Malcolm's review
The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 1)
by Guy Gavriel Kay
Malcolm's review
The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, Book 1) by Guy Gavriel Kay
Malcolm's review
rating:
I first read this at about age 19, and that may have something to do with my reaction to it.
I loved it, provisionally. There was (and is) a part of my brain that continually shouts "This is just a Tolkien ripoff" which only quieted down when I learned that Kay was one of the people who helped Christopher Tolkien edit his father's works after his death. So, in some ways, of course it's a bit derivative.
However, everything that Kay has shown us he is so good at in later books comes through strong, if a bit raw, in this book and others in the series. His strong character-building skills, his absolute ruthlessness when it comes to putting those characters you now care about in harm's way, and his complete disregard for how emotionally traumatizing that can be for the readers.
I cried a great deal when I first read it, and it still brings tears to my eyes. Some of his other books are more elegant, it's true. Some are certainly better written. But this book, an...more
I loved it, provisionally. There was (and is) a part of my brain that continually shouts "This is just a Tolkien ripoff" which only quieted down when I learned that Kay was one of the people who helped Christopher Tolkien edit his father's works after his death. So, in some ways, of course it's a bit derivative.
However, everything that Kay has shown us he is so good at in later books comes through strong, if a bit raw, in this book and others in the series. His strong character-building skills, his absolute ruthlessness when it comes to putting those characters you now care about in harm's way, and his complete disregard for how emotionally traumatizing that can be for the readers.
I cried a great deal when I first read it, and it still brings tears to my eyes. Some of his other books are more elegant, it's true. Some are certainly better written. But this book, an...more
