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May 04, 2010

Kelly rated it:

(Dear Goodreads friends I may have deceived with my initial status updates on this book, please to accept my profound regrets and the below revised retraction- if you don't mind some spoilers...

With apologies,
Kelly...)

So, you guys saw Clerks, right? Actually, I think it might’ve been Clerks II, but anyway: there’s one part where some characters pose a very important nerd battle: Star Wars trilogy vs. LOTR trilogy. The major points are as per usual, Darth Vader and More...

41 comments like (43 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2011

Cow rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

The richness of this book swept me away. Kay clearly did an enormous amount of in-depth research, and then used it to build his own fantastical world. His prose is gorgeous, his world-building immersive, and his characters deeply appealing.

I have to admit, I was quite pleased with myself for realizing the parallels to the fall of the T'ang dynasty before I was told. (The obese foreign general being swaddled like a baby by the Emporer's concubine for the amusement of the court tipped More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Ms.pegasus rated it:

A handful of characters depicted with nuance and complexity; total immersion in a subtle and conflicted society – these are the primary elements of this unforgettable novel set in the Tang Dynasty. The primary character is Shen Tai, honoring his recently deceased father by secluding himself for the traditional two year mourning period. The seclusion is more than contemplative. His father, General Shen Gao's greatest triumph and sorrow was at this site; 40,000 soldiers died here. A symbolic More...

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Oct 09, 2011

Lisa rated it:

(originally reviewed on starmetal oak book blog)

I've had some previous experience with Kay. My first was when I tried to read the first book in the Fionavar Tapestry, The Summer Tree, and failed miserably twice. I just couldn't get into it. After reading Under Heaven, perhaps another attempt would turn out differently. The other experience involved reading Ysabel and not liking it as much as others have.

Anyways, what I mean to say is that Under Heaven was a much differe More...

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Sep 13, 2011

Scott rated it:

It feels weird to marking this book down so low. In part I think that it is a case of poor expectation management - had it been someone else it probably would have been three stars. But it isn't.

The book ends 100 pages too early for all that it ranks in at 567 pages. The ending comes suddenly, abruptly, and feels like there should be another movement. I'm reminded of Sean Russell's Initiate Brother's duology which I love, which has many of the same tropes as Kay uses, with less beauti More...

8 comments like

Aug 31, 2011

Wealhtheow rated it:

Historical fiction heavily influenced by the Chinese Tang Dynasty, with a faint brush of the fantastical.

Shen Tai has spent the last two years mourning his father and burying the the dead of a decades-old battle ground. It's a quiet, mostly solitary life, punctuated by monthly supply runs from both countries that fought the war (who seek both to honor his work and to outdo each other in courtesy) and by the wails of the dead. But at last, an old friend visits, bringing news from More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Pros: lyrical writing, interesting characters, detailed history/world, political intrigue

Cons: ending is a bit long

Under Heaven tells the story of Shen Tai, second son of a famous general. Upon the passing of his father, Tai decides to spend his time in mourning burying the dead from a battle site that brought his father sorrow. For this service he is gifted with 250 Sardian horses. This gift propels him into a role of importance in the country, and will either save him from More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Stuart rated it:

What a great book by Guy Gavriel Kay. Once again, he has imagined an alternative world, this time based in Medieval China. This ranks up there with the "The Lions of Al-Rassan" and the "Sarantine Mosaic", which beautifully re-imagined, respectively, ancient Spain and Byzantium.
In this book, the hero is Shen Tai, son of a famous general, who recently died. Shen Tai has for two years been honoring his dead father's memory by burying some of the tens of thousands of bodies lef More...

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Jul 19, 2011

AJ rated it:

Hmmm, the cover image they show for this must be from the UK edition or something. The U.S. cover is gorgeous, and far less cartoonish. In any case, there is nothing this man has ever written that I don't highly recommend. Even his weaker books are lovely, and this is not a weak book. Kay is typically found in the sci-fi/fantasy section of the bookstore, although this is probably a holdover from his earlier work, which was more traditionally fantasy. This book is more an imaginary historical nov More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Peggy rated it:

[This review originally appeared at RevolutionSf.com]

Under Heaven is the story of Shen Tai, second son of a famous Kitan general, who mourns his father's death by traveling to the site of his father's greatest battle and burying the dead of both sides. For two years he puts the ghosts to rest, then he gets a gift to cement a treaty: 250 of the finest horses. One would be an honor. Five would be worthy of a gift to the Emperor. 250 is life-changing.

Shen Tai must head back to h More...

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Jul 10, 2011

Christina rated it:

I could not put this book down. I finished it at 2 this morning. I am so sad that it is over, I love these characters and this world so much, that I almost want to go to the first page and start over again -- but there are so many other books on my list that need reading...

I will be forever grateful to a friend of mine who mentioned that her uncle-in-law was a writer, and I might enjoy one of his books, Tigana. I devoured that one some years ago and I'm pleased to know that I have many More...

1 comment like

Jun 29, 2011

John rated it:

A number of my Goodreads friends, including an author I really like, are very high on Guy Gavriel Kay's work, so I've been meaning to check out his work. I picked up Under Heaven both because it stands alone and because it was the only GGK work available as an audiobook (which seem like the only kind I can find time to finish right now!). There were some elements that I really liked about Under Heaven, but on the whole I found it to be uneven work.

The story, set in a fantasy China (Kit More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 28, 2011

Susan rated it:

I feel very bad for authors who are given a genre label at the library or bookstore, regardless of how constrained by the genre they actually are. The problem is that the line between mystery and suspense, fantasy and magical realism, or romance and chicklit is so blurred. But really, there are some cases when genre classifications for fantasy make NO SENSE. For example, the Princeton bookstore shelves the Earth’s Children series in the fantasy/sci-fi section, even though the most fantastical el More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 27, 2011

Kerrigwen rated it:

I'll preface my review by saying that I'm a long-time fan of Kay; he's a fixture on my list of favourite authors.

That being said -

I found Under Heaven quite disappointing. From the [lack of] plot to the [extremely under-developed] characters, the whole novel felt very wanting.

Based on Kay's better works (e.g. Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, etc. ) we know that he could have easily made this into a real classic, with characters and lines and imagery that stay with y More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Darrell rated it:

This is my first novel by Kay, even though my wife has been a fan of his writing for as long as I’ve known her. I’m reluctant to pick up fantasy, unless it’s of the mischievous po-mo variety — which seems never to have been Kay’s bent. I think I mistook his seriousness for an unsophisticated earnestness, and laboured under the misapprehension that Canada was offering up a fey Robert Jordan to the world of letters.

Guy Gavriel Kay is most certainly not that. Under Heaven is a meticulousl More...

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Jun 12, 2011

Tracey rated it:

The story begins with one Shen Tai, second son of a great general who has just, two years and a half ago (not quite), died. The mourning period is that long, two and half years, and requires complete withdrawal from society. And Tai, as part of his mourning, to honor his father, has come back to Kuala Nor, where his father won a great victory. That victory cost his people 40,000 Kitan men – and cost the enemy, the Tagurans, 60,000 men. None of these soldiers received burial, and an unburied More...

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Feb 15, 2011

Traveller rated it:

If I'd rated this book half-way through, I would certainly have given it a higher rating. Sadly from about three-quarters on, the further I progressed, the more irritated I became with the direction that Kay was taking, and I was ultimately very disappointed by the dénouement, and especially by how the 3 surviving heroines of the tale end their days.

Just to clarify, I have no problems with the treatment that Kaye metes out to the heroine that (I'm not naming her in case I spoil some More...

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Feb 01, 2011

Khaya rated it:

How to Write Pretentious Historical Fiction

1. Start with an exceedingly slow build-up -- the more detail, the better. If your book is lengthier, people will assume it's more literary.

2. Choose an exotic time period and locale and evoke it wherever possible. Hopefully the fascinating food and clothing details will help your reader forget that there was no indoor plumbing. Then, proceed to superimpose all sorts of anachronistic qualities on your story to appeal to cont More...

12 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2011

Tim rated it:

Oh, what a pleasure that was to read! I've read several excellent books since Christmas and this topped them all. Today, I had about 60 pages left, and found myself wanting to drop everything and go read them. I waited half an hour to savour that feeling of anticipation, then polished it off.

I've read several Kay novels, and several other authors' novels based on ancient China, so I wasn't exploring new territory. This one ties Barry Hughart's "Bridge of Birds" as the best. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2011

Queldroma rated it:

Great Book. A finely woven silk tapestry full of holes and thin spots. The book definitely has some flaws but Kay wove a good tale despite not fleshing out some of the details. The story reads and feels like an epic story but condensed both in size and in details. To compare I recently finished the last Wheel Of Time book which would be the 12th or 13th, a story which the author died before finishing. This book could have been a two to three book epic if it flowed correctly and more of the detai More...

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Jan 19, 2011

Ahimsa rated it:

From the reviews of Under Heaven, it seems that most people are split into two camps. There are those who think this is a return to the top-notch form of Tigana, Al-Rassan, etc and those who think this is final confirmation that he’s jumped the shark.
I’m definitely more in the former camp than the later, but it would be hard to describe this book as great or as a classic. It is surprisingly light and fun to read, and it’s populated with characters drawn from history and infused with real More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2011

Sammy rated it:

Rich, detailed and complex, Kay weaves a story that starts in a simple and moving place: one man seeks to honor his father by burying the dead of a battle that his father helped lead. For two years, he lives in almost complete solitude, kept company a night by the sounds of the ghosts on the lands around him; and supported in the harsh lands by occasionally visits from representatives from governments from both sides of the battle.

The soldiers have been reduced to bone; so he buries More...

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Sep 30, 2010

Jep rated it:

Oh Mr. Kay, how far you've come since those chilly days sitting alone in your booth at Toronto's "Word on the Street". Now, you can write mediocre book after mediocre book, glean right to husks the small wheat of your talent, and reap many of the monies for it.

Mr. Kay, you are a tale teller, not a novelist. You enjoy spinning and you enjoy placing morals in your tales, you enjoy asking questions and answering them strongly without seeming to answer them.

You are More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 23, 2010

Barbaramccoy88 rated it:

p. 547: "Branching paths. The turning of days and seasons and years. Life offered you love sometimes, sorrow often. If you were very fortunate, true friendship. Sometimes war came."

I rushed out to buy this book after reading 'Ysabel,' my introduction to Kay's work. I am excited by his choice of topics and periods and refreshed by his deft weaving of history and the present. Kay's interweavings of these time periods nurtures in me a sympathy for all of the characters More...

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Aug 14, 2010

Kristen rated it:

I have long been a fan of Kay's work, from his early trilogies to my very favorite, Tigana. I love historical fiction in general but especially Kay's way of writing and his characters. But with his last book, Ysabel, I felt like Kay had lost his way; the characters were just not as interesting to me, and the modern/historical mash-up felt forced and awkward. So it was with some trepidation that I picked up 'Under Heaven', Kay's newest novel roughly modeled on Tang dynasty China.

I nee More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Be it known that I am a fan of this author; his prose and style put him high on my list of authors I love. (I have been known to get a new book and not read it immediately, simply to extend the anticipation.) This book did not move me to the levels of previous books, and I don't think the writing was as powerful, but it is still an appreciated addition to my library.

While Kay has mined the history of several different places and times, he does have certain themes which he revisits, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2010

Jolie rated it:

My introduction to Guy Gavriel Kay came from a friend in high school who urged a copy of Tigana on me with something close to reverential awe. Upon finishing that book, with tearful eyes and the sort of satisfied, wrung-out feeling that only comes from reading a book filled with characters you love in all their imperfections (and maybe only comes fully for a teenage girl...but I digress...), I hurried out to find more. I made my way, over the years as they've been published, through all of Mr. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 10, 2010

Yarrow rated it:

Kay is *back!* if Ysabel was a mediocre, predictable, disappointment (and it was), Under Heaven places Kay firmly back in place among the best living fantasy writers of our day. Here he returns to the genre that has defined most of his recent career, historical fantasy. Under Heaven tells a story from a recognizable but fictionalized rendition of Tang Dynasty China, much in the way that Sailing to Sarantium (aside from it's embaraassingly transparent Yeats-rip-off of a title) is set in the By More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2010

Julie rated it:

Rating this book less than a 5 was really hard as I am a long time fan of GGK. I do think it is a return to form after two less than stunning books: The Last Light of the Sun, though intriguing and sort of ominous, read like a collection of short stories and was somehow unsatisfying. I can’t make any comment about Ysabel as GGK’s foray into YA annoyed me in so many ways. YA - why would he go there!

So it is pleasing to see GGK turn back to adult fantasy with an historical twist. Ther More...

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