Flights of Fantasy discussion

I'm up for quite a few re-reads! I've been saving River of Stars for some time now. Kay is one of my all time faves, and I get a bit punchy about completing his catalogue. I can't explain why I'm nervous about it, I just always want to have something unread until I know a new work is coming.

Call me crazy ;)

If we get good participation on the first two, I might dive in for The Darkest Road, so I can finish up Fionavar once and for all. I'll just find some online summaries for the first two, and read comments here. Cuz I'm not re-reading those two.

I'll probably jump in on Last Light on, otherwise.

I might jump in for the Tigana bit...

I think it would fun to read along on this list, probably about half would be re-reads for me, but golly I've got so many books picked out for this month already -- not sure if I could keep up :|.

Im debating on starting with Fionavar or just waiting for Tigana

I'll join in with Tigana.

We'll see :P

I'll join in on the Fionovar discussion. I've read the series at least a half dozen times. Heck, I may even give in and read it once more ;)

Woo, good, I have a bunch of time before the two I need start.. Happy reading!

Yay! I just started The Summer Tree! I wanna read them all in order of publication.

Count me in too! Found a copy of the The Summer Tree yesterday at the library. Wow, I haven't read this since it was published. Wonder how it will seem to me now...

I have just finished The Summer Tree. A lot of parts gave me goosebumps. He really is a great writer. I got sucked into the story and it did not release me. Even as I have just finished the first book I have to try hard and not run to the second book. I first wanted to respond here!

Concerning the mythological background and the influence of Tolkien, oh yes, it is there. I am wondering whether both men used the same Nordic sources, or that Kay used Tolkien. Nicki, have you also read The Silmarillion by Tolkien? I think a lot of what happens in The Summer Tree can be derived from The Silmarillion. Not literally, but at a lot of parts I felt like I was reading the Silmarillion! There are a lot of similarities in the spelling of names, in the personalities of characters, the geography of the land, and so on. Normally this would annoy me big time, but I think Kay either did a great job of using Tolkiens work, or he applied the same sources in a great way. I should find out which is the case!

(view spoiler)[What annoyed me though, was the fact that while Paul was dying on the Summer Tree I immediately knew he would not die. I enjoy authors who can let their characters die. There is no shame in that! I guess he will be playing another role in the story later, but still, it is a bit too Disney for me. (hide spoiler)]

Elise, re: your spoiler, there is a reason!

I hope so, now it just seems stupid ;) I think I will start the next book tomorrow.

There is a reason you see the influence of The Silmarillion.


Kay was co-editor with Christopher Tolkien when they were putting that book together.

Nicki wrote: "Oh wait, I forgot the Dalrei... and then it turned out to be one of my favourite ..."

My feelings exactly.

And thank you, Nicki, for your comments on The Summer Tree in general, because they are very similar to my thoughts on this book! :)

I think these books would have been categorized as "high fantasy", though that term doesn't seem to get much use anymore.

I'm mid-way through The Darkest Road, because I just want to get all the way through Fionavar before I take a break to get back to the other books I am reading this month.

Chris wrote: "There is a reason you see the influence of The Silmarillion.


Kay was co-editor with Christopher Tolkien when they were putting that book together."

I just looked at the dates and indeed he returns from Oxford just before writing The Summer Tree. So I'm thinking Tolkien is his source instead of using the Nordic mythology himself.

By the way! I started The Wandering Fire yesterday and (view spoiler)[ there seems to be a gap between the books. Suddenly Jen's pregnant? And they're back on Earth? If Kim could move everyone from the world including Jen, why didn't she do it earlier before the girl got pregnant? Or did I perhaps miss some information? (hide spoiler)]

I'm not ready to commit to another series at the moment, but I'm up for reading the solo books. I read Tigana a few years ago and LOVED it. But been too lazy to read anything else by him. I have most of them, just haven't gotten around to reading them.

Elise,

Regarding your spoiler, (view spoiler)[While Jen was held captive she was raped by Rakoth. (hide spoiler)]

Dammit, you're making me want to go back and re-read with you! I'm certain it will be at least my sixth or seventh re-read!

Laurel wrote: "Elise,

Regarding your spoiler, [spoilers removed]

Dammit, you're making me want to go back and re-read with you! I'm certain it will be at least my sixth or seventh re-read!"

(view spoiler)[ I figured as much, but I don't think it is explicitly mentioned in the first book? Or maybe that scene was too horrible and my mind blocked it out! (hide spoiler)]

Elise, it could be that (view spoiler)[ Jennifer was abducted and raped by Rakoth around the time that Kim was still recovering from her initiation into her powers as a Seer, but I'm a little fuzzy on that timeline due to the way it's presented in the narrative. (hide spoiler)]

It's probably that (view spoiler)[ your mind blocked it out during the torture scene. I try to block out those scenes as much as possible! (hide spoiler)]

Well... I think I'm going to start Tigana then, since I've been suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper slow about reading anything lately, and that's next up.

I'll zip through my currently reading then join in. I can't wait to re-read Tigana!

You guys are way to quick for me ;) I am halfway through The Wandering Fire. The Darkest Road is up next, but my copies of the rest of his books are not even here yet! Might take some time :( Buying books in English in The Netherlands is hard!

Assen, such an inspirational place ;)
Yes I am seriously thinking about some form of e-reader, even though I would hate to loose my books, the paper ones!

Oh man... I totally forgot that I'd downloaded the audio of Tigana from Audible... Here I was reading it on my kindle, when Simon Vance could be crooning it to me! Sweet! :D

I finished The Wandering Fire yesterday. I really liked it, but again (view spoiler)[someone dies and is revived again, this time Matt! I dearly hope Kevin stays dead!!!! I hate these Disney kind of 'oh no my main characters cannot die, that would be unfair' plots. So let's see what kind of importance Matt still has in the story! (hide spoiler)]

Again, biting my knuckles trying not to say anything...

I'm waiting to start Tigana until you're done. I can't wait to hear your thoughts ;)

I haven't read any GGK. I'll jump in for Tigana.

Yay! My books arrived yesterday!! So I can read the rest with you as well. Only River of Stars is still missing.

I'm in for Lions and Song - both books have been on my list for awhile now. I might join in Sarantrium and Emperors. And Tigana is a maybe - it'll be a reread but I've been meaning to read it again.

I just finished The Darkest Road. (view spoiler)[Thank you GGK for keeping Kevin dead! Nothing personal of course ;) (hide spoiler)]

Now I will first read some other books before continuing with Tigana!

<3 Mass Effect. So good!

I finished Tigana yesterday, and I liked it quite a bit. I rated it 4 stars, but I did have some issues with it. Definitely open to discussion whenever you's guys are ready. :)

Nicki wrote: "Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of days -- I got distracted by Mass Effect! But I finished Tigana last night so I'll post some thoughts later. :)

Elise, on The Darkest Road, [spoi..."

Nicki, I understand... Totally!!!

I started Tigana last night and read all of part 1. Pretty good so far. The prose is very well done but sometimes gets super flowery and feels a little too much but overall it's going good.

Paolo wrote: "I started Tigana last night and read all of part 1. Pretty good so far. The prose is very well done but sometimes gets super flowery and feels a little too much but overall it's going good."

Yeah, I agree with your comments about the writing. It was a little bit much at times.

I have started Tigana yesterday evening. I only read the first couple of pages, because I was really tired. But hopefully I will be able to read a lot of it today!

Hope you like it, Elise. That was the first Kay I ever read, and it hooked me.

I'm almost done with Tigana,just starting the 5th and final part. I've been having a weird reading experience with this book... I'm liking it a lot, with its cool characters and its break from the traditional fantasy medievalish British setting, but it's been slow going. Mainly because when I pick up the book I can't read more than a page without losing focus, restarting the paragraph a few times, then dropping the book to do something else. But once I manage to get on a roll I'll be hooked and read 100-200 pages in a sitting. I think it may have to do with being in the mood for that kind of prose.

Other than that I'm loving it. We'll see how it finishes.

Paolo, that's definitely one of the perks of audiobooks!

I have just finished part one of Tigana. I had a little trouble gettig into the story, but I am liking it so far. I am going to put it aside for now, because my mom got elected to join the jury of a bookaward. She has to read six books for that and I am going to try and join her as much as I can. All Dutch writers though. But it must be fun!

Finished Tigana. I fucking loved it. It just got better as it kept going.

One of my favorite reads so far this year, along with Hyperion.

I have just started again. I have not get used to Kay's style again, but that should not be a problem. I hope I will finish this soon!

going to start this with Tigana soon, I am so late to these things :P

It took me forever to finish Tigana! Which is weird, because I really liked it! But I think the style just kept me from reading continuously.

Next up is A Song for Arbonne... But first I have to finish some other books...

I read The Lions of Al-Rassan a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading more by Kay in the future.

Angela wrote: "I read The Lions of Al-Rassan a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading more by Kay in the future."

^like