In a world of extraordinary imagination a final battle is waged against a power of unimaginable proportions.
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Jul 18, 2011
mark
rated it: 
SPOILERS AHEAD, SO MANY SPOILERS
The concluding volume of Fionavar Tapestry is a perfect fantasy novel. Happily stripped of the awkward, stilted ‘real world’ situations and dialogue that occasionally marred the preceding novels, The Darkest Road takes place entirely in Fionavar and is all the stronger because of it. The narrative is simple: the characters all engage in a series of final meetings, battles, and individual confrontations that were carefully set up in books 1 and 2. The w More...
The concluding volume of Fionavar Tapestry is a perfect fantasy novel. Happily stripped of the awkward, stilted ‘real world’ situations and dialogue that occasionally marred the preceding novels, The Darkest Road takes place entirely in Fionavar and is all the stronger because of it. The narrative is simple: the characters all engage in a series of final meetings, battles, and individual confrontations that were carefully set up in books 1 and 2. The w More...
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May 24, 2011
Sparrow
rated it: 
This suddenly got way too Power Rangers for me. No one was a bigger fan of the Darien story at the beginning of the last book (or Jennifer’s story? Both) than this girl, but, man, when it turned out that he had <spoiler>laser eyes</spoiler>? That was a bummer. I mean, you might say, “no, no <spoiler>his eyes just turn red</spoiler>,” or whatever, but I think you’re wrong. I mean, this book even made me like the other books a little less. It was the Phantom Menace to
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7 comments
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Feb 14, 2010
Nikki
rated it:
The final book of the Fionavar Tapestry is, unsurprisingly, the longest. After the long build up of the first two books, the war finally really gets underway. It's still very Lord of the Rings, with all the races joining up and wars and a lone person making his way into the heart of darkness, etc. In another way, it's completely not like Lord of the Rings at all. For one thing, not everyone lives. Boromir aside, most of the main characters in Lord of the Rings survive. Not so with Fionavar. Guy
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Jan 10, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it: 
I am always exhausted when I finish this book. I'm emotionally wrecked and it's my own fault. I seem to pick it up only when I have lost someone. You might think that's a strange thing to do. After all, it's the third book in a trilogy about King Arthur and the battle of Light against the Dark. There are Gods, both good and evil, and their disturbed, difficult children. It combines regular, normal people from contemporary Toronto with traitorous dwarves, ships lost at sea a thousand years ago, p
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Jan 08, 2009
Gette
rated it:
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.[return][return]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 r
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Dec 09, 2008
Doc Opp
rated it:
The first book in this series was simply brilliant. The series went downhill from there. In the first book, the sorrow of tragic events was creatively expressed almost poetically, and through the characters actions. In this book the author took the tack that if you repeat the fact that a character is feeling sad frequently enough, it will have emotional impact. That doesn't really work. Basically, what had been deep, tragically flawed, and emotion inducing characters were turned into whiny,
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Jan 26, 2012
Nikki
rated it:
No matter how many times I read them, these books still make me cry, and more, they still have me reading late into the night, breathless and stunned. I know what's going to happen, but that doesn't take any of the poignancy out of it. Of the three books, this is the strongest: the best prose, the best action, the best images, the best in all the characters. He draws everything together do well, and puts the readers' hearts through a blender without caring how much they're undoubtedly cursing hi
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Nov 27, 2011
Genarti
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 08, 2011
Noah
rated it:
An interesting and good end to the trilogy and one in which Kay shows his awareness of the depth and inner-workings of his world though, unfortunately, doesn't bind them together as tightly as he could. Kay's writing is better than in the first two books of the trilogy (not to say that it was poor previously) and at times I was reminded of reading "The Wind in the Willows." In both the story is enjoyable and entertaining, though in some particular, contained chapters, both authors ar
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Jan 13, 2010
Lightreads
rated it: 
Ah. Slow exhale. The end of the trilogy, and the final confrontation of light against dark.
Two contradictory reactions here: on the one hand, that was wrenching and beautiful, with intricate, soaring language to carry me through great bravery and tragedy. And I was, at one point, leaking tears as I walked down the street today. Hint: do not read the last quarter of this book in audio while going about the public portions of your day.
On the other hand, there is something More...
Two contradictory reactions here: on the one hand, that was wrenching and beautiful, with intricate, soaring language to carry me through great bravery and tragedy. And I was, at one point, leaking tears as I walked down the street today. Hint: do not read the last quarter of this book in audio while going about the public portions of your day.
On the other hand, there is something More...
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May 02, 2009
Jenni
rated it:
Gave this four stars because there was one death that actually made me cry (no, not the death that resolves the "how do you kill the super immortal all-powerful evil dude", though that one was quite neatly done). Without spoilers, it was unexpected and heroic in a great way - choosing to do something that he didn't have to do and which gave other people new options that they otherwise wouldn't have had.
Otherwise, very readable but oh-so-subTolkien. He has the equivalent of More...
Otherwise, very readable but oh-so-subTolkien. He has the equivalent of More...
Aug 03, 2010
Cynthia
rated it:
If you are a fantasy lover you must read this series. If you love anything to do with King Arthur, you must read this series. I cannot recommend these highly enough. I read the first book and commented to the friend who recommended them that there was a sense of Arthur's story in the book. He just patted me on the head. Then I began book two and there he was, Arthur himself!!! And he and his story was approached so lyrically and beautifully. And the use of Gueneviere and Lancelot was maste
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May 25, 2011
Jen
rated it:
Of course starting a convoluted fantasy trilogy with the last book isn't the recommended strategy, but I take what I can find in the used bookstores in Tokyo.
Frankly, I didn't like it. While the author writes beautifully and there is nothing wrong with the plot per se, the pieces of this novel are too cookie-cutter to impress me. And the fact that the author strove for some kind of high-toned fantasy series while using characters who are nearly Mary Sues and Stuarts didn't impress me a More...
Frankly, I didn't like it. While the author writes beautifully and there is nothing wrong with the plot per se, the pieces of this novel are too cookie-cutter to impress me. And the fact that the author strove for some kind of high-toned fantasy series while using characters who are nearly Mary Sues and Stuarts didn't impress me a More...
Mar 22, 2010
Maura
rated it:
Finished this on Saturday but was too busy acquiring & reading new stuff to log it. :)
all i've really got to say about this is (1) it's got tooooo much recapping for reading it directly after the first two. and that's with a whole summary of books 1 & 2 before you get to chapter 1. so that was annoying. and (2) Diarmuid's fate really got to me this time. i don't remember being so affected during past readings. and (3) um, why does Sharra get completely ignored after Diarmuid's big fi More...
all i've really got to say about this is (1) it's got tooooo much recapping for reading it directly after the first two. and that's with a whole summary of books 1 & 2 before you get to chapter 1. so that was annoying. and (2) Diarmuid's fate really got to me this time. i don't remember being so affected during past readings. and (3) um, why does Sharra get completely ignored after Diarmuid's big fi More...
Oct 15, 2009
Bryce
rated it:
For me, the last book in Fionavar trilogy didn't end with a bang so much as a "meh." For the most part I was able to guess who would live, who would die, who would triumph and fail hundreds of pages in advance of the action. Book two was definitely the high point of the series, well written and plotted.
I am also bothered by the clear delineation between the Light and the Dark. Wouldn't it be nice if evil was so easy to spot and morality existed beyond shades of gray? This i More...
I am also bothered by the clear delineation between the Light and the Dark. Wouldn't it be nice if evil was so easy to spot and morality existed beyond shades of gray? This i More...
Jan 23, 2010
Nicholas
rated it:
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1381808.html
As I've said before, I am a huge fan of Kay's later work, but as with The Summer Tree, I felt that in these earlier books he is still getting his talent together. The explicit resurrection of Arthur and Lancelot (and Guinevere reincarnated as a Canadian) sat rather more uneasily in Kay's fantasy world than his previous plundering of Celtic and Germanic folklore, and the various plot strands are not always easy to entangle, particularly in Th More...
As I've said before, I am a huge fan of Kay's later work, but as with The Summer Tree, I felt that in these earlier books he is still getting his talent together. The explicit resurrection of Arthur and Lancelot (and Guinevere reincarnated as a Canadian) sat rather more uneasily in Kay's fantasy world than his previous plundering of Celtic and Germanic folklore, and the various plot strands are not always easy to entangle, particularly in Th More...
Jan 05, 2011
Brian
rated it:
7/29/09 - 8/10
The Fionavar Tapestry series is a solid fantasy series. It's a bit derivative, borrowing a lot from Tolkien. It didn't seem really well thought out in the beginning, but the writing was solid and it kept me reading. There were lots of plot twists (with some predictable ones). The characters weren't really well fleshed out and were just defined by one or two traits. It was still a fun read despite some deficiencies. This was Kay's first series and I've like what I've read by hi More...
The Fionavar Tapestry series is a solid fantasy series. It's a bit derivative, borrowing a lot from Tolkien. It didn't seem really well thought out in the beginning, but the writing was solid and it kept me reading. There were lots of plot twists (with some predictable ones). The characters weren't really well fleshed out and were just defined by one or two traits. It was still a fun read despite some deficiencies. This was Kay's first series and I've like what I've read by hi More...
Oct 19, 2010
Peter
rated it:
This turned out to be only a somewhat satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. the Summer Tree was such a great beginning, but the other two books didn't really live up to the potential of that book. Kay did a great jog illustrating how self-sacrifice is necessary, often, for the greater good, and I liked that he wasn't afraid to kill off a major character for the good of the story and it's themes, but I think he tried to do a bit too much. There were so many story lines going on and he had to f
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Jan 04, 2012
Tom
rated it:
Utterly magnificent.
It's not just fantasy, it's not just adventure, it's not just myth-fiction. I don't know exactly /what/ the Fionavar Tapestry is, but I adore it completely. The language is as accessible as can be, and yet still manipulates the style you'd see in Celtic mythic poetry and the Eddas. Kay is obviously enamoured with the idea of real power in language and in names, but never lets it weigh down his writing. The characters are all either perfectly archetypal or fully relatabl More...
It's not just fantasy, it's not just adventure, it's not just myth-fiction. I don't know exactly /what/ the Fionavar Tapestry is, but I adore it completely. The language is as accessible as can be, and yet still manipulates the style you'd see in Celtic mythic poetry and the Eddas. Kay is obviously enamoured with the idea of real power in language and in names, but never lets it weigh down his writing. The characters are all either perfectly archetypal or fully relatabl More...
Apr 07, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I've found that the older I get, the more I appreciate willfully, realistically competent characters in fantasy fiction. This series is overflowing with competent characters, but very few of them are realistically or even willfully so. They are reincarnations of legendary figures of old, or conduits of the gods themselves, or possessed of ancient magical artifacts that give them nearly limitless power. As a result, it's easier to forgive the repetitive use of resolving plot points by having c
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Apr 21, 2011
kingshearte
rated it:
I don't know that I have a lot to say, now that I've finished this trilogy. To echo what Kay himself says in the afterword of this edition, I kind of just want to let the books speak for themselves. I have some things to say, but most should be experienced firsthand, I think, so I won't say much.
As I expected, this trilogy did become more epic as it went on, culminating, of course, in that ubiquitous-to-fantasy climactic battle between good and evil. It got epic, but it stayed personal More...
As I expected, this trilogy did become more epic as it went on, culminating, of course, in that ubiquitous-to-fantasy climactic battle between good and evil. It got epic, but it stayed personal More...
Mar 10, 2010
Adrienne
rated it:
7 months after starting The Darkest Road, I have finally finished it. When I first started the book in August '09, I had just finished reading the first two books in The Fionavar Tapestry and was ready to find out what happened to the characters, even though I had begun to lose interest just a bit in book 2. For some reason, I didn't finish The Darkest Road and it came due at the library, so I had to return it. And it sat there on my Goodreads list, taunting me, waiting for me to pick it up and
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Aug 10, 2010
Stephen
rated it:
6.0 stars. On my list of "All Time Favorite" novels. This is the newest edition to my list of all time favorite novels and the entire trilogy has earned a place on my list as one of the best fantasy trilogies of ALL TIME (see my review of the entire series under The Fionavar Tapestry for a more detailed review). What I am about to say may be deemed sacrilege amount fantasy readers but the truth is, from the stanpoint of "emotion evoking" and "lyrical, poetic" prose
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May 09, 2008
Roxane
rated it:
Books are in the following order: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road. I was gladly surprised to find all three of these at my local library and therefore read them in French.
However, when I picked them up, my only experience with Kay's work was the first book in the Sarantine Mosaic... and I didn't have an unforgettable memory of it and chances were I wasn't going to pick up the second book... but having heard so much good about Kay, I was willing to give him another ch More...
However, when I picked them up, my only experience with Kay's work was the first book in the Sarantine Mosaic... and I didn't have an unforgettable memory of it and chances were I wasn't going to pick up the second book... but having heard so much good about Kay, I was willing to give him another ch More...
Mar 07, 2008
Mike
rated it:
Well, there it is. I have successfully concluded reading the third part of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. And it's every much as grandiose and epic as one would expect such high fantasy to be.
Seeped deep within the trilogy's theme of forgiveness, The Darkest Road truly and sincerely delivers a grand final tale of magic and heroism which perches itself among some of the greatest of the genre. There's no wonder Kay assisted Christopher Tolkien in the editing of The Sil More...
May 27, 2010
Christy
rated it:
I read this series once a year for a few years in a row when I was much younger (high school and into early college). I'd spend a whole weekend just reading about Fionavar. I would become so immersed in the books that I wouldn't dream when I slept (a rarity) and that I would resent any human interference in my reading and immersion. The books moved me and made me weep every time I read them.
Between then and now at least 10 years have passed in which I have read little fantasy, my More...
Between then and now at least 10 years have passed in which I have read little fantasy, my More...
Dec 17, 2010
Ron
rated it:
Wow! Even in this early (1986) effort, Kay came through with a original and satisfying story. The original part was noteworthy because, as he did in many novels since, the basic elements of his story were drawn from real history and mythology. ("Real mythology"? Some authors, from Tolkien on, created whole worlds with new-from-the-ground-up histories and mythologies. Kay took existing ones--British, in this case--to re-cast for his story.)
The series as a whole featured an gre More...
The series as a whole featured an gre More...
Jan 03, 2011
Karin
rated it:
The final of the Fionavar trilogy. Again, read this one about 15 times.
And Kay pulls out the tear-making in this one, too.
I cannot say how - without giving it away - but if you're not crying at the battle scene (you'll know when you read it), then I'm pretty sure you don't have a soul.
The way good wins over evil is not completely unexpected, but with all the emotions of the characters being captured so brilliantly, you probably won't care too much.
And Kay pulls out the tear-making in this one, too.
I cannot say how - without giving it away - but if you're not crying at the battle scene (you'll know when you read it), then I'm pretty sure you don't have a soul.
The way good wins over evil is not completely unexpected, but with all the emotions of the characters being captured so brilliantly, you probably won't care too much.
Apr 02, 2010
Caitlin
rated it:
This is the last book in the trilogy and in some ways it is the simplest (which is not to say that it is simple). It is, after all, the tale of the final battle that all the rest of the tale has been leading us towards. There will be skirmishes and surprises and a final contest of epic proportions. There will be moments of heroism and cowardice, of tragedy and joy. And there will be deaths.
Kay neatly and seamlessly brings together the threads of his story and ties them off, one More...
Kay neatly and seamlessly brings together the threads of his story and ties them off, one More...
Apr 07, 2011
Bronwyn
rated it:
This book and the series were brilliant reading. GGK brought me to tears twice in the series, and i had to pause for several days before finishing this book to give myself some space from the characters and narrative. I found elements of the ending dissapointing with some characters dropping out of the narrative, and some loose ends tied up too neatly, but overall a really powerful end to the series and a series i'll read again and again.
