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Ysabel
Provence, in the south of France, is a part of the world that has been—and continues to be—called a paradise. But one of the lessons that history teaches is that paradise is coveted and fought over. Successive waves of invaders have claimed—or tried to claim—those vineyards, rivers, olive groves, and hills.
In Guy Gavriel Kay’s new novel, Ysabel, this duality—of exquisite beauty and violent history—is explored in a work that marks a departure from Kay’s historical fantasies set in various analogues of the past.
Ysabel takes place in the world of today: in a modern springtime, in and around the celebrated city of Aix-en-Provence near Marseilles. Dangerous, mythic figures from the Celtic and Roman conflicts of the past erupt into the present, claiming and changing lives.
The protagonist is Ned Marriner, the fifteen year-old son of a well-known photographer. Ned has accompanied his father, Edward Marriner, and a team of assistants to Provence for a six week “shoot.”
In Guy Gavriel Kay’s new novel, Ysabel, this duality—of exquisite beauty and violent history—is explored in a work that marks a departure from Kay’s historical fantasies set in various analogues of the past.
Ysabel takes place in the world of today: in a modern springtime, in and around the celebrated city of Aix-en-Provence near Marseilles. Dangerous, mythic figures from the Celtic and Roman conflicts of the past erupt into the present, claiming and changing lives.
The protagonist is Ned Marriner, the fifteen year-old son of a well-known photographer. Ned has accompanied his father, Edward Marriner, and a team of assistants to Provence for a six week “shoot.”
506 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 9, 2007
190 people are currently reading
5073 people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
42 books9,302 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 1,063 reviews
March 18, 2008
I'm not sure wtf is going on w/ Kay. He's always had William Shatner-esque tendencies towards the overly dramatic statement. (KHAN!!!) I find it annoying but bearable if the plot and characterization are decent (See his Fionavar Tapestry trilogy for example). Here he introduces a 2nd element that’s equally annoying: wrap the basic story in a wet blanket of obtuse statements. Much of the book is devoted to the characters either thinking or expounding on the fact that they don’t know anything. Fine, we get it, you’re confused. Must you tell us about it on every page? I guess so.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Kay bring back 2 characters from the Fionavar Tapestry for this story. Then he completely fails to properly introduce or develop them.
To make it worse they run around scaring off bad guys and saving the main character by bragging about their powers and/or ‘connections‘ off screen, i.e. in Gaelic. You never have any idea wtf they’re saying. If you hadn’t read the other books, this would make NO SENSE. They use references to events in another story, in another language, to make themselves look tough. Things like this work better if you....well....EXPLAIN THEM. My irritation level only rose when I realized that there was to be no back story about these characters, rather they just talk endlessly about how they can’t talk about their past.
If I was the main character in this book, I would have popped a few Xanax, murdered everyone around me and gone off to solve the mystery by myself.
His previous book, Last Light of the Sun was well written. It didn’t necessarily progress in the traditional story arc of a fantasy novel (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but it had good prose and was definitely not painful to read. Not the case here. What was a really interesting idea just doesn’t go anywhere.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Kay bring back 2 characters from the Fionavar Tapestry for this story. Then he completely fails to properly introduce or develop them.
To make it worse they run around scaring off bad guys and saving the main character by bragging about their powers and/or ‘connections‘ off screen, i.e. in Gaelic. You never have any idea wtf they’re saying. If you hadn’t read the other books, this would make NO SENSE. They use references to events in another story, in another language, to make themselves look tough. Things like this work better if you....well....EXPLAIN THEM. My irritation level only rose when I realized that there was to be no back story about these characters, rather they just talk endlessly about how they can’t talk about their past.
If I was the main character in this book, I would have popped a few Xanax, murdered everyone around me and gone off to solve the mystery by myself.
His previous book, Last Light of the Sun was well written. It didn’t necessarily progress in the traditional story arc of a fantasy novel (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but it had good prose and was definitely not painful to read. Not the case here. What was a really interesting idea just doesn’t go anywhere.
January 18, 2026
“She is worth it, always and ever”
Guy Gavriel Kay’s fascinating urban fantasy, YSABEL is the story of 15 year old Ned Marriner who, in the process of discovering and exploring the strength and wonder of the magic of his ancient ancestral heritage, blunders into a no-holds-barred battle between a determined Celtic warrior and a Roman soldier who are fighting for the love of an eternal temptress named Ysabel. Despite the spectacularly unfinished flavour of the story, readers will be enchanted by Kay’s story-telling prowess – the budding romance between Ned and a New York exchange student in Aix-en-Provence that he meets by chance while scouting out locations for his father’s upcoming photo book; the re-establishment of a loving relationship between two estranged sisters; the power and importance of romantic love and mutual respect in a successful marriage; the respect for rules of engagement in an honourable war; the electric, near unavoidable sexual attraction of two people thrown together in stressful circumstances and much, much more.
YSABEL must be considered an overwhelming success for lovers of the fantasy genre. It skillfully combines realism, compelling narrative description of a wonderful location, urban modernity, romance and persevering love, teenage angst and blossoming romance and, of course, the strength of magic and mind.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Guy Gavriel Kay’s fascinating urban fantasy, YSABEL is the story of 15 year old Ned Marriner who, in the process of discovering and exploring the strength and wonder of the magic of his ancient ancestral heritage, blunders into a no-holds-barred battle between a determined Celtic warrior and a Roman soldier who are fighting for the love of an eternal temptress named Ysabel. Despite the spectacularly unfinished flavour of the story, readers will be enchanted by Kay’s story-telling prowess – the budding romance between Ned and a New York exchange student in Aix-en-Provence that he meets by chance while scouting out locations for his father’s upcoming photo book; the re-establishment of a loving relationship between two estranged sisters; the power and importance of romantic love and mutual respect in a successful marriage; the respect for rules of engagement in an honourable war; the electric, near unavoidable sexual attraction of two people thrown together in stressful circumstances and much, much more.
YSABEL must be considered an overwhelming success for lovers of the fantasy genre. It skillfully combines realism, compelling narrative description of a wonderful location, urban modernity, romance and persevering love, teenage angst and blossoming romance and, of course, the strength of magic and mind.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
January 17, 2020
So odd! All throughout the reading of this, I was reminded of the later-published Discovery of Witches by Harkness. Not the story or the characters or the incidentals, mind you, but the FEEL of it. And this one won the World Fantasy Award.
Could it have been a massive influence? Possibly.
Back to this book! It's a real departure from most of the Kay I've read, not steeping itself in historical memorabilia so much as building a bridge between the Celtic history of France and our modern day.
I'll be honest... I loved the feel of it. A lot. It has a genuine YA feel and it is thoroughly wholesome on top of that. Moreso, it had a nice horror feel to some of it as we got moved from the thoroughly grounded modern day things and get plopped into whole-cloth near-immortals and Celtic gods and legends that just rolled over my tongue so deliciously. The YA adventure wasn't half-bad, either! :)
This might be one of my favorite Kay novels. So far. And that isn't because of the award. It's just because it did what Kay's original trilogy that bridged worlds couldn't do for me. It made me care. :)
Could it have been a massive influence? Possibly.
Back to this book! It's a real departure from most of the Kay I've read, not steeping itself in historical memorabilia so much as building a bridge between the Celtic history of France and our modern day.
I'll be honest... I loved the feel of it. A lot. It has a genuine YA feel and it is thoroughly wholesome on top of that. Moreso, it had a nice horror feel to some of it as we got moved from the thoroughly grounded modern day things and get plopped into whole-cloth near-immortals and Celtic gods and legends that just rolled over my tongue so deliciously. The YA adventure wasn't half-bad, either! :)
This might be one of my favorite Kay novels. So far. And that isn't because of the award. It's just because it did what Kay's original trilogy that bridged worlds couldn't do for me. It made me care. :)
August 15, 2007
I can see both sides of the debate people seem to be having about this book. Yes, it's not as rich and deep as his other work. Yes, sometimes it felt like you were trapped in the shallow end of a swimming pool, when you know that, if you could just get there, there's a dazzling, deep lagoon just beyond your reach. If you're familiar with Kay's work, this could be frustrating. But I think it's also clear that Kay wrote this story for his sons. As such, I'm grateful he shared it with us.
It was wonderful to revisit some of these characters. (I'd always wondered if Kim went with Dave on that date). And, while it was not necessary to have read Fionavar, I think that experience added some of that depth back to the book. The bull, the boar, Liadon, the immutable triangle, a fight between a wolf and someone named Cadell, and even Dave's alias (Ivorson!) gave the plot that heartbreaking quality we've all come to expect from Kay. (Not to mention one throat-catching scene where someone catches up a plate and throws it at his adversary like a discus)
The primary relationships here are ones between "normal" people. We don't care as much about the triumvirate, which is part of the point of the book: It's a re-re-imagining. And the two men who are fighting are neither friends nor brothers, so it's not as poignant as Ammar/Rodrigo (as if anything could be) or Arthur/Lancelot, but it's touching on several other, unexpected levels. In many ways this is much more a book about "normal" families and how they deal with stress. There was one moment when I thought Kay was going to commit an Unforgivable Sin with regard to Dave, but he didn't. Which is good, because I still haven't gotten over his last Unforgivable Sin in Lions.
All in all, no this wasn't in the vein of Kay's recent work, but it was still wonderful, still really fun to read, and still incredibly sad when it ends.
It was wonderful to revisit some of these characters. (I'd always wondered if Kim went with Dave on that date). And, while it was not necessary to have read Fionavar, I think that experience added some of that depth back to the book. The bull, the boar, Liadon, the immutable triangle, a fight between a wolf and someone named Cadell, and even Dave's alias (Ivorson!) gave the plot that heartbreaking quality we've all come to expect from Kay. (Not to mention one throat-catching scene where someone catches up a plate and throws it at his adversary like a discus)
The primary relationships here are ones between "normal" people. We don't care as much about the triumvirate, which is part of the point of the book: It's a re-re-imagining. And the two men who are fighting are neither friends nor brothers, so it's not as poignant as Ammar/Rodrigo (as if anything could be) or Arthur/Lancelot, but it's touching on several other, unexpected levels. In many ways this is much more a book about "normal" families and how they deal with stress. There was one moment when I thought Kay was going to commit an Unforgivable Sin with regard to Dave, but he didn't. Which is good, because I still haven't gotten over his last Unforgivable Sin in Lions.
All in all, no this wasn't in the vein of Kay's recent work, but it was still wonderful, still really fun to read, and still incredibly sad when it ends.
March 31, 2010
Not at all representative of the general quality of the author's work. If this is your first read with Kay, I understand your rejection, but please try ANYTHING else and give him another chance. This is Evil Twin Imposter Kay, not real Kay, I promise!
May 23, 2020
I was close to giving this book 2 stars but I give it 3 stars because there are enough flashes of Kay's brilliance for more than that.
Story is actually great. Writing style is bit more raw and I got strong Fionavar tapestry vibes even before 2 characters from that series showed up as important side characters. Where this book fails characters and their interactions.
Characterization has so far been Kay's strong point, it's what caries Sailing to Sarantium to greatness (which is otherwise slow and uneventful book) but in this book almost every character (aside from two “antagonists” which are great characters) feels underdeveloped especially protagonist which is just a generic teen. Absolutely unremarkable and so forgetful that hour after finishing this I needed to look at blurb because I already forgot his name. His dialogs with the other teen and love interest, Kate, are sometimes hard to read. There is a lot of banter and sometimes it's fun but Kay overdid it and forgets that people can talk normally.
Story is actually great. Writing style is bit more raw and I got strong Fionavar tapestry vibes even before 2 characters from that series showed up as important side characters. Where this book fails characters and their interactions.
Characterization has so far been Kay's strong point, it's what caries Sailing to Sarantium to greatness (which is otherwise slow and uneventful book) but in this book almost every character (aside from two “antagonists” which are great characters) feels underdeveloped especially protagonist which is just a generic teen. Absolutely unremarkable and so forgetful that hour after finishing this I needed to look at blurb because I already forgot his name. His dialogs with the other teen and love interest, Kate, are sometimes hard to read. There is a lot of banter and sometimes it's fun but Kay overdid it and forgets that people can talk normally.
December 13, 2018
What a thoroughly unremarkable book from such an exceptionally skilled fantasy writer.
Guy Gavriel Kay is by far my favourite author of what I'd call historical fantasy. That being said, his historical fantasy can be divided in two, both solidly anchored in our own world, history and legends.
The first type of book that he writes is something set, at least initially, in our own world, where he writes about modern teenagers getting involved in some magical fantasy. The Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel are both examples of this, they are both blatantly unimpressive and overall an overwhelming disappointment.
The second type is where he creates a new fantastic world based on some narrow and fascinating window of human history, and ends up creating some of the most incredible literary masterpieces of the fantasy genre, such as Tigana and The Sarantine Mosaic.
So when I read Ysabel, although it was a decent book, I wish Kay would just stick to what he is astoundingly good at.
Guy Gavriel Kay is by far my favourite author of what I'd call historical fantasy. That being said, his historical fantasy can be divided in two, both solidly anchored in our own world, history and legends.
The first type of book that he writes is something set, at least initially, in our own world, where he writes about modern teenagers getting involved in some magical fantasy. The Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel are both examples of this, they are both blatantly unimpressive and overall an overwhelming disappointment.
The second type is where he creates a new fantastic world based on some narrow and fascinating window of human history, and ends up creating some of the most incredible literary masterpieces of the fantasy genre, such as Tigana and The Sarantine Mosaic.
So when I read Ysabel, although it was a decent book, I wish Kay would just stick to what he is astoundingly good at.
March 12, 2019
I was disappointed by this book, mostly because I expect so much from Guy Gavriel Kay.
Ysabel starts out strong but didn't manage to keep my interest. As a whole it lacks the richness GGK's other books offer. The characters remain under-developed, and I couldn't connect with any of them. The plot is pretty predictable as well.
I wouldn't recommend this one, and would say people new to GGK are better off either reading The Lions of Al-Rassan or Tigana.
Ysabel starts out strong but didn't manage to keep my interest. As a whole it lacks the richness GGK's other books offer. The characters remain under-developed, and I couldn't connect with any of them. The plot is pretty predictable as well.
I wouldn't recommend this one, and would say people new to GGK are better off either reading The Lions of Al-Rassan or Tigana.
September 23, 2010
Warning : I am not going to mark it as containing spoilers, because I think all examples I give are vague and do not give away plot points. But they are probably spoilerish about specific details, so if you are very careful about spoilers, better avoid this till you have read it. Though my advice really is: don´t read it.
Back to the book, I should have known better. But in a way I am sort of glad to have read it, despite thinking it is really a quite bad book. There is a spoilerish link to another book which would have made me want to read it anyway. But mostly this new book helped me figure out what exactly is my problem, my beef, with Guy Gavriel Kay´s writing. For quite a while I felt like a black sheep, nearly everybody I know whose tastes I respect lurved his books. Leaving me going "yeah, but don´t you think this or that"?. And me without being able to articulate precisely what is that bugged me so much and why I thought that no, his books really are not that good. Ysabel at least helps me ID what - GGK writes not so much of how things are, but how he wishes history was. And it´s mythological history, full of impossibly beautiful queens, tragic loves, pure melodrama rather than drama. It is just too shallow, too theatrical, too ridiculous in comparison with real history.Combine that with an overdose of little tricks to deceive the reader, a love of pointlessly dramatic prose and it can get very syrupy.
The use of history as some sort of backdrop to a recurring eternal love triangle is just not convincing here. Hints are dropped, a few details told, but I remain uninformed of what is the antagonism is supposed to be really about? What eternal struggle is that supposed to mean, what resonances does it have for other places and cultures? And as far as I could understand, it seems it was all about being foreigner to Provence and not being "foreigner" ( and Ysabel being some uber bitchy stereotype whose main function seems to be beautiful and wanted. Not very flattering if she is meant to represent Provence), but that interpretation is literally foreign to me. And unlike Fionavar, dogmatically declared to be the one true land, Provence is not completely convincing as being The Land About Which All Is About. Oh yeah? Surely every reader will have other lands he or she can suggest as being as special. The resolution of that conflict feels completely out of the blue by the way.
And now for a few nitpicks, because I just got to rant a tiny little bit...
- Were the celts supposed to be huge and golden haired? Hmm, I don´t think so. That is just a symptom, that GGK is using real history to project his own private world into. It has not been convincing me for a long while, but it´s particularly out of tune here in this modern setting.
- Other people have mentioned how incongruous the modern-touch references were. Oh yes. Lots of brand-name dropping and a particularly unconvincing teenager who seems to have the music tastes of a 40+ year old and who runs listening to his ipod ( a real ipod I mean. not nano or shuffle. Where does he tuck it in on his clothing? we got all details of him getting ready to run, but where do you put a real-big-ipod when you go running?). Same teenager does not send one text message the whole book and seems unable to find a number in his mobile phone´s adress book without using fast dialup. Dude, if I was 15 years of age I would be insulted, there is no 15 year old in the world who needs fast dialup to look a phone number! Actually my inner teenager actually is insulted at the way teenagers act. Real teens don´t flirt the same way 30/40 year olds do, their interaction was just unbelievable!
- GGK main characters are always superlative at something, almost annoyingly so. The plot here depends very much, too much,on Ned always finding extra power or ability or something within him which makes him even more special and unique all the time.
- Ever noticed how his main male characters always have women throwing themselves at them (sexually) even in the unlikeliest of scenarios? James Bond syndrome I call it, and in a few instances it gets extremely unlikely ( yeah, widowed red-haired bearded mosaic artists have huge potential as sex symbols. Not) Here it has the distinction of going from just unlikely all the way to very unlikely and extremely creepy. I puke. Really.
- The prose. Some people like it, but there are some examples from this book which, in my opinion, have crossed the purple line by meters....
Back to the book, I should have known better. But in a way I am sort of glad to have read it, despite thinking it is really a quite bad book. There is a spoilerish link to another book which would have made me want to read it anyway. But mostly this new book helped me figure out what exactly is my problem, my beef, with Guy Gavriel Kay´s writing. For quite a while I felt like a black sheep, nearly everybody I know whose tastes I respect lurved his books. Leaving me going "yeah, but don´t you think this or that"?. And me without being able to articulate precisely what is that bugged me so much and why I thought that no, his books really are not that good. Ysabel at least helps me ID what - GGK writes not so much of how things are, but how he wishes history was. And it´s mythological history, full of impossibly beautiful queens, tragic loves, pure melodrama rather than drama. It is just too shallow, too theatrical, too ridiculous in comparison with real history.Combine that with an overdose of little tricks to deceive the reader, a love of pointlessly dramatic prose and it can get very syrupy.
The use of history as some sort of backdrop to a recurring eternal love triangle is just not convincing here. Hints are dropped, a few details told, but I remain uninformed of what is the antagonism is supposed to be really about? What eternal struggle is that supposed to mean, what resonances does it have for other places and cultures? And as far as I could understand, it seems it was all about being foreigner to Provence and not being "foreigner" ( and Ysabel being some uber bitchy stereotype whose main function seems to be beautiful and wanted. Not very flattering if she is meant to represent Provence), but that interpretation is literally foreign to me. And unlike Fionavar, dogmatically declared to be the one true land, Provence is not completely convincing as being The Land About Which All Is About. Oh yeah? Surely every reader will have other lands he or she can suggest as being as special. The resolution of that conflict feels completely out of the blue by the way.
And now for a few nitpicks, because I just got to rant a tiny little bit...
- Were the celts supposed to be huge and golden haired? Hmm, I don´t think so. That is just a symptom, that GGK is using real history to project his own private world into. It has not been convincing me for a long while, but it´s particularly out of tune here in this modern setting.
- Other people have mentioned how incongruous the modern-touch references were. Oh yes. Lots of brand-name dropping and a particularly unconvincing teenager who seems to have the music tastes of a 40+ year old and who runs listening to his ipod ( a real ipod I mean. not nano or shuffle. Where does he tuck it in on his clothing? we got all details of him getting ready to run, but where do you put a real-big-ipod when you go running?). Same teenager does not send one text message the whole book and seems unable to find a number in his mobile phone´s adress book without using fast dialup. Dude, if I was 15 years of age I would be insulted, there is no 15 year old in the world who needs fast dialup to look a phone number! Actually my inner teenager actually is insulted at the way teenagers act. Real teens don´t flirt the same way 30/40 year olds do, their interaction was just unbelievable!
- GGK main characters are always superlative at something, almost annoyingly so. The plot here depends very much, too much,on Ned always finding extra power or ability or something within him which makes him even more special and unique all the time.
- Ever noticed how his main male characters always have women throwing themselves at them (sexually) even in the unlikeliest of scenarios? James Bond syndrome I call it, and in a few instances it gets extremely unlikely ( yeah, widowed red-haired bearded mosaic artists have huge potential as sex symbols. Not) Here it has the distinction of going from just unlikely all the way to very unlikely and extremely creepy. I puke. Really.
- The prose. Some people like it, but there are some examples from this book which, in my opinion, have crossed the purple line by meters....
November 6, 2015
Ignore the star rating on this book. I can't be objective about it.
There are a couple of characters in this book that are returning characters from an earlier Kay book, and that book is one of my favorite fantasy books of all time, and a particularly formative book personally. So when the returning character appears and makes a reference to something from the previous book I was stunned. Shocked in fact. And then this character continues in the book constantly making reference to the earlier book.
There's this wonderful story of family, both blood and found, understated romance, coming of age, along with a ghost story echoing through ages in a location saturated in history ... and I'm not paying attention to any of it because I'm squeeing so hard.
Wonderful book.
There are a couple of characters in this book that are returning characters from an earlier Kay book, and that book is one of my favorite fantasy books of all time, and a particularly formative book personally. So when the returning character appears and makes a reference to something from the previous book I was stunned. Shocked in fact. And then this character continues in the book constantly making reference to the earlier book.
There's this wonderful story of family, both blood and found, understated romance, coming of age, along with a ghost story echoing through ages in a location saturated in history ... and I'm not paying attention to any of it because I'm squeeing so hard.
Wonderful book.
December 8, 2018
I've never had a book drop two stars in the last chapter before. Congrats GGK.
The start of this one was promising. I have enjoyed GGK's book, Children of the Sky because the writing was beautiful and I felt the history and the characterization was really well done so I hoped for more of the same here.
The start of this one was a bit rougher. I could tell right away it was a YA novel even though I hadn't seen that on its genres. The history was there but I felt it didn't have the depth of his other novel. Still the start of the book hooked me right away with the mystery and I wanted to read on.
Then it started to go downhill. There is a TON of just driving around and talking in this novel. It is cool that you are given a bit of a history of the places visited, but it started to become quite dry. The characters started to grate on me as they discussed over and over things they knew and missing things literally staring him in the face.
There is no backstory to any of the characters either. I felt like I didn't really know them at all. They were all really flat, with off the wall reactions, something that I've struggled with before in YA novels.
All this was fine though I didn't set the bar high, although it probably should have been higher due to the author. I was looking at a 3 star read.
And then that last chapter hit... This will be under a spoiler tag, so if you don't want the book ruined just know that there are two triggers that I cannot stand in my books: love triangles, stupidity and cheating. At least one of these triggers was hit and then the book just ends right there like everything is fine.
I wish I could recommend this but I really can't.
The start of this one was promising. I have enjoyed GGK's book, Children of the Sky because the writing was beautiful and I felt the history and the characterization was really well done so I hoped for more of the same here.
The start of this one was a bit rougher. I could tell right away it was a YA novel even though I hadn't seen that on its genres. The history was there but I felt it didn't have the depth of his other novel. Still the start of the book hooked me right away with the mystery and I wanted to read on.
Then it started to go downhill. There is a TON of just driving around and talking in this novel. It is cool that you are given a bit of a history of the places visited, but it started to become quite dry. The characters started to grate on me as they discussed over and over things they knew and missing things literally staring him in the face.
There is no backstory to any of the characters either. I felt like I didn't really know them at all. They were all really flat, with off the wall reactions, something that I've struggled with before in YA novels.
All this was fine though I didn't set the bar high, although it probably should have been higher due to the author. I was looking at a 3 star read.
And then that last chapter hit... This will be under a spoiler tag, so if you don't want the book ruined just know that there are two triggers that I cannot stand in my books: love triangles, stupidity and cheating. At least one of these triggers was hit and then the book just ends right there like everything is fine.
I wish I could recommend this but I really can't.
March 6, 2015
Fifteen year old Ned goes on a trip with his famous photographer father and his team, who are setting up a major photo shoot in Provence. While exploring an old cathedral Ned meets a girl, Kate, who is visiting the area as an exchange student. They are checking out the baptistery of the church when Ned experiences a strange sense of deja vu and encounters a stranger climbing out of a hole in the floor. Things go from strange to bizarre when the stranger warns Ned to stay out things that don't concern him. Ned is bewildered and a little afraid as he has no idea who this man is or why he feels like he should know him.
This was fun and interesting. I haven't read anything by this author before and I suspect if I had, I would not have enjoyed this book as much as I did. He apparently has a series that is better than this, which gives me something to look forward to as I really did like this one.
This was fun and interesting. I haven't read anything by this author before and I suspect if I had, I would not have enjoyed this book as much as I did. He apparently has a series that is better than this, which gives me something to look forward to as I really did like this one.
May 11, 2022
The urban fantasy that is about a >2000 year grudge match between ancient warriors, and also a photography work trip with the protagonists dad, that unfortunately spends more time on the photography work trip than I would like. When there is a perfectly good millennia old grudge match to read about.
Ah, Ysabel, the book that has the lowest Goodreads rating of any GGK book, and in my opinion deserves it, even though for the most part I enjoyed it. There are a lot of reasons I like this less than the other GGK books, and it really reads very differently. I would probably only recommend it to mega GGK fans.
The first thing to mention is that this is a YA book. I don't mean that as in I like the writing less, so am calling it YA, as people often do to my annoyance. I mean the protagonist is 15, and the main themes of the novel are the transition from childhood to adulthood. Classic YA themes. This isn't necessarily bad, it just is, but generally as themes of GGK books go, I found this to be less interesting than most. Probably because if I enjoyed books following those themes I would read a lot more YA fantasy. Might be a good recommendation for someone who wanted a book covering those themes, written by a very skilled and prolific author, although it is slower paced than most YA books, so I don't know how well it actually would work as one.
Next is reading order. I would probably recommend reading The Fionavar Tapestry before this, I feel I would have enjoyed it less without that knowledge, but I guess you could go in Star Wars movie order, and read the prequel second. In general though I think due to both enjoyment, and connections to Fionavar, that I would recommend very very few people start here. Basically if you want a slowish paced book that covers YA themes, which is an urban fantasy...ish. My guess is that is not a lot of people. In all honesty, if the description of what it is about I am about to write doesn't sound interesting, you can probably just skip this and move on to Under Heaven, or whatever other GGK book you want to read next.
Ok, so what is it even about. Basically Ned is out of school early, and is on a trip to France with his dad who is a moderately famous photographer, where he will generally help out, I guess. Also try and meet some new people....well, one new person, and eventually work on some essay's. However instead of writing an essay he, and those around him get caught up in a conflict between 2 dudes who have been generally bad at avoiding collateral damage for the last two thousand years.
Sounds fun, and at times it is. Generally I think it really took it's time getting into the part of that that sounds way more cool, which is why I enjoyed the second half quite a bit more than the first. Still less than most GGK books, for reasons I will explain below, but I still quite liked the second half.
Ok, reason I like this less.
1. The modern voice. GGK is generally very very very very good at using word choice which fits the setting. This takes place during modern day, and largely in the head of a 15 year old, so he has a modern voice. It just...it felt less magical than his other works. Maybe this is bias because I have come to expect something from GGK, but the protagonist talking about their ipod, their Nike running shoe's, and calling a fence lame, or being stocked just felt off. It felt to me almost like a slight over adjustment, although maybe it was all deliberate, and it was just a choice for this characters voice that I didn't enjoy as much. Whatever it is, GGK having a protagonist think of things by the brand name, and not the object felt weird, and just off. For example Ned snapping a few pictures with his Canon, meaning his canon brand camera, just felt weird.
2. I mentioned it before, but the first part(which is half the book) felt like it had way less meat than the second half. I almost feel like it could have started later? I don't know, maybe that was needed to establish characters, but in every other GGK book he establishes those characters while also having really interesting stuff happen. And to be fair, the first half is not all photography, the fantastical elements certainly play a role. It just feels like for the first half photography is the main plot, with 2000 year old magical grudge match is the side plot, but then for the second half the grudge match becomes the center of the narrative. Also I felt like the conversations and passages involving the more ancient characters felt more like normal GGK, and again made me decide I just don't think GGK writing modern characters hits the same way.
3. Maybe dialogue being more witty isn't always better? Some of it was funny though.
Ok, now for the good stuff.
1. The continuation on some Fionavar characters was fantastic. I'm not going to say who, but I really enjoyed the follow up, to see what ended up being the life of some of the main Fionavar characters, and also how plopping into a fantasy realm for a bit impacted some of their real world relationships, and aspects of their life.
2. The 2000 year old grudge match is cool. I really enjoyed all the involved characters.
3. Generally as they usually are, the characters are distinctive, have their own motivations, and feel plausible. Ned is obviously not one of my favorite protagonists, because he has a more YA(as in what themes it covers, not an insult) arc, although it is a well done YA arc. But I also enjoyed the supporting cast, and don't think anyone was just their to fill a role.
4. There still is very good prose. It definitely felt more straight forward, being mostly in more modern language, but Guy still orders the English language to do his will, and it still obeys.
Anyway, overall, enjoyed it, but would probably not recommend it unless you either like YA, or really love GGK's works as I do.
6.8/10
Ah, Ysabel, the book that has the lowest Goodreads rating of any GGK book, and in my opinion deserves it, even though for the most part I enjoyed it. There are a lot of reasons I like this less than the other GGK books, and it really reads very differently. I would probably only recommend it to mega GGK fans.
The first thing to mention is that this is a YA book. I don't mean that as in I like the writing less, so am calling it YA, as people often do to my annoyance. I mean the protagonist is 15, and the main themes of the novel are the transition from childhood to adulthood. Classic YA themes. This isn't necessarily bad, it just is, but generally as themes of GGK books go, I found this to be less interesting than most. Probably because if I enjoyed books following those themes I would read a lot more YA fantasy. Might be a good recommendation for someone who wanted a book covering those themes, written by a very skilled and prolific author, although it is slower paced than most YA books, so I don't know how well it actually would work as one.
Next is reading order. I would probably recommend reading The Fionavar Tapestry before this, I feel I would have enjoyed it less without that knowledge, but I guess you could go in Star Wars movie order, and read the prequel second. In general though I think due to both enjoyment, and connections to Fionavar, that I would recommend very very few people start here. Basically if you want a slowish paced book that covers YA themes, which is an urban fantasy...ish. My guess is that is not a lot of people. In all honesty, if the description of what it is about I am about to write doesn't sound interesting, you can probably just skip this and move on to Under Heaven, or whatever other GGK book you want to read next.
Ok, so what is it even about. Basically Ned is out of school early, and is on a trip to France with his dad who is a moderately famous photographer, where he will generally help out, I guess. Also try and meet some new people....well, one new person, and eventually work on some essay's. However instead of writing an essay he, and those around him get caught up in a conflict between 2 dudes who have been generally bad at avoiding collateral damage for the last two thousand years.
Sounds fun, and at times it is. Generally I think it really took it's time getting into the part of that that sounds way more cool, which is why I enjoyed the second half quite a bit more than the first. Still less than most GGK books, for reasons I will explain below, but I still quite liked the second half.
Ok, reason I like this less.
1. The modern voice. GGK is generally very very very very good at using word choice which fits the setting. This takes place during modern day, and largely in the head of a 15 year old, so he has a modern voice. It just...it felt less magical than his other works. Maybe this is bias because I have come to expect something from GGK, but the protagonist talking about their ipod, their Nike running shoe's, and calling a fence lame, or being stocked just felt off. It felt to me almost like a slight over adjustment, although maybe it was all deliberate, and it was just a choice for this characters voice that I didn't enjoy as much. Whatever it is, GGK having a protagonist think of things by the brand name, and not the object felt weird, and just off. For example Ned snapping a few pictures with his Canon, meaning his canon brand camera, just felt weird.
2. I mentioned it before, but the first part(which is half the book) felt like it had way less meat than the second half. I almost feel like it could have started later? I don't know, maybe that was needed to establish characters, but in every other GGK book he establishes those characters while also having really interesting stuff happen. And to be fair, the first half is not all photography, the fantastical elements certainly play a role. It just feels like for the first half photography is the main plot, with 2000 year old magical grudge match is the side plot, but then for the second half the grudge match becomes the center of the narrative. Also I felt like the conversations and passages involving the more ancient characters felt more like normal GGK, and again made me decide I just don't think GGK writing modern characters hits the same way.
3. Maybe dialogue being more witty isn't always better? Some of it was funny though.
Ok, now for the good stuff.
1. The continuation on some Fionavar characters was fantastic. I'm not going to say who, but I really enjoyed the follow up, to see what ended up being the life of some of the main Fionavar characters, and also how plopping into a fantasy realm for a bit impacted some of their real world relationships, and aspects of their life.
2. The 2000 year old grudge match is cool. I really enjoyed all the involved characters.
3. Generally as they usually are, the characters are distinctive, have their own motivations, and feel plausible. Ned is obviously not one of my favorite protagonists, because he has a more YA(as in what themes it covers, not an insult) arc, although it is a well done YA arc. But I also enjoyed the supporting cast, and don't think anyone was just their to fill a role.
4. There still is very good prose. It definitely felt more straight forward, being mostly in more modern language, but Guy still orders the English language to do his will, and it still obeys.
Anyway, overall, enjoyed it, but would probably not recommend it unless you either like YA, or really love GGK's works as I do.
6.8/10
February 6, 2017
A bit of warning: Guy Gavriel Kay is only my most favorite author in the entire world. Given how many different authors I admire and follow, that's a pretty big honor for me to bestow. His novels evoke a certain range of emotions that no other author has ever been able to achieve, and without a doubt makes it impossible for me to honestly critique any of his books' weaknesses. Ysabel is no different, and if you take one thing from this review, it's that you should read it. Now.
Kay has mostly written historical fantasy books; he chooses a historical conflict or time period and then weaves a fantasy novel out of his lengthy research. Sometimes the 'fantasy' tag indicates the use of mystical elements, and other times it simply allows him to twist fact into fiction without being admonished for being historically inaccurate. Ysabel is a slight departure from this; the historical elements smash head-first into modern-day France when 15-year-old Ned stumbles upon a 2,500-year-old love triangle.
Ysabel is written very informally and much more simply compared to Kay's previous novels. This is due to the main character being a teenage boy, as well as the fact that it takes place in a modern setting and has a far less epic scope than his other books. I had some problems with the dialogue feeling a little forced and insincere in a few places (most notably when large groups of characters were talking with each other), but for the most part, it still retains the elegance of Kay's voice. The only word I can summon to describe his prose is "beautiful," as trite as that might be.
One of the touches that Kay adds to his novels are the subtle "grace notes" that nod to his past works and suggest that his stories are all part of a shared history of one world. I'd been wondering how he was going to do that in Ysabel, since it clearly takes place in our world, not a world where there are two moons in the sky. To my surprise, Ysabel is nearly a coda to one of his earlier books. As I was reading, I started musing to myself, "Why is Kay re-using character names? This is only his tenth book, he has plenty of names to pick from." At one point, the realization struck me rather forcefully that the name was not being reused, and was in fact referring to the same character. Ysabel is still a fully stand-alone novel, and can be understood and appreciated without reading any of Kay's other works, but knowing the history of the reused characters makes it even deeper.
For those who haven't read Kay's other novels, this untold back story simply folds into another of the author's signature touches: the hints that there is far more to the world than the current story can show. It's as if Kay is saying, "There are many, many stories in this world, and they often collide with each other, but this is the one I'm telling right now." This is illustrated in Ysabel, particularly when the members of the love triangle insist repeatedly, "This is only about the three of us," while everyone else replies, "No, it's not." There are many things in Ysabel that are left untold and unexplained, but it's done purposely and leaves the reader imagining those stories as he or she feels they might be told.
I always feel depressed when I reach the end of a brand new Kay book far too quickly and realize I have roughly a three-year wait until the next one. At the same time, I'm thankful that he doesn't crank them out at the high frequency that publishers often demand when the author is a mainstream hit who guarantees massive sales. I highly, highly recommend any of his books, although Ysabel might be the best starting point for a Kay newbie, since its prose is the least dense out of all of them.
Kay has mostly written historical fantasy books; he chooses a historical conflict or time period and then weaves a fantasy novel out of his lengthy research. Sometimes the 'fantasy' tag indicates the use of mystical elements, and other times it simply allows him to twist fact into fiction without being admonished for being historically inaccurate. Ysabel is a slight departure from this; the historical elements smash head-first into modern-day France when 15-year-old Ned stumbles upon a 2,500-year-old love triangle.
Ysabel is written very informally and much more simply compared to Kay's previous novels. This is due to the main character being a teenage boy, as well as the fact that it takes place in a modern setting and has a far less epic scope than his other books. I had some problems with the dialogue feeling a little forced and insincere in a few places (most notably when large groups of characters were talking with each other), but for the most part, it still retains the elegance of Kay's voice. The only word I can summon to describe his prose is "beautiful," as trite as that might be.
One of the touches that Kay adds to his novels are the subtle "grace notes" that nod to his past works and suggest that his stories are all part of a shared history of one world. I'd been wondering how he was going to do that in Ysabel, since it clearly takes place in our world, not a world where there are two moons in the sky. To my surprise, Ysabel is nearly a coda to one of his earlier books. As I was reading, I started musing to myself, "Why is Kay re-using character names? This is only his tenth book, he has plenty of names to pick from." At one point, the realization struck me rather forcefully that the name was not being reused, and was in fact referring to the same character. Ysabel is still a fully stand-alone novel, and can be understood and appreciated without reading any of Kay's other works, but knowing the history of the reused characters makes it even deeper.
For those who haven't read Kay's other novels, this untold back story simply folds into another of the author's signature touches: the hints that there is far more to the world than the current story can show. It's as if Kay is saying, "There are many, many stories in this world, and they often collide with each other, but this is the one I'm telling right now." This is illustrated in Ysabel, particularly when the members of the love triangle insist repeatedly, "This is only about the three of us," while everyone else replies, "No, it's not." There are many things in Ysabel that are left untold and unexplained, but it's done purposely and leaves the reader imagining those stories as he or she feels they might be told.
I always feel depressed when I reach the end of a brand new Kay book far too quickly and realize I have roughly a three-year wait until the next one. At the same time, I'm thankful that he doesn't crank them out at the high frequency that publishers often demand when the author is a mainstream hit who guarantees massive sales. I highly, highly recommend any of his books, although Ysabel might be the best starting point for a Kay newbie, since its prose is the least dense out of all of them.
May 26, 2025
Readers of Guy Gavriel Kay's works often cite Ysabel as their least favorite work of his, which I understand: it is unlike anything else he's written as it doesn't follow his established recipe at the time of its creation of a work of "historic" fantasy. But if you don't put it up against the true masterpieces by this author, but instead compare it to other works of low fantasy (fantasy set in our world) by other authors, it's honestly better than most books of its type I've read. Yes, some of the dialogue from the younger characters was cringy at times, and the emphasis on dialogue in general-to drop exposition-is wholly unique in Kay's works, but as a stand alone quasi-thriller type of modern fantasy tale, it all worked for me.
I do feel, however, that you need to read The Fionavar Tapestry before reading this book, as there are recurring characters from that trilogy, and knowing their background definitely enriches this tale. I enjoyed that although this story was set in our world, there was still a lot of history about the area of Provence where the story is set, which played an integral role in the story. I've always enjoyed in all of Kay's works the reliance upon myth and folklore to provide the majority of (or all of) the magical elements of the story, and enjoyed it here, even if a few of the revelatory scenes were a bit fuzzy.
All in all, I think Ysabel is unfairly maligned by readers. I read it in two days because I felt it such a compelling read. Ignore the Goodreads aggregate score and judge for yourself! (Just read Fionavar first).
I do feel, however, that you need to read The Fionavar Tapestry before reading this book, as there are recurring characters from that trilogy, and knowing their background definitely enriches this tale. I enjoyed that although this story was set in our world, there was still a lot of history about the area of Provence where the story is set, which played an integral role in the story. I've always enjoyed in all of Kay's works the reliance upon myth and folklore to provide the majority of (or all of) the magical elements of the story, and enjoyed it here, even if a few of the revelatory scenes were a bit fuzzy.
All in all, I think Ysabel is unfairly maligned by readers. I read it in two days because I felt it such a compelling read. Ignore the Goodreads aggregate score and judge for yourself! (Just read Fionavar first).
September 8, 2019
This was my introduction to Guy Gavriel Kay. I found this book totally by accident one day while I was killing time at Penn Station in NYC and ran across a Barnes and Noble I had no idea was tucked away outside the station. This book, with this exact cover, was outfacing on the fantasy shelf and I could not look away from that face.
Its a haunting face isn't it? The face of a statue that has weathered storms and seen the passing of the centuries but hasn't lost the deep, abiding beauty carved into it by a hand that must have loved it dearly.
It turns out two men loved this strange, captivating woman. They loved her enough to bind themselves to her and each other for the rest of time. They are born loving her and they die loving her over and over and over again in an endless cycle of bloodshed and rage and endless, awe inspiring devotion.
In to that story stumbles a young man named Ned. He's traveled to Provence with his dad, a famed photographer who's working on a book about the region. His mother is a doctor working in a war torn country, a source of great anxiety for both Ned and his father. So this trip is part work and part escape from the more frightening realities of his life. He befriends an exchange student named Kate and in an effort to impress her takes her on a late night picnic near some ancient ruins that are said to still be the site of strange, pagan rituals.
Instead of a date Ned and Kate find themselves thrust into an ancient and dangerous conflict between forces not of our world. With a dear friend's life at stake Ned is forced to become part of something his mind almost can't conceive is really happening. And it turns out that his part in this centuries old story may run deeper than he knows.
This is that rare gem of a novel that leaps across genres and sticks the landing in every single one. Its a coming of age story about a young man who wants to try on the mantle of adulthood but struggles with sadness and fear and insecurity, and its an astounding fantasy wrapped in ancient European mythology, and its an epic romance so deep it defies time.
Ned is a wonderful protagonist. He's wise beyond his years but impetuous. He has a great heart and he's in touch with his feelings. He's fearless in the face of danger, and there's A LOT of danger in this story. What's so terrific is Kay spends just as much time with Ned working through his anger about his mother putting herself in harms way all the time as he does on constructing this ancient blood feud and the deep magic that surrounds it. You just don't get that very often with fantasy or really any kind of fiction. Somehow Kay is always able to find the balance between exceptional story telling and truth. There is a reality to even the most extraordinary things that happen throughout the story.
I could almost imagine that this all really happened. That two rivals for the love of one woman could really live forever just for the chance to see her again. That ancient gods can be called on in times of need if you can afford the price they ask. That anyone of us could wake up one day and find ourselves a true fairy tale hero destined to meet the darkness and defeat it or die in the attempt.
Despite technically being a sequel to Kay's absurdly brilliant The Fionavar Tapestry this is a wonderful intro novel if you've never read him before. Its epic and heartbreakingly lovely as all his work is and infused with a sort of ancient and wild gravity, as if you're reading Gilgamesh or something out of the Old Testament. Magic in Kay's world isn't parlor tricks and wingardium leviosa its sacrifices to the gods and love isn't sweet little notes passed between classes, its the Trojan War and the death's of a thousand men just so you can get a glimpse of your beloved.
High fantasy just doesn't get any higher than this.
Its a haunting face isn't it? The face of a statue that has weathered storms and seen the passing of the centuries but hasn't lost the deep, abiding beauty carved into it by a hand that must have loved it dearly.
It turns out two men loved this strange, captivating woman. They loved her enough to bind themselves to her and each other for the rest of time. They are born loving her and they die loving her over and over and over again in an endless cycle of bloodshed and rage and endless, awe inspiring devotion.
In to that story stumbles a young man named Ned. He's traveled to Provence with his dad, a famed photographer who's working on a book about the region. His mother is a doctor working in a war torn country, a source of great anxiety for both Ned and his father. So this trip is part work and part escape from the more frightening realities of his life. He befriends an exchange student named Kate and in an effort to impress her takes her on a late night picnic near some ancient ruins that are said to still be the site of strange, pagan rituals.
Instead of a date Ned and Kate find themselves thrust into an ancient and dangerous conflict between forces not of our world. With a dear friend's life at stake Ned is forced to become part of something his mind almost can't conceive is really happening. And it turns out that his part in this centuries old story may run deeper than he knows.
This is that rare gem of a novel that leaps across genres and sticks the landing in every single one. Its a coming of age story about a young man who wants to try on the mantle of adulthood but struggles with sadness and fear and insecurity, and its an astounding fantasy wrapped in ancient European mythology, and its an epic romance so deep it defies time.
Ned is a wonderful protagonist. He's wise beyond his years but impetuous. He has a great heart and he's in touch with his feelings. He's fearless in the face of danger, and there's A LOT of danger in this story. What's so terrific is Kay spends just as much time with Ned working through his anger about his mother putting herself in harms way all the time as he does on constructing this ancient blood feud and the deep magic that surrounds it. You just don't get that very often with fantasy or really any kind of fiction. Somehow Kay is always able to find the balance between exceptional story telling and truth. There is a reality to even the most extraordinary things that happen throughout the story.
I could almost imagine that this all really happened. That two rivals for the love of one woman could really live forever just for the chance to see her again. That ancient gods can be called on in times of need if you can afford the price they ask. That anyone of us could wake up one day and find ourselves a true fairy tale hero destined to meet the darkness and defeat it or die in the attempt.
Despite technically being a sequel to Kay's absurdly brilliant The Fionavar Tapestry this is a wonderful intro novel if you've never read him before. Its epic and heartbreakingly lovely as all his work is and infused with a sort of ancient and wild gravity, as if you're reading Gilgamesh or something out of the Old Testament. Magic in Kay's world isn't parlor tricks and wingardium leviosa its sacrifices to the gods and love isn't sweet little notes passed between classes, its the Trojan War and the death's of a thousand men just so you can get a glimpse of your beloved.
High fantasy just doesn't get any higher than this.
February 5, 2010
My friend Jen once in a while posts a list of words that probably don't exist in German, but should. Here's one: a book that makes you really really happy even though you're making a long list of its flaws as you read it.
A young adult story about two teenagers in the south of France stumbling into an ancient love triangle. Full of old cathedrals, and verbal photographs of the countryside, and family tensions and people coming through for each other.
Let's just preface every point I'm about to make with 'I really enjoyed it, but . . ."
. . . but seriously, these fifteen-year-olds act at least thirty, particularly when it comes to sex. Not in the doing, which they don't, but in the emotional ease with sophistication.
. . . but there is something just slightly off about Kay's fixation with love triangles. I can't put my finger on it. Something just a bit squidgey about gender. That they're entirely focused on male desire and women as objects is not quite right, but in the ballpark.
. . . but the ending was disappointing.
Still. It's a young adult book where the grown-ups are also awesome, and it does a beautiful job with that part of France, and I dug the entire cast. And sometimes I just don't care about everything else.
A young adult story about two teenagers in the south of France stumbling into an ancient love triangle. Full of old cathedrals, and verbal photographs of the countryside, and family tensions and people coming through for each other.
Let's just preface every point I'm about to make with 'I really enjoyed it, but . . ."
. . . but seriously, these fifteen-year-olds act at least thirty, particularly when it comes to sex. Not in the doing, which they don't, but in the emotional ease with sophistication.
. . . but there is something just slightly off about Kay's fixation with love triangles. I can't put my finger on it. Something just a bit squidgey about gender. That they're entirely focused on male desire and women as objects is not quite right, but in the ballpark.
. . . but the ending was disappointing.
Still. It's a young adult book where the grown-ups are also awesome, and it does a beautiful job with that part of France, and I dug the entire cast. And sometimes I just don't care about everything else.
February 15, 2010
Reread in February 2010.
Since I first read Ysabel, I discovered all the rest of Guy Gavriel Kay's work and found that, really, Ysabel wasn't anything like the best he could do. I wouldn't say, now, that I loved Ysabel -- I loved the Fionavar trilogy, I loved Tigana, but I only liked Ysabel. The details I mentioned liking in my first review hold true, except that now I wish there was more of everything. The Darkest Road fits an amazing amount of things in 450 pages, enough to make me cry every time -- Ysabel doesn't quite get there. It could, given time, though of course, there doesn't seem enough material here for a trilogy, not with just one story going on.
Read in July 2008.
I loved Ysabel. It's a semi-sequel to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, though it only involves two of the characters from that, and those much older than they were. The little glimpses you get of how their lives have gone are believable, and interesting, and just about right, I think, for a book that isn't really about either of them. The main character is really Ned, Kim's nephew.
The core story is a little like the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot thread in Fionavar, except that it isn't as clear why the story is repeating itself. The Celtic influences are very, very interesting -- to me at least. The resolution of the main plot is neat and well-done, in my opinion, although I think I could've stood to hear a lot more detail about Phelan, Cadell and Ysabel, and more about how Ned's abilities develop. The characters themselves don't quite have the depth that Guy Gavriel Kay brought to Fionavar, but at the same time, I think that's to be expected.
The descriptions in the book are lovely. There's not too much of them, but there's enough to bring a real flavour of the setting. It couldn't be set anywhere but Provence, I think, the way it's written.
So... I wouldn't have complained had it been longer, and a bit more detailed when it comes to characters and background, but I did enjoy it and still want more of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, despite being warned that I probably wouldn't find it up to the standard of the Tapestry trilogy.
Since I first read Ysabel, I discovered all the rest of Guy Gavriel Kay's work and found that, really, Ysabel wasn't anything like the best he could do. I wouldn't say, now, that I loved Ysabel -- I loved the Fionavar trilogy, I loved Tigana, but I only liked Ysabel. The details I mentioned liking in my first review hold true, except that now I wish there was more of everything. The Darkest Road fits an amazing amount of things in 450 pages, enough to make me cry every time -- Ysabel doesn't quite get there. It could, given time, though of course, there doesn't seem enough material here for a trilogy, not with just one story going on.
Read in July 2008.
I loved Ysabel. It's a semi-sequel to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, though it only involves two of the characters from that, and those much older than they were. The little glimpses you get of how their lives have gone are believable, and interesting, and just about right, I think, for a book that isn't really about either of them. The main character is really Ned, Kim's nephew.
The core story is a little like the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot thread in Fionavar, except that it isn't as clear why the story is repeating itself. The Celtic influences are very, very interesting -- to me at least. The resolution of the main plot is neat and well-done, in my opinion, although I think I could've stood to hear a lot more detail about Phelan, Cadell and Ysabel, and more about how Ned's abilities develop. The characters themselves don't quite have the depth that Guy Gavriel Kay brought to Fionavar, but at the same time, I think that's to be expected.
The descriptions in the book are lovely. There's not too much of them, but there's enough to bring a real flavour of the setting. It couldn't be set anywhere but Provence, I think, the way it's written.
So... I wouldn't have complained had it been longer, and a bit more detailed when it comes to characters and background, but I did enjoy it and still want more of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, despite being warned that I probably wouldn't find it up to the standard of the Tapestry trilogy.
June 5, 2007
This book is compelling - and it's a YA book, by the way; I don't care what the publisher says - with characters I liked, an unusual approach to the usual YA book Parental Dilemma (for once, the YA tells his parents about his problems; that hardly ever happens), and a plot that I enjoyed. It was a fast, fun read.
And then the ending kind of - um. I'm not exactly sure how, but in the last fifty pages or so, this went from being a four-star book to a three-star book for me; the ending felt simultaneously too rushed and anticlimactic, and it just didn't feel like a resolution and explanation interesting enough to match the problem or the characters.
But the book itself is highly enjoyable, if not brilliant. Kay is, as usual, master of the craft of writing, although he's showing it less obviously here than in most of his other books. And I liked the mystery component of this, the way the first hundred pages keep you guessing along with the main character.
I'd recommend this one to people who like YA fantasy, especially modern-setting fantasy. (If you just like fantasy, period, there are other, better Guy Gavriel Kay books for you, though.) And I'm not sorry I bought it.
And then the ending kind of - um. I'm not exactly sure how, but in the last fifty pages or so, this went from being a four-star book to a three-star book for me; the ending felt simultaneously too rushed and anticlimactic, and it just didn't feel like a resolution and explanation interesting enough to match the problem or the characters.
But the book itself is highly enjoyable, if not brilliant. Kay is, as usual, master of the craft of writing, although he's showing it less obviously here than in most of his other books. And I liked the mystery component of this, the way the first hundred pages keep you guessing along with the main character.
I'd recommend this one to people who like YA fantasy, especially modern-setting fantasy. (If you just like fantasy, period, there are other, better Guy Gavriel Kay books for you, though.) And I'm not sorry I bought it.
January 24, 2010
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay.
One thing is, if you like Kay as much is i do/did, stay away from this.
It's a bit like a Dan Brown, with investigation in churches and acheological places in France, or Perez Reverte at best. But not the author of the lions of al Rassan and Tigana, i feel cheated, like coming home and finding my wife in bed with a rugby team. One can't come back from that and be innocent again.
I'm disapointed with you Guy.
The narrator is a teenager and the novel, from start to finish, is pickeled with humorous retort that would make blush the aging Roger Moore with the worst James bond puns.
Pathetic.
Like the Brown and Reverte, one is aware of what will happen in the next pages like watching a movie with a granny with a gift of forsight and who is alway right about the next move. Which might give some pleasure of deduction to some retarded but is mighty enoying when you expecte a bit more from the man.
The worst of it is, i'm affraid i won't be able to read him again without seing this side of him, like the rugby team, it sort of color all the rest. What as been seen or read cannot be unseen or unread, i say.
One thing is, if you like Kay as much is i do/did, stay away from this.
It's a bit like a Dan Brown, with investigation in churches and acheological places in France, or Perez Reverte at best. But not the author of the lions of al Rassan and Tigana, i feel cheated, like coming home and finding my wife in bed with a rugby team. One can't come back from that and be innocent again.
I'm disapointed with you Guy.
The narrator is a teenager and the novel, from start to finish, is pickeled with humorous retort that would make blush the aging Roger Moore with the worst James bond puns.
Pathetic.
Like the Brown and Reverte, one is aware of what will happen in the next pages like watching a movie with a granny with a gift of forsight and who is alway right about the next move. Which might give some pleasure of deduction to some retarded but is mighty enoying when you expecte a bit more from the man.
The worst of it is, i'm affraid i won't be able to read him again without seing this side of him, like the rugby team, it sort of color all the rest. What as been seen or read cannot be unseen or unread, i say.
February 20, 2015
Ysabel is the story of a fifteen-year-old Canadian boy who is traveling with his photographer father in Provence, and who trips over a Story, getting pulled into something that has been recurring for 2500 years. Then his father’s assistant is pulled in even further, and the only ones who can get her back are Ned (the boy) and his family.
It read strangely like a boys’ adventure story. Since it’s GGK, it’s an exquisitely written boys’ adventure story, but … it’s almost entirely from Ned’s point of view … which I’m afraid distracted me right out of the book a few times wondering how accurate GGK’s command of teenaged argot and taste was. Would even a precocious 15-year-old have that much Zeppelin and Coldplay on his iPod? I do very much think he had the basic roiling emotions of male puberty right (not like I’d know, but it felt right, and hey – he lived it once): one second deep in thought about the Situation, the very next second thoroughly distracted by the memory of a girl’s hair. But I digress. Basically, I don’t think it’s spoilerific to say that the situation is one in which Ned discovers hidden abilities in himself, and it becomes more and more clear that he is the only one who can save the day. And what happens in the last chapter or so emphasized my feeling of aimed-at-adolescent-boys.
It was a pop culture reference smorgasbord – from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid to Spongebob Squarepants, which coming from GGK just seemed bizarre. It’s been a long while since any of his books took place in the here, never mind the now – so it was perhaps inevitable that there’s a crossover between Ysabel and that last time. It surprised me (though maybe it shouldn’t have), so I’ll shut up about that.
There were some very beautiful moments, and some very powerful moments. That’s sort of the law of the universe when it comes to GGK. But … usually a GGK takes preparation for me to read it; sort of mental calisthenics to get into shape for a challenge. Reading GGK isn’t like picking up a British Cozy and dipping in – I can’t “dip” into GGK. This was different, almost dilute (for one thing, the general tone of the book was indeed almost suitable for younger readers – which GGK never really is. This is the only time I can think of where there were no R-rated (or higher) scenes), and a surprisingly quick read. (GGK’s never a quick read.) Almost average – though high average. I still recommend it, as it was very good indeed. I loved the Story. It was just a different sort of animal from the usual by Mr. Kay.
It read strangely like a boys’ adventure story. Since it’s GGK, it’s an exquisitely written boys’ adventure story, but … it’s almost entirely from Ned’s point of view … which I’m afraid distracted me right out of the book a few times wondering how accurate GGK’s command of teenaged argot and taste was. Would even a precocious 15-year-old have that much Zeppelin and Coldplay on his iPod? I do very much think he had the basic roiling emotions of male puberty right (not like I’d know, but it felt right, and hey – he lived it once): one second deep in thought about the Situation, the very next second thoroughly distracted by the memory of a girl’s hair. But I digress. Basically, I don’t think it’s spoilerific to say that the situation is one in which Ned discovers hidden abilities in himself, and it becomes more and more clear that he is the only one who can save the day. And what happens in the last chapter or so emphasized my feeling of aimed-at-adolescent-boys.
It was a pop culture reference smorgasbord – from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid to Spongebob Squarepants, which coming from GGK just seemed bizarre. It’s been a long while since any of his books took place in the here, never mind the now – so it was perhaps inevitable that there’s a crossover between Ysabel and that last time. It surprised me (though maybe it shouldn’t have), so I’ll shut up about that.
There were some very beautiful moments, and some very powerful moments. That’s sort of the law of the universe when it comes to GGK. But … usually a GGK takes preparation for me to read it; sort of mental calisthenics to get into shape for a challenge. Reading GGK isn’t like picking up a British Cozy and dipping in – I can’t “dip” into GGK. This was different, almost dilute (for one thing, the general tone of the book was indeed almost suitable for younger readers – which GGK never really is. This is the only time I can think of where there were no R-rated (or higher) scenes), and a surprisingly quick read. (GGK’s never a quick read.) Almost average – though high average. I still recommend it, as it was very good indeed. I loved the Story. It was just a different sort of animal from the usual by Mr. Kay.
October 5, 2018
Bir kez daha çevirmen annesi olma ayrıcalığı... Teslim öncesi okunan çeviri... Bu kız sonunda beni de fantastik delisi yapacak. :D Tarihler günümüzü harika bir biçimde iç içe geçirmiş bir roman. Çok sevdiğim Provence öylesine detaylı anlatılmış ki tekrar gidesim geldi. :D
January 31, 2022
3.5 Stars.
This was an entertaining story about the real world colliding with Celtic myths and the classical two men fighting over the love of a woman through the ages.
I haven't read one of those in quite some while and was enjoying it.
This was an entertaining story about the real world colliding with Celtic myths and the classical two men fighting over the love of a woman through the ages.
I haven't read one of those in quite some while and was enjoying it.
December 18, 2011
Rating: 3.75* of five
Since there are no 3/4 stars, I've had to round this up to 4. I liked the book very much, and I found reading it very easy. I like the PoV character, Ned, and found his development from adolescent smartass to postadolescent smart youth involving.
Apparently this book winds up a series of books about its semi-immortal characters, doomed to replay and replay their ancient passionate triangle through millennia of time. The accidental instrusion of Ned, his aunt, his uncle-by-marriage, and the lovely assistant his father brought with his professional menagerie of assistants and fixers, makes the stakes for the book quite high: Who wants to call a young woman's parents to announce, "Hey, you know your daughter? Well, she's now a goddess and by the way she's not going to be seen on the mortal plane again for, oh, maybe 300 years, 'kay, bye!"
Provence exerts a strong pull on me, and this book's exploration of the ancient world of Provence as it impacts characters in today's world is meat and drink to me. I am fully convinced of the reality of the past, and that its shadows are felt...not just thought about, but felt...in the present. I experience this oddly overlaid reality myself, in most places that I go, so I am already predisposed to like a book about the subject.
Provence and Tuscany and Umbria are places I've been to and felt in the way author Kay describes in this book. Machu Picchu is another. It seems likely to me that Kay has experienced this odd, through-a-scrim sensation of looking at physical reality himself, or he'd be less good at conveying its weird dislocations. This alone makes me likely to seek out the other books in this series (sob!), but next Kay on deck for me is Tigana per that fiend-in-soignee-human-form Caroline.
What doesn't entirely work about the book, to me, is its pick-'em-up-and-drop-'em way with some minor though important characters, like the Brit expat blowhard who could have been a fun addition to the cast but was instead cast off as a deus ex machina at two crucial points. Well, nothing made by man is perfect, so I forgive the failings in acknowledgment of the far more frequent pleasures reading Ysabel offers.
Recommended! Ignore that silly "YA" label, enjoy it for itself!
Since there are no 3/4 stars, I've had to round this up to 4. I liked the book very much, and I found reading it very easy. I like the PoV character, Ned, and found his development from adolescent smartass to postadolescent smart youth involving.
Apparently this book winds up a series of books about its semi-immortal characters, doomed to replay and replay their ancient passionate triangle through millennia of time. The accidental instrusion of Ned, his aunt, his uncle-by-marriage, and the lovely assistant his father brought with his professional menagerie of assistants and fixers, makes the stakes for the book quite high: Who wants to call a young woman's parents to announce, "Hey, you know your daughter? Well, she's now a goddess and by the way she's not going to be seen on the mortal plane again for, oh, maybe 300 years, 'kay, bye!"
Provence exerts a strong pull on me, and this book's exploration of the ancient world of Provence as it impacts characters in today's world is meat and drink to me. I am fully convinced of the reality of the past, and that its shadows are felt...not just thought about, but felt...in the present. I experience this oddly overlaid reality myself, in most places that I go, so I am already predisposed to like a book about the subject.
Provence and Tuscany and Umbria are places I've been to and felt in the way author Kay describes in this book. Machu Picchu is another. It seems likely to me that Kay has experienced this odd, through-a-scrim sensation of looking at physical reality himself, or he'd be less good at conveying its weird dislocations. This alone makes me likely to seek out the other books in this series (sob!), but next Kay on deck for me is Tigana per that fiend-in-soignee-human-form Caroline.
What doesn't entirely work about the book, to me, is its pick-'em-up-and-drop-'em way with some minor though important characters, like the Brit expat blowhard who could have been a fun addition to the cast but was instead cast off as a deus ex machina at two crucial points. Well, nothing made by man is perfect, so I forgive the failings in acknowledgment of the far more frequent pleasures reading Ysabel offers.
Recommended! Ignore that silly "YA" label, enjoy it for itself!
December 6, 2008
This won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel just a few weeks ago, and since I've liked other stuff Kay has written, I decided to try this as well. I was very impressed. The characters are strong and believable. The situation was contemporary, but also very magical, and the way the characters interacted with the situation and each other was compelling. The resolution was very satisfying and I loved the way it worked. There was a price paid, but it was the right price, and it was very poignant. Great book.
September 12, 2014
Pretty good read. A lot different than the other Kay I've read. It still had the same feel, but he did a good job of lightening his normal prose to make it YA friendly (without dumbing it down, as seems to happen in a lot of YA I've read). This novel ties into the Fionavar Tapestry, but it's not so much so that you need to read / like Fionavar before reading this. There are some character overlaps, but you don't need to know they are there to comprehend the story.
March 13, 2015
Za ovu knjigu imam samo jednu rijec - PREDIVNO!!!! :-)
September 5, 2017
Innocent youth, move along. Nostalgic grownups, pass to the next review. My opinion is going to cause spluttering and defensive arguments, and maybe you'll want to call me names.
I hated this book. It bored me to tears. The dialogue was lame, SO lame, incredible pure misery to slog through, as painful as a bullet shot in the knee to read. The terrible repartee of our heroic family and friends had me soon skimming past hundreds of pages, wondering when something funny or interesting would be under my eye. Clues or real jokes or an insight - something, anything, conversationally amusing or profound or revealing or witty beyond the level of 'pass the potatoes, please'. A restaurant menu has more to say than these exchanges.
Ned Marringer, the 15 year old that the goddess Ysabel was hanging around just because to her, he is a character of change, was dull dull DULL! The problem with the pure of heart is that they are pure of heart. A novel which is about an endlessly decent kid of sweet ordinariness with powers he barely uses is an unchanging still photograph - and a boring 400 pages of a photo of sunshine purity this is! The author tells us that Ned suffers and is changed by discovering his family's secrets, but I read nothing here that brings about such coming-of-age events. He learns he has an aunt with white hair! Omg! He finds out his mom hates her sister! Omg! His cardboard cutout father is a shallow appendage to his camera and this book. He never steps out from behind his job as a photographer, never seems to be emotional. He does worry a bit over Ned. That was nice.
What else is there to know about a genuine, eternally decent, unscarred, sweet, pure kid but unending pure sweet unmarred decency? Whose biggest thrill in his entire life is talking to a girl? Ned has no darkness, no shames, no mistakes made. He misses his mom, who despite being in Darfur, is happy there. No worries for Ned about Darfur. If you don't follow the news, the reader wouldn't have a hint this might be a dangerous job for Ned's mom. This pretty much is the tone of the entire novel. Nothing but 400 pages of plain ordinary reactions of niceness and pleasantries despite a shy, but unpleasant, goddess and a three-sentence brief discussion, and highlighted, tale of human sacrifice, with hints of a passionate ancient depraved (only in this reader's mind) love and murders and spirit possession and family hatreds! Describing these things is more explicit than the book ever is. This a book written for kids cut from the cloth of the early 1960's sitcom 'Leave it to Beaver' characters.
We are told how Ned gets a huge coming-of-age (!?!?!) experience out of this mild vacation/history tour of Aix, France (and a big change for his father's assistant, Melanie).
The action is 'propelled' by Ysabel, 'god's vow', and her two magical lovers popping in and out of the area for a minute to speak a cryptic sentence and mild threats, after which they yell 'kidding!', leading to Ned meeting his aunt, who shocks him with her white hair. She hints at secrets, and mollifies Ned's peculiar (not to Ned, but to me) mother by hinting at reasons she left. The entire family is cut from the cloth of those who never explain ANYTHING even if everyone's life might be in danger, but simply frown and suggest obliquely.
Well. The author really really created a mystery in MY mind in having a law-abiding upper middle-class family with no horror, dreadful abnormality or shadow in a single atom of their flesh, or anywhere in the book, or any terrible soul-crushing personal disaster in their lives for the matter, who watch what is a temporary loss of self for Melanie, but of no consequence, with slight hints of minuscule interior life-changing events and minor pass-through magic which was enough for somehow everything changing for Ned because he thinks he's different person even though very little actually occurred. Ned began this quest as a very nice, very good kid. By the end of his adventure, Ned is a very nice, very good kid.
The only violence is an attack by dogs early in the book. It's ok because they are possessed and Ned didn't hurt them, just the spirits inside them, even though the dogs stopped moving (death is not mentioned on the page). The reader will be safe from any other explicit scenes of any kind because the rest of the book is driving around, walking around, inane dialogue, and offscreen heavily veiled darkness and ghosts who do nothing to anyone .
I hated this book. It bored me to tears. The dialogue was lame, SO lame, incredible pure misery to slog through, as painful as a bullet shot in the knee to read. The terrible repartee of our heroic family and friends had me soon skimming past hundreds of pages, wondering when something funny or interesting would be under my eye. Clues or real jokes or an insight - something, anything, conversationally amusing or profound or revealing or witty beyond the level of 'pass the potatoes, please'. A restaurant menu has more to say than these exchanges.
Ned Marringer, the 15 year old that the goddess Ysabel was hanging around just because to her, he is a character of change, was dull dull DULL! The problem with the pure of heart is that they are pure of heart. A novel which is about an endlessly decent kid of sweet ordinariness with powers he barely uses is an unchanging still photograph - and a boring 400 pages of a photo of sunshine purity this is! The author tells us that Ned suffers and is changed by discovering his family's secrets, but I read nothing here that brings about such coming-of-age events. He learns he has an aunt with white hair! Omg! He finds out his mom hates her sister! Omg! His cardboard cutout father is a shallow appendage to his camera and this book. He never steps out from behind his job as a photographer, never seems to be emotional. He does worry a bit over Ned. That was nice.
What else is there to know about a genuine, eternally decent, unscarred, sweet, pure kid but unending pure sweet unmarred decency? Whose biggest thrill in his entire life is talking to a girl? Ned has no darkness, no shames, no mistakes made. He misses his mom, who despite being in Darfur, is happy there. No worries for Ned about Darfur. If you don't follow the news, the reader wouldn't have a hint this might be a dangerous job for Ned's mom. This pretty much is the tone of the entire novel. Nothing but 400 pages of plain ordinary reactions of niceness and pleasantries despite a shy, but unpleasant, goddess and a three-sentence brief discussion, and highlighted, tale of human sacrifice, with hints of a passionate ancient depraved (only in this reader's mind) love and murders and spirit possession and family hatreds! Describing these things is more explicit than the book ever is. This a book written for kids cut from the cloth of the early 1960's sitcom 'Leave it to Beaver' characters.
We are told how Ned gets a huge coming-of-age (!?!?!) experience out of this mild vacation/history tour of Aix, France (and a big change for his father's assistant, Melanie).
The action is 'propelled' by Ysabel, 'god's vow', and her two magical lovers popping in and out of the area for a minute to speak a cryptic sentence and mild threats, after which they yell 'kidding!', leading to Ned meeting his aunt, who shocks him with her white hair. She hints at secrets, and mollifies Ned's peculiar (not to Ned, but to me) mother by hinting at reasons she left. The entire family is cut from the cloth of those who never explain ANYTHING even if everyone's life might be in danger, but simply frown and suggest obliquely.
Well. The author really really created a mystery in MY mind in having a law-abiding upper middle-class family with no horror, dreadful abnormality or shadow in a single atom of their flesh, or anywhere in the book, or any terrible soul-crushing personal disaster in their lives for the matter, who watch what is a temporary loss of self for Melanie, but of no consequence, with slight hints of minuscule interior life-changing events and minor pass-through magic which was enough for somehow everything changing for Ned because he thinks he's different person even though very little actually occurred. Ned began this quest as a very nice, very good kid. By the end of his adventure, Ned is a very nice, very good kid.
The only violence is an attack by dogs early in the book. It's ok because they are possessed and Ned didn't hurt them, just the spirits inside them, even though the dogs stopped moving (death is not mentioned on the page). The reader will be safe from any other explicit scenes of any kind because the rest of the book is driving around, walking around, inane dialogue, and offscreen heavily veiled darkness and ghosts who do nothing to anyone .
October 28, 2018
Kay writes high melodrama and always has--his women always the most beautiful, his characters always the most passionate, every gesture and breath and bit of scenery always dripping with Significance. In a high fantasy setting, I love it. In a contemporary setting . . . in a contemporary setting, it turns out, it does not work for me at all.
It might sound odd, then, to say that the past of this book I was most invested in was part of the contemporary story: it was the reconciliation between the two sisters, the way the events of The Fionavar Tapestry divided and then reunited a family in the decades that followed. That was the right scale of drama for a contemporary setting for me--small stakes, but desperately important to the people involved. Everything involving Ysabel? The grand, passionate love that has lasted for millennia based, as far as I can tell, on nothing at all except her beauty? That I cared nothing for at all.
(The way Kay writes gender essentialism--writes women in general--also does not work for me in contemporary settings. There is one super, super awkward-to-me scene, early in the novel, in which Kay clearly thinks he is writing Charming Flirting but I can only see on the page Workplace Sexual Harassment; there is another scene toward the end that is also apparently supposed to be Charming Flirting but screams Child Grooming. In a historical fantasy setting I would accept these and move on; in a contemporary setting, I find myself wishing someone would file charges.)
It might sound odd, then, to say that the past of this book I was most invested in was part of the contemporary story: it was the reconciliation between the two sisters, the way the events of The Fionavar Tapestry divided and then reunited a family in the decades that followed. That was the right scale of drama for a contemporary setting for me--small stakes, but desperately important to the people involved. Everything involving Ysabel? The grand, passionate love that has lasted for millennia based, as far as I can tell, on nothing at all except her beauty? That I cared nothing for at all.
(The way Kay writes gender essentialism--writes women in general--also does not work for me in contemporary settings. There is one super, super awkward-to-me scene, early in the novel, in which Kay clearly thinks he is writing Charming Flirting but I can only see on the page Workplace Sexual Harassment; there is another scene toward the end that is also apparently supposed to be Charming Flirting but screams Child Grooming. In a historical fantasy setting I would accept these and move on; in a contemporary setting, I find myself wishing someone would file charges.)
April 4, 2025
"You saw Ysabel as you stood before her, heard that voice, and you felt loss in the moment because you feared she might leave you."
Although some critics deny him the status of an epic fantasy writer, dismissing his works as slightly altered historical fiction simply because he doesn’t write sprawling multi-volume series or create richly detailed secondary worlds, Guy Gavriel Kay is, without a doubt, one of the finest authors of modern fantasy, one whose mastery of the written word few can rival.
He may not craft worlds teeming with countless races, nor do his narratives span four continents of an invented realm. There are no ancient curses, looming evils, or prophesied saviors. But he has characters whose fates intertwine with the precision of a master weaver’s hand and sentences imbued with sheer beauty.
After venturing into the realm of high fantasy with The Fionavar Tapestry, where he played with the myths of medieval Europe, Kay went on to create his own small yet deeply immersive world, a fantasy-infused version of historical Europe, which became the setting for most of his subsequent novels, beginning with the widely acclaimed Tigana.
With his tenth novel, Ysabel, Kay chose to step away from the genre he had long dominated, diving into urban fantasy while remaining true to himself. At first glance, Ysabel may seem unlike anything he has written before, but at its core, it is pure Kay.
Having set A Song for Arbonne in a fictionalized version of Provence and Occitania, Kay now returns to that region—this time in its real-world form—placing his story in Aix-en-Provence, a city steeped in history, where the legacies of the Greeks, Romans, and Celts intertwine. The nearby Sainte-Victoire mountain, famously painted by Paul Cézanne, proves to be central to the story—both in the past and the present. For it is there that everything begins, and there that everything ends.
At the heart of Ysabel is young Ned Mariner, a typical fifteen-year-old accompanying his father, a world-renowned photographer, on a shoot at the ruins of an ancient cathedral. But when he meets Kate, an American exchange student, and discovers a carved stone head of a woman, his life is upended, pulling him into an adventure no one could have anticipated, one that does not belong to this world.
In that place—one which, according to a scarred stranger wielding a knife, is “not for children”—an ancient story is set into motion, its threads accidentally unraveled by Ned and Kate, only to reveal that nothing about their encounter was accidental at all.
In Ysabel, Kay plays with his signature themes: betrayal, friendship, love, choices, and consequences. His ever-present love triangle returns, as does the duality between beauty and violence, love and hatred.
But here, the love triangle is cyclical, eternal. It has played out for nearly 3,000 years, and its participants are reborn every year on Beltane’s Eve, when the festival fires burn and the veil between the living and the dead thins. They reincarnate, only to die again, trapped in an endless cycle of cursed love, with Ysabel choosing a different lover each time, sometimes the Greek stranger, sometimes the Celt, two men locked in a battle for her heart.
If you’ve read Kay’s earlier works, you’ll recognize these elements: his fascination with Celtic mythology, the Beltane festival, which also appears in Tigana, and countless other subtle connections. You’ll even encounter characters from The Fionavar Tapestry, making Ysabel something of a spiritual successor—especially as Ned is linked to figures from Tapestry.
At first, Ysabel might not feel like Kay. The pacing is slow, and unlike his usual works, which feature a broad cast of intricately woven fates, this story largely follows a single perspective, Ned’s. But Kay doesn’t let you turn away. His prose ensnares you like a spider’s web; the more you read, the deeper you’re drawn in, unwilling to put the book down. By the end, you forgive its occasional gaps, the sometimes-questionable character reactions, even the slow tempo—because Kay wins you over with the sheer poetry of his writing and the intricate tapestry he weaves.
Unfortunately, Ysabel occupies an awkward place among Kay’s novels. Many longtime fans feel it doesn’t measure up to his previous works, yet it’s not the ideal entry point for newcomers either. It is something unique. This is Kay, stripped bare.
Ysabel is a bridge that connects all of Kay’s works, a novel in which echoes of everything he has written can be found. It is a story of coming of age, love, history, choices, and consequences. It is a story about crossing thresholds—the one between the living and the dead and the one Ned must cross as he transforms from a boy into a man.
It is, without question, a special book, one that Kay fans should read. Even though it takes a different form, it embodies everything that makes Kay the writer we love. However, I’d recommend starting with Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan for those new to his work.
Although some critics deny him the status of an epic fantasy writer, dismissing his works as slightly altered historical fiction simply because he doesn’t write sprawling multi-volume series or create richly detailed secondary worlds, Guy Gavriel Kay is, without a doubt, one of the finest authors of modern fantasy, one whose mastery of the written word few can rival.
He may not craft worlds teeming with countless races, nor do his narratives span four continents of an invented realm. There are no ancient curses, looming evils, or prophesied saviors. But he has characters whose fates intertwine with the precision of a master weaver’s hand and sentences imbued with sheer beauty.
After venturing into the realm of high fantasy with The Fionavar Tapestry, where he played with the myths of medieval Europe, Kay went on to create his own small yet deeply immersive world, a fantasy-infused version of historical Europe, which became the setting for most of his subsequent novels, beginning with the widely acclaimed Tigana.
With his tenth novel, Ysabel, Kay chose to step away from the genre he had long dominated, diving into urban fantasy while remaining true to himself. At first glance, Ysabel may seem unlike anything he has written before, but at its core, it is pure Kay.
Having set A Song for Arbonne in a fictionalized version of Provence and Occitania, Kay now returns to that region—this time in its real-world form—placing his story in Aix-en-Provence, a city steeped in history, where the legacies of the Greeks, Romans, and Celts intertwine. The nearby Sainte-Victoire mountain, famously painted by Paul Cézanne, proves to be central to the story—both in the past and the present. For it is there that everything begins, and there that everything ends.
At the heart of Ysabel is young Ned Mariner, a typical fifteen-year-old accompanying his father, a world-renowned photographer, on a shoot at the ruins of an ancient cathedral. But when he meets Kate, an American exchange student, and discovers a carved stone head of a woman, his life is upended, pulling him into an adventure no one could have anticipated, one that does not belong to this world.
In that place—one which, according to a scarred stranger wielding a knife, is “not for children”—an ancient story is set into motion, its threads accidentally unraveled by Ned and Kate, only to reveal that nothing about their encounter was accidental at all.
In Ysabel, Kay plays with his signature themes: betrayal, friendship, love, choices, and consequences. His ever-present love triangle returns, as does the duality between beauty and violence, love and hatred.
But here, the love triangle is cyclical, eternal. It has played out for nearly 3,000 years, and its participants are reborn every year on Beltane’s Eve, when the festival fires burn and the veil between the living and the dead thins. They reincarnate, only to die again, trapped in an endless cycle of cursed love, with Ysabel choosing a different lover each time, sometimes the Greek stranger, sometimes the Celt, two men locked in a battle for her heart.
If you’ve read Kay’s earlier works, you’ll recognize these elements: his fascination with Celtic mythology, the Beltane festival, which also appears in Tigana, and countless other subtle connections. You’ll even encounter characters from The Fionavar Tapestry, making Ysabel something of a spiritual successor—especially as Ned is linked to figures from Tapestry.
At first, Ysabel might not feel like Kay. The pacing is slow, and unlike his usual works, which feature a broad cast of intricately woven fates, this story largely follows a single perspective, Ned’s. But Kay doesn’t let you turn away. His prose ensnares you like a spider’s web; the more you read, the deeper you’re drawn in, unwilling to put the book down. By the end, you forgive its occasional gaps, the sometimes-questionable character reactions, even the slow tempo—because Kay wins you over with the sheer poetry of his writing and the intricate tapestry he weaves.
Unfortunately, Ysabel occupies an awkward place among Kay’s novels. Many longtime fans feel it doesn’t measure up to his previous works, yet it’s not the ideal entry point for newcomers either. It is something unique. This is Kay, stripped bare.
Ysabel is a bridge that connects all of Kay’s works, a novel in which echoes of everything he has written can be found. It is a story of coming of age, love, history, choices, and consequences. It is a story about crossing thresholds—the one between the living and the dead and the one Ned must cross as he transforms from a boy into a man.
It is, without question, a special book, one that Kay fans should read. Even though it takes a different form, it embodies everything that makes Kay the writer we love. However, I’d recommend starting with Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan for those new to his work.
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