The Lions of Al-Rassan in The Alternative Worlds

Nov 30, 2012 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: z-guy-gavriel-kay, into-the-past, fantasy-modern

The Lions of al-Rassan is a sweeping historical epic that examines the price of war, the deadly toll on lives that can occur when religion and politics meet and clash, the seemingly endless give and take between Christians & Muslims & Jews, the power that certain charismatic individuals can exert during times of tumult and change, and - just as important as everything i've mentioned - the nature of love and of friendship. its cast features El Cid and Ibn Ammar; it is set during Moorish Spain.

act The Lions of al-Rassan is a sweeping historical epic that examines the price of war, the deadly toll on lives that can occur when religion and politics meet and clash, the seemingly endless give and take between Christians & Muslims & Jews, the power that certain charismatic individuals can exert during times of tumult and change, and - just as important as everything i've mentioned - the nature of love and of friendship. its cast features El Cid and Ibn Ammar; it is set during Moorish Spain.

actually, no it isn't set there and those characters are nowhere to be found in this novel. and yet Moorish Spain, Ibn Ammar and El Cid, the history of conflict between Jews and Muslims and Christians are exactly what Kay is using as his templates. it is a rather ingenious idea: instead of having to worry about getting everything just right, each historical detail and each character's deeds and traits, why not just use them all as inspiration and recreate a world anew? and so the novel is considered a "fantasy" because it takes place in an alternate reality that has two moons (as well as a boy with psychic powers - but hey, that can happen right here in this dimension).

i have a GR bookshelf called "Into the Past" in which i place books that are some sort of historical fiction. The Lions of al-Rassan is on that shelf, mainly due to how this novel perfectly (and beautifully - Kay is a gorgeous writer) evokes its time period. but recreating Moorish Spain and paying homage to fascinating historical figures are not the novel's goals. this is a romantic saga that illustrates the best and the worst of mankind; the details of a past milieu are really not its overriding concern. those details are all backdrop. what it is is wonderful wish fulfillment at its purest - heroes who are wise & witty & brave & kind, a heroine who is strong & empowered & brave & kind, a story full of battles big and small, complicated political machinations and complicated villains, vivid supporting characters, a richness that is rich because in many ways it is timeless. its narrative is thrilling and melancholy and brutally clear-eyed and sweetly sentimental in equal parts. its prose is elegant and has such a lovely flowing feel to it. its themes are genuinely adult themes. it sees the need for change and yet mourns all the beautiful things buried by time. it is full of anger and gentleness.

at the heart of its story is the idea that people can actually come together, respect and love each other, move past their differences while respecting those differences - how people can truly see each other as brothers and sisters. they can come together in romantic love, they can come together as teachers and students, they can come together as a family. and most of all they can come together in friendship, as equals. the novel features one of the most heartfelt and tragic bromances i've read in a while. but it is not just about the boys - it also features a very real and very independent woman at its core. all three characters are splendid creations. for me, the best thing about their complicated relationship is how necessary each of them is to the other. at different points in the novel, each of the three characters will save the life of somone dear to another of those three characters. this was a beautiful thing, a resonant thing, a timeless thing. humans can rise above their baser instincts, they can be more than just pawns or animals or people who keep their heads down while others fall. we can save each other's lives. we can, i know we can. if not, then why even be alive? ...more

126 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2011 Terence rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Perhaps it’s incipient dementia?

I’ve lost too many brain cells to time and American TV but I just don’t get the GGK “love” evinced by many of my GR friends. I struggled through the first 100 pages of this book and seriously considered giving up entirely but I persevered to the end (albeit skimming through many pages) and left profoundly unimpressed.

Upon reflection, my difficulty with the novel is that at no point did the writing engage me. I didn’t find the alternate Medieval Spain all that inve ...more

63 likes · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, fantasy, taw-bookclub, abandoned

I usually have a rule that if a book doesn't grab my attention within 50 pages, I just drop it and move on. Too many great books, not enough time. I gave The Lions of Al-Rassan a good chance with 150 pages, and it still utterly failed to grab me. Maybe it was a bad idea to read a high-minded historical fantasy epic right after The Black Company. Or maybe I'm too old and grumpy for bombastic opera-like fantasies. Maybe A Game of Thrones has made fantasy unpalatable unless it features a threshold I usually have a rule that if a book doesn't grab my attention within 50 pages, I just drop it and move on. Too many great books, not enough time. I gave The Lions of Al-Rassan a good chance with 150 pages, and it still utterly failed to grab me. Maybe it was a bad idea to read a high-minded historical fantasy epic right after The Black Company. Or maybe I'm too old and grumpy for bombastic opera-like fantasies. Maybe A Game of Thrones has made fantasy unpalatable unless it features a threshold amount of scars and realpolitik. I dunno.

All I know is, I neither care for the style nor for the characters. The prose felt to me like what a 15 year-old boy would find amazing. It's full of semi-clever turns of phrases and descriptions, but it still drips with dialog adverbs. And man, it's so bloody high-minded. The author uses the word 'congress' to describe fucking, for crying out loud.

The setting bugs me. I know it's historical fantasy. But see, when George R.R. Martin strips medieval Europe of its specifics for the purpose of creating a fantasy world, he replaces the cultural details he takes out with some appealing details of his own. But The Lions of Al-Rassan is just stripped down, diluted Moorish Spain. You can tell right away who are the Jews, the Arabs, and the Christians, except that they're from an alternate universe where everything lacks detail and texture. Gone is the aesthetics of Islam, for instance, or the gravitas of Jewish history. Instead we get Kindath waxing poetic about how it sucks to be a wandering people.

The characters never pulled me in. They're all suitably noble yet mischievous, and the women are appropriately strong and independent despite living as second-class citizens. It's just all so pat. They feel like the vanilla ice cream of fantasy protagonists.

My only regret in dropping this book early is that I won't get to witness the magnificence of the intercultural bromance at the heart of this book. Ah well. I'm sure it was filled with just the right amount of drama and yearning. ...more

22 likes · Like · see review

May 25, 2016 Brad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2016, historical, canadian-lit, what-my-kids-are-reading, faves

I have been known to argue against hope. To argue that hope is evervating. That it leads to apathy and inaction. That it is anathema to change. I have argued these things and probably will again, so it is particularly strange that one of my all time favourite books should be a book so filled with hope, so about hope.

In this age of fantasy books great and not so great getting their own shows on HBO or Netflix or MTV, my most fervent wish is to see The Lions of al-Rassan on screen. Not only do I I have been known to argue against hope. To argue that hope is evervating. That it leads to apathy and inaction. That it is anathema to change. I have argued these things and probably will again, so it is particularly strange that one of my all time favourite books should be a book so filled with hope, so about hope.

In this age of fantasy books great and not so great getting their own shows on HBO or Netflix or MTV, my most fervent wish is to see The Lions of al-Rassan on screen. Not only do I think it would make an insanely entertaining show, but I think it could be the most important show of its kind in our popular culture precisely because of its message of hope.

Guy Gavriel Kay's Lions of al-Rassan offers a slightly veiled take on the al-Andalusian period in medieval Spain, replacing the Catholic Spanish with the Jaddites, the Jewish diaspora with the Kindath, and the Muslims with the Asharites. Amongst these groups are individuals capable of almost any atrocity, but there are also individuals capable of almost any sacrifice or goodness too. It is from these benevolent moments, springing out of two cultures of fundamentalism, superstition and ever changing power, that Kay delivers us his message of hope. That there are men and women -- no matter what surrounds them -- who strive to make their world and their lives and the lives of those around them better, and that they can come from the same culture (and religious background) and ethical structure that creates the ugliest expressions of humanity.

Some of the criticism I have read of the Lions of al-Rassan, takes Kay to task for both the almost superhuman skills of his main players, and what is often seen as the black and white of their beliefs and actions. And while I can see that this is present (more in their talents than in their belief systems), I do think that these qualities are purposefully present so that Kay can make his greater case for hope. Jehane, the brilliant Kindath physician, and the two men she loves, the poet-assassin-swordsmen-general Ammar ibn Khairan and the swordsman-general-leader Rodrigo Belmonte, are great at all the things they do, and they each embody what could be best about their peoples. These archetypes are employed to point a way to greatness of spirit as much as greatness in the individual, to offer us inspiration in a trio of characters deserving of our love.

For all their archetypal greatness, however, I am and always have been most impressed by their complexity. Each of them contains beliefs that can't help but create internal conflict in a world of mixed loyalty, religious complexity, cultural inertia and extreme violence. So many of the feelings they have are in direct opposition to the things they are told they should feel, so many of the things they are contravene the standards of the day, and rarely are they faced with easy decisions, and when they are they don't always make what we may consider the best or right decisions. Yet through it all they -- and even many of the supporting characters -- remain self-aware, and that it is within that self-awareness that the good of all the characters, even the most blatantly villainous, can be found.

And that is the place from which the hope of The Lions of al-Rassan springs. It is a beautiful message, and we need it now more than ever. So long as it doesn't make us believe that it can be done by anyone other than ourselves. ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2017 Nicky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

Guy Gavriel Kay’s books are almost always worth a second read, and The Lions of Al-Rassan is no exception. (Sorry, but Ysabel remains the outlier. I’m sure somebody likes that one, but not me.) The Lions of Al-Rassan is based on the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, with all the clashes between religions you’d expect. The Jaddites are pretty plainly Christians, the Kindath are Jewish, and the Asharites are Muslims — more or less. There are some variations.

As you’d expect from Guy Gavriel Kay, Guy Gavriel Kay’s books are almost always worth a second read, and The Lions of Al-Rassan is no exception. (Sorry, but Ysabel remains the outlier. I’m sure somebody likes that one, but not me.) The Lions of Al-Rassan is based on the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, with all the clashes between religions you’d expect. The Jaddites are pretty plainly Christians, the Kindath are Jewish, and the Asharites are Muslims — more or less. There are some variations.

As you’d expect from Guy Gavriel Kay, nothing is that simple. It’s not just about the clash of cultures, but what they can give to each other and how, perhaps, they could live alongside each other… except of course for the folly of humans, which means it never works out for long. But while nothing works on the grand level, the various characters find ways to learn from each other and live with each other on the individual level — and therein lies the tragedy, as their loyalties conflict and they are ultimately and unwillingly forced to choose.

I love all three of the main characters, and many of the side characters too. Jehane is particularly awesome, especially the fact that she’s not just a serious female physician with dignity to stand upon. She’s also funny, daring, sexual, warm… and self-controlled to her own detriment. Then there’s Ammar, who loves his country despite his faults, who will not abandon his people despite everything — and who also finds room to love those outside his experience. And Rodrigo, so faithful to his wife, to his king…

And then, of course, there are characters like Miranda, and her determined defence of her home and family — and of her right not to be jerked around by her spouse, who honestly better watch himself.

And then… As my wife just said: “Imagine the most loving meat-grinder, and then put all your emotions into it.” That’s pretty much this book.

It’s beautiful and painful and if you get emotionally involved with it, you will be ripped to shreds. And you’ll like it. Sort of.

Originally reviewed for The Bibliophibian. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 22, 2008 Nicky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction-alternatehistory

I expected to love The Lions of Al-Rassan. After all, it's Guy Gavriel Kay, and my mother wept for hours over the ending. I have to say I didn't cry, but I came close.

In terms of plot, this is again one of his semi-historical ones, and again, I don't know the time period very well at all. I think it'd probably help if I did: with this one, I just had to keep pushing through my confusion to grasp what was going on -- not that that was a hardship. I've found that even if you don't quite know what' I expected to love The Lions of Al-Rassan. After all, it's Guy Gavriel Kay, and my mother wept for hours over the ending. I have to say I didn't cry, but I came close.

In terms of plot, this is again one of his semi-historical ones, and again, I don't know the time period very well at all. I think it'd probably help if I did: with this one, I just had to keep pushing through my confusion to grasp what was going on -- not that that was a hardship. I've found that even if you don't quite know what's going on at first, if you just hang on and pay attention to all the details, it'll be fine. There's no problem with his world-building, even without knowing the world he's trying to match. One thing I did notice in this book was long stretches of narrative in which events are described, but without close attention to what exactly is going on. If there'd been a bit less of that, I might have felt closer to the characters and less disconnected from the plot.

Something new I noticed, in this one, was his way of hiding what is actually happening. Several times somebody dies, and he misleads you as to who for several pages, and then suddenly it's revealed, and it's not who you were expecting. That got a little irritating, to be honest.

Character-wise, again, GGK is wonderful. I always care about his characters -- rarely so much as the characters in the Fionavar Tapestry books, but that's largely due to how much building up can be done in three books, I think. In this book, he really hurts you with that. The special thing for me was the complex, strange relationship between Ammar and Rodrigo. I half-expected them to kill each other, at the very end, thanks to what Ammar -- I think -- said to Rodrigo when they fought side-by-side: "Shall we kill each other for them now, to set a seal on it?" That would have had a certain rightness to it.

I'm not sure I agree with the people who say this is his best book, but it's certainly a good one and I'm very likely to come back to it, and no doubt I'll love it even more the second time. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2011 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: to-reread, historical-fantasy, book_club, ebook, bromance

Kay obviously and lovingly researches history in depth before sitting down to write a book - for those unfamiliar with him, his thing is writing vast epics that take place in a nearly recognizable medieval Europe. sometimes, he gets bogged down in the details, and those epics sag in places.

this is not that book.

'lions' tells a tale that's akin to the Spanish catholic war against the moors, full of domed cities, rich wine, and masked carnivale. the action starts off with a swiftly imperiled her ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 29, 2011 Suz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, book-club, historical, alternate

This is easily one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read.

Kay loves his alternative historical fantasy story lines, and while you could question how fantasy this really is, there is no doubt that this is definitely alternative history.

(Loosely) Set in Moorish Spain, it revolves around three characters, each belonging to one of the three major faiths in the land and explores attitudes within and between beliefs, the use of religion, intra-personal relationships and conflicts. Kay c ...more

Like · see review

Sep 20, 2012 Andy rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is the first of Guy Kay's books that I have read.

I liked the characters but it was a very plot oriented novel. In fact the last part of the book glossed over much of the interesting relationship conflicts and just talked about the major events in the characters lives.

From the plot point of view I did like the world that Kay invented. It had a very middle eastern atmosphere (I'm from Kansas so not a Middle Eastern expert). The point of view was primarily from the privileged/ruling class an ...more

Like · see review

Jun 08, 2011 andrea rated it really liked it

i'd forgotten how well kay writes. i don't think i'll forget again and of course now i want to read all of his books. each one, i suspect, is a heartbreaker, as this one was most definitely was, so i have to take it slow, savoring them and protecting my heart a bit.

what a book! i wish i could give this book to my dad, he would have loved it i think. ...more

Like · see review