I had high expectations for this book. It was number 1 on that list. So did I like it. Yes I did, although before I go into it there's something troubling me about this particular style of fantasy it's the same thing that bugged me about Game of Thrones by George R R Martin.
It could just be the setting, a medieval one, that brings to the fore a certain quality of all the female characters. But goddamit! It makes me mad, how many attributes doe Kay give Brandin, Devin or Alessan when they are brave, stupid or whatever cruel perhaps or angry. They get their power from their qualities. Now let's have a look at the way the main female characters are described and there is only one word we need. Beautiful. Yes whenever one of the women in this world are succeeding or have influence it is because they are quote unquote, "Beautiful" or they are the most beautiful thing anyone's ever seen. Ahh, this bugged me with Daenyrs's character in Game of Thrones. Particularly how it influenced her relationship with the barbarian king guy. The same might be said of a certain character in this novel, Dianora. These are strong independant cahracters, but in both novels neither can escape that all defining attribute beauty and then of course a need for men. Not just a desire, no it's made very clear "need". I just have a problem with the language of love and desire in these books.
Still if this was all I had to say about Tigana I would have been dissapointed. There might a be a few small spoilers so don't read on if your afraid of finding out too much. In a lot of ways Tigana is very similiar to George R R Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice. Both authors clearly want to paint characters with shades of gray. Both are set in a similiar world and both are both very adult and don't shy away from sex and violence. They're both this new breed of fantasy so to speak. But I think where Tigana rocks and Song of Fire and Ice blows is the focus. There's this focus in Fire and Ice on the politics of the court, particularly a lot of characters get their kicks from manipulating and trapping others through political motivations. What I enjoyed about Tigana is that the motivations are much deeper and more tragic. There is true tragedy in the world of Tigana. The main characters have lost their home.
In fact the soceror Brandin makes it so know one can remember Tigana except the people that already lived there. He levels the whole country to the ground, destroys its history, its art, everything. Its no coincidence this sounds similiar to what happened in China during the Cultural revolution as you'll read in the afterword, which I high recommend. It just feels like the stakes are very high in this book and when the characters do sometimes stoop low we can still empathise with them. In Song of Fire and Ice, I had a hard time sympathising with any of the characters.
I'll also clear something up, because I feel as though the start of Tigana is somewhat offputting, but I think in a way how it begins is a metaphor for the story as a whole. Indeed Kay, likes to surprise us and this book has some amazing moments. Before we get to the first, we're introduced to our eyes Devin. Devin is a musical player, playing at the funeral of a former ruler of the country Astibar. He lives on the Palm, which as we will learn is currently controlled by not one socerrer but two. Brandin of Ygrath the evil bastard I told you about and Alberico from Barbadior. So all nine countries are basically under a kind of dictatorship at the start of the novel, but trust me even I was overwhelmed by the amount of foreign names dropped during the first twenty or so pages. Kay isn't guilty of what many know as the sin of info dumping. In fact I'd say I was at a loss as to why I should read on and then something magical happens around page 30 and I never put the book down for 2 straight days.
Devin becomes coincidentally embroiled in a quest with a rag-tag group, including two people from the band a girl called Catriana and Alessan the pipe player, who turns out to be the long lost prince of Tigana. I won't spoil how it happens, because this is one of those moments in the books that is amazing. Kay also takes us ona journey into the life of Dianora. In effect, there is Dianora's story and the rag-tag group's story running side by side through the novel. Dianora's story is perhaps the saddest and most heart wrenching thing about this book. She is part of Brandin's harem, but orignally she was also from Tigana. She came with one purpose in mind to kill him. I won't say more, only that I admire her character, Asisde from Kay putting her into the beautiful mold. I think the reasons to like her a far greater than we're led to believe, still personally, I do not find myself finding much sympathy for her and although I enjoyed reading the book. Some of Dianora's sectiosn frustrated me to death!
That's the thing though, Kay creates these very fleshed out characters. All the members of the band Devin, Allessan, Catriana, Baerd and co. All have flash backs and backstory and a large chunk of the novel is dedicated to explaining where they came from and who they are. There are also surprising connections between characters and we learn how they all met eachother and what they are all personally fighting for, or who. There is a particularly cool section of the book, where the story seems to take a massive detour for a chapter or so. It feels like an episode of a TV series where we follow one of the lesser known characters on a side quest, where he briefly becomes the main character. I really enjoyed this moment in the book with Baerd and the Night Watchers. I think interestingly enough that as the book focusses on two main arcs of story, although they never truly intersect,I never found myself hating that I was taken away from one of them. The beauty of it is, one of the Arcs helps tell us the story of the rebels while the other although essentially Dianora's tells us about the man who destroyed Tigana.
Indeed, Brandin is perhaps not at first what he seems. This really is a good book. I admit there are moments that frustrate the hell out of me. One such moment happened near the end where I was sure one of my favourite characters would die. I'd say that characters in this feel as expendable as those in Song of Fire and Ice. I think as well there's a focus that the book never waivers from and that is because it is self contained. I enjoy focussed stories, all too often in my experience fantasy series have the bad habit of meandering. Tigana does not and if nothing else I can guarantee that all the questions posed in the novel are very satifyingly resolved in the end.
Next time I'll be reviewing what I've learned is somewhat of a famous fantasy novel (apparently). Neil Gaiman's American Gods, so I've heard is either loved or hated, but those who read it. Until next time happy reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment