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Three Novels
Three spellbinding novels by internationally bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay.
A Song for Arbonne
Arbonne and Gorhaut—two lands as different as the sun and the shadowed moon.
In the south, the olive trees and vineyards of Arbonne flourish, and the troubadours fill the air with songs of love and desire. To the north, the history of Gorhaut has been forged with blood and fire, and now a corrupt king and his ruthless advisor seek to conquer the warm, fertile lands of Arbonne. But the land of courtly love is also a land of passion, willing to wage a complex and courageous fight to survive.
Inspired by the glorious world of the troubadours, A Song for Arbonne is a love song to medieval Provence.
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Home to three very different cultures, Al-Rassan is a land of seductive beauty and violent history. Peace among the Jaddites, Asharites, and Kindath is a precarious, elusive thing, made so by the ever-present shadow that divides the inhabitants but draws extraordinary individuals together. Ammar ibn Khairan—poet, diplomat, soldier—Rodrigo Belmonte—accomplished military leader—and Jehane bet Ishak—brilliant physician—find their lives overtaken by a series of dramatic events that bring Al-Rassan to the brink of war.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is an exhilarating story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when passionate beliefs conspire to remake—or destroy—a world.
The Last Light of the Sun
For generations, the Erlings of Vinmark have taken their dragon-prowed ships across the seas, raiding the lands of less violent people, leaving fire and death behind. But times change, even in the hard north, and in a tale woven with consummate artistry, people of very different cultures find the threads of their lives unexpectedly entwined.
Making brilliant use of saga, song, and chronicle, The Last Light of the Sun brings to life an unforgettable world balanced on the knife-edge of change.
A Song for Arbonne
Arbonne and Gorhaut—two lands as different as the sun and the shadowed moon.
In the south, the olive trees and vineyards of Arbonne flourish, and the troubadours fill the air with songs of love and desire. To the north, the history of Gorhaut has been forged with blood and fire, and now a corrupt king and his ruthless advisor seek to conquer the warm, fertile lands of Arbonne. But the land of courtly love is also a land of passion, willing to wage a complex and courageous fight to survive.
Inspired by the glorious world of the troubadours, A Song for Arbonne is a love song to medieval Provence.
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Home to three very different cultures, Al-Rassan is a land of seductive beauty and violent history. Peace among the Jaddites, Asharites, and Kindath is a precarious, elusive thing, made so by the ever-present shadow that divides the inhabitants but draws extraordinary individuals together. Ammar ibn Khairan—poet, diplomat, soldier—Rodrigo Belmonte—accomplished military leader—and Jehane bet Ishak—brilliant physician—find their lives overtaken by a series of dramatic events that bring Al-Rassan to the brink of war.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is an exhilarating story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when passionate beliefs conspire to remake—or destroy—a world.
The Last Light of the Sun
For generations, the Erlings of Vinmark have taken their dragon-prowed ships across the seas, raiding the lands of less violent people, leaving fire and death behind. But times change, even in the hard north, and in a tale woven with consummate artistry, people of very different cultures find the threads of their lives unexpectedly entwined.
Making brilliant use of saga, song, and chronicle, The Last Light of the Sun brings to life an unforgettable world balanced on the knife-edge of change.
- GenresFantasy
1822 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
39 books9,400 followersGuy 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 categorization when possible.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 8, 2019
Guy Gavriel Kay is the second best fantasy writer ever. The only one who writes better epic fantasy, to my taste is John Ronald Ruell(sp?) Tolkien. Mr. Kay comes out with very well researched and unbelievably well written epic fantasy (early in his career), and historical fiction with some fantastical elements(after his first four books) every 2-4 years. His writing is superb. Even if you are not a big fantasy reader, one should read Guy Gavriel Kay because he is a fantastic writer. I am completely bummed out that he only has 5000+ followers. This man’s work should be comprehensively consumed by everyone who loves fantasy, historical fiction, combined with superlative writing.
May 2, 2017
I first heard of writer Gavriel Kay when a brother recommended I read "Sailing To Sarantium" a few years back. I admit I was intrigued by the world Kay created there, a world of Middle Age stone masons and diplomats and their clansmen. If ancient Byzantium is your cup of tea, that novel entertains with great detail and pathos. But this is a different story. With "Last Light", Kay plunges us into a far northern world at the very edges of civilization, a world of ice and rock and brutal warrior tribes. This can only be a partial review because I found myself unwilling to read the entire novel. Last Light, as the title should give hint to, is a very bleak place indeed.
Kay certainly hasn't lost his touch as a descriptive and captivating writer and chronicler of the past. His narrative and dialogue are in fine form as he takes us along on the escapades of wannabe lords and kings and adventurers. He populates this epic with the usual suspects: soldiers, farmers, slaves, sailors, gladiators, wenches, royal pains-in-the-bottom and social-minded clerics. It is what you expect in a romping tale of frozen kingdoms and outposts in the mysterious reaches of what we are to understand is the realm of the Vikings in their mad heydays. What stopped me halfway through this novel was not Kay's shortcomings as a novelist (he has proven in the past that he has the skills), but it was his lack of interesting characters or story developments. I found myself not liking any of these places or anybody in this world.
The Viking world, as portrayed here by Kay, is the Bleak House of bleak houses. Even the momentary satisfactions of following Bern Thorkellson, a farm boy who defeats a mercenary, or the illusions that Aeldred carries in building a kingdom in Anglcyn, are not sufficient for the reader because they fail to engage our sympathies. Bern only wants the glory and plunder of war, and the king wants to reign over the most miserable rabble of citizenry in the northern hemisphere. There is not a single protagonist to latch onto the reader's heartstrings. Been there, done that. This tome borders on fantasy, but even then faeries are not what we want to invest our attentions in, and the gods of this world are for the most part despicable. The hints here of northern Scandinavia, Scotland and Iceland are hints of the mouth of medieval Hell.
If it was Kay's intention to paint such a depressing world and leave it at that, he seems to have missed the point: the reader wants to care about something in that world. In this world where Kay gives us very little light against the darkness, I cared not at all about any of it.
Kay certainly hasn't lost his touch as a descriptive and captivating writer and chronicler of the past. His narrative and dialogue are in fine form as he takes us along on the escapades of wannabe lords and kings and adventurers. He populates this epic with the usual suspects: soldiers, farmers, slaves, sailors, gladiators, wenches, royal pains-in-the-bottom and social-minded clerics. It is what you expect in a romping tale of frozen kingdoms and outposts in the mysterious reaches of what we are to understand is the realm of the Vikings in their mad heydays. What stopped me halfway through this novel was not Kay's shortcomings as a novelist (he has proven in the past that he has the skills), but it was his lack of interesting characters or story developments. I found myself not liking any of these places or anybody in this world.
The Viking world, as portrayed here by Kay, is the Bleak House of bleak houses. Even the momentary satisfactions of following Bern Thorkellson, a farm boy who defeats a mercenary, or the illusions that Aeldred carries in building a kingdom in Anglcyn, are not sufficient for the reader because they fail to engage our sympathies. Bern only wants the glory and plunder of war, and the king wants to reign over the most miserable rabble of citizenry in the northern hemisphere. There is not a single protagonist to latch onto the reader's heartstrings. Been there, done that. This tome borders on fantasy, but even then faeries are not what we want to invest our attentions in, and the gods of this world are for the most part despicable. The hints here of northern Scandinavia, Scotland and Iceland are hints of the mouth of medieval Hell.
If it was Kay's intention to paint such a depressing world and leave it at that, he seems to have missed the point: the reader wants to care about something in that world. In this world where Kay gives us very little light against the darkness, I cared not at all about any of it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews