alexmegami (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alexmegami) wrote2006-06-22 06:11 pm
alexmegami) wrote2006-06-22 06:11 pm
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A book review!
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
Thoughts immediately upon entering the last 50 pages:
1. Okay, where on EARTH did the Alessan/Catriana thing come from? Seriously. Thin air.
2. Uh, guys? Middle of the beginning of warfare? NOT THE TIME TO BE MAKING OUT WITH HOT CHICKS. SRSLY. Gah!
3. I really, really don't like Alessan or Devin that much. See point #2.
4. Why is it that the girls only do something of real use a) at the very end of the story, in one, dramatic action, or b) because of divine intervention? Why is it the men doing all the plotting (at least in matters of the war)?
5. I still like Brandin.
6. Oh, shit, I totally wasn't expecting that.
7. And now he's dead. Of course.
8. And Dianora. Why is it always the ones I'm rooting for?
9. Scelto is an ass. But I like him, too.
Okay! More actual-thoughts on the book.
For the most part, I enjoyed the flow of the book. There were a few parts, especially with Dianora, where Kay had no easy way to explain the past, and so he used flashbacks; these were not bad, per se, but I felt they were overly long. I had to stop and remember where the real-time action had left off. For the most part, I also enjoyed the actual text, although there were a few moments of "ugh, missing commas," and "ew, that sentence fragment really doesn't work for me". It wasn't terrible, and it only impeded my understanding a few times, but they did stick out in an otherwise interesting and well-written novel.
As for the characters... I must be honest, empathizing with Devin and Alessan was difficult, at best. I don't think I like Alessan even now, at the end, and Devin is a "meh". I never liked Catriana, but at least I sort of understood her. I love Alais dearly, but to be honest? The Devin thing is almost as out-of-nowhere as the Alessan/Catriana bit. Okay, sure, love at first sight, but in terms of the book? They have spent, oh, maybe a week together. At least Alessan and Catriana had time together. Baerd and Elena fall under this, as well.
As said before, I really, really like Dianora. Because she was conflicted, and ultimately trying to bring about the death of a man that she loved against all odds. Because love doesn't work in completely explicable ways. And Brandin, because despite the fact that he destroyed an entire city-state and ripped it from the tongues of men, he did it because of love and loss. There was a passion to them that I enjoyed. They evoked where the other characters did not.
I didn't like the implications surrounding Alienor's sexual proclivities (or the implication of what caused Tomasso's, in the beginning). It was as though no one could opt for BDSM out of a desire for it, rather than as a way of expressing pain at personal spiritual bondage. That bothered me a lot.
A good chunk of the women's power came out of their beauty, as well, which bothered me too. Catriana? A terrible beauty. Eventually starts the war with beauty. Alienor? Beautiful, ultimately kind of useless to the plot except as anything other than a messenger. Alais? Quietly beautiful, the one with a head on her shoulders, gets maybe 20 pages of POV. Dianora? Exceptionally beautiful and a great liar.
Minor pickiness: why call it khav? It's obviously coffee. You call wine wine, why not just give coffee its name?
Other minor pick: Why is it always the vaguely-disguised Germans that are the big bad?
Okay, and, Sandre dies, Baerd is blessed, and Devin forks. Woo? Who cares?
Overall, while I enjoyed the book, I felt limited in enjoyment because of things that kept jumping out at me, as detailed above. If the men had been more... accessible, and the women more useful, I think a lot of my problems would have eased. As it is, if I read it again, it will most likely only be the Dianora and Brandin sections.
However, I quite liked this quote, so I am going to put it here:
It was astonishing in a way, but that course [...] - the life he'd woken to this morning - seemed almost inconcievable to him now, as if he'd already crossed to the other side of some tremendous divide. Devin wondered how often men did what they did, made the choices of their lives, for reasons that were clean and uncomplicated and easily understood as they were happening. (p.133)
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
Thoughts immediately upon entering the last 50 pages:
1. Okay, where on EARTH did the Alessan/Catriana thing come from? Seriously. Thin air.
2. Uh, guys? Middle of the beginning of warfare? NOT THE TIME TO BE MAKING OUT WITH HOT CHICKS. SRSLY. Gah!
3. I really, really don't like Alessan or Devin that much. See point #2.
4. Why is it that the girls only do something of real use a) at the very end of the story, in one, dramatic action, or b) because of divine intervention? Why is it the men doing all the plotting (at least in matters of the war)?
5. I still like Brandin.
6. Oh, shit, I totally wasn't expecting that.
7. And now he's dead. Of course.
8. And Dianora. Why is it always the ones I'm rooting for?
9. Scelto is an ass. But I like him, too.
Okay! More actual-thoughts on the book.
For the most part, I enjoyed the flow of the book. There were a few parts, especially with Dianora, where Kay had no easy way to explain the past, and so he used flashbacks; these were not bad, per se, but I felt they were overly long. I had to stop and remember where the real-time action had left off. For the most part, I also enjoyed the actual text, although there were a few moments of "ugh, missing commas," and "ew, that sentence fragment really doesn't work for me". It wasn't terrible, and it only impeded my understanding a few times, but they did stick out in an otherwise interesting and well-written novel.
As for the characters... I must be honest, empathizing with Devin and Alessan was difficult, at best. I don't think I like Alessan even now, at the end, and Devin is a "meh". I never liked Catriana, but at least I sort of understood her. I love Alais dearly, but to be honest? The Devin thing is almost as out-of-nowhere as the Alessan/Catriana bit. Okay, sure, love at first sight, but in terms of the book? They have spent, oh, maybe a week together. At least Alessan and Catriana had time together. Baerd and Elena fall under this, as well.
As said before, I really, really like Dianora. Because she was conflicted, and ultimately trying to bring about the death of a man that she loved against all odds. Because love doesn't work in completely explicable ways. And Brandin, because despite the fact that he destroyed an entire city-state and ripped it from the tongues of men, he did it because of love and loss. There was a passion to them that I enjoyed. They evoked where the other characters did not.
I didn't like the implications surrounding Alienor's sexual proclivities (or the implication of what caused Tomasso's, in the beginning). It was as though no one could opt for BDSM out of a desire for it, rather than as a way of expressing pain at personal spiritual bondage. That bothered me a lot.
A good chunk of the women's power came out of their beauty, as well, which bothered me too. Catriana? A terrible beauty. Eventually starts the war with beauty. Alienor? Beautiful, ultimately kind of useless to the plot except as anything other than a messenger. Alais? Quietly beautiful, the one with a head on her shoulders, gets maybe 20 pages of POV. Dianora? Exceptionally beautiful and a great liar.
Minor pickiness: why call it khav? It's obviously coffee. You call wine wine, why not just give coffee its name?
Other minor pick: Why is it always the vaguely-disguised Germans that are the big bad?
Okay, and, Sandre dies, Baerd is blessed, and Devin forks. Woo? Who cares?
Overall, while I enjoyed the book, I felt limited in enjoyment because of things that kept jumping out at me, as detailed above. If the men had been more... accessible, and the women more useful, I think a lot of my problems would have eased. As it is, if I read it again, it will most likely only be the Dianora and Brandin sections.
However, I quite liked this quote, so I am going to put it here:
It was astonishing in a way, but that course [...] - the life he'd woken to this morning - seemed almost inconcievable to him now, as if he'd already crossed to the other side of some tremendous divide. Devin wondered how often men did what they did, made the choices of their lives, for reasons that were clean and uncomplicated and easily understood as they were happening. (p.133)