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Sarantine Universe #8
Written on the Dark
From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a majestic new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France.
Thierry Villar is a well-known--even notorious-- tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.
But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.
As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king--and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.
A new masterwork from the internationally bestselling author of All the Seas of the World, A Brightness Long Ago, and Tigana, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.
Thierry Villar is a well-known--even notorious-- tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.
But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.
As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king--and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.
A new masterwork from the internationally bestselling author of All the Seas of the World, A Brightness Long Ago, and Tigana, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 27, 2025
328 people are currently reading
14940 people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
44 books9,246 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 - 30 of 438 reviews
October 16, 2025
✨ Sweeping, emotional, & richly layered!
What an experience this was. Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay is a historical fantasy that is both majestic and intricate, weaving a sweeping story of love, war, and the quiet yet powerful role of art and memory. Right from the opening pages, I was drawn in by the elegance of the prose and the intriguing world he creates, one that feels both familiar and otherworldly.
There is a depth to this story that completely enthralled me. I loved that there is a true narrative unfolding here rather than just atmosphere. It is emotional, dramatic, and beautifully rendered. As someone new to Kay’s worldbuilding style, I occasionally found myself working a little harder to keep up with all the threads, but I didn’t mind in the least. The character list at the front was a godsend, and I found myself flipping back more than once to stay grounded.
Thierry Villar’s journey from tavern poet to political entanglements was fascinating to follow. The cast is large and varied, giving the story a tapestry-like feel, and I loved how artistry, power, and ambition are seamlessly entwined. Most of all, the prose is simply incredible, the kind of writing you want to linger over.
What held this back from a full five stars for me was that some sections required extra focus to grasp fully, especially as a newcomer, and a few moments did not resonate quite as strongly as others. Still, it is the kind of book that stays with you, leaving behind a lingering sense of grandeur and thoughtfulness.
✨ Key thoughts
🎨 That cover and sprayed edges absolutely stun. The cover has a timeless, elegant design that immediately drew my eye, while the deep, swirling blues against the vivid red sprayed edges are nothing short of breathtaking. It feels like twilight curling around flame, moody and dramatic, and perfectly sets the tone for the story inside.
🕵️ A premise rich with political intrigue, war, and art
✍️ Lush, poetic prose that is both challenging and rewarding
📖 Sweeping story and strong emotional undercurrents
💭 Just shy of five stars due to occasional difficulty following all the threads as a Kay newcomer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A sweeping and gorgeously written novel that pulled me in with its emotional depth and left me with a deep appreciation for Kay’s storytelling craft.
🇨🇦 Canadian author
📚 Purchased physical copy
What an experience this was. Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay is a historical fantasy that is both majestic and intricate, weaving a sweeping story of love, war, and the quiet yet powerful role of art and memory. Right from the opening pages, I was drawn in by the elegance of the prose and the intriguing world he creates, one that feels both familiar and otherworldly.
There is a depth to this story that completely enthralled me. I loved that there is a true narrative unfolding here rather than just atmosphere. It is emotional, dramatic, and beautifully rendered. As someone new to Kay’s worldbuilding style, I occasionally found myself working a little harder to keep up with all the threads, but I didn’t mind in the least. The character list at the front was a godsend, and I found myself flipping back more than once to stay grounded.
Thierry Villar’s journey from tavern poet to political entanglements was fascinating to follow. The cast is large and varied, giving the story a tapestry-like feel, and I loved how artistry, power, and ambition are seamlessly entwined. Most of all, the prose is simply incredible, the kind of writing you want to linger over.
What held this back from a full five stars for me was that some sections required extra focus to grasp fully, especially as a newcomer, and a few moments did not resonate quite as strongly as others. Still, it is the kind of book that stays with you, leaving behind a lingering sense of grandeur and thoughtfulness.
✨ Key thoughts
🎨 That cover and sprayed edges absolutely stun. The cover has a timeless, elegant design that immediately drew my eye, while the deep, swirling blues against the vivid red sprayed edges are nothing short of breathtaking. It feels like twilight curling around flame, moody and dramatic, and perfectly sets the tone for the story inside.
🕵️ A premise rich with political intrigue, war, and art
✍️ Lush, poetic prose that is both challenging and rewarding
📖 Sweeping story and strong emotional undercurrents
💭 Just shy of five stars due to occasional difficulty following all the threads as a Kay newcomer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A sweeping and gorgeously written novel that pulled me in with its emotional depth and left me with a deep appreciation for Kay’s storytelling craft.
🇨🇦 Canadian author
📚 Purchased physical copy
February 13, 2025
It’s such a treat to get lost in Kay’s worlds, experiencing his unique spin on history with a splash of the fantastical. While this tale doesn’t break new ground or reinvent the genre, it’s an engaging and satisfying story that longtime fans of GGK and newcomers alike will certainly enjoy. The narrative isn’t as complex as some of his other works, featuring more accessible prose and POVs that stay close to the main action.
Though somewhat muted in its telling, there’s a glimmer of Kay’s storytelling spark shining through the fog – guiding us toward the light. His main character, Thierry Villar, who self-identifies as “inconsequential” to the world at large, is given his moment to shine as Kay builds his legend before our eyes.
I’ve always loved how Kay grants even the most minor characters narrative arcs – sometimes in just a sentence or a paragraph, or, in this case, an entire book. Here, a tavern poet of medium renown makes his own indelible mark on the world. Someone who might have been a footnote in another story instead steals the spotlight.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky
Though somewhat muted in its telling, there’s a glimmer of Kay’s storytelling spark shining through the fog – guiding us toward the light. His main character, Thierry Villar, who self-identifies as “inconsequential” to the world at large, is given his moment to shine as Kay builds his legend before our eyes.
I’ve always loved how Kay grants even the most minor characters narrative arcs – sometimes in just a sentence or a paragraph, or, in this case, an entire book. Here, a tavern poet of medium renown makes his own indelible mark on the world. Someone who might have been a footnote in another story instead steals the spotlight.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky
May 8, 2025
Really good book, slightly below average Guy Gavriel Kay book. For me this is in the same tier as Children of Earth and Sky, Last Light of the Sun, River of Stars, and All The Sea's of the World. I think the first 8 chapters, are good at basically everything, but lack any stand out moments. At no point in that first 40 something percent did I read something, stop and go "holy crap" which is a pretty normal occurrence in my favorite Kay books(probably about once per page in Lord of Emperors). However that was still it only being relatively weak, and stuff really picked up on ch9, and my emotional investment, and quantity of poignant moments pretty suddenly went up, and stayed that way for the back half of the novel.
(except the random interlude chapter) (Yes I know that interlude chapter ends up being important for a character interaction later working, and it was awesome, it still was less interesting to read than all the surrounding chapters)
This book starts really focused, with a lot of pages dedicated to following a small cast of characters across the span of one day, as the book goes on, the focus zooms out and I think as the cast expands, it also feels like our main character(Thierry's) friend group expands, and by the end I was extremely invested in our main cast. As a result as the book went on there was also a steady trend up in how good I thought it was. This book is probably more history bendy than most Guy Gavriel Kay books, and it does it really brilliantly. He does the thing where he gives us a change in history that we may intuitively want, but not as wish fulfillment, but then to focus on the secondary effects of that change.
Will stick with me for a long time.
The end was one that had me on the edge of my seat. One advantage of Kay being very willing to do tragic endings, and having characters whose well being I was pretty invested in, is I got the experience of being truly uncertain which characters I cared for would live, which often doesn't happen. As I am either less emotionally invested, or I can be pretty sure based on the author/context clues from the book which characters are safe. But this had my heart pounding.
In terms of writing style, I think the average phrase length in this was shorter than most other Kay books. Almost felt slightly Glen Cookian(to a much smaller degree than Glen Cook). Kay of course does it quite well, although I think late in his career he has had a slight habit of having too many characters voices, and dialogue, sound slightly too similar to the narrator, and generally his narrator voice is pretty distinct, so it is kind of weird if most people talk like Guy Gavriel Kay narrates. And I noticed it a few times, especially early in this novel. This is the type of thing I am probably more likely too notice with authors I know really well. If this was one of the first Kay books I had read, I don't know if I would notice it. But I think it may have still bothered me a little.
Finally, I will end by saying that this is a true stand alone, and unlike All The Sea's of the World, could be read first without spoiling any other Kay book, and also is not reliant on other Kay books for emotional payoff, with one notable exception, and that is the epilogue. If this is your first Kay book, I think you should just stop at the end of the last chapter, and then go read the epilogue after you have read The Sarantine Mosaic, and A Brightness Long Ago(It's funny how frequently those are the Kay books that connect to others, maybe he subconsciously knows they are the best one, and is pressuring people to read them)(also holy crap the epilogue got me, was it reliant on nostalgia, and would it not work if previous Kay books weren't insanely awesome, sure. But it still worked, and hit me hard.)
Overall, damn good book. But when you hit tons of home runs, the bar for new hits to stand out is very high.
8.9/10
(except the random interlude chapter) (Yes I know that interlude chapter ends up being important for a character interaction later working, and it was awesome, it still was less interesting to read than all the surrounding chapters)
This book starts really focused, with a lot of pages dedicated to following a small cast of characters across the span of one day, as the book goes on, the focus zooms out and I think as the cast expands, it also feels like our main character(Thierry's) friend group expands, and by the end I was extremely invested in our main cast. As a result as the book went on there was also a steady trend up in how good I thought it was. This book is probably more history bendy than most Guy Gavriel Kay books, and it does it really brilliantly. He does the thing where he gives us a change in history that we may intuitively want, but not as wish fulfillment, but then to focus on the secondary effects of that change.
Her name was Lyset Guerin, from the hamlet of Cassaude near the Livraise.
Brave beyond any words one might ever offer.
Will stick with me for a long time.
The end was one that had me on the edge of my seat. One advantage of Kay being very willing to do tragic endings, and having characters whose well being I was pretty invested in, is I got the experience of being truly uncertain which characters I cared for would live, which often doesn't happen. As I am either less emotionally invested, or I can be pretty sure based on the author/context clues from the book which characters are safe. But this had my heart pounding.
In terms of writing style, I think the average phrase length in this was shorter than most other Kay books. Almost felt slightly Glen Cookian(to a much smaller degree than Glen Cook). Kay of course does it quite well, although I think late in his career he has had a slight habit of having too many characters voices, and dialogue, sound slightly too similar to the narrator, and generally his narrator voice is pretty distinct, so it is kind of weird if most people talk like Guy Gavriel Kay narrates. And I noticed it a few times, especially early in this novel. This is the type of thing I am probably more likely too notice with authors I know really well. If this was one of the first Kay books I had read, I don't know if I would notice it. But I think it may have still bothered me a little.
Finally, I will end by saying that this is a true stand alone, and unlike All The Sea's of the World, could be read first without spoiling any other Kay book, and also is not reliant on other Kay books for emotional payoff, with one notable exception, and that is the epilogue. If this is your first Kay book, I think you should just stop at the end of the last chapter, and then go read the epilogue after you have read The Sarantine Mosaic, and A Brightness Long Ago(It's funny how frequently those are the Kay books that connect to others, maybe he subconsciously knows they are the best one, and is pressuring people to read them)(also holy crap the epilogue got me, was it reliant on nostalgia, and would it not work if previous Kay books weren't insanely awesome, sure. But it still worked, and hit me hard.)
Overall, damn good book. But when you hit tons of home runs, the bar for new hits to stand out is very high.
8.9/10
July 27, 2025
2.5🌟🌟💫 stars!
Probably the worst GGK book I have read thus far.
GGK often tells tales that feel like dusk: low light, soft step, deep thought. This book is not quite bright or loud either. This one was pretty dull in fact. I contemplated DNFing at multiple junctures.
Although a lot of GGk’s works lean on voice, not deeds, this book is particularly severe in that much is told to us: what one feels, what one dreams, what they fear but dare not show. Some will call this style rich, full of weight. I tend to crave more scene, more clash, more spark on the page.
Large swathes of page space interrupt the story, dedicated to the author just ruminating like this: “So much uncertainty lies in art, and what endures. Where and when the lightning flash of brilliance will strike. What is valued in a given time, or over time. And what is lost, forgotten.It is the same, writ large, when we consider actual events in our lives: faith, doubt, war, peace. Famine, abundance. Storms at sea, or sweeping across the land, bending or breaking trees. Rain or drought. Winter’s ice. Ice in the heart. Afternoon sunlight for the autumn’s harvest. Health, sickness. Desire. Calamitous misfortune. Friendship. Love.” … all telling. Nothing shown.
More examples of telling rather than showing.
- “He had once loved, or thought he did. It had not been wise.”
(We are told of love lost, yet we do not see this love play out.)
- “A man may turn from dark, but not shed all its shade.”
(This is not a scene, but a view—told like a truth writ on stone.)
- “They said he was kind. Some said he had killed for coin.”
(What is real? What is false? We don't see, we are told.)
All of this rambling distracts from the story when not told in a direct action voice. When nothing seems to be happening, the story seems to come to a standstill, boredom sets in.
Serious pacing and plotting issues aside, here are a few other ways Kay keeps show at bay:
“It had been one more mark against the ledger of his cousin. Enough of them, over time, to have been worth a murder, he had finally decided. Accepting an ordered pilgrimage to Rhodias. And after returning to Berga sending letters of ingratiating entreaty to Orane that he be allowed back at court to take his proper place on the royal council.” …so tedious and dull! 😴
The book is full of these long drawn out sentences of nothing actually happening: “Because he’d declined the also offered, hugely exalted position of high cleric of Orane, including leading the rites in the Great Sanctuary on the island, with a handsome residence adjoining, there was an ongoing issue as to who should be appointed there. Both the king and the High Patriarch in Rhodias had thoughts concerning this appointment. It was a position of power, deeply entangled in politics, not just faith. Which is why there was an issue.” …. 🥱 Yawn!
Another super annoying thing GGK does is introduce an inconsequential character for a few pages only and alternately use their first and last name expecting the reader to keep track of the two. Glaring example: Claquin Guiene someone solely introduced in chapter 14 never to be mentioned again. Calls him Claquin in some paragraphs and addresses as Guiene in others as if this guy is my wife’s brother and I should try to learn his name!
The tale feels like it is shared near a flame, with heads bowed, eyes half shut.😴💤
The book moves in slow steps. There is war, but it’s not sharp or raw. It’s held at a cool length. Deeds are not thrust in our face. Much is shaped by talks and thoughts. This is not high pace. It is not made for rush. It asked for my time, and my mind.
Men and dames in this world hide hurts. They deal in plots, trade, and fate. Each has depth, though many felt faint, as they came and went swiftly. I got the sense that who they are is less key than what they stand for.
Each arc is moved more by thought than clash. We do not see the wound—we are told it was deep.
Kay's words wind like a stream: soft, bright, and deep. He loves a clause with weight. He crafts lines like verse. There is grace here, but I could not warm to its flow. At times, it feels like the tale stops so the words can dance. A dance I had no interest in watching!
GGK book ranking from best to worst (of those I have read):
Sarantine mosaic duology (sailing to sarantium and Lord of emperors)
A song for Arbonne
Lions of Al Rassan
Under heaven
Tigana
A brightness long ago
Written on the dark
Probably the worst GGK book I have read thus far.
GGK often tells tales that feel like dusk: low light, soft step, deep thought. This book is not quite bright or loud either. This one was pretty dull in fact. I contemplated DNFing at multiple junctures.
Although a lot of GGk’s works lean on voice, not deeds, this book is particularly severe in that much is told to us: what one feels, what one dreams, what they fear but dare not show. Some will call this style rich, full of weight. I tend to crave more scene, more clash, more spark on the page.
Large swathes of page space interrupt the story, dedicated to the author just ruminating like this: “So much uncertainty lies in art, and what endures. Where and when the lightning flash of brilliance will strike. What is valued in a given time, or over time. And what is lost, forgotten.It is the same, writ large, when we consider actual events in our lives: faith, doubt, war, peace. Famine, abundance. Storms at sea, or sweeping across the land, bending or breaking trees. Rain or drought. Winter’s ice. Ice in the heart. Afternoon sunlight for the autumn’s harvest. Health, sickness. Desire. Calamitous misfortune. Friendship. Love.” … all telling. Nothing shown.
More examples of telling rather than showing.
- “He had once loved, or thought he did. It had not been wise.”
(We are told of love lost, yet we do not see this love play out.)
- “A man may turn from dark, but not shed all its shade.”
(This is not a scene, but a view—told like a truth writ on stone.)
- “They said he was kind. Some said he had killed for coin.”
(What is real? What is false? We don't see, we are told.)
All of this rambling distracts from the story when not told in a direct action voice. When nothing seems to be happening, the story seems to come to a standstill, boredom sets in.
Serious pacing and plotting issues aside, here are a few other ways Kay keeps show at bay:
“It had been one more mark against the ledger of his cousin. Enough of them, over time, to have been worth a murder, he had finally decided. Accepting an ordered pilgrimage to Rhodias. And after returning to Berga sending letters of ingratiating entreaty to Orane that he be allowed back at court to take his proper place on the royal council.” …so tedious and dull! 😴
The book is full of these long drawn out sentences of nothing actually happening: “Because he’d declined the also offered, hugely exalted position of high cleric of Orane, including leading the rites in the Great Sanctuary on the island, with a handsome residence adjoining, there was an ongoing issue as to who should be appointed there. Both the king and the High Patriarch in Rhodias had thoughts concerning this appointment. It was a position of power, deeply entangled in politics, not just faith. Which is why there was an issue.” …. 🥱 Yawn!
Another super annoying thing GGK does is introduce an inconsequential character for a few pages only and alternately use their first and last name expecting the reader to keep track of the two. Glaring example: Claquin Guiene someone solely introduced in chapter 14 never to be mentioned again. Calls him Claquin in some paragraphs and addresses as Guiene in others as if this guy is my wife’s brother and I should try to learn his name!
The tale feels like it is shared near a flame, with heads bowed, eyes half shut.😴💤
The book moves in slow steps. There is war, but it’s not sharp or raw. It’s held at a cool length. Deeds are not thrust in our face. Much is shaped by talks and thoughts. This is not high pace. It is not made for rush. It asked for my time, and my mind.
Men and dames in this world hide hurts. They deal in plots, trade, and fate. Each has depth, though many felt faint, as they came and went swiftly. I got the sense that who they are is less key than what they stand for.
Each arc is moved more by thought than clash. We do not see the wound—we are told it was deep.
Kay's words wind like a stream: soft, bright, and deep. He loves a clause with weight. He crafts lines like verse. There is grace here, but I could not warm to its flow. At times, it feels like the tale stops so the words can dance. A dance I had no interest in watching!
GGK book ranking from best to worst (of those I have read):
Sarantine mosaic duology (sailing to sarantium and Lord of emperors)
A song for Arbonne
Lions of Al Rassan
Under heaven
Tigana
A brightness long ago
Written on the dark
May 12, 2025
4.0 Stars
Guy Gavriel Kay is such an incredibly beautiful writer. I love his prose. I can be hit or miss with historical fantasy because I don't read much historical fiction in general. However, this author is always a win.
I found the characters to be developed and the worldbuilding to be well drawn. I just enjoyed spending time in this world.
I would recommend this novel to fantasy readers who appreciate good prose and intricate characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Guy Gavriel Kay is such an incredibly beautiful writer. I love his prose. I can be hit or miss with historical fantasy because I don't read much historical fiction in general. However, this author is always a win.
I found the characters to be developed and the worldbuilding to be well drawn. I just enjoyed spending time in this world.
I would recommend this novel to fantasy readers who appreciate good prose and intricate characters.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
June 11, 2025
I've been a curmudgeon for this entire book, complaining the whole time that this felt half baked (it does) and that it's too short (it is). But I am a fool because the last couple chapters and especially the epilogue are just ridiculously good. Seriously might be the best epilogue I ever read, contingent on having read other GGK works like Sarantine Mosaic and Brightness Long Ago.
"He wept for what was lost. As we do. As we must, if we have loved."
"He wept for what was lost. As we do. As we must, if we have loved."
May 3, 2025
For those familiar with Kay's work, there will be nothing surprising in this book or the enjoyment I experienced reading it. Then again, for those familiar with Kay's work, why would you want anything different? Drawing from the Hundred Years' War, Kay invokes the characters, imagery, and actions of 15th century France, as we follow the life of a tavern poet drawn from a normal life into the great events of the times after the murder of a Duke. Kay always manages to weave through many perspectives, from royalty to poverty, creating a rich tapestry of the historical period he is invoking. His writing varies slightly from my experience of his other work, making use of cut-short sentences rather than using flowing, beautiful prose that we may be used to. Nevertheless, Kay still draws emotion from the reader, building connections between characters and audience without the reader even being aware it is happening. This is the weakest Kay I have read, but this more signifies the brilliance of his oeuvre. Read Guy Gavriel Kay! He has become one of my new favourite authors and whether it is his new novel or part of his back catalogue, I believe he is a voice that deserves to be supported!
May 29, 2025
Kay sets the bar sky high because of his past works, and while this doesn't measure up to his very best, is still a really great novel. My biggest criticism is that it's too short, and lacks a lot of the small tangents that often add so much color and texture to his other works. Kay plays fast and loose with some of the historically-inspired elements of medieval France (this was a rare book of his where I knew the history fairly well), but it resulted in some inventive and unexpected turns. While some of the elements of this story (such as an artistic main protagonist, who is not of major importance embroiled in big events) were done very well, Kay himself has done them better in some of his other works. A really great book, not to be skipped, even if it isn't a top tier work by this top tier author. 4.5/5
April 4, 2025
Incredible prose, compelling and real characters, emotional reflections, an ode to art and artists.
My new favourite Guy Gavriel King book.
Thierry Villar is a tavern poet who gets caught up in an investigation following the assassination of a Duke who is the mad King’s brother, trusted advisor and acting as regent in the King’s sickness. It could lead to civil war.
Thierry chases laughter which makes him beloved of the populace, but not so the nobles who he mocks in his verses. He is charismatic and has a compassionate heart despite not seeing himself as a hero.
This is a story about how people of no importance become key players in court intrigue, ploys made with power, and murder.
How does justice and power obstruct each other?
We regard our own memories as truths, when they are often just the stories we have told ourselves over time. They become the truth we live by, or with. They become our lives.
Per usual for GGK, there are many perspectives which makes this feel epic and expansive. I couldn’t believe this book was only 400 pages due to the amount of information, description, and depth we get.
Even interrupting perspectives from random characters to give you an added insight. Before death, from a stranger, from those overlooked.
There are beautiful love stories.
Witty poetry and riffing.
Battles, friendship, family.
A character reminiscent of the Fool from the Realm of the Elderings and homage to the Sarantium duology.
Medor nodded. “Barratin wouldn’t have cared if they killed you. You aren’t important.”
“My mother loves me,” Thierry protested.
You don’t have to have read any prior works of GGK before this one, but you may get more out of the experience if you do through the Easter Eggs.
GGK cleverly shows us how history is written by the victors, but also to highlight who history highlights.
Arc gifted by Hodder and Stoughton.
Bookstagram
My new favourite Guy Gavriel King book.
Thierry Villar is a tavern poet who gets caught up in an investigation following the assassination of a Duke who is the mad King’s brother, trusted advisor and acting as regent in the King’s sickness. It could lead to civil war.
Thierry chases laughter which makes him beloved of the populace, but not so the nobles who he mocks in his verses. He is charismatic and has a compassionate heart despite not seeing himself as a hero.
This is a story about how people of no importance become key players in court intrigue, ploys made with power, and murder.
How does justice and power obstruct each other?
We regard our own memories as truths, when they are often just the stories we have told ourselves over time. They become the truth we live by, or with. They become our lives.
Per usual for GGK, there are many perspectives which makes this feel epic and expansive. I couldn’t believe this book was only 400 pages due to the amount of information, description, and depth we get.
Even interrupting perspectives from random characters to give you an added insight. Before death, from a stranger, from those overlooked.
There are beautiful love stories.
Witty poetry and riffing.
Battles, friendship, family.
A character reminiscent of the Fool from the Realm of the Elderings and homage to the Sarantium duology.
Medor nodded. “Barratin wouldn’t have cared if they killed you. You aren’t important.”
“My mother loves me,” Thierry protested.
You don’t have to have read any prior works of GGK before this one, but you may get more out of the experience if you do through the Easter Eggs.
GGK cleverly shows us how history is written by the victors, but also to highlight who history highlights.
Arc gifted by Hodder and Stoughton.
Bookstagram
May 29, 2025
*copy from the publisher in exchange for a review*
In the interest of full disclosure, I think Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the best genre writers practicing in the field today. It’s entirely possible, I think, that he hasn’t written a bad book. And, to be clear, I think he’s knocked it out of the park again. If you’re an existing Kay fan, you’re going to enjoy Written on the Dark immensely. If you’re not…well, you’re probably going to enjoy it, too.
Kay is known for his alt-history work. Set in worlds that are perhaps one step removed from our own. Where the names are a little different, the faces are familiar but not quite the same, where the thrust of events nudges at the back of your mind, but the details, the intimate, the human, the emotional filigree of the experience, are all very different. And in themselves, these smaller stories can change, shift the rolling path of great events in another direction. Small things, things people do, can change the world. The way two people see each other, the way a chance meeting in the street can lead to a conversation that shifts paradigms…is something Kay portrays very well. And I tell you what, Kay can write a world. He has a lush, lyrical prose style, which provides his setting with weight, and beauty, and a sense of capturing that beauty alongside the costs. Blood on a silvered blade. And this is a world that you might have run across before, a world which feels quite similar to medieval France. High chivalry, armoured men on horses, and a desire to make the world beautiful, in poetry, in life.
Indeed, the protagonist, Thierry, is a professional poet. Maybe professional is taking it a bit far, as he also has several less salubrious side-hustles. But he’s a smart man, and living in his head is no hardship. A fast talker and risk-taker, Thierry is also a thoughtful man, one who knows that words can shift mountains, assuming you can find the right words. That words can build legends, if you can find the right words. That words can shatter men, if you can find the right words. But that from time to time, the world is a dark and deadly place, and if the silvered tongue of chivalry and love can’t do the job, then a dagger at your belt wouldn’t be the worst thing to have. Kay has a penchant for male artist protagonists, and exploring the dichotomy within them of making art and craftsmanship in a more martial world, and this is no exception. But, to be fair, it’s a good bit. The tensions both within Thierry and within society are explored with a compassion and honesty and a sense of truth. And Thierry’s relationships, his struggles with his friends and his lovers and his social and political superiors, sit within a broader sense of events. Within a world on the cusp of change, where the right word in the right place can move a pebble into an avalanche. There's a sense of the epic here, intertwined with characters whose relationships keep that scale grounded, intimate, and human.
I don’t want to spoil the story, but I will say that Kay never has a problem keeping my attention. This is one of those books whose first few pages grabbed onto my heart and mind, and refused to let go until I was done reading it, at some unconscionable hour of the morning. It’s a story with some romance, some heart, some rapid pivots and sharp twists. It’s a story that, I know it’s a cliche, is a page-turner, because it for sure kept me turning pages.
Kay has always been a great writer, but I think he’s at the top of his game here, telling a tale that is at once a soaring piece of theatre, and an intensely personal story. It is, in short, really rather good, and I encourage everyone to go and pick it up immediately.
In the interest of full disclosure, I think Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the best genre writers practicing in the field today. It’s entirely possible, I think, that he hasn’t written a bad book. And, to be clear, I think he’s knocked it out of the park again. If you’re an existing Kay fan, you’re going to enjoy Written on the Dark immensely. If you’re not…well, you’re probably going to enjoy it, too.
Kay is known for his alt-history work. Set in worlds that are perhaps one step removed from our own. Where the names are a little different, the faces are familiar but not quite the same, where the thrust of events nudges at the back of your mind, but the details, the intimate, the human, the emotional filigree of the experience, are all very different. And in themselves, these smaller stories can change, shift the rolling path of great events in another direction. Small things, things people do, can change the world. The way two people see each other, the way a chance meeting in the street can lead to a conversation that shifts paradigms…is something Kay portrays very well. And I tell you what, Kay can write a world. He has a lush, lyrical prose style, which provides his setting with weight, and beauty, and a sense of capturing that beauty alongside the costs. Blood on a silvered blade. And this is a world that you might have run across before, a world which feels quite similar to medieval France. High chivalry, armoured men on horses, and a desire to make the world beautiful, in poetry, in life.
Indeed, the protagonist, Thierry, is a professional poet. Maybe professional is taking it a bit far, as he also has several less salubrious side-hustles. But he’s a smart man, and living in his head is no hardship. A fast talker and risk-taker, Thierry is also a thoughtful man, one who knows that words can shift mountains, assuming you can find the right words. That words can build legends, if you can find the right words. That words can shatter men, if you can find the right words. But that from time to time, the world is a dark and deadly place, and if the silvered tongue of chivalry and love can’t do the job, then a dagger at your belt wouldn’t be the worst thing to have. Kay has a penchant for male artist protagonists, and exploring the dichotomy within them of making art and craftsmanship in a more martial world, and this is no exception. But, to be fair, it’s a good bit. The tensions both within Thierry and within society are explored with a compassion and honesty and a sense of truth. And Thierry’s relationships, his struggles with his friends and his lovers and his social and political superiors, sit within a broader sense of events. Within a world on the cusp of change, where the right word in the right place can move a pebble into an avalanche. There's a sense of the epic here, intertwined with characters whose relationships keep that scale grounded, intimate, and human.
I don’t want to spoil the story, but I will say that Kay never has a problem keeping my attention. This is one of those books whose first few pages grabbed onto my heart and mind, and refused to let go until I was done reading it, at some unconscionable hour of the morning. It’s a story with some romance, some heart, some rapid pivots and sharp twists. It’s a story that, I know it’s a cliche, is a page-turner, because it for sure kept me turning pages.
Kay has always been a great writer, but I think he’s at the top of his game here, telling a tale that is at once a soaring piece of theatre, and an intensely personal story. It is, in short, really rather good, and I encourage everyone to go and pick it up immediately.
June 16, 2025
A tavern poet, living in the world of an alternate France (known here as Ferrieres) is suddenly pulled into a murder mystery investigation. That was a surprise for me, something new for Kay. The stellar storytelling and beautiful writing remain at the top of the publishing world.
Thierry Villar, the tavern poet, reminded me constantly who the author of this book is. Kay has a personal love of poetry and admits that his job as an author is hard work, not fun for him, but he had "fun" writing the poetry included in the text.
Villar is of the common population, and the murder is of one of the landed gentry. Suddenly being pulled into the world of the Royal Court stuns Villar, and his life changes, and friendships are made with people he never thought he would meet or whose company he would enjoy.
Part 3, the build-up to the story's end, was exciting and suspenseful, and closes out this story with an unexpected outcome, on many fronts. Shorter than any one of his books, but still a very satisfying read
November 10, 2025
[7/10]
It was largely invented, that long poem. Poets do that, tellers of tales do. But the foundation was real.
Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the few authors on my shelves in the ‘must buy on publication’ category. I checked, and I have read everything he wrote, with the exception of his early book of poetry. Even when he’s not in top form, as I found his latest effort, he maintains the power to weave enchanted tapestries of words that transport me to times of wonder and strife, evoke the people who rise to the occasion when history demands it.
My opening quote stresses the two main attractions in his books: the use of language and the historical inspiration. Kay may be prone to flights of fancy that take him down different and stranger paths from his original sources, but he always starts with certain civilizations and with certain inflexion points of their journey through time. One name proposed for this choice of historical nexus offered by Kay is interlude , a pause for reflection between two ages, two conflicts, two heartbeats:
She’d learned that word from Thierry. It meant, he’d said, a time in between. In a life, or in a poem. After one thing, before the next. Sometimes a bridge, sometimes a break, he’d said. A pause. Interludes could operate differently in life, in writing.
The poet is attracted to this moment of change, to the elegy for the loss of a certain cultural glory and the rise of something new, not necessarily something better than the past. Al Andalus under attack from the Catholic kings, China invaded by barbarians from the steppes, the Provence of the troubadours being persecuted as heretics, Constantinople under siege, the city-states of Italy at war with each other... and now France about to start a civil war while being invaded by England at the start of the XV century.
As often as not, the narrator is a poet or an artist caught in these ‘interesting times’ or a leader who laments the passing of an age.
Lines in the dark. He was a man who shaped lines in the dark. He’d rise and light a candle at the embers of a fire to scribble by. That defined him, he thought. It would do as well as anything else to define him.
Thierry Villar of Orane is transparently, obviously a fictional portrait of Francois Villon, at least to me, who was already familiar with his image and his verses. A student of law who prefers the company of thieves, drunkards and women of easy virtue, Thierry mocks the powerful figures of his city in sharp and bawdy satire and sings the joy of living in the gutter.
At the start of the novel, Thierry is caught in the act of planning to rob a church and forced to help the Provost investigate a gruesome murder. The victim is the king’s brother, and the mastermind behind the plot is quickly identified as the most powerful duke in Ferrieres, a man who believes himself to be above the law.
After giving evidence in court against this duke, Thierry is forced to flee to the countryside and hide. Meanwhile, the king of England invades.
All of the events described in the book took place more or less as described, but the timelines are jumbled in order to condense the hundred years wars into a more compact frame that would allow Kay to also bring in the Maiden, Jeanette de Broche, a teenage virgin who rallies the peasants against the invaders and saves the day for the king. She is also much too easily identified as Joan of Arc.
>>><<<>>><<<
The real focus of the story is not so much on these historical figures (Charles VI, John the Fearless, Henry V, the battle of Agincourt), but they form the background against which the real actors play their own personal dramas.
Thierry Villar mourns his exile from his beloved streets of Orane / Paris, but finds new inspiration for his verse in the chateau of his new friend, the court poetess Marina di Seressa. The Provost Robbin de Vaux, a former soldier forced now to navigate the treacherous waters of court politics, is probably the most compelling figure in the book:
What was his proper task, though? Where did he owe allegiance in this moment? Country? King? City? Holy Jad of the Sun? Some idea of justice? His own family?
And what if these pointed in different directions? To different decisions?
I thought Marina di Seressa was too good to be true, but I was thrilled to find out that her real source of inspiration was as formidable as herself: Christine de Pizan is today recognized as an early feminist icon and a champion of fair governance.
I have written to assert the freedoms women should have and that includes a privilege not to be empty headed.
Silvy, part-owner of an Orane tavern, is another liberated woman well ahead of her time in independence and emotional intelligence. Her own path is entangled with the journey of Thierry Villar and may lead from friendship to passion, but not before their resolve and their integrity are tested to the limits of endurance.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of talking about historical events, I would like to focus instead on the use of magic in the shared world where all the historical novels of Guy Gavriel Kay take place. This is not a world where wizards cast spells in battle or superheroes save the day when the going gets tough. This is a world where the supernatural is just a suggestion, a hidden path at the bottom of a garden, a shadow moving through a misty glade, a song once heard that cannot be forgotten, a question instead of an answer.
Was she a creature out of faerie? Where terrifying beasts roared in the night, unseen?
I very much prefer this elusive allusive approach to the mechanical magic systems of classic epic fantasy. It infuses the world with a sense of wonder, of uncertainty and even, in the end, of hope. Kay names it the half-world, accessible to few of the inhabitants of Ferrieres, mostly in dreams and in half-remembered memories of the future.
Gauvard Colle is such a character in Orane, an astrologer consulted by the court and by those seeking love in strange or forbidden places. He is more of an observer than a participant in the events, but he shares a poetic sensibility with Thierry, Marina and Silvy.
An even more compelling figure is a fierce lady named Alaina d’Arceval, a huntress and a muse for feverish poems of passion and longing. I will not unveil her mystery in this review.
It is not only people that are conduits for magic. In Guy Gavriel’s world there are also places of power, places where maybe gods touched ground in ancient times and where their presence can still be felt after centuries. I would love to make a list of these places and follow them from novel to novel, from age to age, but my memory is too feeble already to make certain. I am sure though that the same place appears in ‘Sailing to Sarantium’, in ‘A Song for Arbonne’ and now. This almost recognition adds to the whole mystery of the setting.
The bridge has seen much, the river even more, of course. This became another moment among many. Time can stretch back a long way in some places, and much is lost, forgotten.
Wait long enough, most things are.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of historical truth, the author offers an artist’s rendering of the past, distilled in a poet’s vision and cast against a dark background – a brightness long ago as he called it in a previous novel. We make sense of our lives through stories, not through statistics and memorized dates. Poems and mosaics and songs are as relevant for me as dry academic studies:
We regard our own memories as truths, when they are often just the stories we have told ourselves over time. They become the truth we live by, or with. They become our lives.
Sometimes we retain the quiet moments that come in the midst of chaos, or after it. The city, my city in the night. Our lives, written on the dark.
Little is actually known about the private life of Francois Villon or Jean of Arc, but their poetry and their deeds have become the stuff of legends and still have the power to move our imagination and to comment on present events, on integrity, civil disobedience, the rule of law, the role of art.
For all my admiration about the presentation and about the choice of historical period, I must confess that I actually struggled to finish the novel. I understand the need for artistic licence in the treatment of historical sources, but my own familiarity with the period and with Villon or Abelard kept pulling me out of the intended mood of the piece and had me diving to fact-check the accuracy of the events. I oscillated between enchantment and annoyance, and this is reflected in a lower rating than the book deserves.
Maybe a re-read at some point in the future will help me reconsider the whole project.
It was largely invented, that long poem. Poets do that, tellers of tales do. But the foundation was real.
Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the few authors on my shelves in the ‘must buy on publication’ category. I checked, and I have read everything he wrote, with the exception of his early book of poetry. Even when he’s not in top form, as I found his latest effort, he maintains the power to weave enchanted tapestries of words that transport me to times of wonder and strife, evoke the people who rise to the occasion when history demands it.
My opening quote stresses the two main attractions in his books: the use of language and the historical inspiration. Kay may be prone to flights of fancy that take him down different and stranger paths from his original sources, but he always starts with certain civilizations and with certain inflexion points of their journey through time. One name proposed for this choice of historical nexus offered by Kay is interlude , a pause for reflection between two ages, two conflicts, two heartbeats:
She’d learned that word from Thierry. It meant, he’d said, a time in between. In a life, or in a poem. After one thing, before the next. Sometimes a bridge, sometimes a break, he’d said. A pause. Interludes could operate differently in life, in writing.
The poet is attracted to this moment of change, to the elegy for the loss of a certain cultural glory and the rise of something new, not necessarily something better than the past. Al Andalus under attack from the Catholic kings, China invaded by barbarians from the steppes, the Provence of the troubadours being persecuted as heretics, Constantinople under siege, the city-states of Italy at war with each other... and now France about to start a civil war while being invaded by England at the start of the XV century.
As often as not, the narrator is a poet or an artist caught in these ‘interesting times’ or a leader who laments the passing of an age.
Lines in the dark. He was a man who shaped lines in the dark. He’d rise and light a candle at the embers of a fire to scribble by. That defined him, he thought. It would do as well as anything else to define him.
Thierry Villar of Orane is transparently, obviously a fictional portrait of Francois Villon, at least to me, who was already familiar with his image and his verses. A student of law who prefers the company of thieves, drunkards and women of easy virtue, Thierry mocks the powerful figures of his city in sharp and bawdy satire and sings the joy of living in the gutter.
At the start of the novel, Thierry is caught in the act of planning to rob a church and forced to help the Provost investigate a gruesome murder. The victim is the king’s brother, and the mastermind behind the plot is quickly identified as the most powerful duke in Ferrieres, a man who believes himself to be above the law.
After giving evidence in court against this duke, Thierry is forced to flee to the countryside and hide. Meanwhile, the king of England invades.
All of the events described in the book took place more or less as described, but the timelines are jumbled in order to condense the hundred years wars into a more compact frame that would allow Kay to also bring in the Maiden, Jeanette de Broche, a teenage virgin who rallies the peasants against the invaders and saves the day for the king. She is also much too easily identified as Joan of Arc.
>>><<<>>><<<
The real focus of the story is not so much on these historical figures (Charles VI, John the Fearless, Henry V, the battle of Agincourt), but they form the background against which the real actors play their own personal dramas.
Thierry Villar mourns his exile from his beloved streets of Orane / Paris, but finds new inspiration for his verse in the chateau of his new friend, the court poetess Marina di Seressa. The Provost Robbin de Vaux, a former soldier forced now to navigate the treacherous waters of court politics, is probably the most compelling figure in the book:
What was his proper task, though? Where did he owe allegiance in this moment? Country? King? City? Holy Jad of the Sun? Some idea of justice? His own family?
And what if these pointed in different directions? To different decisions?
I thought Marina di Seressa was too good to be true, but I was thrilled to find out that her real source of inspiration was as formidable as herself: Christine de Pizan is today recognized as an early feminist icon and a champion of fair governance.
I have written to assert the freedoms women should have and that includes a privilege not to be empty headed.
Silvy, part-owner of an Orane tavern, is another liberated woman well ahead of her time in independence and emotional intelligence. Her own path is entangled with the journey of Thierry Villar and may lead from friendship to passion, but not before their resolve and their integrity are tested to the limits of endurance.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of talking about historical events, I would like to focus instead on the use of magic in the shared world where all the historical novels of Guy Gavriel Kay take place. This is not a world where wizards cast spells in battle or superheroes save the day when the going gets tough. This is a world where the supernatural is just a suggestion, a hidden path at the bottom of a garden, a shadow moving through a misty glade, a song once heard that cannot be forgotten, a question instead of an answer.
Was she a creature out of faerie? Where terrifying beasts roared in the night, unseen?
I very much prefer this elusive allusive approach to the mechanical magic systems of classic epic fantasy. It infuses the world with a sense of wonder, of uncertainty and even, in the end, of hope. Kay names it the half-world, accessible to few of the inhabitants of Ferrieres, mostly in dreams and in half-remembered memories of the future.
Gauvard Colle is such a character in Orane, an astrologer consulted by the court and by those seeking love in strange or forbidden places. He is more of an observer than a participant in the events, but he shares a poetic sensibility with Thierry, Marina and Silvy.
An even more compelling figure is a fierce lady named Alaina d’Arceval, a huntress and a muse for feverish poems of passion and longing. I will not unveil her mystery in this review.
It is not only people that are conduits for magic. In Guy Gavriel’s world there are also places of power, places where maybe gods touched ground in ancient times and where their presence can still be felt after centuries. I would love to make a list of these places and follow them from novel to novel, from age to age, but my memory is too feeble already to make certain. I am sure though that the same place appears in ‘Sailing to Sarantium’, in ‘A Song for Arbonne’ and now. This almost recognition adds to the whole mystery of the setting.
The bridge has seen much, the river even more, of course. This became another moment among many. Time can stretch back a long way in some places, and much is lost, forgotten.
Wait long enough, most things are.
>>><<<>>><<<
Instead of historical truth, the author offers an artist’s rendering of the past, distilled in a poet’s vision and cast against a dark background – a brightness long ago as he called it in a previous novel. We make sense of our lives through stories, not through statistics and memorized dates. Poems and mosaics and songs are as relevant for me as dry academic studies:
We regard our own memories as truths, when they are often just the stories we have told ourselves over time. They become the truth we live by, or with. They become our lives.
Sometimes we retain the quiet moments that come in the midst of chaos, or after it. The city, my city in the night. Our lives, written on the dark.
Little is actually known about the private life of Francois Villon or Jean of Arc, but their poetry and their deeds have become the stuff of legends and still have the power to move our imagination and to comment on present events, on integrity, civil disobedience, the rule of law, the role of art.
For all my admiration about the presentation and about the choice of historical period, I must confess that I actually struggled to finish the novel. I understand the need for artistic licence in the treatment of historical sources, but my own familiarity with the period and with Villon or Abelard kept pulling me out of the intended mood of the piece and had me diving to fact-check the accuracy of the events. I oscillated between enchantment and annoyance, and this is reflected in a lower rating than the book deserves.
Maybe a re-read at some point in the future will help me reconsider the whole project.
July 27, 2025
2.5🌟🌟💫 stars!
Probably the worst GGK book I have read thus far.
GGK often tells tales that feel like dusk: low light, soft step, deep thought. This book is not quite bright or loud either. This one was pretty dull in fact. I contemplated DNFing at multiple junctures.
Although a lot of GGk’s works lean on voice, not deeds, this book is particularly severe in that much is told to us: what one feels, what one dreams, what they fear but dare not show. Some will call this style rich, full of weight. I tend to crave more scene, more clash, more spark on the page.
Large swathes of page space interrupt the story, dedicated to the author just ruminating like this: “So much uncertainty lies in art, and what endures. Where and when the lightning flash of brilliance will strike. What is valued in a given time, or over time. And what is lost, forgotten.It is the same, writ large, when we consider actual events in our lives: faith, doubt, war, peace. Famine, abundance. Storms at sea, or sweeping across the land, bending or breaking trees. Rain or drought. Winter’s ice. Ice in the heart. Afternoon sunlight for the autumn’s harvest. Health, sickness. Desire. Calamitous misfortune. Friendship. Love.” … all telling. Nothing shown.
More examples of telling rather than showing.
- “He had once loved, or thought he did. It had not been wise.”
(We are told of love lost, yet we do not see this love play out.)
- “A man may turn from dark, but not shed all its shade.”
(This is not a scene, but a view—told like a truth writ on stone.)
- “They said he was kind. Some said he had killed for coin.”
(What is real? What is false? We don't see, we are told.)
All of this rambling distracts from the story when not told in a direct action voice. When nothing seems to be happening, the story seems to come to a standstill, boredom sets in.
Serious pacing and plotting issues aside, here are a few other ways Kay keeps show at bay:
“It had been one more mark against the ledger of his cousin. Enough of them, over time, to have been worth a murder, he had finally decided. Accepting an ordered pilgrimage to Rhodias. And after returning to Berga sending letters of ingratiating entreaty to Orane that he be allowed back at court to take his proper place on the royal council.” …so tedious and dull! 😴
The book is full of these long drawn out sentences of nothing actually happening: “Because he’d declined the also offered, hugely exalted position of high cleric of Orane, including leading the rites in the Great Sanctuary on the island, with a handsome residence adjoining, there was an ongoing issue as to who should be appointed there. Both the king and the High Patriarch in Rhodias had thoughts concerning this appointment. It was a position of power, deeply entangled in politics, not just faith. Which is why there was an issue.” …. 🥱 Yawn!
Another super annoying thing GGK does is introduce an inconsequential character for a few pages only and alternately use their first and last name expecting the reader to keep track of the two. Glaring example: Claquin Guiene someone solely introduced in chapter 14 never to be mentioned again. Calls him Claquin in some paragraphs and addresses as Guiene in others as if this guy is my wife’s brother and I should try to learn his name!
The tale feels like it is shared near a flame, with heads bowed, eyes half shut.😴💤
The book moves in slow steps. There is war, but it’s not sharp or raw. It’s held at a cool length. Deeds are not thrust in our face. Much is shaped by talks and thoughts. This is not high pace. It is not made for rush. It asked for my time, and my mind.
Men and dames in this world hide hurts. They deal in plots, trade, and fate. Each has depth, though many felt faint, as they came and went swiftly. I got the sense that who they are is less key than what they stand for.
Each arc is moved more by thought than clash. We do not see the wound—we are told it was deep.
Kay's words wind like a stream: soft, bright, and deep. He loves a clause with weight. He crafts lines like verse. There is grace here, but I could not warm to its flow. At times, it feels like the tale stops so the words can dance. A dance I had no interest in watching!
GGK book ranking from best to worst (of those I have read):
Sarantine mosaic duology (sailing to sarantium and Lord of emperors)
A song for Arbonne
Lions of Al Rassan
Under heaven
Tigana
A brightness long ago
Written on the dark
Probably the worst GGK book I have read thus far.
GGK often tells tales that feel like dusk: low light, soft step, deep thought. This book is not quite bright or loud either. This one was pretty dull in fact. I contemplated DNFing at multiple junctures.
Although a lot of GGk’s works lean on voice, not deeds, this book is particularly severe in that much is told to us: what one feels, what one dreams, what they fear but dare not show. Some will call this style rich, full of weight. I tend to crave more scene, more clash, more spark on the page.
Large swathes of page space interrupt the story, dedicated to the author just ruminating like this: “So much uncertainty lies in art, and what endures. Where and when the lightning flash of brilliance will strike. What is valued in a given time, or over time. And what is lost, forgotten.It is the same, writ large, when we consider actual events in our lives: faith, doubt, war, peace. Famine, abundance. Storms at sea, or sweeping across the land, bending or breaking trees. Rain or drought. Winter’s ice. Ice in the heart. Afternoon sunlight for the autumn’s harvest. Health, sickness. Desire. Calamitous misfortune. Friendship. Love.” … all telling. Nothing shown.
More examples of telling rather than showing.
- “He had once loved, or thought he did. It had not been wise.”
(We are told of love lost, yet we do not see this love play out.)
- “A man may turn from dark, but not shed all its shade.”
(This is not a scene, but a view—told like a truth writ on stone.)
- “They said he was kind. Some said he had killed for coin.”
(What is real? What is false? We don't see, we are told.)
All of this rambling distracts from the story when not told in a direct action voice. When nothing seems to be happening, the story seems to come to a standstill, boredom sets in.
Serious pacing and plotting issues aside, here are a few other ways Kay keeps show at bay:
“It had been one more mark against the ledger of his cousin. Enough of them, over time, to have been worth a murder, he had finally decided. Accepting an ordered pilgrimage to Rhodias. And after returning to Berga sending letters of ingratiating entreaty to Orane that he be allowed back at court to take his proper place on the royal council.” …so tedious and dull! 😴
The book is full of these long drawn out sentences of nothing actually happening: “Because he’d declined the also offered, hugely exalted position of high cleric of Orane, including leading the rites in the Great Sanctuary on the island, with a handsome residence adjoining, there was an ongoing issue as to who should be appointed there. Both the king and the High Patriarch in Rhodias had thoughts concerning this appointment. It was a position of power, deeply entangled in politics, not just faith. Which is why there was an issue.” …. 🥱 Yawn!
Another super annoying thing GGK does is introduce an inconsequential character for a few pages only and alternately use their first and last name expecting the reader to keep track of the two. Glaring example: Claquin Guiene someone solely introduced in chapter 14 never to be mentioned again. Calls him Claquin in some paragraphs and addresses as Guiene in others as if this guy is my wife’s brother and I should try to learn his name!
The tale feels like it is shared near a flame, with heads bowed, eyes half shut.😴💤
The book moves in slow steps. There is war, but it’s not sharp or raw. It’s held at a cool length. Deeds are not thrust in our face. Much is shaped by talks and thoughts. This is not high pace. It is not made for rush. It asked for my time, and my mind.
Men and dames in this world hide hurts. They deal in plots, trade, and fate. Each has depth, though many felt faint, as they came and went swiftly. I got the sense that who they are is less key than what they stand for.
Each arc is moved more by thought than clash. We do not see the wound—we are told it was deep.
Kay's words wind like a stream: soft, bright, and deep. He loves a clause with weight. He crafts lines like verse. There is grace here, but I could not warm to its flow. At times, it feels like the tale stops so the words can dance. A dance I had no interest in watching!
GGK book ranking from best to worst (of those I have read):
Sarantine mosaic duology (sailing to sarantium and Lord of emperors)
A song for Arbonne
Lions of Al Rassan
Under heaven
Tigana
A brightness long ago
Written on the dark
June 13, 2025
This was a wonderful new release from an author in GGK who has quickly vaulted to near the top of my all-time favorites over the past year with some of my most cherished reads in A Song for Arbonne and A Brightness Long Ago (and others not far behind in Lions and Sarantine).
His writing transports me to a unique emotional place, and I just can't get enough of his historical fantasy style, here placing us in an alternate Medieval France. I didn't know much about the real history he was riffing on, but I found the overarching plot to be engrossing while coming to care deeply for our main protagonist the tavern poet Thierry along with (most of) the side characters (Silvy in particular just never came to life for me off the page). I want to give special kudos to GGK for creating a hatable villain who feels utterly real and believable even if he has virtually no redeeming qualities -- I'm so tired of mustache-twirly caricatures, and GGK delivered just the opposite here.
The overall feel of this one is quite similar to that of Brightness, with a retrospective first-person narrator taking center stage who gets embroiled in major political goings on as he comes to the attention of some of the important nobility. I would be lying if I didn't admit that the similarity in overall feel to that previous GGK read meant this one didn't stand out as freshly as it might otherwise have for me. But GGK is an absolute master at leveraging this kind of narrative framing device for poignant emotional impact, and following a clever and spunky protagonist as their more commonplace world morphs into involvement with grand events is something I don't think I will get tired of, especially in the hands of such a quality writer. There were some truly standout narrative asides here that hit particularly hard with GGK being in a later stage of life and his career at this point.
This book is slighter than his others and almost half the length of most of his historical fantasy books, and it maybe could've had more impact if it had some more meat on its bones. But what we did get was hard-hitting and compelling, so I don't think I minded the relatively smaller scale of the book too much, and not everything needs to go down as an all-time favorite.
The epilogue featured some crossovers with Brightness and Sarantine especially, and big fans of his connected world will experience some extra emotions in those last few pages (though it won't spoil anything in those books). I don't suspect this is going to become many people's favorite GGK book, but it's certainly a worthwhile read and not to be missed for fans of GGK or for anyone who'd like to dip into a more lyrical style of fantasy.
His writing transports me to a unique emotional place, and I just can't get enough of his historical fantasy style, here placing us in an alternate Medieval France. I didn't know much about the real history he was riffing on, but I found the overarching plot to be engrossing while coming to care deeply for our main protagonist the tavern poet Thierry along with (most of) the side characters (Silvy in particular just never came to life for me off the page). I want to give special kudos to GGK for creating a hatable villain who feels utterly real and believable even if he has virtually no redeeming qualities -- I'm so tired of mustache-twirly caricatures, and GGK delivered just the opposite here.
The overall feel of this one is quite similar to that of Brightness, with a retrospective first-person narrator taking center stage who gets embroiled in major political goings on as he comes to the attention of some of the important nobility. I would be lying if I didn't admit that the similarity in overall feel to that previous GGK read meant this one didn't stand out as freshly as it might otherwise have for me. But GGK is an absolute master at leveraging this kind of narrative framing device for poignant emotional impact, and following a clever and spunky protagonist as their more commonplace world morphs into involvement with grand events is something I don't think I will get tired of, especially in the hands of such a quality writer. There were some truly standout narrative asides here that hit particularly hard with GGK being in a later stage of life and his career at this point.
This book is slighter than his others and almost half the length of most of his historical fantasy books, and it maybe could've had more impact if it had some more meat on its bones. But what we did get was hard-hitting and compelling, so I don't think I minded the relatively smaller scale of the book too much, and not everything needs to go down as an all-time favorite.
The epilogue featured some crossovers with Brightness and Sarantine especially, and big fans of his connected world will experience some extra emotions in those last few pages (though it won't spoil anything in those books). I don't suspect this is going to become many people's favorite GGK book, but it's certainly a worthwhile read and not to be missed for fans of GGK or for anyone who'd like to dip into a more lyrical style of fantasy.
June 24, 2025
4.5 stars
Guy Gavriel Kay never disappoints me. I love his alternate history almost as much as his beautiful writing. He has a gift for creating characters that I care passionately about, plus he that unicorn among male authors who can write female characters with depth, emotions and motivations that I recognize. They are certainly not inferior beings, they are powerful in their own ways and realms. They matter and they make their presence felt.
Kay is a poet, so maybe it is natural that the central character, Thierry Villar, is a tavern poet with a quick wit and a sharp tongue. In fact, there are a plethora of poets, some more talented than others. It would be difficult to dislike Thierry, who sometimes speaks when he should be silent, but is generally a humble guy, who doesn't expect to be drawn into the politics of royalty. He is surprised to find that he rather likes several of the city watch, whom he has previously avoided (with good reason).
It becomes obvious why Kay writes alternate history rather than straight historical fiction. He steeps himself in historical research, then changes and bends events in his version of medieval Europe to suit his own purposes. This is a far different version of the Battle of Agincourt—you will barely recognize that event or King Henry V. However, there is a young woman with a sword and a mission that you will identify immediately.
So, why 4.5 instead of 5 stars? Although I was glued to the pages until I reached the conclusion, it didn't quite charm me like previous novels. That is most likely my own mindset right now. A reread in the future may change my mind. The ending, I felt, was a little too neat and tidy, a little too sweet for me. But this novel still ranks in the upper echelon of my regard.
Guy Gavriel Kay never disappoints me. I love his alternate history almost as much as his beautiful writing. He has a gift for creating characters that I care passionately about, plus he that unicorn among male authors who can write female characters with depth, emotions and motivations that I recognize. They are certainly not inferior beings, they are powerful in their own ways and realms. They matter and they make their presence felt.
Kay is a poet, so maybe it is natural that the central character, Thierry Villar, is a tavern poet with a quick wit and a sharp tongue. In fact, there are a plethora of poets, some more talented than others. It would be difficult to dislike Thierry, who sometimes speaks when he should be silent, but is generally a humble guy, who doesn't expect to be drawn into the politics of royalty. He is surprised to find that he rather likes several of the city watch, whom he has previously avoided (with good reason).
It becomes obvious why Kay writes alternate history rather than straight historical fiction. He steeps himself in historical research, then changes and bends events in his version of medieval Europe to suit his own purposes. This is a far different version of the Battle of Agincourt—you will barely recognize that event or King Henry V. However, there is a young woman with a sword and a mission that you will identify immediately.
So, why 4.5 instead of 5 stars? Although I was glued to the pages until I reached the conclusion, it didn't quite charm me like previous novels. That is most likely my own mindset right now. A reread in the future may change my mind. The ending, I felt, was a little too neat and tidy, a little too sweet for me. But this novel still ranks in the upper echelon of my regard.
June 13, 2025
81/100
For my thoughts, see Jake’s thoughts
For my thoughts, see Jake’s thoughts
June 12, 2025
I didn’t think I’d one day have to write such a negative review to one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books but here we are. On the surface, this is a pretty typical Kay book. We have an intimate character journey that intertwines with a larger political story, set against the backdrop of a setting modeled after late medieval / early renaissance France and their continuous wars against England.
It’s not that I’m tired of Kay’s style, I still enjoy his trademark setup for how he writes his books. He can evoke incredible emotions in his characters, their development and their relations to each other. His political plotting is often clever and tense, culminating in breathtaking plot twists and dramatic climactic endings. His settings, however low on the fantasy scale they might be, are usually lush, colorful and vibrant. His flowery prose rivals that of the very greats of the genre.
In Written on the Dark, I missed most of the things that have made him one of my favorite authors. Meaning, everything is there but only as a pale shadow. This book largely feels like a demo of what he can do, it never fully takes off and remains frustratingly half-baked until the end. I found the characters one-dimensional and forgettable. The story is very predictable, meandering and mundane for most of the book before the pacing spirals out toward the end. The setting is barely used, it’s just a bland backdrop that offers none of the vibrancy that we know Kay is able to craft. The language and prose are fine, nothing to complain here but there’s also not much sticking out that’s enough to balance the severe flaws.
At the end of the day I ask myself why he even wrote this book. It’s not long enough to set up a thoroughly compelling plot, yet it bored me despite being so short. There are several easter eggs and references to his other books that take place in the same timeline but that’s just cheap nostalgia baiting. It feels like he had this idea and wanted to flesh it out, but lost his motivation halfway through and decided to finish up quickly. This resulted in a book that utterly disappointed me.
It’s not that I’m tired of Kay’s style, I still enjoy his trademark setup for how he writes his books. He can evoke incredible emotions in his characters, their development and their relations to each other. His political plotting is often clever and tense, culminating in breathtaking plot twists and dramatic climactic endings. His settings, however low on the fantasy scale they might be, are usually lush, colorful and vibrant. His flowery prose rivals that of the very greats of the genre.
In Written on the Dark, I missed most of the things that have made him one of my favorite authors. Meaning, everything is there but only as a pale shadow. This book largely feels like a demo of what he can do, it never fully takes off and remains frustratingly half-baked until the end. I found the characters one-dimensional and forgettable. The story is very predictable, meandering and mundane for most of the book before the pacing spirals out toward the end. The setting is barely used, it’s just a bland backdrop that offers none of the vibrancy that we know Kay is able to craft. The language and prose are fine, nothing to complain here but there’s also not much sticking out that’s enough to balance the severe flaws.
At the end of the day I ask myself why he even wrote this book. It’s not long enough to set up a thoroughly compelling plot, yet it bored me despite being so short. There are several easter eggs and references to his other books that take place in the same timeline but that’s just cheap nostalgia baiting. It feels like he had this idea and wanted to flesh it out, but lost his motivation halfway through and decided to finish up quickly. This resulted in a book that utterly disappointed me.
June 10, 2025
feels like two or three different plots rolled into one book because GGK didn't feel like putting the work in to flesh any of them out enough to be their own standalones (the murder mystery; not!joan of arc; ), but then the end result also felt oddly half-assed. make no mistake, it's a quick read, but if you're like me and this is far from your first GGK rodeo then you may wind up sighing quite a bit as you plow through those chapters.
the first third, the murder mystery, felt the most coherent and comprehensive, but the resolution so to speak came far earlier than I expected (which ought to have been a clear warning to me in hindsight) and that's not even touching on the motive. still, even here it's obvious where GGK just didn't feel like doing the work — the characters and court politics are shallowwwww. even song for arbonne, a book I'm pretty neutral on, had better examples of both. tigana certainly did.
the other two main plots — not!joan and thierry after the mystery — I don't really consider worth complaining about (too much). joan in particular felt indulgent — the acknowledgement says as much — but neither enjoyable nor compelling. I've never had a problem with a writer being indulgent if I can feel some way about it, but in this case I just felt bored. thierry's life felt like a series of "some bad things happened, and maybe there were some serious consequences, but let's skip past all that unpleasantry to something a little less ugly." wash and repeat. I suppose you could say that's my problem with much of this book — lots of talk about making decisions but we never get to sit with the full results of those decisions. sweep it aside, onto the next opportunity to wax lyrical about... waxing lyrical, I suppose.
the less said about that epilogue the better. certainly not the worst I've ever read, but... well, again, why do the work when you can just dump it all out in a dozen quick pages or less?
speaking of waxing lyrical, I skimmed the other reviews before feeling compelled to leave my own and I have to say I'm quite surprised at the glowing praise for the prose in this book. did they suck all the flavour out of the canadian edition? the writing is downright spare in this (when GGK isn't talking about talking, that is), and not for the better. it's cold, it's dark, it's cold, it's dark, and then suddenly — where's the scenery? the character details? the different moods of the crowds? I won't compare it to lions of al-rassan, one of my favourite books period never mind favourite GGK book, because that feels cruel. it doesn't rate comparison.
still, I hope anyone who reads this one first isn't put off GGK as a result. go back and read his earlier stuff (maybe not fionavar unless you're in the mood to feel some true arthuriana/LOTR-based nostalgia for your own younger years of make-believe...altho if you are in the mood have fun!). or hell, just read lions of al-rassan, a book I'd argue is the GGK platonic ideal. poets where they ought not be; triads galore; religious tension; war constantly looming in the background; commoners and nobles making strange bedfellows; alt!europe... sounds a lot like what WOTD wanted a second crack at. shame it only managed a glancing blow.
the first third, the murder mystery, felt the most coherent and comprehensive, but the resolution so to speak came far earlier than I expected (which ought to have been a clear warning to me in hindsight) and that's not even touching on the motive. still, even here it's obvious where GGK just didn't feel like doing the work — the characters and court politics are shallowwwww. even song for arbonne, a book I'm pretty neutral on, had better examples of both. tigana certainly did.
the other two main plots — not!joan and thierry after the mystery — I don't really consider worth complaining about (too much). joan in particular felt indulgent — the acknowledgement says as much — but neither enjoyable nor compelling. I've never had a problem with a writer being indulgent if I can feel some way about it, but in this case I just felt bored. thierry's life felt like a series of "some bad things happened, and maybe there were some serious consequences, but let's skip past all that unpleasantry to something a little less ugly." wash and repeat. I suppose you could say that's my problem with much of this book — lots of talk about making decisions but we never get to sit with the full results of those decisions. sweep it aside, onto the next opportunity to wax lyrical about... waxing lyrical, I suppose.
the less said about that epilogue the better. certainly not the worst I've ever read, but... well, again, why do the work when you can just dump it all out in a dozen quick pages or less?
speaking of waxing lyrical, I skimmed the other reviews before feeling compelled to leave my own and I have to say I'm quite surprised at the glowing praise for the prose in this book. did they suck all the flavour out of the canadian edition? the writing is downright spare in this (when GGK isn't talking about talking, that is), and not for the better. it's cold, it's dark, it's cold, it's dark, and then suddenly — where's the scenery? the character details? the different moods of the crowds? I won't compare it to lions of al-rassan, one of my favourite books period never mind favourite GGK book, because that feels cruel. it doesn't rate comparison.
still, I hope anyone who reads this one first isn't put off GGK as a result. go back and read his earlier stuff (maybe not fionavar unless you're in the mood to feel some true arthuriana/LOTR-based nostalgia for your own younger years of make-believe...altho if you are in the mood have fun!). or hell, just read lions of al-rassan, a book I'd argue is the GGK platonic ideal. poets where they ought not be; triads galore; religious tension; war constantly looming in the background; commoners and nobles making strange bedfellows; alt!europe... sounds a lot like what WOTD wanted a second crack at. shame it only managed a glancing blow.
June 17, 2025
Though perhaps not as epic in size or scope as some of his previous novels this is still yet another lovely addition to Guy Gavriel Kay's deeply impressive catalog of high fantasy. Kay is a poet at heart and its not terribly surprising that he should choose, again, to make the hero of his story a tavern poet trying to eek out a living and avoid ending up in a dungeon in a slightly reworked version of medieval France.
Thierry Villar is perhaps a bit more notorious than he is famous. He plies his trade in the local taverns, sharing ribald verse that often skewers the rich and famous, or anyone else who's raised his ire. True it isn't the most lucrative of jobs and though they love him its clearly a bit of a disappointment to his parents but this is his world and these are his people! Until a stupid decision puts him directly in the crosshairs of the most important people in the city and he is forced, on pain of death or imprisonment, to reexamine what his place in the world truly is.
This is a beautiful book, as all Kay books are, if a bit leaner than I wanted it to be. It is full of Kay's grand, romantic characters. Kings and queens rub shoulders with poets and fortune tellers as the world spins and lives are changed or ended or begin again. Kay is always fascinated by people of humble beginnings being thrust into grand world events and by the marks even the most humble of individuals can leave on the world. This book is no exception.
Thierry Villar is perhaps a bit more notorious than he is famous. He plies his trade in the local taverns, sharing ribald verse that often skewers the rich and famous, or anyone else who's raised his ire. True it isn't the most lucrative of jobs and though they love him its clearly a bit of a disappointment to his parents but this is his world and these are his people! Until a stupid decision puts him directly in the crosshairs of the most important people in the city and he is forced, on pain of death or imprisonment, to reexamine what his place in the world truly is.
This is a beautiful book, as all Kay books are, if a bit leaner than I wanted it to be. It is full of Kay's grand, romantic characters. Kings and queens rub shoulders with poets and fortune tellers as the world spins and lives are changed or ended or begin again. Kay is always fascinated by people of humble beginnings being thrust into grand world events and by the marks even the most humble of individuals can leave on the world. This book is no exception.
April 27, 2025
Disappointing. RTC.
September 10, 2025
Each word carefully and exquisitely chosen. Each character, from a king to a messenger who passes quickly through the story, a fully fleshed person in their own right. I was thinking as I was finishing this that Guy has managed what every writer- or at least, every good writer- strives to do: to get better with each book, but still retain their distinctive voice. You know from the first paragraph that this is a Guy Kay book, just as you would know it from reading the first paragraph of Tigana or A Song for Arbonne. And yet you can see the striving (not that it's laborious), the reaching each time to capture a more perfect moment, like someone stretching up to touch a star.
June 9, 2025
It's a GGK book, so obviously it's a wonderful read. The last few chapters and the epilogue, especially, were incredible.
June 10, 2025
Summary: A very brief, but good, book in Kay’s historical fantasy Jaddite world.
Pro’s: The usual for Kay (prose, characters, emotions) plus fun connections to other locations in his Jaddite world while fleshing out one we had not seen in person yet (Ferrieres - France).
Con: Way too short
Neither Pro nor Con (or maybe both?): This is a rather simple book, easily Kay’s most approachable that I have read. Maybe I’ve become a more seasoned Kay reader over the years? But more than that I think this is just a more straightforward narrative than he has written in years, or maybe ever.
Some may dislike it, some will love it. I get both perspectives.
What this means in practice, though, is that I actually think this might be the single best book to start your Kay journey, weirdly enough.
Not my favorite, or Kay’s best, but still very good. Kay is the GOAT, and even his average is better than most.
Recommended to both newbies and longtime GGK fans!
Pro’s: The usual for Kay (prose, characters, emotions) plus fun connections to other locations in his Jaddite world while fleshing out one we had not seen in person yet (Ferrieres - France).
Con: Way too short
Neither Pro nor Con (or maybe both?): This is a rather simple book, easily Kay’s most approachable that I have read. Maybe I’ve become a more seasoned Kay reader over the years? But more than that I think this is just a more straightforward narrative than he has written in years, or maybe ever.
Some may dislike it, some will love it. I get both perspectives.
What this means in practice, though, is that I actually think this might be the single best book to start your Kay journey, weirdly enough.
Not my favorite, or Kay’s best, but still very good. Kay is the GOAT, and even his average is better than most.
Recommended to both newbies and longtime GGK fans!
March 8, 2025
I begged a friend to get me an ARC last night and then just tore through it this morning. Apparently it's shorter than others? I didn't notice. This is another fantastic, deeply researched and lovingly written story in the same world as Sarantium and the rest. Someday I really ought to look for a proper timeline of all these books, but part of the fun is putting the pieces together as I go.
In every single one of Kay's books there comes a point where I find myself unexpectedly crying with happiness OR grief because of some seemingly small, plainly written part about a character's life changing and/or their ultimate fate, and this was no exception (Medor!!!!)
Loved it, as always.
In every single one of Kay's books there comes a point where I find myself unexpectedly crying with happiness OR grief because of some seemingly small, plainly written part about a character's life changing and/or their ultimate fate, and this was no exception (Medor!!!!)
Loved it, as always.
July 2, 2025
Tremendous reflection on the randomness of life and legends and love.
August 20, 2025
3 scrumptious acts. This isn’t a novella, but at 300 pages, it feels like one.
Welp, the temps are in the high 90’s - so it’s a perfect time to read a book that starts off on the coldest winter night. 😅 Am I’m tricking my brain to feel cooler? 🤞
GGV continues to delight and surprise me. The plot had had me intrigued, but I think if you’ve read more in his catalog, you would appreciate the Easter eggs in this. (This is only my second).
Here’s what I adore about GGV-
1. His prose is solid - creates quotes that stick in my heart in unexpected places.
2. He closes plot circles in a satisfying way.
3. He makes it easy to become emotionally invested in a cast of characters .
Technically this was an netgalley copy from Berkley Publishing group - so thank you for this generous copy.
4.25 ish
Welp, the temps are in the high 90’s - so it’s a perfect time to read a book that starts off on the coldest winter night. 😅 Am I’m tricking my brain to feel cooler? 🤞
GGV continues to delight and surprise me. The plot had had me intrigued, but I think if you’ve read more in his catalog, you would appreciate the Easter eggs in this. (This is only my second).
Here’s what I adore about GGV-
1. His prose is solid - creates quotes that stick in my heart in unexpected places.
2. He closes plot circles in a satisfying way.
3. He makes it easy to become emotionally invested in a cast of characters .
Technically this was an netgalley copy from Berkley Publishing group - so thank you for this generous copy.
4.25 ish
June 18, 2025
GGK phoning it in?! So disappointed! This was disjointed and all over the place and so shallow compared to his other works. Where are the characters that embed themselves in your soul? Where are the moments that have you sobbing your heart out at 2am? Instead we have a cast of interchangeable characters who we never really get to know and whose actions are hard to care about and oh cool, he threw in Joan of Arc but never makes us care about her either.
If anyone is reading this, please go read Tigana and the Lions of Al-Rassan and you’ll see why GGK has been my favorite author for years and why I am so so disappointed right now.
If anyone is reading this, please go read Tigana and the Lions of Al-Rassan and you’ll see why GGK has been my favorite author for years and why I am so so disappointed right now.
June 18, 2025
This was a very slow-moving, atmospheric, poetic (rather fitting, considering the main character is a poet), fantasy-lite novel inspired by the Assassination of Louis I, Duke of Orléans during the Hundred Years' War.
You can read this book without any prior knowledge of the Hundred Years' War between France and England. Still, I found that researching this history made the story more engaging and easier to follow, as it helped me keep track of all the characters.
Some interesting and sometimes obvious parallels:
• Ferrieres = France
• Anglcyn = England
• King Roch of Ferrieres, "the mad King" = King Charles VI of France (also known as the Mad King)
• Bianca di Rizzetto from Batiara, Queen of Ferrieres = Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France
• Rollin, Duke de Montereau, the King's brother = Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the King's brother
• Laurent ("the Bold"), Duke de Barratin, a royal cousin = John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
• Jeanette ("the Maiden"), of Broché = Jeanne (or Joan) d'Arc from Domrémy
• Thierry Villar, a tavern poet = François Villon
• Marina di Seressa, a poet = Christine de Pizan
The story is told in third person from numerous POVs, but constantly revolves around a tavern poet called Thierry Villar, who finds himself thrown into the investigation and political happenings surrounding the assassination of the King's brother, the Duke de Montereau. It's interesting to witness momentous historical and political events unfold from the viewpoint of a regular (but intelligent) citizen who has an in with many important players.
The story is told with a lot of suspense and foreshadowing of an impending war.
There's something about this book that made me feel like I was missing something. Perhaps it's because this is my first time reading a novel by this author, but I suspect that there are some elements and characters (particularly with the many seemingly random references made in the epilogue) that might tie in with his other books.
In any case, this was a beautifully written historical fantasy novel.
**I received both an eARC and a physical copy of the book from the publisher for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.**
*** #2 of my 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book you want to read based on the last sentence: "I did that." ***
May 27, 2025 - Pre-Review:
Happy publishing day! I'm about 1/3 into this book and really enjoying the atmospheric, fantasy-lite, medieval France vibes so far.
Many thanks to Ace Publishing for sending me a free copy of this book for review consideration.
You can read this book without any prior knowledge of the Hundred Years' War between France and England. Still, I found that researching this history made the story more engaging and easier to follow, as it helped me keep track of all the characters.
Some interesting and sometimes obvious parallels:
• Ferrieres = France
• Anglcyn = England
• King Roch of Ferrieres, "the mad King" = King Charles VI of France (also known as the Mad King)
• Bianca di Rizzetto from Batiara, Queen of Ferrieres = Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France
• Rollin, Duke de Montereau, the King's brother = Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the King's brother
• Laurent ("the Bold"), Duke de Barratin, a royal cousin = John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
• Jeanette ("the Maiden"), of Broché = Jeanne (or Joan) d'Arc from Domrémy
• Thierry Villar, a tavern poet = François Villon
• Marina di Seressa, a poet = Christine de Pizan
The story is told in third person from numerous POVs, but constantly revolves around a tavern poet called Thierry Villar, who finds himself thrown into the investigation and political happenings surrounding the assassination of the King's brother, the Duke de Montereau. It's interesting to witness momentous historical and political events unfold from the viewpoint of a regular (but intelligent) citizen who has an in with many important players.
The story is told with a lot of suspense and foreshadowing of an impending war.
There's something about this book that made me feel like I was missing something. Perhaps it's because this is my first time reading a novel by this author, but I suspect that there are some elements and characters (particularly with the many seemingly random references made in the epilogue) that might tie in with his other books.
In any case, this was a beautifully written historical fantasy novel.
**I received both an eARC and a physical copy of the book from the publisher for review consideration, but all opinions are my own.**
*** #2 of my 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book you want to read based on the last sentence: "I did that." ***
May 27, 2025 - Pre-Review:
Happy publishing day! I'm about 1/3 into this book and really enjoying the atmospheric, fantasy-lite, medieval France vibes so far.
Many thanks to Ace Publishing for sending me a free copy of this book for review consideration.
April 14, 2025
Sometimes we retain the quiet moments that come in the midst of chaos, or after it. The city, my city, in the night. Our lives, written in the dark.
4.25 stars!
I am always left with a particular feeling when I finish a Guy Gavriel Kay book. Bittersweet yet hopeful, and incredibly moved by the story I just read. Written on the Dark is no exception. When I began reading, I was instantly engaged and continued to be engaged throughout the book. I am always sucked into Kay’s books, making for an easy and enjoyable reading experience. He just knows how to tell a story.
While this isn’t my favorite book of his, it is still quintessentially Guy Gavriel Kay. You can expect to get everything he’s known for. Beautiful prose, quick wit and surprising moments of humor, an immersive world, and likable characters who find themselves caught up in a formative part of history.
All of GGK’s book are written as a “near-history” with a quarter-turn to the fantastic, and this book takes place in a world reminiscent of medieval France, following events surrounding the Hundred Years War. Like Kay’s other works, he takes this time period of historical significance and twists it to tell the story he wants to tell. If you’re looking for pure historical fiction that faithfully follows the events of this era, you won’t find it here. It’s clearly based on that time, but Kay has the freedom to move and change things as he sees fit since this is technically a fictional world.
When it comes to the main POV of the story, this time around our focus falls on Thierry Villar, a tavern poet who stumbles into events that have far-reaching consequences for his world. I liked having this story centered on someone who would normally be nothing more than a footnote in the grand scheme of things. It’s easy to focus on the big players in a story like this, but it’s more interesting to tell it this way, through the eyes of someone who just happened to be there. There are a handful of other POVs, some with only a few paragraphs or pages. Yet even so, they still make an impression and further prove the effect anyone can have on history.
One of the things I love most about Kay’s writing is how he is able to say so much without saying anything at all. He has such a talent for giving information to the reader in a purposeful way, and it is clear that he trusts his readers to pick up on the subtext and understand what he’s saying. This book in particular showcased that talent, and I for one appreciate an author who doesn’t feel the need to spell out every single thing. It implies a mutual respect and trust between author and reader, and few writers today can manage that to the extent that Kay does. He is truly a master wordsmith, knowing exactly how to craft a sentence or paragraph to deliver maximum impact.
As usual, I ended the book with tears in my eyes. I always seem to make it through a Kay book almost to the end and think it won’t get me, yet it does every single time. I will be fine and then from one sentence to the next, I’m crying. I don’t know how he does it. Again, it’s just the way he’s expertly able to deliver a line.
This book also featured lots of Easter eggs from his previous books, so that was fun. It makes me want to go back and reread everything. That being said, it’s not necessary to have read all of those books to enjoy this one. While it’s not where I would recommend someone to start with GGK (that would be Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, or A Song for Arbonne, it won’t hurt to do so. It’s a self-contained story that requires no previous knowledge of his world or his other works.
So overall, I will say that while I don’t think this is his strongest work, it is still very good. And anything that is “very good” from GGK is better than most books.
Thank you so much to Berkley for the free book!
4.25 stars!
I am always left with a particular feeling when I finish a Guy Gavriel Kay book. Bittersweet yet hopeful, and incredibly moved by the story I just read. Written on the Dark is no exception. When I began reading, I was instantly engaged and continued to be engaged throughout the book. I am always sucked into Kay’s books, making for an easy and enjoyable reading experience. He just knows how to tell a story.
While this isn’t my favorite book of his, it is still quintessentially Guy Gavriel Kay. You can expect to get everything he’s known for. Beautiful prose, quick wit and surprising moments of humor, an immersive world, and likable characters who find themselves caught up in a formative part of history.
All of GGK’s book are written as a “near-history” with a quarter-turn to the fantastic, and this book takes place in a world reminiscent of medieval France, following events surrounding the Hundred Years War. Like Kay’s other works, he takes this time period of historical significance and twists it to tell the story he wants to tell. If you’re looking for pure historical fiction that faithfully follows the events of this era, you won’t find it here. It’s clearly based on that time, but Kay has the freedom to move and change things as he sees fit since this is technically a fictional world.
When it comes to the main POV of the story, this time around our focus falls on Thierry Villar, a tavern poet who stumbles into events that have far-reaching consequences for his world. I liked having this story centered on someone who would normally be nothing more than a footnote in the grand scheme of things. It’s easy to focus on the big players in a story like this, but it’s more interesting to tell it this way, through the eyes of someone who just happened to be there. There are a handful of other POVs, some with only a few paragraphs or pages. Yet even so, they still make an impression and further prove the effect anyone can have on history.
One of the things I love most about Kay’s writing is how he is able to say so much without saying anything at all. He has such a talent for giving information to the reader in a purposeful way, and it is clear that he trusts his readers to pick up on the subtext and understand what he’s saying. This book in particular showcased that talent, and I for one appreciate an author who doesn’t feel the need to spell out every single thing. It implies a mutual respect and trust between author and reader, and few writers today can manage that to the extent that Kay does. He is truly a master wordsmith, knowing exactly how to craft a sentence or paragraph to deliver maximum impact.
As usual, I ended the book with tears in my eyes. I always seem to make it through a Kay book almost to the end and think it won’t get me, yet it does every single time. I will be fine and then from one sentence to the next, I’m crying. I don’t know how he does it. Again, it’s just the way he’s expertly able to deliver a line.
This book also featured lots of Easter eggs from his previous books, so that was fun. It makes me want to go back and reread everything. That being said, it’s not necessary to have read all of those books to enjoy this one. While it’s not where I would recommend someone to start with GGK (that would be Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, or A Song for Arbonne, it won’t hurt to do so. It’s a self-contained story that requires no previous knowledge of his world or his other works.
So overall, I will say that while I don’t think this is his strongest work, it is still very good. And anything that is “very good” from GGK is better than most books.
Thank you so much to Berkley for the free book!
August 28, 2025
В един паралелен средновековен Париж (с друго име, разбира се), в един паралелен 15 век с една паралелна стогодишна война паралелният поет и пройдоха Франсоа Вийон (наречен тук Тиери Вилар) се забърква в разследване на убийството на втория най-могъщ човек в кралството. Освен кръчмите, Вилар се озовава на още куп други прелюбопитни места, не на последно място кралският двор, запознава се в ключови лица от епохата (включително една от най-известните поетеси от онова време), и дори … сам израства и съзрява. Последното остава леко извън реално достигналите до нас негови сатирични, подигравателни и често болезнено честни стихове, където острото му перо не жали ни беден, ни богат. Но пък Кай се забавлява с голямото шахматно поле на историята, и дори е доста благосклонен към съдбите на героите си, за разлика от други свои заглавия. Определено не е най-силният му роман, но е - както винаги - приятен за четене, не на последно място заради асоциациите и сравненията, които читателят непрекъснато е изкушен да прави с реалните събития и личности. Тази игра на асоциации е част от чара на Кай.
3,5⭐️
3,5⭐️
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