I haven't read this new one yet--it just came out. Kay is one of our best in any genre of writing, and I've never been disappointed by him, so I'm quite excited. The review has a minor spoiler for chapter 1. https://www.tor.com/2019/05/16/its-the-little-things-a-brightness-long-ago-by-guy-gavriel-kay/
I think Song for Arbonne had some. The Lions of Al-Rassan didn’t have any. Some of the others hint at them. Children of Earth and Sky had it, possibly, in that one character’s dead grandfather persists in her head and talks to her. She seems to have some affinity for the dead. Or maybe she’s just crazy. But yeah they mostly read like historical fiction, but they’re in a made up analog of the real world. Very well done.
That's too bad. I really appreciated what he did with wizards, and how they differed by culture, in Tigana. I was hoping he would explore that further in at least one more book.
Have you read the Fionavar Tapestry? That trilogy is heavy on magic and the supernatural, though not very similar to Tigana.
I haven't because of reviews. From what I read from GGK fans, those early books of his have their share of issues. I guess he was still finding his way as a novelist back then.
I read the trilogy in high school. It had an impact on me. Not that they aren’t without issues, and are less mature works, but I think they’re still well above a lot of what is in the field and worth reading. This link has some reviews, including one by Charles de Lint, who I also like: http://brightweavings.com/revfionavar/
I've only tried GGK once, and it wasn't to my taste (I think it may have been the Fionvar Tapestry, but maybe not). But this thread has inspired me to give him another chance - I've downloaded the audio version of the current book and will start listening as I drive around on this holiday weekend.
I have read The Lions of Al-Rassan - bought Tigana and Children of Earth and Sky but haven't got round to reading either yet, though I fully intend to. There was no magic at all in Al-Rassan - just what I wanted to read. Myminor irritation is that it is borderline historical fiction - the events, the characters and even the geography are identical to Reconquista Spain, swap a few letters there, change a few lines on the map here. I wanted to write something akin to a historical fiction, but with the sandbox of my own history, events and geography to play with, which is why I picked up his books. So I'm unsure what the motivation was to regress back to basing off real world history. Anyway, I know almost nothing about the Reconquista or Renaissance Italy, so I suppose this is no barrier to me reading them. Not without its flaws, but I enjoyed it, and the author's success does motivate me to continue pursuing my own no magic/supernatural fictional-world story. I liked his romantic style of writing which really lenses itself well to the story that was being told. That was his greatest strength, I felt. I felt like the FMC could have been given more to do - it seemed like she was only a conduit between El Cid and the poet warrior who were the main focus. I'm looking forward to reading his other works.
There's a significant amount of magic in Tigana, so if that's a turnoff for you, you might want to skip it.
I'm already aware, but thank for the heads up. I just heard that this one was one of his best, and it sounds as though you enjoyed it.
