From the Stacks: Tigana

All right, well here were are for another From the Stacks post. This time I'm talking about a really great standalone epic fantasy with an interesting premise revolving around a county of people that no one remembers and the country itself is one that no one--aside from those born to that country--can speak its name.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
ISBN: 978-0-451-45776-9

Summary:

Taken from the back of the book

"This is that rare, spellbinding novel in which myth comes alive and magic reaches out to touch us. Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel, despotic king that even the names of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered....

But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embarks upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name: Tigana.

Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction."

My thoughts:

I would love to give this book a 4.5 or even a 5 but I think considering how long it took me to read it, I'm going to have to go with a 4/5. The concept was unique and the world was an intriguing one and it was interesting to constantly wonder what was going to happen next, but I can't say that this book grabbed me with the same fervor that a number of books I read do. Typically a book of Tigana's length (673 pages paperback) would take me a couple days max, even with work and other stuff, but I started reading this book back in June.

I kept reading about ten pages and then I would be pulled away to do something and then I would think that I have time to read a little more and then I would go back to my bedroom and pick up another book. The book was split into several parts and I liked the characters in the prologue but then (SPOILER) they all died just after the prologue and the first main part deals with a group of characters a number of years later. Then, when it was time to jump into part two, we left those characters behind for a time and moved onto another main woman from Tigana and the people around her. In some ways it felt like there was too much jumping around. I hadn't quite expected that.

So, overall I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy, but I don't think I would give it to someone who was looking for a book to introduce them to fantasy, both because of how slow it could be at times and because of the length.

Tigana at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tigana-guy-gavriel-kay/1103274431?ean=9780451457769

Tigana at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tigana-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/0451457765/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347646087&sr=1-1&keywords=Tigana

Other readings:

I am making more progress with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, but at the same time yesterday I was at the library and picked up Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, and let me tell you I think I'm addicted to this book already. I've only read three chapters and right now I feel like I have to finish this post up quickly so I can get back to reading. It may be that I'll be reviewing it with next week's post, but we'll see what happens.