Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay starting on August 11, 2024.


Happy Reading!

Thank you! Third stage of an attack on Guy Gavriel Kay's Alterverse!

Stage 1: Tigana (Jan 10) [link]

Stage 2: Fionavar Tapestry
1. The Summer Tree (Mar 20) [link]
2. The Wandering Fire (Apr 27) [link]
3. The Darkest Road (June 3)

Audio: All on Hoopla
ebook: no free/sub versions

Stage 3: Standalones not in shared alternate-history world, with Fionavar connections.
A Song for Arbonne (Aug 11)
Ysabel (if interested)

Stage 4: Alterverse
Kay's remaining books are all set on the same planet, a fantasized version of Earth. Technically this alt-Earth is also located in the Fionavar universe, but again some minor references aside this is again completely irrelevant. The alt-Earth books are all independent of one another and do not require knowledge of the others to enjoy one, with the sole exception that the two books of the Sarantine Mosaic duology need to be read in order. Thanks to this blog (https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2019...) for the description.

Publication Order (with #s for historical order--though I grouped the Kitai ones together)
6. The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) - Andalusian Spain during the time of El Cid (11th Century).
1-2. The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium (1998) & Lord of Emperors (2000) - Byzantium at the time of Justinian I (6th Century).
5. The Last Light of the Sun (2004) - Saxon England at the time of Alfred the Great (9th Century).
3. Under Heaven (2010) - Tang Dynasty China during the An Shi Rebellion (8th Century).
4. River of Stars (2013) - Song Dynasty China during the Jin-Song Wars (12th Century).
9. Children of Earth and Sky (2016) - Dubrovnik and the Balkans (late 15th Century).
7-8 A Brightness Long Ago (2019) & All the Seas of the World (2022) - Renaissance Italy (mid-15th Century).

Most of Kay's works are on Hoopla in audio, several on Audible plus, and a few (Sarantine Mosaic & al-Rassan) are Audible only.

So I read this about a month ago but I've been really behind in commenting. I'm wondering who else might be in the same boat?

I enjoyed it, but it also suffered from some of the age and sexist tropes that we've been seeing in other Kay works... But considering that sexism is a huge theme in this book, it's hard to tell what is there because of the inherent sexism of the age it was published, and what is there due to the author trying to address it thematically...

For example, (view spoiler)[the very fact that the primary MC is male, and the saving of the female-led country relies upon his assistance, undermines the idea of gender equality--cannot women be warriors and generals also? But perhaps Kay is taking a different route--that traditionally ascribed feminine virtues and male virtues are equally valid--and that one should not be holding power over the other. But then, again, it takes a male-power (perhaps persuaded by feminine allure) to get autonomy back for Arbonne. (hide spoiler)]

I really enjoyed the musical aspects, made especially fun by the audiobook. I wish I had read this at a time of year when my mind is less distracted... this was definitely a chewy book.

Yeah I'm so sorry, I'm not sure who else wanted to read, but I've cut way back on reading due to mostly exhaustion and I'm not sure I'll be continuing with any Kay right now.. Too meaty, and I'm having a hard time getting through them. Maybe one day I'll revisit... I would like to eventually because I really liked Tigana..

I hear you! One nice thing about these--now that we're through Fionavar, these are easy to do completely separate and anywhere... We can easily toss out random Kay books once the insanity dies down somewhat... we're definitely hopping as a group this year!

True!!