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Sarantine Universe #4
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Home to three very different cultures, Al-Rassan is a land of seductive beauty and violent history. Peace among the Jaddites, Asharites and Kindath is a precarious, elusive thing, made so by the ever-present shadow that divides the peoples but draws extraordinary individuals together. Ammar ibn Khairan—poet, diplomat, soldier; Rodrigo Belmonte—accomplished military leader; and Jeanne bet Ishak—brilliant physician; these three find their lives interwoven by a series of remarkable events that take Al-Rassan to the brink of war.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is an exhilarating story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when passionate beliefs conspire to remake—or destroy—a world.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is an exhilarating story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when passionate beliefs conspire to remake—or destroy—a world.
592 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
1313 people are currently reading
37654 people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
45 books9,298 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 2,183 reviews
October 29, 2017
I can’t believe this is happening but here I am, my first ever DNF.
I DNF’ed this book somewhere around 60% and because of that I will still give this book a rating, my second 1 star rating; the first one was for Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
This is an extremely unpopular opinion and I know a LOT of people loved this book, so please keep in mind that this is just my honest opinion. At the time of posting this review, there are less than 200 readers—including me—who gave it a 1 star rating, out of 15.7k ratings, don’t let this review alone be a sign for you to not try the book if you’re already interested in it.
GGK fans usually recommend either Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan when asked on which GGK’s book to start with, this is not the first time I read GGK’s work, I’ve read Tigana and I love that book, I gave it 4.5/5 stars, but this book for me is a far cry from that.
Where Tigana was more of a fantasy, The Lions of Al-Rassan is my first experience with GGK’s historical fiction books and after this, I have to remove tons of his books from my TBR. Throughout my time reading, I can’t help but feel that knowledge on Medieval Spain—which I knew next to nothing about—is crucial in order to love this book. GGK didn’t spare any moment in explaining the meaning behind each terminology or names, I also expected the religions to play a lot of part in the story but they didn’t. The analogy to Christian, Jews, and Muslim weren’t as important as I thought it would be, they were just there.
The worst part of the book for me, however, was the characters. Even by 60% mark, I still don’t care about any of the characters, literally none. I have no idea how this book ends, but considering how I feel about the characters, if at the end they all die I would still feel nothing; I would prefer to continue watching Stranger Things season 2 on Netflix <-- Genius product placement Petrik, bravo.
Sex scenes and romance are, as usual, cringeworthy. This seems to be GGK’s trademark, it happened in Tigana too but it’s just so much worse here. I really don’t like how GGK portrayed romance and sex scenes. Not only they’re pointless, the sex scenes are over the top and all the characters are written like a porn star with stunning sex prowess. Plus the matter of instalove and what seems to be a love triangle formed between the main characters, both are something that I highly dislike in the books I read.
GGK’s prose is beautiful and lyrical, no doubt about those as I loved reading his writing, especially in Tigana. Here though? His writing direction felt off. Prose changes to present tense for reasons I have no idea why, characters POV changed within the same or the next paragraphs repeatedly making my head hurt literally hurt and also, ended up making me feel so disconnected with the book.
These are all my interpretations from 60% of the book, all I know is, I can’t be bother to continue with this book unless I’m feeling masochist and willing to go into a reading slump. As you can see from my review, this book didn’t infuriate me as much as Uprooted did, it’s just extremely boring with no ambulance to save me from the reading slump emergency nearby. The Lions of Al-Rassan is definitely not for me and I can’t recommend this to anyone.
If you want a fantastic historical fiction, go with Bernard Cornwell; if you’re interested in giving GGK a try, I recommend you to read Tigana. I will MAYBE still give Sarantine Mosaic duology a try, but I doubt I’ll be reading any of his works other than that duology considering that all of them are mostly historical fictions as well. Once again, this is an extremely unpopular opinion, the majority of readers love this book; some even claimed this is GGK’s best work and I hope you will love it too.
You can find the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at BookNest
I DNF’ed this book somewhere around 60% and because of that I will still give this book a rating, my second 1 star rating; the first one was for Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
This is an extremely unpopular opinion and I know a LOT of people loved this book, so please keep in mind that this is just my honest opinion. At the time of posting this review, there are less than 200 readers—including me—who gave it a 1 star rating, out of 15.7k ratings, don’t let this review alone be a sign for you to not try the book if you’re already interested in it.
GGK fans usually recommend either Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan when asked on which GGK’s book to start with, this is not the first time I read GGK’s work, I’ve read Tigana and I love that book, I gave it 4.5/5 stars, but this book for me is a far cry from that.
Where Tigana was more of a fantasy, The Lions of Al-Rassan is my first experience with GGK’s historical fiction books and after this, I have to remove tons of his books from my TBR. Throughout my time reading, I can’t help but feel that knowledge on Medieval Spain—which I knew next to nothing about—is crucial in order to love this book. GGK didn’t spare any moment in explaining the meaning behind each terminology or names, I also expected the religions to play a lot of part in the story but they didn’t. The analogy to Christian, Jews, and Muslim weren’t as important as I thought it would be, they were just there.
The worst part of the book for me, however, was the characters. Even by 60% mark, I still don’t care about any of the characters, literally none. I have no idea how this book ends, but considering how I feel about the characters, if at the end they all die I would still feel nothing; I would prefer to continue watching Stranger Things season 2 on Netflix <-- Genius product placement Petrik, bravo.
Sex scenes and romance are, as usual, cringeworthy. This seems to be GGK’s trademark, it happened in Tigana too but it’s just so much worse here. I really don’t like how GGK portrayed romance and sex scenes. Not only they’re pointless, the sex scenes are over the top and all the characters are written like a porn star with stunning sex prowess. Plus the matter of instalove and what seems to be a love triangle formed between the main characters, both are something that I highly dislike in the books I read.
GGK’s prose is beautiful and lyrical, no doubt about those as I loved reading his writing, especially in Tigana. Here though? His writing direction felt off. Prose changes to present tense for reasons I have no idea why, characters POV changed within the same or the next paragraphs repeatedly making my head hurt literally hurt and also, ended up making me feel so disconnected with the book.
These are all my interpretations from 60% of the book, all I know is, I can’t be bother to continue with this book unless I’m feeling masochist and willing to go into a reading slump. As you can see from my review, this book didn’t infuriate me as much as Uprooted did, it’s just extremely boring with no ambulance to save me from the reading slump emergency nearby. The Lions of Al-Rassan is definitely not for me and I can’t recommend this to anyone.
If you want a fantastic historical fiction, go with Bernard Cornwell; if you’re interested in giving GGK a try, I recommend you to read Tigana. I will MAYBE still give Sarantine Mosaic duology a try, but I doubt I’ll be reading any of his works other than that duology considering that all of them are mostly historical fictions as well. Once again, this is an extremely unpopular opinion, the majority of readers love this book; some even claimed this is GGK’s best work and I hope you will love it too.
You can find the rest of my Adult Epic/High Fantasy & Sci-Fi reviews at BookNest
December 17, 2012
The Lions of al-Rassan is a sweeping historical epic that examines the price of war, the deadly toll on lives that can occur when religion and politics meet and clash, the seemingly endless give and take between Christians & Muslims & Jews, the power that certain charismatic individuals can exert during times of tumult and change, and - just as important as everything i've mentioned - the nature of love and of friendship. its cast features El Cid and Ibn Ammar; it is set during Moorish Spain.
actually, no it isn't set there and those characters are nowhere to be found in this novel. and yet Moorish Spain, Ibn Ammar and El Cid, the history of conflict between Jews and Muslims and Christians are exactly what Kay is using as his templates. it is a rather ingenious idea: instead of having to worry about getting everything just right, each historical detail and each character's deeds and traits, why not just use them all as inspiration and recreate a world anew? and so the novel is considered a "fantasy" because it takes place in an alternate reality that has two moons (as well as a boy with psychic powers - but hey, that can happen right here in this dimension).
i have a GR bookshelf called "Into the Past" in which i place books that are some sort of historical fiction. The Lions of al-Rassan is on that shelf, mainly due to how this novel perfectly (and beautifully - Kay is a gorgeous writer) evokes its time period. but recreating Moorish Spain and paying homage to fascinating historical figures are not the novel's goals. this is a romantic saga that illustrates the best and the worst of mankind; the details of a past milieu are really not its overriding concern. those details are all backdrop. what it is is wonderful wish fulfillment at its purest - heroes who are wise & witty & brave & kind, a heroine who is strong & empowered & brave & kind, a story full of battles big and small, complicated political machinations and complicated villains, vivid supporting characters, a richness that is rich because in many ways it is timeless. its narrative is thrilling and melancholy and brutally clear-eyed and sweetly sentimental in equal parts. its prose is elegant and has such a lovely flowing feel to it. its themes are genuinely adult themes. it sees the need for change and yet mourns all the beautiful things buried by time. it is full of anger and gentleness.
at the heart of its story is the idea that people can actually come together, respect and love each other, move past their differences while respecting those differences - how people can truly see each other as brothers and sisters. they can come together in romantic love, they can come together as teachers and students, they can come together as a family. and most of all they can come together in friendship, as equals. the novel features one of the most heartfelt and tragic bromances i've read in a while. but it is not just about the boys - it also features a very real and very independent woman at its core. all three characters are splendid creations. for me, the best thing about their complicated relationship is how necessary each of them is to the other. at different points in the novel, each of the three characters will save the life of somone dear to another of those three characters. this was a beautiful thing, a resonant thing, a timeless thing. humans can rise above their baser instincts, they can be more than just pawns or animals or people who keep their heads down while others fall. we can save each other's lives. we can, i know we can. if not, then why even be alive?
actually, no it isn't set there and those characters are nowhere to be found in this novel. and yet Moorish Spain, Ibn Ammar and El Cid, the history of conflict between Jews and Muslims and Christians are exactly what Kay is using as his templates. it is a rather ingenious idea: instead of having to worry about getting everything just right, each historical detail and each character's deeds and traits, why not just use them all as inspiration and recreate a world anew? and so the novel is considered a "fantasy" because it takes place in an alternate reality that has two moons (as well as a boy with psychic powers - but hey, that can happen right here in this dimension).
i have a GR bookshelf called "Into the Past" in which i place books that are some sort of historical fiction. The Lions of al-Rassan is on that shelf, mainly due to how this novel perfectly (and beautifully - Kay is a gorgeous writer) evokes its time period. but recreating Moorish Spain and paying homage to fascinating historical figures are not the novel's goals. this is a romantic saga that illustrates the best and the worst of mankind; the details of a past milieu are really not its overriding concern. those details are all backdrop. what it is is wonderful wish fulfillment at its purest - heroes who are wise & witty & brave & kind, a heroine who is strong & empowered & brave & kind, a story full of battles big and small, complicated political machinations and complicated villains, vivid supporting characters, a richness that is rich because in many ways it is timeless. its narrative is thrilling and melancholy and brutally clear-eyed and sweetly sentimental in equal parts. its prose is elegant and has such a lovely flowing feel to it. its themes are genuinely adult themes. it sees the need for change and yet mourns all the beautiful things buried by time. it is full of anger and gentleness.
at the heart of its story is the idea that people can actually come together, respect and love each other, move past their differences while respecting those differences - how people can truly see each other as brothers and sisters. they can come together in romantic love, they can come together as teachers and students, they can come together as a family. and most of all they can come together in friendship, as equals. the novel features one of the most heartfelt and tragic bromances i've read in a while. but it is not just about the boys - it also features a very real and very independent woman at its core. all three characters are splendid creations. for me, the best thing about their complicated relationship is how necessary each of them is to the other. at different points in the novel, each of the three characters will save the life of somone dear to another of those three characters. this was a beautiful thing, a resonant thing, a timeless thing. humans can rise above their baser instincts, they can be more than just pawns or animals or people who keep their heads down while others fall. we can save each other's lives. we can, i know we can. if not, then why even be alive?
November 5, 2025
Dusting off my shelves, I saw that I still own this book and came to see what I had thought of it. I didn't realise I had never written a review. I don't think the book is worth the time investment a reread demands only to be able to review it, so this assortment of more or less coherent thoughts I'm putting forth will have to do.
Ignore the five stars, please. That was old Marquise, not current-day Marquise.
I'm never entirely sure whether it was LOTR or this that was my first-ever Fantasy book. Memory says it was The Lions of Al-Rassan, but it could've been The Fellowship of the Ring just as well. They were both read on the same year, very close together, probably superimposed or read at the same time for all I know. It's been so long, details are fuzzy.
Why is it important what my first Fantasy was? Primarily because of the milestone. I used to not read Fantasy at all up until approximately 2009 BGR (Before Goodreads). It had been ingrained into me that Fantasy was 'low-brow' and unfit for and unworthy of someone with my level of education and culture (yeah, that's a nice way to say I was taught to be a literary snob), and I followed the implicitly enforced dictum by never looking at Fantasy books. Not that it was hard to do, there's so many books and so many genres.
Then, in waltzed Guy Gavriel Kay (and/or J. R. R. Tolkien, whoever got to me first) and broke my glass casket with a hammer and kidnapped me from my comfortable cocoon of bookish snobbery.
Do I remember how it happened? Yeah, quite vividly. The story is long and full of too personal details, but the short version is that I picked The Lions of Al-Rassan up because of a lapse of judgment. What?! Just as you read: I chose this book because I made a mistake. I thought it was a historical novel about the life of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid.
You can't blame me when Kay named his protagonist Rodrigo Belmonte too, and the place this novel is set in has the very unsubtle name of Esperana, and the invented ethnicities are the Jaddites, the Asherites, and the Kindath, all living together in the golden days before Osama bin Laden when folks had politically incorrect surnames such as Matamoros (Moorslayer) and all three groups in Al-Andalus (sorry, Al-Rassan) had a gentleman's agreement to periodically kill each other over whose interpretation of a certain sacred book was The Truth. A tradition that hasn't died out yet, from what you see in the news.
Oh, and lots of sex. Ridiculous sex. Because of course you can't have El Cid be bad in bed. What would become of Antonio Banderas if the Latin Lover reputation was all made up, mmm? And because Al-Andalus (sorry, Al-Rassan) was such a utopian paradise before the Sea Witch Ursula von der Leyen ruined Europe, our boy Ammar ibn Khairan also has to have his own share of ridiculous sex scenes too. We can't have a Moor (sorry, an Asherite) be less in bed than a Christian (sorry, a Jaddite), that would be racist! And because we all want peace in Gaza and preferably Bibi to hang, our boy Ammar's love interest has to be a very smart (she's a doctor) and very horny Jewish (sorry, a Kindath) lady. But why wouldn't Ammar fall for a fellow Asherite or even a Jaddite? Don't ask me, I want peace in Gaza.
Unfortunately for us, the Ammar vs Rodrigo duel to settle the quesion of who of the three tribes is right doesn't go as expected, and we have continued fighting ever since over basically the same stuff.
Maybe it's a good idea that I don't plan to reread this, I'm starting to think . . .
Maybe it's not a good idea to review books you read decades ago from memory, I'm also starting to think . . .
Anyway, where was I? The book's plot, yes. I did like the book for mostly three reasons:
- One, Kay's writing and storytelling style is engaging and fluid. Very easy to read. He may suck at certain aspects (hide his computer when he's trying to come up with sex scenes, please) and his characters tend to be one-note and too perfect in this book, but he sure knows how to tell a story.
- Two, the real history was easy to guess. Too easy, I'd say, so long as you are familiar with the inspiration history. You know a bit about the city-caliphates of Al-Andalus and their 800 years long dispute with the Christian kingdoms of Spain? You're all set! You've also read "Ivanhoe" and "The Poem of El Cid"? Wonderful, you're going to have a fantastic fangirling session spotting all the inspirations and homages.
- Three, Ammar ibn Khairan. He's a Mary Sue, but goodness is he an interesting Mary Sue. Read: hot chap. Doesn't hurt that he's easy to envision as Oded Fehr circa "The Mummy."
Does that mean I'd recommend this book nowadays? Well, it depends. On what? Lemme think...
- Were you on the camp that wanted Rebecca of York to elope with Sir Brian off into the sunset and live (semi-)happily ever after in Spain as Lady de Bois-Gilbert? You may like this for Jehane bet Ishak, who is Kay's version of Rebecca.
- Do you mind a Muslim-Christian-Jew threesome, er, love triangle plot? If you do, this book isn't for you.
- Do you like barely-disguised real history masquerading as Fantasy with no magic, no elves, no dwarves, no spiders? Yeah, if you can only digest Low Fantasy, this is for you. For me, although this book wasn't as influential and life-defining as Tolkien's, I do owe Guy Gavriel Kay a debt of gratitude for shaping my literary tastes into what they became: to date, I'm pretty much a Low Fantasy, no-magic, very folkloric, very historical type of Fantasy reader. My tolerance for mainstream and High Fantasy is rather shaky.
- Do you like political and court intrigue mixed with adventure in a world that feels real and lived-in? Welcome to this book, you'll have all that. But don't expect too much of the characters, Kay has made them more complex as he gained experience as a writer with more books published, but the characters here aren't layered or complex; they're very much stereotypes of the three Al-Andalus peoples.
Yeah, I do think I'll keep this book for the nostalgia, the milestone, the good memories, regardless of whether I reread it one day or not.
Ignore the five stars, please. That was old Marquise, not current-day Marquise.
I'm never entirely sure whether it was LOTR or this that was my first-ever Fantasy book. Memory says it was The Lions of Al-Rassan, but it could've been The Fellowship of the Ring just as well. They were both read on the same year, very close together, probably superimposed or read at the same time for all I know. It's been so long, details are fuzzy.
Why is it important what my first Fantasy was? Primarily because of the milestone. I used to not read Fantasy at all up until approximately 2009 BGR (Before Goodreads). It had been ingrained into me that Fantasy was 'low-brow' and unfit for and unworthy of someone with my level of education and culture (yeah, that's a nice way to say I was taught to be a literary snob), and I followed the implicitly enforced dictum by never looking at Fantasy books. Not that it was hard to do, there's so many books and so many genres.
Then, in waltzed Guy Gavriel Kay (and/or J. R. R. Tolkien, whoever got to me first) and broke my glass casket with a hammer and kidnapped me from my comfortable cocoon of bookish snobbery.
Do I remember how it happened? Yeah, quite vividly. The story is long and full of too personal details, but the short version is that I picked The Lions of Al-Rassan up because of a lapse of judgment. What?! Just as you read: I chose this book because I made a mistake. I thought it was a historical novel about the life of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid.
You can't blame me when Kay named his protagonist Rodrigo Belmonte too, and the place this novel is set in has the very unsubtle name of Esperana, and the invented ethnicities are the Jaddites, the Asherites, and the Kindath, all living together in the golden days before Osama bin Laden when folks had politically incorrect surnames such as Matamoros (Moorslayer) and all three groups in Al-Andalus (sorry, Al-Rassan) had a gentleman's agreement to periodically kill each other over whose interpretation of a certain sacred book was The Truth. A tradition that hasn't died out yet, from what you see in the news.
Oh, and lots of sex. Ridiculous sex. Because of course you can't have El Cid be bad in bed. What would become of Antonio Banderas if the Latin Lover reputation was all made up, mmm? And because Al-Andalus (sorry, Al-Rassan) was such a utopian paradise before the Sea Witch Ursula von der Leyen ruined Europe, our boy Ammar ibn Khairan also has to have his own share of ridiculous sex scenes too. We can't have a Moor (sorry, an Asherite) be less in bed than a Christian (sorry, a Jaddite), that would be racist! And because we all want peace in Gaza and preferably Bibi to hang, our boy Ammar's love interest has to be a very smart (she's a doctor) and very horny Jewish (sorry, a Kindath) lady. But why wouldn't Ammar fall for a fellow Asherite or even a Jaddite? Don't ask me, I want peace in Gaza.
Unfortunately for us, the Ammar vs Rodrigo duel to settle the quesion of who of the three tribes is right doesn't go as expected, and we have continued fighting ever since over basically the same stuff.
Maybe it's a good idea that I don't plan to reread this, I'm starting to think . . .
Maybe it's not a good idea to review books you read decades ago from memory, I'm also starting to think . . .
Anyway, where was I? The book's plot, yes. I did like the book for mostly three reasons:
- One, Kay's writing and storytelling style is engaging and fluid. Very easy to read. He may suck at certain aspects (hide his computer when he's trying to come up with sex scenes, please) and his characters tend to be one-note and too perfect in this book, but he sure knows how to tell a story.
- Two, the real history was easy to guess. Too easy, I'd say, so long as you are familiar with the inspiration history. You know a bit about the city-caliphates of Al-Andalus and their 800 years long dispute with the Christian kingdoms of Spain? You're all set! You've also read "Ivanhoe" and "The Poem of El Cid"? Wonderful, you're going to have a fantastic fangirling session spotting all the inspirations and homages.
- Three, Ammar ibn Khairan. He's a Mary Sue, but goodness is he an interesting Mary Sue. Read: hot chap. Doesn't hurt that he's easy to envision as Oded Fehr circa "The Mummy."
Does that mean I'd recommend this book nowadays? Well, it depends. On what? Lemme think...
- Were you on the camp that wanted Rebecca of York to elope with Sir Brian off into the sunset and live (semi-)happily ever after in Spain as Lady de Bois-Gilbert? You may like this for Jehane bet Ishak, who is Kay's version of Rebecca.
- Do you mind a Muslim-Christian-Jew threesome, er, love triangle plot? If you do, this book isn't for you.
- Do you like barely-disguised real history masquerading as Fantasy with no magic, no elves, no dwarves, no spiders? Yeah, if you can only digest Low Fantasy, this is for you. For me, although this book wasn't as influential and life-defining as Tolkien's, I do owe Guy Gavriel Kay a debt of gratitude for shaping my literary tastes into what they became: to date, I'm pretty much a Low Fantasy, no-magic, very folkloric, very historical type of Fantasy reader. My tolerance for mainstream and High Fantasy is rather shaky.
- Do you like political and court intrigue mixed with adventure in a world that feels real and lived-in? Welcome to this book, you'll have all that. But don't expect too much of the characters, Kay has made them more complex as he gained experience as a writer with more books published, but the characters here aren't layered or complex; they're very much stereotypes of the three Al-Andalus peoples.
Yeah, I do think I'll keep this book for the nostalgia, the milestone, the good memories, regardless of whether I reread it one day or not.
July 26, 2016
If I scored my nerd tendencies I’d fall much closer on the scale to comic books and Star Trek than to Lord of the Rings and other swords-n-sorcery kind of fantasy which is weird because I do enjoy the kind of world building and political intrigue that is often a big part of the genre.
My hesitation about reading more of this kind of stuff is due in no small part to how it seems like common practice for fantasy authors of turning those stories into multi-book epics, but then stalling out in the middle of a series and leaving fans hanging for years while they work on other projects. That’s why I watch Game of Thrones but will not read GRRM’s books until he finishes what he started. Years of frustration waiting during Stephen King’s glacial pace on Dark Tower left me a broken and bitter shell of a man who refuses to put up with that nonsense ever again.*
*Any rabid fan boy comments trying to shout me down for daring to offer a criticism that could be applied to their particular lord and master will be deleted. Life’s too short.
I haven’t read all of Guy Gavriel Kay’s work, but not only does he do the kind of intrigue I enjoy, one of the big selling points to me is that the guy finishes a story. He says he’s writing a fantasy trilogy? BOOM! There’s The Fionavar Tapestry. All three books were published from 1984 to 1986. He’s doing a two-parter called The Sarantine Mosaic? BAM! Started in 1998 and finished in 2000. Sorry that the second one wasn’t out in ’99. He’s creating a historical fantasy based on Moorish Spain that requires elaborate world building involving political and religious intrigue? Easy. The Lions of Al-Rassan. One and done. You’re welcome.
This fictional land has three religions with a bloody history, but an era of uneasy peace is in place among various factions split among them. The Asharites worship the stars and their prophet Ashar while their northern neighbors the Jaddites believe in a sun god. The Kindath worship the two moons, but they have no land or power of their own and exist in both territories as second class citizens who are routinely discriminated against. Prominent people in both the Asharite and Jaddite religions often find it a convenient distraction to blame the Kindath for any problems going on and let their citizens take out their frustrations on them rather than the actual leaders.
A female Kindath physician named Jehane bet Ishak has a very long and eventful day in which she meets two legendary men. Ammar ibn Khairan is an Asharite warrior and poet who is famous for having murdered the last caliph which turned formerly united Al-Rassan into independent city states. Rodrigo Belmonte is a Jaddite who leads a lethal company of horseman charged with keeping the peace and protecting the border cities who pay protection to his king.
A series of events begin to change the political landscape of Al-Rassan and ambitious leaders begin plotting while the dour clerics of Jad try to promote a holy war and some of the fanatical desert Asharites see opportunities to sweep away the decadence they believe has infiltrated their society. Rodrigo, Ammar and Jehane wind up in the same city and forge a bond despite their differences, but they soon find that it’s hard to be loyal to your friends when duty comes calling.
Kay does a superior job of laying out all the complex political and religious alliances so that you have a clear understanding but aren’t overwhelmed by it. His religions are obviously based on the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths, and he mines the history of them to make a lot of points about bigotry, hypocrisy and the use of faith to manipulate people. It’s also an exciting tale featuring all kinds of hacking and slashing in tense action scenes. I also liked that this has a lot of the trappings of a fantasy novel and a fictional world, but there’s no magical or supernatural elements other than one character having some very limited telepathic and precognitive abilities.
The best thing is the relationship between the three main characters. Rodrigo and Ammar are done as the kind of bigger-than-life people that emerge during times of great historical conflict whose actions have huge consequences, but he never makes them seem outrageously heroic or unrealistic. Jehane is as strong and independent female character as you can reasonably have in a story set in a society where guys with swords are still in charge. Her being one of the Kindath could have made her seem like a likely candidate to be victimized, but instead, Kay uses her as the voice of sanity caught in the middle of events completely outside of her control.
It’s not perfect though. Kay gets a little too cute sometimes in drawing out suspense like withholding the names of characters who have been killed and trying to fake the reader out. Also, while I’ve praised this as being a single self-contained story, most of the book is spent setting up a conflict that plays out in an incredibly rushed final act in which we see almost none of the action and learn about the deaths of important supporting characters as single lines reporting larger events. I suspect that Kay wanted to keep his focus on his three main players and that the point of the book was the impact on them, not so much a blow-by-blow account of it happening. However, he went to a lot of effort to suck a reader into this world so it seems odd that he was in such a hurry to finish it up.
Still, it’s a highly entertaining and engrossing read that combines the best of fantasy world building with historical fiction.
My hesitation about reading more of this kind of stuff is due in no small part to how it seems like common practice for fantasy authors of turning those stories into multi-book epics, but then stalling out in the middle of a series and leaving fans hanging for years while they work on other projects. That’s why I watch Game of Thrones but will not read GRRM’s books until he finishes what he started. Years of frustration waiting during Stephen King’s glacial pace on Dark Tower left me a broken and bitter shell of a man who refuses to put up with that nonsense ever again.*
*Any rabid fan boy comments trying to shout me down for daring to offer a criticism that could be applied to their particular lord and master will be deleted. Life’s too short.
I haven’t read all of Guy Gavriel Kay’s work, but not only does he do the kind of intrigue I enjoy, one of the big selling points to me is that the guy finishes a story. He says he’s writing a fantasy trilogy? BOOM! There’s The Fionavar Tapestry. All three books were published from 1984 to 1986. He’s doing a two-parter called The Sarantine Mosaic? BAM! Started in 1998 and finished in 2000. Sorry that the second one wasn’t out in ’99. He’s creating a historical fantasy based on Moorish Spain that requires elaborate world building involving political and religious intrigue? Easy. The Lions of Al-Rassan. One and done. You’re welcome.
This fictional land has three religions with a bloody history, but an era of uneasy peace is in place among various factions split among them. The Asharites worship the stars and their prophet Ashar while their northern neighbors the Jaddites believe in a sun god. The Kindath worship the two moons, but they have no land or power of their own and exist in both territories as second class citizens who are routinely discriminated against. Prominent people in both the Asharite and Jaddite religions often find it a convenient distraction to blame the Kindath for any problems going on and let their citizens take out their frustrations on them rather than the actual leaders.
A female Kindath physician named Jehane bet Ishak has a very long and eventful day in which she meets two legendary men. Ammar ibn Khairan is an Asharite warrior and poet who is famous for having murdered the last caliph which turned formerly united Al-Rassan into independent city states. Rodrigo Belmonte is a Jaddite who leads a lethal company of horseman charged with keeping the peace and protecting the border cities who pay protection to his king.
A series of events begin to change the political landscape of Al-Rassan and ambitious leaders begin plotting while the dour clerics of Jad try to promote a holy war and some of the fanatical desert Asharites see opportunities to sweep away the decadence they believe has infiltrated their society. Rodrigo, Ammar and Jehane wind up in the same city and forge a bond despite their differences, but they soon find that it’s hard to be loyal to your friends when duty comes calling.
Kay does a superior job of laying out all the complex political and religious alliances so that you have a clear understanding but aren’t overwhelmed by it. His religions are obviously based on the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths, and he mines the history of them to make a lot of points about bigotry, hypocrisy and the use of faith to manipulate people. It’s also an exciting tale featuring all kinds of hacking and slashing in tense action scenes. I also liked that this has a lot of the trappings of a fantasy novel and a fictional world, but there’s no magical or supernatural elements other than one character having some very limited telepathic and precognitive abilities.
The best thing is the relationship between the three main characters. Rodrigo and Ammar are done as the kind of bigger-than-life people that emerge during times of great historical conflict whose actions have huge consequences, but he never makes them seem outrageously heroic or unrealistic. Jehane is as strong and independent female character as you can reasonably have in a story set in a society where guys with swords are still in charge. Her being one of the Kindath could have made her seem like a likely candidate to be victimized, but instead, Kay uses her as the voice of sanity caught in the middle of events completely outside of her control.
It’s not perfect though. Kay gets a little too cute sometimes in drawing out suspense like withholding the names of characters who have been killed and trying to fake the reader out. Also, while I’ve praised this as being a single self-contained story, most of the book is spent setting up a conflict that plays out in an incredibly rushed final act in which we see almost none of the action and learn about the deaths of important supporting characters as single lines reporting larger events. I suspect that Kay wanted to keep his focus on his three main players and that the point of the book was the impact on them, not so much a blow-by-blow account of it happening. However, he went to a lot of effort to suck a reader into this world so it seems odd that he was in such a hurry to finish it up.
Still, it’s a highly entertaining and engrossing read that combines the best of fantasy world building with historical fiction.
April 21, 2021
The things some people can do with words are breathtaking. I absolutely loved this book. I have ranted about it to everyone possible, including strangers in cars next to me on the street. I tell them to roll down their windows and then I tell them to read this book. My mom stopped taking my calls because instead of happy mother's day, I quoted lines from this book when I talked to her. There are a lot of reviews for this so I'm not breaking any new ground here, but sincerely, if you have not read this book and you enjoy reading in any way, pick it up and start immediately. I'm afraid that might even be too late. Five-fireworks exploding in my head for the final eighty pages- stars and the placement of high expectations on a serious love affair with this guy's other works.
June 26, 2011
Perhaps it’s incipient dementia?
I’ve lost too many brain cells to time and American TV but I just don’t get the GGK “love” evinced by many of my GR friends. I struggled through the first 100 pages of this book and seriously considered giving up entirely but I persevered to the end (albeit skimming through many pages) and left profoundly unimpressed.
Upon reflection, my difficulty with the novel is that at no point did the writing engage me. I didn’t find the alternate Medieval Spain all that inventive; I didn’t find the characters all that interesting. The story had moments of interest but overall I felt cynically manipulated at every point.
Points that made it impossible to enjoy this book:
The setting: Medieval history – particularly the very era when the Reconquista was getting underway – was my focus in college and in my post-graduate studies. Kay has done his homework but rather than using that knowledge to inform a true alternate history of Spain or a world with a Moorish flavor we have a world where the names have been changed…and that’s it. We have “al-Rassan” for “al-Andalus,” “Esperaña” for “Spain,” the “Majriti” for “Berbers,” “Jaddites” for “Christians,” “Asharites” for “Muslims,” … you get the idea.
The characters: Two points to make here. One is that our heroes and heroines are simply too good to be believed – Rodrigo, Ammar, Jehane, Miranda. They’re brilliant, understanding and “oh, so tragic.” And the bad guys are little better. A shade more gray (e.g., Almalik ibn Almalik or Yazir ibn Q’arif) but not much. I felt like I was being hit over the head with their awesomeness as well as with their angst over the terrible dilemmas they found themselves in. The in-your-face nature of the writing made it impossible for me to get into the story or to give a damn about the characters.
Point two is that Rodrigo et al. sound and act like 20/21st century people. There was never a moment when I felt I was in the mind of a man or woman born and raised in a Medieval (or Medievalish) world unlike my reading of Sheri Holman’s A Stolen Tongue. There, I could identify with or at any rate understand Fra Felix’s motivations and actions but they were wholly informed by Medieval premises, and I was in a thoroughly alien world. The same is true of William Golding’s Scorpion God, where we’re transported to a Stone Age tribe, Old Kingdom Egypt and late Republican Rome.
The sex scenes: Like a lot of the book, they were just too good to be true and cringe inducing.
The technology: This really only irked me in two places as, otherwise, there was nothing obviously anachronistic, and both had to do with the medical technology of the period. Jehane’s father – Ishak, a celebrated physician – performs a successful Caesarian section and a successful brain surgery. Though Muslim and Jewish (i.e., Asharite and Kindath) medical knowledge was – relatively speaking – light years beyond any Christian (i.e., Jaddite) lore, I just couldn’t buy it.
And on that topic and related to the unbelievable awesomeness of the characters – there was a scene where Kay could have introduced an element of humanity into Jehane’s character. One of the more vile villains – Garcia de Rada – suffers a whip lash. Jehane, much against her inclination, offers him advice on how to make sure it doesn’t fester because her Oath of Galinus (otherwise known as the Hippocratic Oath) demands that she offers succor to anyone. Why couldn’t we have seen a flaw in her character? A point where even her oath isn’t going to make her let Garcia suffer less? Rather than making me dislike her it would have made her more real.
Whew…is there anything good I can say about the book? I did give it two stars, after all.
Not really. I may become more generous as the immediacy of my reading lessens but the novel is just “okay” in my book. I wish I could share in the enthusiasm of many of my GR friends (and I’ll still take their ratings, recommendations and reviews seriously) but I can’t.
I don’t know if I want to give Kay another chance. I’m still intrigued by the idea behind Tigana, for example, but I’m not sure I could endure the writing style again.
I think I’m going to go off now and write a review of a book I that’s more than “OK.”
I’ve lost too many brain cells to time and American TV but I just don’t get the GGK “love” evinced by many of my GR friends. I struggled through the first 100 pages of this book and seriously considered giving up entirely but I persevered to the end (albeit skimming through many pages) and left profoundly unimpressed.
Upon reflection, my difficulty with the novel is that at no point did the writing engage me. I didn’t find the alternate Medieval Spain all that inventive; I didn’t find the characters all that interesting. The story had moments of interest but overall I felt cynically manipulated at every point.
Points that made it impossible to enjoy this book:
The setting: Medieval history – particularly the very era when the Reconquista was getting underway – was my focus in college and in my post-graduate studies. Kay has done his homework but rather than using that knowledge to inform a true alternate history of Spain or a world with a Moorish flavor we have a world where the names have been changed…and that’s it. We have “al-Rassan” for “al-Andalus,” “Esperaña” for “Spain,” the “Majriti” for “Berbers,” “Jaddites” for “Christians,” “Asharites” for “Muslims,” … you get the idea.
The characters: Two points to make here. One is that our heroes and heroines are simply too good to be believed – Rodrigo, Ammar, Jehane, Miranda. They’re brilliant, understanding and “oh, so tragic.” And the bad guys are little better. A shade more gray (e.g., Almalik ibn Almalik or Yazir ibn Q’arif) but not much. I felt like I was being hit over the head with their awesomeness as well as with their angst over the terrible dilemmas they found themselves in. The in-your-face nature of the writing made it impossible for me to get into the story or to give a damn about the characters.
Point two is that Rodrigo et al. sound and act like 20/21st century people. There was never a moment when I felt I was in the mind of a man or woman born and raised in a Medieval (or Medievalish) world unlike my reading of Sheri Holman’s A Stolen Tongue. There, I could identify with or at any rate understand Fra Felix’s motivations and actions but they were wholly informed by Medieval premises, and I was in a thoroughly alien world. The same is true of William Golding’s Scorpion God, where we’re transported to a Stone Age tribe, Old Kingdom Egypt and late Republican Rome.
The sex scenes: Like a lot of the book, they were just too good to be true and cringe inducing.
The technology: This really only irked me in two places as, otherwise, there was nothing obviously anachronistic, and both had to do with the medical technology of the period. Jehane’s father – Ishak, a celebrated physician – performs a successful Caesarian section and a successful brain surgery. Though Muslim and Jewish (i.e., Asharite and Kindath) medical knowledge was – relatively speaking – light years beyond any Christian (i.e., Jaddite) lore, I just couldn’t buy it.
And on that topic and related to the unbelievable awesomeness of the characters – there was a scene where Kay could have introduced an element of humanity into Jehane’s character. One of the more vile villains – Garcia de Rada – suffers a whip lash. Jehane, much against her inclination, offers him advice on how to make sure it doesn’t fester because her Oath of Galinus (otherwise known as the Hippocratic Oath) demands that she offers succor to anyone. Why couldn’t we have seen a flaw in her character? A point where even her oath isn’t going to make her let Garcia suffer less? Rather than making me dislike her it would have made her more real.
Whew…is there anything good I can say about the book? I did give it two stars, after all.
Not really. I may become more generous as the immediacy of my reading lessens but the novel is just “okay” in my book. I wish I could share in the enthusiasm of many of my GR friends (and I’ll still take their ratings, recommendations and reviews seriously) but I can’t.
I don’t know if I want to give Kay another chance. I’m still intrigued by the idea behind Tigana, for example, but I’m not sure I could endure the writing style again.
I think I’m going to go off now and write a review of a book I that’s more than “OK.”
February 23, 2025
Audio reread:
Really like Euan Morton as a narrator
Absolutely brilliant.
It started fast, was an amazing story of companionship, religion, and duty.
Amazing politics, interactively plotted, heartbreaking,
Im not writing more cause im on my phone, and a full review will take too long.
9.7/10
Really like Euan Morton as a narrator
Absolutely brilliant.
It started fast, was an amazing story of companionship, religion, and duty.
Amazing politics, interactively plotted, heartbreaking,
Im not writing more cause im on my phone, and a full review will take too long.
9.7/10
November 19, 2025
Много харесвам прозата на Гай Гавриел Кай, на моменти тя естествено и леко преминава в поезия и после се връща стремително назад, в руслото на пълноводната река на въображението му!
За съжаление, далеч не са много творбите му преведени на български, но пък тези които са, определено си струва да бъдат прочетени!
Силата и очарованието на арабските халифати в завоюваните преди векове територии гаснат, притискани от всички страни. Приличащи си като родни братя религиозни фанатици желаят унищожението на красивото, чуждото и различното, като са готови на всичко, за да постигнат зловещите си цели.
В същото време, поколения есперанци са учени, че часът на отмъщението иде и че земите на дедите им отново ще станат техни, независимо от цената.
Реконкистата започва и вихрушката ѝ разпилява съдбините на героите ни, а за нас остава да се насладим на чудесната история, за един толкова различно познат Ал-Расан, доминиран от двете си луници-сестрици!
Цитат:
"Войната беше нещо добро, а свещената война - най-хубавото нещо на света."
Препрочетох този роман с голямо удоволствие и го препоръчвам!
P.S. Преводът на Силвана Миланова е отличен!
За съжаление, далеч не са много творбите му преведени на български, но пък тези които са, определено си струва да бъдат прочетени!
Силата и очарованието на арабските халифати в завоюваните преди векове територии гаснат, притискани от всички страни. Приличащи си като родни братя религиозни фанатици желаят унищожението на красивото, чуждото и различното, като са готови на всичко, за да постигнат зловещите си цели.
В същото време, поколения есперанци са учени, че часът на отмъщението иде и че земите на дедите им отново ще станат техни, независимо от цената.
Реконкистата започва и вихрушката ѝ разпилява съдбините на героите ни, а за нас остава да се насладим на чудесната история, за един толкова различно познат Ал-Расан, доминиран от двете си луници-сестрици!
Цитат:
"Войната беше нещо добро, а свещената война - най-хубавото нещо на света."
Препрочетох този роман с голямо удоволствие и го препоръчвам!
P.S. Преводът на Силвана Миланова е отличен!
November 29, 2024
Sam nie wiem, która książka podobała mi się bardziej - Lwy Al-Rassanu, czy Tigana.
Cudo.
Recenzja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45zMB...
Cudo.
Recenzja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45zMB...
June 5, 2014
First of all, allow me to give Kiala her due for picking this book for Vaginal Fantasy. After last month's pick, we were sorely due for something of substance. I will also remind everyone that last month's pick was MY doing, so I'm duly chastened.
Anyhow. The Lions of Al-Rassan is an absolutely mesmerizing book. As I understand it (and please correct me in the comments if I am incorrect) it's a fantastical alt-history of the Iberian Peninsula. With one small exception, I would pause to call it fantasy at all.
In fact, the only issue I had with the book was my own lack of historical knowledge. I was constantly trying to make parallels between the nations, religions and peoples of the book with our own world history, and that was perhaps a little distracting.
But, to the story. I don't want to spoil, and I don't really want to get into the intricacies of the tale (there are many). This book does many things, and it does them all well. It's an action tale, a love story, a cautionary tale that seems to hit on modern fears and insecurities, and more. The web of characters seems to constantly expand, and yet I never felt as though I was receiving unnecessary information.
The people in this book are complex, and you'll come to care deeply about many of them. They are all flawed, though some more than others. There is romance, and it is very complicated. Life is complicated. War is horrible. Good people can do terrible things. You'll forgive some of it, but not all.
Anyhow. The Lions of Al-Rassan is an absolutely mesmerizing book. As I understand it (and please correct me in the comments if I am incorrect) it's a fantastical alt-history of the Iberian Peninsula. With one small exception, I would pause to call it fantasy at all.
In fact, the only issue I had with the book was my own lack of historical knowledge. I was constantly trying to make parallels between the nations, religions and peoples of the book with our own world history, and that was perhaps a little distracting.
But, to the story. I don't want to spoil, and I don't really want to get into the intricacies of the tale (there are many). This book does many things, and it does them all well. It's an action tale, a love story, a cautionary tale that seems to hit on modern fears and insecurities, and more. The web of characters seems to constantly expand, and yet I never felt as though I was receiving unnecessary information.
The people in this book are complex, and you'll come to care deeply about many of them. They are all flawed, though some more than others. There is romance, and it is very complicated. Life is complicated. War is horrible. Good people can do terrible things. You'll forgive some of it, but not all.
April 25, 2023
This was my first Guy Gavriel Kay book and it will certainly not be my last. In fact, I have the urge to read everything this man has written because The Lions of Al-Rassan completely blew me away. The scale and scope of the story, the well-developed characters, the thematic depth, and the gripping tension all brought together by Kay's wonderful prose resulted in one of the most satisfying experiences I've had with a standalone fantasy novel in a long time. From the first sentence to the last, I was utterly and completely engaged and never wanted this book to end. The Lions of Al-Rassan was a compelling and exciting read and I genuinely can not wait to read more of GGK's work.
May 27, 2017
I feel like I should have loved this book. Parts of it were so good and it had that tortured world gritty feel to it that's right up my alley. Friends on GR who share common interests one and all loved it. But my god the middle 60% was a slog for me. I had to put it down and restart it so many times. The ending tragic and redeeming but I still can't give it more than 2.5*'s.
September 26, 2022
This book is phenomenal.
March 10, 2017
I love this book. 5 Stars. All the Stars.
It’s a slow burn. I can easily acknowledge that, but the characters are intriguing from the start and Kay’s writing is just beautiful. The world can be a bit confusing as well if you don’t understand the background of medieval Spain as a lot of names and history are thrown at you from the start. There’s also three different religions and the strife between them is the center stage of the book; the Kindath are Jews, the Jaddites are Christians, and the Asharites are Muslims. The religions are pretty loosely based, but I think knowing that connection makes the book much easier to place.
Oh but this book. It might be a slow burn, but before you know it, you can’t put it down and then tears are streaming down your face but you still can’t stop. I love it. I love Kay’s writing. I love the emotional gut punches and the beautiful impactful scenes. I love how many times I’ll reread a passage because it’s so on point. I love the little touches of metaphor sprinkled throughout, and how I’m still not sure I’ve caught them all.
I could try to write a serious review, but I think Alissa's review is pretty perfect.
I recommend this book to everyone. Go slow. Enjoy it. Soon you won’t be able to stop.
It’s a slow burn. I can easily acknowledge that, but the characters are intriguing from the start and Kay’s writing is just beautiful. The world can be a bit confusing as well if you don’t understand the background of medieval Spain as a lot of names and history are thrown at you from the start. There’s also three different religions and the strife between them is the center stage of the book; the Kindath are Jews, the Jaddites are Christians, and the Asharites are Muslims. The religions are pretty loosely based, but I think knowing that connection makes the book much easier to place.
Oh but this book. It might be a slow burn, but before you know it, you can’t put it down and then tears are streaming down your face but you still can’t stop. I love it. I love Kay’s writing. I love the emotional gut punches and the beautiful impactful scenes. I love how many times I’ll reread a passage because it’s so on point. I love the little touches of metaphor sprinkled throughout, and how I’m still not sure I’ve caught them all.
I could try to write a serious review, but I think Alissa's review is pretty perfect.
I recommend this book to everyone. Go slow. Enjoy it. Soon you won’t be able to stop.
October 4, 2025
This is the most high brow romantasy I have ever read.
February 7, 2024
My second GGK and another hit.
It is set in a world similar to Moorish medieval Spain, ravaged by wars, and it focuses mostly on the interrelations between people of three faiths, the bigotry involved, but also what it means to leave aside all prejudices and appreciate the person, no matter their religion.
Magic is almost inexistent (if we take in consideration Diego’s gift); it’s mostly a historical fantasy, if I coined the term correctly.
I loved the worldbuilding, the strong characters, the plot and action, the twists. I could have had less torture, my stomach doesn’t bear lightly such scenes, but this is a personal quirk, not a flaw.
All in all, a great novel. I plan to read all his other works.
It is set in a world similar to Moorish medieval Spain, ravaged by wars, and it focuses mostly on the interrelations between people of three faiths, the bigotry involved, but also what it means to leave aside all prejudices and appreciate the person, no matter their religion.
Magic is almost inexistent (if we take in consideration Diego’s gift); it’s mostly a historical fantasy, if I coined the term correctly.
I loved the worldbuilding, the strong characters, the plot and action, the twists. I could have had less torture, my stomach doesn’t bear lightly such scenes, but this is a personal quirk, not a flaw.
All in all, a great novel. I plan to read all his other works.
December 18, 2024
The Lions of Al-Rassan is a flawless, heart-wrenching, sweeping masterwork of historical fiction and surpasses 'A Storm of Swords' as my new favorite book of all time.
Set in a fictional version of Spain during the Crusades, we follow three characters – a Kindath (Jewish) woman doctor, a Jaddite (Christian) military leader, and an Asharite (Muslim) Poet/Diplomat. These three people from vastly different backgrounds are thrust together amid absolute turmoil and form a bond that defies and transcends cultures. It broke my heart, but also somehow made me as hopeful as any book I had ever read.
I've read every Guy Gavriel Kay novel, and they are all great, but The Lions of al-Rassan combines all of Kay's best qualities and maximizes them to the fullest.
Beautiful Prose + Perfect Pacing + a Tragic Story + Fascinating History + Unforgettable Characters
5 Stars are not enough. Every human alive should read this.
Read it, and I promise you will be changed for the better.
Set in a fictional version of Spain during the Crusades, we follow three characters – a Kindath (Jewish) woman doctor, a Jaddite (Christian) military leader, and an Asharite (Muslim) Poet/Diplomat. These three people from vastly different backgrounds are thrust together amid absolute turmoil and form a bond that defies and transcends cultures. It broke my heart, but also somehow made me as hopeful as any book I had ever read.
I've read every Guy Gavriel Kay novel, and they are all great, but The Lions of al-Rassan combines all of Kay's best qualities and maximizes them to the fullest.
Beautiful Prose + Perfect Pacing + a Tragic Story + Fascinating History + Unforgettable Characters
5 Stars are not enough. Every human alive should read this.
Read it, and I promise you will be changed for the better.
May 21, 2016
I loved this book. The story is seductive and engaging, the characters are adult, well-rounded and sophisticated, the writing style is very versatile: it offers both lavish descriptions, witty dialogues, elegant poetry, emotion and brutal detachment to a great, immersive effect. Subtle, delicate, harrowing, the plot entertains and develops with depth of themes, drama, humour and evenly paced action. It is historical fantasy, with little or none fantastic elements.
The characters and the current geo-polical situation are introduced following a routine day in the life of the physician Jehane bet Ishak, of the ostracized Kindath faith, in one of the main cities of the Asharite land of Al-Rassan. She is a woman with agency in lands and in an age where it is difficult to be such, fighting for her autonomy standing on her own merits. Along with her, we met Ammar ibn Khairan of Aljais, the poet who murdered the last khalif of Silvanes, debonair, beguiling and Asharite, and the former constable of Valledo, Rodrigo Belmonte, strong, possessed of a keen intelligence and Jaddite.
“You touched people’s lives, glancingly, and those lives changed forever.”
The different factions come alive thought the book with impeccable timing, while the story deepens and the reader gains more insight about the political strife within and without the kingdoms. Though the relationship between the three main characters (and the relationship between the two men, a real masterpiece) is one of the main elements of the book, the whole cast offers an interesting variety of human types and implications, much to the delight of the reader who likes both character and action-driven books, surely not an easy balance to achieve. The author blends different cultures into a beguiling tale of warring states, sultry decline, petty revenges, human ambition, atrocities, greed and religious hatred, but also love, loyalty, growth, understanding and healing, where people pay the price of pursuing their dreams, and where the free will of the characters, and chance history, will shape the future of a whole land.
“It isn’t a dream any more. The world has changed. When you can do what you dreamed about, sometimes it isn’t … as simple any more.”
The whole book feels meticulously researched and it adds a lot to the realism of the events and the many skills of the characters, as Kay takes the historical patterns of the time of the Reconquista, and of the three main Faiths as recorded in such turbulent centuries. He opens the story in a moment of simmering conflict and precarious balance between two main cultures, with the minority group of another aware of the need to cope with the consequences. In the echoes of a long time ago peninsula Iberica, I found many points to think about our world current situation, the complexity born of mingling religion and politics, the nature of ambitions, the inevitability of change and surely, the bittersweet beauty of human condition.
“The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert.”
That is one of the main reasons I love fantasy literature: it is all about us, with imagination and the gloves off.
"War was good, a holy war was the best thing in the world."
Moving in the shift winds that herald change, forever, the factions meet, clash, mingle, offer empty platitudes or forge timeless bonds, show weaknesses and strengths. Beneath the most evident messages, such as the possibility of a civilized world which shuns prejudice and fanaticism, there is a fascinating highlight on the power of self, on the impact of choices, on the beauty and pain of some experiences, on the longing for lost grace and the renewal of hope. Kay does not portray helpless humanity or perfect heroes, nor does he shy from the consequences of the morality and the violence of those times.
“Over and above all this, of course, there was pride. There was always pride.”
I picked the The Lions of Al-Rassan thanks to all the great recommendations I received as a reader who loves Janny Wurts. This kind of stories is not easy, for structure, for nuances, for complexity and themes, for the many explorations of the gamut of the human spirit, but they are of utmost fulfilling emotional reward. In a book, I want to be entertained; I want to laugh at clever humour and read about compelling characters, layered and ever-developing, I want to follow an engaging story, unpredictable, twisty and original; I want to read great prose. But the books that I will always remember are those which stir something in me, and I both embrace and eschew this kind of sensation because it can also be a little scary. The beauty of focusing my thoughts, of living a book, is also the risk to let the reading touch me deeply, to let my feelings be vulnerable to what a story, an author, is daring me to experience for myself. The Lions of Al-Rassan resonated with my inner chords and I am drained, but grateful.
“One sun for the god. Two moons for his beloved sisters. Uncountable stars to shine in the night.”
The characters and the current geo-polical situation are introduced following a routine day in the life of the physician Jehane bet Ishak, of the ostracized Kindath faith, in one of the main cities of the Asharite land of Al-Rassan. She is a woman with agency in lands and in an age where it is difficult to be such, fighting for her autonomy standing on her own merits. Along with her, we met Ammar ibn Khairan of Aljais, the poet who murdered the last khalif of Silvanes, debonair, beguiling and Asharite, and the former constable of Valledo, Rodrigo Belmonte, strong, possessed of a keen intelligence and Jaddite.
“You touched people’s lives, glancingly, and those lives changed forever.”
The different factions come alive thought the book with impeccable timing, while the story deepens and the reader gains more insight about the political strife within and without the kingdoms. Though the relationship between the three main characters (and the relationship between the two men, a real masterpiece) is one of the main elements of the book, the whole cast offers an interesting variety of human types and implications, much to the delight of the reader who likes both character and action-driven books, surely not an easy balance to achieve. The author blends different cultures into a beguiling tale of warring states, sultry decline, petty revenges, human ambition, atrocities, greed and religious hatred, but also love, loyalty, growth, understanding and healing, where people pay the price of pursuing their dreams, and where the free will of the characters, and chance history, will shape the future of a whole land.
“It isn’t a dream any more. The world has changed. When you can do what you dreamed about, sometimes it isn’t … as simple any more.”
The whole book feels meticulously researched and it adds a lot to the realism of the events and the many skills of the characters, as Kay takes the historical patterns of the time of the Reconquista, and of the three main Faiths as recorded in such turbulent centuries. He opens the story in a moment of simmering conflict and precarious balance between two main cultures, with the minority group of another aware of the need to cope with the consequences. In the echoes of a long time ago peninsula Iberica, I found many points to think about our world current situation, the complexity born of mingling religion and politics, the nature of ambitions, the inevitability of change and surely, the bittersweet beauty of human condition.
“The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert.”
That is one of the main reasons I love fantasy literature: it is all about us, with imagination and the gloves off.
"War was good, a holy war was the best thing in the world."
Moving in the shift winds that herald change, forever, the factions meet, clash, mingle, offer empty platitudes or forge timeless bonds, show weaknesses and strengths. Beneath the most evident messages, such as the possibility of a civilized world which shuns prejudice and fanaticism, there is a fascinating highlight on the power of self, on the impact of choices, on the beauty and pain of some experiences, on the longing for lost grace and the renewal of hope. Kay does not portray helpless humanity or perfect heroes, nor does he shy from the consequences of the morality and the violence of those times.
“Over and above all this, of course, there was pride. There was always pride.”
I picked the The Lions of Al-Rassan thanks to all the great recommendations I received as a reader who loves Janny Wurts. This kind of stories is not easy, for structure, for nuances, for complexity and themes, for the many explorations of the gamut of the human spirit, but they are of utmost fulfilling emotional reward. In a book, I want to be entertained; I want to laugh at clever humour and read about compelling characters, layered and ever-developing, I want to follow an engaging story, unpredictable, twisty and original; I want to read great prose. But the books that I will always remember are those which stir something in me, and I both embrace and eschew this kind of sensation because it can also be a little scary. The beauty of focusing my thoughts, of living a book, is also the risk to let the reading touch me deeply, to let my feelings be vulnerable to what a story, an author, is daring me to experience for myself. The Lions of Al-Rassan resonated with my inner chords and I am drained, but grateful.
“One sun for the god. Two moons for his beloved sisters. Uncountable stars to shine in the night.”
October 30, 2025
„Лъвовете на Ал-Расан“ е поредното превъзходно историческо фентъзи на Гай Гавриел Кай... Той майсторски е пренесъл средновековната испанска атмосфера в алтернативен свят, описвайки по изключително лиричен начин драматични събития от годините на реконкистата. Романът е изпълнен с опасни и вълнуващи битки и интриги, представя многопластова картина на епохата, а пък героите се оказаха ярки и запомнящи се образи - по нищо не отстъпва на разкошната „Сарантийска мозайка“!
„Ако не беше тръгнала, животът ѝ щеше да бъде друг. С по-малко вятър и по-малко дъжд. И може би с по-малко от виденията, осеняващи онези, които стоят по ветровитите върхове на света.“
„Реши, че Капитана е прав за Гарсия де Рада — че неговото начинание излиза извън рамките на личната вражда и се превръща в държавен въпрос. Алвар открай време се гордееше със способността си да приеме чуждо мнение, когато другият е прав.“
„— Та защо трябваше да питате какво гори?
— Не трябваше, а предпочетох да попитам. За да видя кой ще отговори. Някои неща могат да се научат от въпросите, не само от отговорите.“
„За Алвар това беше особен миг — по-късно, когато се вглеждаше в миналото, той щеше да каже, че тази нощ е пораснал. През тази дълга, дълга нощ край Фезана вратите и прозорците на простия, разбираем живот се бяха разтворили и той за пръв път осъзна, че нещата могат да бъдат сложни и дълбоки.“
„Това беше грешка, която един по-млад мъж никога не би си простил. Но той вече не беше толкова млад и всичко това му се струваше доста забавно. Ако трябваше да се надсмива на някого, трябваше да се надсмива над себе си.“
„Джехане беше добра слушателка и понякога чуваше повече от онова, което разказвачът искаше да сподели.“
„— Ибн Хайран е твърде честен поет, ваше величество. Той може да излъже с думи или постъпки, но не и в стиховете си, струва ми се.“
„Понякога събития, които на пръв поглед нямат нищо общо помежду си, говорят красноречиво за промяна в общото настроение, за поврат в хода на света, било за добро или за зло. Дълги години след кланетата на киндати в Сореника и Фезана се помнеше, че само половин година дели двете събития. Първото беше дело на подивели от скука джадитски войници, второто — на обезумели от страх ашарити. Приликата беше поразителна.“
„...Мисля, че щях да ви повярвам. Сега ви вярвам. Ще ви служа, щом съм ви нужен.
Той коленичи пред краля и вдигна нагоре събраните си длани. Рамиро за миг безмълвно се вгледа в него.
— Нямаше да ми повярвате — каза той. — Винаги щяхте да се съмнявате. Трябваше да пораснем, и аз, и вие, за да ви го кажа и да ме чуете.“
„Ако не беше тръгнала, животът ѝ щеше да бъде друг. С по-малко вятър и по-малко дъжд. И може би с по-малко от виденията, осеняващи онези, които стоят по ветровитите върхове на света.“
„Реши, че Капитана е прав за Гарсия де Рада — че неговото начинание излиза извън рамките на личната вражда и се превръща в държавен въпрос. Алвар открай време се гордееше със способността си да приеме чуждо мнение, когато другият е прав.“
„— Та защо трябваше да питате какво гори?
— Не трябваше, а предпочетох да попитам. За да видя кой ще отговори. Някои неща могат да се научат от въпросите, не само от отговорите.“
„За Алвар това беше особен миг — по-късно, когато се вглеждаше в миналото, той щеше да каже, че тази нощ е пораснал. През тази дълга, дълга нощ край Фезана вратите и прозорците на простия, разбираем живот се бяха разтворили и той за пръв път осъзна, че нещата могат да бъдат сложни и дълбоки.“
„Това беше грешка, която един по-млад мъж никога не би си простил. Но той вече не беше толкова млад и всичко това му се струваше доста забавно. Ако трябваше да се надсмива на някого, трябваше да се надсмива над себе си.“
„Джехане беше добра слушателка и понякога чуваше повече от онова, което разказвачът искаше да сподели.“
„— Ибн Хайран е твърде честен поет, ваше величество. Той може да излъже с думи или постъпки, но не и в стиховете си, струва ми се.“
„Понякога събития, които на пръв поглед нямат нищо общо помежду си, говорят красноречиво за промяна в общото настроение, за поврат в хода на света, било за добро или за зло. Дълги години след кланетата на киндати в Сореника и Фезана се помнеше, че само половин година дели двете събития. Първото беше дело на подивели от скука джадитски войници, второто — на обезумели от страх ашарити. Приликата беше поразителна.“
„...Мисля, че щях да ви повярвам. Сега ви вярвам. Ще ви служа, щом съм ви нужен.
Той коленичи пред краля и вдигна нагоре събраните си длани. Рамиро за миг безмълвно се вгледа в него.
— Нямаше да ми повярвате — каза той. — Винаги щяхте да се съмнявате. Трябваше да пораснем, и аз, и вие, за да ви го кажа и да ме чуете.“
November 23, 2015
I needed a couple of days to let this sink in before writing a review. That's how powerful the book was, and its incredible ending.
This is one of those books that it's very difficult to write a spoiler-free review for. I could mark it as such and go for it, but then people that haven't read the book will skip the review.
The Lions of Al-Rassan is a book I will push on friends. When asked for recommendations, it will float to the top of my list every time. I won't say it's my all-time favorite, but it's on the short list.
So, without spoilers, let's see what we can do.
This book is a great example of what epic fantasy should be. Key on the "epic". There really aren't that many traditional fantasy elements; no elves, dwarves, magic, dragons, or forgetful wizards. But it has the passion and scope of medieval society, and the brutality of its warfare. The clash of three religions that really should be compatible but for some reason cause hundreds of years of slaughter between the factions.
This could be a historical fiction, if not for the names being changed. It's an imaginary world, with a huge flavoring of our world's history, that of medieval Spain.
And while it has all of that, nothing will prepare the reader for the emotional pull this does on the heartstrings. Kay does not only make you like his characters, he makes you freakin' grieve for them. For their losses, for their ordeals, and sometimes for their deaths. When they're at risk, you feel your heartbeat skip and just as much you feel the relief if/when they survive the challenges. Sometimes, you even feel relief that Character A survived while Character B did not, and then you feel guilty for feeling that relief, because you loved Character B as well.
So, this is not a sword & sorcery Dungeons and Dragons campaign re-hash. It is not strictly a historical "real" fiction, though it is closer to that than the former. In fact, I hate to stick a genre label to this book at all, because it truly transcends labeling.
It's a damn good book, period.
This is one of those books that it's very difficult to write a spoiler-free review for. I could mark it as such and go for it, but then people that haven't read the book will skip the review.
The Lions of Al-Rassan is a book I will push on friends. When asked for recommendations, it will float to the top of my list every time. I won't say it's my all-time favorite, but it's on the short list.
So, without spoilers, let's see what we can do.
This book is a great example of what epic fantasy should be. Key on the "epic". There really aren't that many traditional fantasy elements; no elves, dwarves, magic, dragons, or forgetful wizards. But it has the passion and scope of medieval society, and the brutality of its warfare. The clash of three religions that really should be compatible but for some reason cause hundreds of years of slaughter between the factions.
This could be a historical fiction, if not for the names being changed. It's an imaginary world, with a huge flavoring of our world's history, that of medieval Spain.
And while it has all of that, nothing will prepare the reader for the emotional pull this does on the heartstrings. Kay does not only make you like his characters, he makes you freakin' grieve for them. For their losses, for their ordeals, and sometimes for their deaths. When they're at risk, you feel your heartbeat skip and just as much you feel the relief if/when they survive the challenges. Sometimes, you even feel relief that Character A survived while Character B did not, and then you feel guilty for feeling that relief, because you loved Character B as well.
So, this is not a sword & sorcery Dungeons and Dragons campaign re-hash. It is not strictly a historical "real" fiction, though it is closer to that than the former. In fact, I hate to stick a genre label to this book at all, because it truly transcends labeling.
It's a damn good book, period.
August 8, 2013
Reads like a movie novelization. A movie intended as pseudo-historical reenactment Oscar-bait with beautiful sweeping landscapes and beautiful actors and actresses who take it all so damn seriously. The women are spunky (I hate that word, so it's appropriate for Jehane) and inappropriately modern while remaining in the margins - props to the masculine deeds of the leading men. Every fight is a show of athleticism, perfectly choreographed. A light-hearted moment that isn't actually funny. Characters don't have sex, they indulge in lovemaking (yes, the word lovemaking was actually used in the book), perfectly cleaned bodies in soft light draped by strategically placed sheets. Side-boob, half in shadow. Banter between the female lead and the men who would give their lives to protect her. Scenes open with a view of the city or enclave that the next group of characters occupy. The heavy-handed foreshadowing of tragedy, because without tragedy, how could the viewer not feel all the feels? But ultimately, you know that it's Joaquin Phoenix in a wig and makeup pretending to be someone who lived long ago. No matter how the book ends, this movie will end with a sweeping shot in melancholy light of the lands that these manly men fought their way across. And the ultimate hero looking out across that land. You leave the theater feeling a little melancholy yourself, not just because of the story, but because of the beauty and unattainable perfection of the characters, and then you get a burger and coke and forget about it. But in a book where their heartbreaking beauty can't be seen, they're well near intolerable.
December 11, 2014
4.5
Story revolve around people of three religion and their struggle to prevail over each other. These three religions are Ashar (worshipers of Stars), Jad(worshipers of Sun) and Kindath (worshipers of Moons). On a day that was known as “day of moat”, physician Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath, met Ammar ibn Khairan, most famous Ashar warrior, and Ser Rodrigo Belmonte, a fierce Jad captain. This is the story of how these three become friends and what they choose when it come to make a decision between friendship, religion and love.
Story is set in the medieval Spain and GGk has created an extremely beautiful world. As always his writing is impeccable and lyrical. I loved this verse:
Who knows love?
Who says he knows love?
What is love, tell me.
"I know love,"
Says the littlest one.
"Love is like a tall oak tree."
"Why is love a tall oak tree? Little one tell me."
"Love is a tree
For the shelter it gives
In sunshine or in storm."
Who knows love?
Who says he knows love?
What is love, tell me.
"I know love," Says the littlest one. "Love is like a flower."
"Why is love a flower? Little one tell me."
"Love is a flower
For the sweetness it gives
Before it dies away."
He has created three exceptional characters in Jehane, Ammar and Rodrigo. Their journey till the end of the book is breathtakingly beautiful. Even the supporting characters were amazing.
And the theme of the book, war over religion evokes so many emotions. After finishing the book I was questioning myself did God really wants His children to slaughter each other over His name? Or why we can’t accept each other as Husari (Ashar) and Alvar (Jad) did in the book and how beautifully Husari described this union:
“I think,” Husari murmured, “such a person - if we could find one in Ragosa this week - might say we two represent the best the peninsula has to offer. Brave Alvar and my poor self, as we stand humbly before you, are proof that men of different worlds can blend and mingle those worlds. That we can take the very finest things from each, to make a new whole, shining and imperishable.”
The end of the book was bittersweet. Even if had ended the other way around I would have been equally sad as I’m now.
So if you like reading, read this beautiful tale of love, passion, betrayal, hatred, survival and hope.
Story revolve around people of three religion and their struggle to prevail over each other. These three religions are Ashar (worshipers of Stars), Jad(worshipers of Sun) and Kindath (worshipers of Moons). On a day that was known as “day of moat”, physician Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath, met Ammar ibn Khairan, most famous Ashar warrior, and Ser Rodrigo Belmonte, a fierce Jad captain. This is the story of how these three become friends and what they choose when it come to make a decision between friendship, religion and love.
Story is set in the medieval Spain and GGk has created an extremely beautiful world. As always his writing is impeccable and lyrical. I loved this verse:
Who knows love?
Who says he knows love?
What is love, tell me.
"I know love,"
Says the littlest one.
"Love is like a tall oak tree."
"Why is love a tall oak tree? Little one tell me."
"Love is a tree
For the shelter it gives
In sunshine or in storm."
Who knows love?
Who says he knows love?
What is love, tell me.
"I know love," Says the littlest one. "Love is like a flower."
"Why is love a flower? Little one tell me."
"Love is a flower
For the sweetness it gives
Before it dies away."
He has created three exceptional characters in Jehane, Ammar and Rodrigo. Their journey till the end of the book is breathtakingly beautiful. Even the supporting characters were amazing.
And the theme of the book, war over religion evokes so many emotions. After finishing the book I was questioning myself did God really wants His children to slaughter each other over His name? Or why we can’t accept each other as Husari (Ashar) and Alvar (Jad) did in the book and how beautifully Husari described this union:
“I think,” Husari murmured, “such a person - if we could find one in Ragosa this week - might say we two represent the best the peninsula has to offer. Brave Alvar and my poor self, as we stand humbly before you, are proof that men of different worlds can blend and mingle those worlds. That we can take the very finest things from each, to make a new whole, shining and imperishable.”
The end of the book was bittersweet. Even if had ended the other way around I would have been equally sad as I’m now.
So if you like reading, read this beautiful tale of love, passion, betrayal, hatred, survival and hope.
February 8, 2016
You will fall in love with one of the characters in this book. I absolutely guarantee it. The only question is, with whom?
Will it be with the flamboyant Ammar ibn Khailan, poet, spymaster, kingslayer, warrior? With Jehane, strong and stubborn doctor? Perhaps with Miranda, so beautiful and queenly even when managing a horse ranch? Or with proud Rodrigo, the Scourge of Al-Rassan, brave, virtuous, faithful?
Or will it be with one of the minor characters? Starstruck Alvar, alluring Zabira, the wise Ishak or his loving wife? Perhaps you'll be won over by Lain an his cheerful blasphemies, the twins Diego with his strange gift and Fernan with his filial devotion, or by Queen Ines' and her domineering passions?
I had never read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, only knew him as the hand behind "The Silmarillion". He is a master storyteller, a world-weaver like few others, and his skillful pen draws for us characters we would love to share a meal, a bed, a life, a world with.
In the end, this book is a sad one, an evocation of how when the world turns, some rise up while others must be ground down. Al-Rassan renews itself, leaving behind its old skin, and in doing so, reveals that it is much too small for four people of such heroic proportions. The people you fall in love with die in this book, and it's not suprising.... what is is that it is so very hard to let go.
I will return to al-Rassan one day, no doubt about it. Do yourself a favor and read this book NOW.
Will it be with the flamboyant Ammar ibn Khailan, poet, spymaster, kingslayer, warrior? With Jehane, strong and stubborn doctor? Perhaps with Miranda, so beautiful and queenly even when managing a horse ranch? Or with proud Rodrigo, the Scourge of Al-Rassan, brave, virtuous, faithful?
Or will it be with one of the minor characters? Starstruck Alvar, alluring Zabira, the wise Ishak or his loving wife? Perhaps you'll be won over by Lain an his cheerful blasphemies, the twins Diego with his strange gift and Fernan with his filial devotion, or by Queen Ines' and her domineering passions?
I had never read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, only knew him as the hand behind "The Silmarillion". He is a master storyteller, a world-weaver like few others, and his skillful pen draws for us characters we would love to share a meal, a bed, a life, a world with.
In the end, this book is a sad one, an evocation of how when the world turns, some rise up while others must be ground down. Al-Rassan renews itself, leaving behind its old skin, and in doing so, reveals that it is much too small for four people of such heroic proportions. The people you fall in love with die in this book, and it's not suprising.... what is is that it is so very hard to let go.
I will return to al-Rassan one day, no doubt about it. Do yourself a favor and read this book NOW.
March 16, 2025
I enjoyed The Lions of Al-Rassan. At the same time, I am more than a little surprised by its astronomical rating. The story is entertaining, but hardly a masterpiece. The characters are well crafted, but hardly extraordinary. I found the book's most compelling element to be its illustration of how some reasonable people can become enmeshed in fanatical causes, while others can walk away. The Lions of Al-Rassan is worth reading, but it hardly merits a score of 4.3.
November 8, 2017
Crying. Crying helplessly. What a book.
November 4, 2025
This was my first novel by GGK, and I definitely agree with those who recommended it to me that it is an excellent starting point. The prose is really purposeful and engaging, without being overly dense.
It is often said that GGK's "genre" is historical fiction with one quarter turn to the fantastic, and I would definitely say that description fits here. There's an air of mystery and magic in the air of this alternate world, based in familiar world history while taking on a life of its own.
What I really loved about this story were the themes and inter-character development. I love military fantasy, and the two military figures pitted against each other in this story were both intriguing and impactful, with the additional anchor of our female physician protagonist. I'm a sucker for "two sides of the war" kind of storytelling, where the emotional impact is more focused on the reader rooting for two characters and knowing that things are going to be messy.
The worldbuilding was a fairly good backdrop for the character work, but there were a few aspects that left me feeling a bit let down. Religion is a major foundation of the cultures in this story, each with its own traditions and place in the conflict. However, I didn't feel like GGK utilized them at all once he'd brought them up. The characters didn't seem to have any sort of real connection with those religions, and it made me wonder why they were even necessary.
My biggest gripe with this story is that GGK should not be allowed to write spicy scenes, generally speaking. Some of the descriptions were so incredibly cringy that I almost put the book down despite it's other fantastic qualities. And the festival scenes later in the book? Solid wish fulfillment and the minor plot points that were hidden away in the locker room fantasy could have easily been accomplished without it.
However, I will come back to my earlier comments about the character work, because overall I was impressed immensely by the way that GGK wove the stories of each individual together, the way the characters grow and change throughout the story, and the powerful emotional connection that he establishes with the protagonists. That was far and away the best part of this novel, and immediately made me understand why GGK's writing is so beloved by so many readers.
It is often said that GGK's "genre" is historical fiction with one quarter turn to the fantastic, and I would definitely say that description fits here. There's an air of mystery and magic in the air of this alternate world, based in familiar world history while taking on a life of its own.
What I really loved about this story were the themes and inter-character development. I love military fantasy, and the two military figures pitted against each other in this story were both intriguing and impactful, with the additional anchor of our female physician protagonist. I'm a sucker for "two sides of the war" kind of storytelling, where the emotional impact is more focused on the reader rooting for two characters and knowing that things are going to be messy.
The worldbuilding was a fairly good backdrop for the character work, but there were a few aspects that left me feeling a bit let down. Religion is a major foundation of the cultures in this story, each with its own traditions and place in the conflict. However, I didn't feel like GGK utilized them at all once he'd brought them up. The characters didn't seem to have any sort of real connection with those religions, and it made me wonder why they were even necessary.
My biggest gripe with this story is that GGK should not be allowed to write spicy scenes, generally speaking. Some of the descriptions were so incredibly cringy that I almost put the book down despite it's other fantastic qualities. And the festival scenes later in the book? Solid wish fulfillment and the minor plot points that were hidden away in the locker room fantasy could have easily been accomplished without it.
However, I will come back to my earlier comments about the character work, because overall I was impressed immensely by the way that GGK wove the stories of each individual together, the way the characters grow and change throughout the story, and the powerful emotional connection that he establishes with the protagonists. That was far and away the best part of this novel, and immediately made me understand why GGK's writing is so beloved by so many readers.
January 9, 2026
Beautiful.
GGK writes between this line of imagined and history. His books tend to fall into the fantasy genre, despite the fantastical elements being very subtle.
Here, he reimagines the lives of 3 key players with different faiths. You can either read into his books and depictions or take it at face value. Either go with the disguised cultures or see the intricacies.
You come to care deeply about all three characters as religious and political tensions escalate towards a holy war.
How can one pursue friendship, love, and loyalty, when personal bonds clash with societal conflict?
It has what I enjoy: political intrigue, intense personal relationships spanning family, love, friendships, comrades.
However, I always find a slight disconnect with GGK’s characters which means that, whilst I think they are multi-faceted, I feel like I’m observing rather than invested and involved.
I also have to admit that whilst I enjoy GGK’s prose, it’s not a favourite of mine. It’s evocative and flows well, but looking back, nothing stood out to me. Maybe I just shouldn’t compare authors to Ken Liu when people say elevated prose.
Probably my third favourite GGK.
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GGK writes between this line of imagined and history. His books tend to fall into the fantasy genre, despite the fantastical elements being very subtle.
Here, he reimagines the lives of 3 key players with different faiths. You can either read into his books and depictions or take it at face value. Either go with the disguised cultures or see the intricacies.
You come to care deeply about all three characters as religious and political tensions escalate towards a holy war.
How can one pursue friendship, love, and loyalty, when personal bonds clash with societal conflict?
It has what I enjoy: political intrigue, intense personal relationships spanning family, love, friendships, comrades.
However, I always find a slight disconnect with GGK’s characters which means that, whilst I think they are multi-faceted, I feel like I’m observing rather than invested and involved.
I also have to admit that whilst I enjoy GGK’s prose, it’s not a favourite of mine. It’s evocative and flows well, but looking back, nothing stood out to me. Maybe I just shouldn’t compare authors to Ken Liu when people say elevated prose.
Probably my third favourite GGK.
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June 20, 2020
Ah, Guy Gavriel Kay. Did you make me fall victim to my own unreasonable expectations yet again.
November 14, 2025
One of the best standalones I've ever read; I'm not sure I have the words to do this book justice.
📖 The Lions of Al-Rassan is a Historical Fantasy set in a world similar to Medieval Spain. We mainly focus on the intertwined lives of three people caught in a holy war between different cultures and religions. As their world faces conflict, they must navigate their personal loyalties versus their duty to their people.
✨ Review ✨
I was instantly drawn into this book. I knew I was going to love it, but it wasn't until I finished it that I realised just how tragically beautiful a story I had just read. This one will stick with me.
The prose itself was beautiful. Kay very quickly brought this world to life. It was captivating. This isn't a Fantasy world filled with magic, and medieval Spain isn't something I have extensive knowledge of, but I felt transported.
The character work here is phenomenal, and the way he established such individualised, nuanced characters in such a short amount was fantastic. I very quickly felt like I knew the people we were sitting with. It also surprised me to see such strong women throughout this story.
Not only did I love them as individual people, but their relationships and dynamics with each other were incredible, complex, and so meaningful.
I honestly just can't find the right words, but this was a beautiful and complex story of love and cross-cultural friendships versus duty to their people.
It explores the human cost of wars fought in the name of faith, and the fragile possibility of cooperation and coexistence. How love, friendship, and humanity can flourish between people of different cultures, even as political and religious beliefs push them toward destruction.
This was a powerful cautionary tale but also a story of love and genuine respect.
Beautifully haunting.
📖 The Lions of Al-Rassan is a Historical Fantasy set in a world similar to Medieval Spain. We mainly focus on the intertwined lives of three people caught in a holy war between different cultures and religions. As their world faces conflict, they must navigate their personal loyalties versus their duty to their people.
✨ Review ✨
I was instantly drawn into this book. I knew I was going to love it, but it wasn't until I finished it that I realised just how tragically beautiful a story I had just read. This one will stick with me.
The prose itself was beautiful. Kay very quickly brought this world to life. It was captivating. This isn't a Fantasy world filled with magic, and medieval Spain isn't something I have extensive knowledge of, but I felt transported.
The character work here is phenomenal, and the way he established such individualised, nuanced characters in such a short amount was fantastic. I very quickly felt like I knew the people we were sitting with. It also surprised me to see such strong women throughout this story.
Not only did I love them as individual people, but their relationships and dynamics with each other were incredible, complex, and so meaningful.
I honestly just can't find the right words, but this was a beautiful and complex story of love and cross-cultural friendships versus duty to their people.
It explores the human cost of wars fought in the name of faith, and the fragile possibility of cooperation and coexistence. How love, friendship, and humanity can flourish between people of different cultures, even as political and religious beliefs push them toward destruction.
This was a powerful cautionary tale but also a story of love and genuine respect.
Beautifully haunting.
July 30, 2024
Wonderful Writing
4.5/5 rounded up. At first I attempted to listen to this book on audio only but I struggled with a variety of names, geography, and different kings and factions. However, when I switched to the ebook I went back to cover some of what I missed an absolutely devoured the rest of the book in 2 days. The writing is beautiful and there is a passage or line on every page worth highlighting. And I loved these characters especially Amar and Rodrigo. Even though there is some stuff I typically dislike here like a somewhat love triangle and insta love I was so swept up in the characters and the storytelling it never bothered me that much. I will be reading more GGK.
4.5/5 rounded up. At first I attempted to listen to this book on audio only but I struggled with a variety of names, geography, and different kings and factions. However, when I switched to the ebook I went back to cover some of what I missed an absolutely devoured the rest of the book in 2 days. The writing is beautiful and there is a passage or line on every page worth highlighting. And I loved these characters especially Amar and Rodrigo. Even though there is some stuff I typically dislike here like a somewhat love triangle and insta love I was so swept up in the characters and the storytelling it never bothered me that much. I will be reading more GGK.
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