Know, all who see these lines, that this man was one of the miracles of the god

Guy Gavriel Kay is a cruel and fickle master. I just spent about an hour sobbing over the last 100 pages of his gorgeous novel, The Lions of Al-Rassan. I always feel so drained, overcome, awed when I finish one of his books. He is the TRUE master of surprise - I've never outguessed him. And this story was one of the most sweeping, intimate, and heartbreaking I've ever read.

( Spoilery spoilers. )

Well, he's certainly made me think, and again he's made me almost rupture my ribs from sobbing. Completely unsurprising. I don't know why I let this last Kay novel slip by me for so many years (I think an offhand comment by a friend that it was his weakest work? LIES ALL LIES) but I'm kind of glad I did, because it meant I got the treat of a brand new Kay over my last long vacation for many years. (Eek.) And now I'm basically ruined for all other authors ever. :P

Now that I've completed Kay's whole repertoire (tiny though it is - curse your slow, careful writing!), I can rank his books in order of my preference.

1. A Song for Arbonne
   
2. The Lions of Al-Rassan
   
3. The Sarantine Mosaic (2 books)
   
4. The Fionavar Tapestry (3 books)
   
5. Last Light of the Sun
   
6. Ysabel
   
7. Tigana

Tigana is the only one of his books that I ever felt at all dissatisfied with. The ending is just too gratuitously painful, without any of the satisfaction that Lions gave. It denies meetings that feel necessary and brutally withholds closure for most of the central characters. I finished that book angry at Kay instead of worshiping. Other than that, the rest of his books are simply genius. I haven't read Last Light in a very long time, so I think that will be next on my re-read list. I know I've made this recommendation before, but seriously, if you love an intelligently-told story about fully-drawn characters and their parts in grand but not grandiose events on the world stage, you will love these books, I promise.

Now I need something else to read! A review of Lions mentioned a Scottish historical fiction writer named Dorothy Dunnett - has anyone read any of her stuff?

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I love this lyric from Something Corporate's "Little":

And little holes in parachutes
Won't leave you falling
If they do
It's because you wanna land.

It's just a really neat way to express an interesting idea - if you let little problems get in the way of achieving something, you're probably self-sabotaging in a certain way. I always liked SoCo better than Jack's Mannequin, I must say!

Let's have a meme! imntsaying proposed that we picspam five things we love. ( Here we go! )

You all should do it too! Spread the love! ♥