think it's fair to the author or to others interested in the book.

I didn't finish this book.

However, I did spend a significant amount of time on this book, so I think I do have the right to say something.

Wow. This book beat me. I don't know if was the method in which I read the book or if I just didn't have the mindset to do so, but I just didn't like it.

Reading became a chore and something that I didn't look f...more

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Feb 27, 2008 Trin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, canadian-lit

Five Canadian college students are transported to a magical kingdom, and all of them are pretty blasé about it. Their lack of reaction cued me in pretty early on that I wasn’t going to like this book. None of these characters felt like real people to me; the students are pretty interchangeable (one’s a bit crankier! one has guilt! two possess vaginas!) and they all completely lack one of the most important things, in my opinion, for a successful fantasy novel: a sense of wonder. Nothing about th...more

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Oct 25, 2007 Josh rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: die hard fans of the author

Shelves: fantasy

My first introduction to Kay was the stand-alone novel, Tigana. It took me a while to really get into Tigana, but I really started to appreciate Kay's eloquent style, fleshed out characters and whit in dialogue and plot development. I decided that before going on to read the rest of his works, I had better read Fianovar. I didn't quite find the same reading experience here.

While the characters in Tigana are well thought and believable, those in the Summer Tree are quite the opposite. The reader...more My first introduction to Kay was the stand-alone novel, Tigana. It took me a while to really get into Tigana, but I really started to appreciate Kay's eloquent style, fleshed out characters and whit in dialogue and plot development. I decided that before going on to read the rest of his works, I had better read Fianovar. I didn't quite find the same reading experience here.

While the characters in Tigana are well thought and believable, those in the Summer Tree are quite the opposite. The reader is given the names of our five heroes right from the get go but Kay doesn't feel that it's necessary to really introduce any of them. He goes on about these five as if you should already know them. Soon comes the mage, Loren, who will take them into Fianovar. This part I found laughable, as only one of the characters really seems to question the sense of this mage appearing out of nowhere and taking them to another world. The other four follow Loren blissfully into Fianovar and seem to go on once they get there as if nothing had really happened. Only on a few occasions do these four characters reference their own world, Earth, in comparison to this new fantastic world that they seem to accept so easily. Dave, the one character who was the exception from the beginning, was the only character of the five whose story I really enjoyed. Having been separated from the other four from the time they all entered Fianovar, Dave's story happens later in the book and almost feels like a completely separate tale. His reactions to the events that follow his arrival are much more believable than his counterparts and I thought his part of the book (at least in comparison to the rest)was pretty fun.

The book as a whole is a complete cliché. We have a dark lord imprisoned after a war long ago, struggling to break free. This dark lord has insidious minions, sent out to foil the opposition and wreak havoc in preparation for his arrival. There are also similar races to Tolkien, such as the lios alfar, who are essentially elves with a different name, and of course the stout and noble dwarves. And one fact not to be forgotten: the fate of this world of course rests in the hands of the five protagonists that the mage has brought there.

Despite these obvious discrepancies, Kay imbues some of this story with his talents as a writer and somehow spins a tale of cliché into a slightly enjoyable yarn. He has the tendency to make you visualize his environments and settings with picturesque quality and towards the end, some of the characters started to grow on me. The dialogue between his characters is descent, but a lot of the character actions seemed unbelievable and sometimes downright stupid. That coupled with the obsurdity of the story makes this hard to recommend. I also don't really like the whole "crossover" from real life to fantasy genre. It reminds me of 80's fantasy movies.

So besides the fact that Kay knows how to write, I think this book was simply pretty bad. Tigana was good, but skip this series.

(less)

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May 05, 2007 Brahm rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like Tolkien imitators

Shelves: fantasy

Being a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay on the basis some of his other works (particularly The Sarantine Mosaic and Tigana, books which I find to be among the best in the fantasy genre), I was incredibly excited to read this, his first novel. I have never been a fan of the "person/people from our world drawn into a fantasy world" type of story; however, I felt that if there was one author who could do it right, it would be Guy Gavriel Kay. Alas, the Kay writing The Summer Tree displays none of the depth...more Being a fan of Guy Gavriel Kay on the basis some of his other works (particularly The Sarantine Mosaic and Tigana, books which I find to be among the best in the fantasy genre), I was incredibly excited to read this, his first novel. I have never been a fan of the "person/people from our world drawn into a fantasy world" type of story; however, I felt that if there was one author who could do it right, it would be Guy Gavriel Kay. Alas, the Kay writing The Summer Tree displays none of the depth of characterization, thematic coherency and relevance or tight plotting of the later Kay , and thus I found The Summer Tree to be a dissapointing rehash of Lord of the Rings, albeit with some sometimes interesting alterations.

Thats not to say there's nothing good in this book; there are clearly some great ideas, and some are brought to excellent fruition. In particular, the last fifty pages of the "Rachel's Song" part of the novel was not only pageturning, but also contained a depth of characterization and excellent writing absent from the rest of the novel. The premise, however, is simply too unbelievable; five Toronto law students meet a wizard from another world who informs them of multiple worlds and wants to bring them to one; and yet all of them, besides one sceptic, immediately believe him, are convinced to travel to Fionavar within the space of a page, and immediately fit in as soon as they arrive. This is completely unrealistic writing and characterization (and indeed, the one sceptic loses all sense of scepticism/surprise as soon as we are introduced to him again after the crossing), and indeed, helped to spoil a lot of the novel for me. The one appeal I can think of in introducing "real world" characters to a fantasy world is to explore our relation to the fantastic and how a normal human being would react to these things. This theme, however, is dissapointingly absent. In fact, the main characters being from our world adds about nothing to the story and could have been done without altogether. This is probably the most dissapointing aspect of the story.

However, another one is that the world of Fionavar is so pedestrian. If you know Middle Earth, then you have a basic understanding of how Fionavar works. You have your immortal beings who speak in overblown flowery language (a point I will return to later) and who sail west towards a continent no mortal can find, your Dark Lord who's breaking free and rebuilding his fortress, your dwarves who are too greedy and who release a great evil, and on it goes. Kay looks like he's going to add some great political action in here at one point, but all this great political build up turns into nothing and your typical "good vs. evil" story is set up in place. Considering Kay's great success at political games in his other stories, this lack of confrontation is jarring, especially after we've been introduced to all the different factions.

Finally, Kay's writing style is clearly overblown here. Kay, in his later books, always has had a poetic style of writing that can actually be quite beautiful. Here, he simply tries to emulate Tolkien; and really, Tolkien's style has only ever worked for Tolkien. From the random poems and songs (Kay has yet to master poetry, as he does later in The Lions of Al-Rassan) to the dissapointingly lame and over-dramatic historical explanations, Kay's prose here comes across as cheesy, indulgent and unnecessary.

I'm going to be reading the next two books in this trilogy. Like I said, there is some good in here, and already a twist early on in the second book, while a bit contrived, is sparking my interest. However, Kay clearly hasn't developed his greatness as a writer yet in The Fionavar Tapestry, which is really too bad. I can't say that I reccomend The Summer Tree, though I do reccomend all other Guy Gavriel Kay books. You'll be much better off buying Tigana, Sailing to Sarantium or The Lions of Al-Rassan than this.(less)

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Sep 15, 2007 Meredith Enos rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: good-scififantasy, favorites

everyone says this is a LOTR rip off, but i personally can't stand the narrative style of LOTR. every five years or i try to read LOTR and i just can't. i get maybe 100 pages in, if i'm being extra patient, and then chuck the whole endeavor. and truly, an endeavor is what it feels like: long and arduous. the whole thing is so damn wordy, and there are way too many 3-page hobbit songs. sorry if that offends all the tolkien lovers.

the Fionavar Tapestry is much more accessible. the narrative is lyr...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Kristena West rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my all time favorite trilogy- I have re-read this at least four times. His later work did not have the same impact, but I am now reading his latest book.

"When Christopher Tolkien needed an assistant to edit his father J. R. R. Tolkien's unpublished work, he chose Kay, then a student at the University of Manitoba, whose parents were friends of Baillie Tolkien's parents. Kay moved to Oxford in 1974 to assist Tolkien in the editing of The Silmarillion. There he learnt a lot about wr...more

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May 27, 2012 fiacha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ainda vou no inicio, mas já estou a adorar, não há duvida que este escritor tem imenso talento para jogos de intrigas, já o admirava bastante mas parece-me que vou ainda ficar mais admirador depois de ler esta trilogia.

Para já está a ser lida com imenso entusiasmo mesmo meio constipado :D

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Nov 22, 2010 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, parallel-world, epic

This is the first novel I read by Kay, and I am not disappointed. He's got a new fan.

Since this is the first in a continuing trilogy, I don't feel I can review it in depth as the story isn't over.

I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Characters and settings were well defined and I've made some new friends in Fionavar.

I'm patiently awaiting delivery of the rest of the series; once I've read all three novels I will be able to do justice to the series in the form of a review.

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Feb 12, 2009 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a twist on the usual children or teenagers go to another world to save it, because the five people who go to Fionavar are young adults, college-aged people who are not quite mired in the day-to-day kinds of responsibilities that would keep them from accepting an invitation to visit another world.

I enjoyed getting to know the people they met in Fionavar and I grew to really care about them and what they were struggling with.

I haven't finished the rest of the trilogy, but I am working on i...more

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May 18, 2013 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I think Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the more talented fantasy writers working today. And this early work shows some of the promise that would bloom in his later books. But by itself...this is problematic.

Imagine, if you will, The Lord of the Rings if its protagonists were Tolkien's grad students. And if he cut out all the charming character beats—the birthday party, the taproom, wandering Rivendell—that made you care about what happened to the characters and replaced them instead with random chunk...more

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May 08, 2013 Nancy Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Probably more of a 3.5, but four seemed a little too high. I enjoyed the concepts in the book; I love the idea of modern day people being transported to a fantasy world, and while not necessairly an original idea [Narnia] I still enjoyed it.

My problem lied in the execution, at times I didn't really believe the characters. They fit in too well to this new world, there was no awe at this new place, and very little, if any,trepidation about leaving their homes, their lives. While I am starting to u...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Lisa Schmeiser rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have a tremendous sentimental attachment to all three books in the Fionavar Tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road) because it was my introduction to this author, and because I love a good fantasy epic based in the Arthurian legends.

As an older reader, I have a critical fondness for these books, because Kay's strengths as a storyteller -- effortless integration of historical research and folk legends into an original story, a complete lack of irony, a high-minded commi...more

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Jan 19, 2013 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have read Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy several times now, and I still think its not only the best portal fantasy (i.e., characters from our world pass through a doorway into another more magic-based world), but is a far better fantasy trilogy than Lord of the Rings - maybe because of the emotional resonances that the embedded contemporary characters bring with them, and their gradual acclimatisation to the fantastic.

For my money, The Wandering Fire is the best for narrative in the series, b...more

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Nov 17, 2012 monotasker rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book more. Kay's prose is head and shoulders above most of what one puts up with in fantasy novels, even if it feels a bit self-conscious and overworked in places. Kay has also imagined a very rich world and his plot is full of satisfying ironies, with just the right mix of tragedy and hope. My main frustration is simply that he rushes so quickly from one world-shattering event to the next that the reader doesn't have the proper time to absorb them. If George R. R. M...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Justine rated it 3 of 5 stars

#17 on ThisRecording's Countdown of the 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy* Novels. The reviewer describes it as it more telling about humanity than the Great Gatsby - part of me wants to agree.

Telling or not, what I loved most about The Summer Tree was the way it brought me back to my discovery of the genre and the delicious feelings of familiarity that it invoked. This is a book of fantasy that is written with rhythm and poetry and tells a story with a voice that is beautifully unselfconc...more

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May 11, 2012 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: belovedbookshelf

Originally published here.

Guy Gavriel Kay (and this series) has been on my mind lately. These are the first of his books that I read, and I read them on the recommendation of my husband (then-boyfriend). Which memory maketh me happy. He'd read them years before and guessed (rightly) that I would love them, too. When I went to the bookstore to pick up the first book, the red trade paperback had just been released. I snatched it up and stroked the cover. It has one of those buttery matte covers th...more Originally published here.

Guy Gavriel Kay (and this series) has been on my mind lately. These are the first of his books that I read, and I read them on the recommendation of my husband (then-boyfriend). Which memory maketh me happy. He'd read them years before and guessed (rightly) that I would love them, too. When I went to the bookstore to pick up the first book, the red trade paperback had just been released. I snatched it up and stroked the cover. It has one of those buttery matte covers that catch ever so softly on your fingertips and make it impossible to stop stroking them. Ahem. It had been a little while since I'd ready any true high fantasy, and it was good to be back again. Though this series does have a bit of the urban fantasy about it to begin with. The main characters are all university students from Toronto. And I liked the fresh combination of segueing from one to the other. THE SUMMER TREE was originally published in 1984 and was Guy Gavriel Kay's first book. It is the first in the Fionavar Tapestry (I've always loved that series title), which is a trilogy. They are very visceral, very Tolkeinesque in scope, and should most definitely be read in order.

Kim, Jennifer, Paul, Dave, and Kevin are friends. They attend the same college in Toronto. And, on one extremely fateful night, they attend the same lecture by a renowned professor. Dr. Marcus even invites them back to his home after the lecture, and that is approximately where things begin to run off the rails. It turns out Dr. Marcus is in fact a mage from another world known as Fionavar. Fionavar is the original world, Dr. Marcus (or rather Loren Silvercloak) informs them, upon which all other worlds (including Earth) are based. He would like to formally invite the five to return home with him, as it is the 50th anniversary of the current king's reign, and celebrations are in order. Confusion reigns as well, and before they know it, the two girls and three boys are far, far away. Thrown into a massively foreign and complex world, they each struggle to find a reason they were called to be there in this auspicious moment in Fionavar's history. Of course, there are a myriad reasons and they each find out (with a vengeance) the precise role they are to play in the violent and mythical conflict that is about to go down. Whether or not they will ever return to their homeland is a question that becomes increasingly irrelevant the longer they spend in this First of all Worlds.

After the war was over, they bound him under the Mountain.

While this series clearly inherits largely from Tolkein and C.S. Lewis (via The Chronicles of Narnia), I feel it's fair to say that you haven't read a writer quite like Kay. His language is poetic and sprawling, and he has a gorgeous talent for metaphor and poignancy. THE SUMMER TREE definitely starts off with a bang, but it took me awhile to get my footing amid Canadian college students suddenly mingling with elves and archmages. It also took me a good number of pages to warm up to four of the five main characters. Paul was always where it was at for me. I liked him from the start, this haunted boy with so much music and loss in his past. It was without surprise that I found he was to have the longest road to walk of all. But warm up to the rest I did, and that is mainly due to the way they care about each other and the way that Kay wove them into their roles. The denizens of Fionavar are, well, awesome right from the start. I particularly enjoyed the politics and the expansive geography of this realm, all of it existing under the shadow of the Unraveller--Rakoth Maugrim. A fallen god himself, his specter taints every interaction in this sweeping tale. The whole thing builds to a ripping good (and excruciating) climax, in which my beloved Paul plays a pivotal role. Things get painful at the end. And violent. And I do mean painful. And violent. But know that it gets better. Also, there is a serious cliffhanger. So I would advise having book two in hand if at all possible. The incredible setup, the world itself, and the final chapters are what make this book. There are quite a few disturbing turns taken as well, and I can only say that the next two installments are thoroughly worthwhile. While I think The Wandering Fire is my favorite (I'm a sucker for middle novels), the entire trilogy is a feat of storytelling. If you're in the mood for beautiful prose and the highest of high fantasy, I suggest a trip to the K section of your library or bookstore.(less)

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Mar 04, 2012 Christal rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this one. The 5 main characters (college kids) that get transported from Toronto, Canada to what is basically a heavily Celtic influence LotR knock off land, are almost impossible to empathize with. Add in that a lot of the characters are flat until about 2/3 into the book where a few finally get a little complexity to them, a lot of the 'destiny' to the main characters seems hastily cobbled at the last minute to give them a purpose, and the inability of the author...more I had a hard time getting into this one. The 5 main characters (college kids) that get transported from Toronto, Canada to what is basically a heavily Celtic influence LotR knock off land, are almost impossible to empathize with. Add in that a lot of the characters are flat until about 2/3 into the book where a few finally get a little complexity to them, a lot of the 'destiny' to the main characters seems hastily cobbled at the last minute to give them a purpose, and the inability of the author to get me to really care about what happens to the characters, and you have a book that I mostly had to force myself to finish.

I will give it this, about 150-200 pages into it Kay finally lets go and the writing gets better, but this is also when the mythmaking finally becomes specific instead of vague shadows and random names thrown at you.

Also, names. The majority of the names used for long ago tales, gods/goddesses, heroes, and enchanted/magical places is very celtic in nature. However, you come across a few that don't make sense, they don't follow the set linguistics established for this land. And because of this I found it very difficult to keep names straight, there wasn't a set pattern to help follow along. It was a lot of not knowing who Kay was speaking about until he hinted at the backstory of that god/hero/place.

Now, here is the thing. If you REALLY enjoy the story of 'modern human(s) enter into the fantasy world like medieval or dark ages times' then you might like this a lot more than I did. I am not a huge fan of this type of story, to date I think the Narnia books (but it's kids) and MZB's 'Glenraven' are the only ones that stand out in my mind as having truly enjoyed.

I will say I enjoyed reading about the Dalrei, however they don't come in until Book II (there are 3 Books/Sections the chapters are grouped into), which is more than halfway through the book. They are more akin to native american in nature, and there was more heart in that section.

I am not sure I will continue on in this series, at least def not for now. Too many good books out there to bother.(less)

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Jan 23, 2012 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, based-on-myth-saga-etc

Fresh from reading most of Tolkien's work, and writing a gigantic essay on it too, I have a different perspective on Kay's work. Especially when reminded that Kay worked on The Silmarillion with Christopher Tolkien. He has a lot in common with Tolkien, really: the synthesis of a new mythology (though not done as history, and therefore lacking all the little authenticating details that Tolkien put in) using elements of an old one (though Kay used Celtic and Norse mythology, and goodness knows wha...more

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About Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid. Those works are published and marketed as historical fantasy, though the author himself has expressed a preference to shy away from genre categoriz...more

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The Wandering Fire (The Fionavar Tapestry, #2)

The Darkest Road (The Fionavar Tapestry, #3)

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“There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behavior that they force us, in acknowledging that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.” — 39 people liked it

“Dave hung up. And unplugged the phone. With a fierce and bitter pain he stared at it, watching how, over and over again, it didn't ring.” — 8 people liked it

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