…but not even the gods may shape exactly what they will, and some say that this truth is at the heart of the whole long tale.
It happened again! I finished a book by an author I hadn’t read, and my TBR-pile suddenly expanded with potentially 10 volumes. It’s daunting, yet comforting too: despite me writing a fair share of lukewarm reviews of supposed classics & books that are generally praised, it seems unlikely that I’ll run out of good books soon. The Summer Tree is the debut of Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay, and the first book of The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. It is not an original book, but it’s a genuine treat nonetheless.
Kay borrows heavily from lots of sources: the Fionavar world resembles Tolkien’s (the greedy dwarves are in decline, there are graceful, near immortal elves, and there’s the threat of a dark, powerful god once defeated returning), Zelazny’s Amber (an original first world with a pattern of which all other worlds, including our Earth, are shadowy reflections), and generally myths from around the world, like the theme of a barren, dry land made fertile again by the sacrifice of the King, described at the end of the 19th century by Frazer in the classic, highly influential study The Golden Bough – a theme central to the story of this volume.
The fact that Frazer sprang to my mind is no coincidence: The Summer Tree is steeped in the Romantic tradition, as is, arguably, most – if not all – high fantasy. So, why, despite the fact that one can make a pretty solid case for this book to be generic in most of its aspects, was I blown away by it? Continue reading
Weighing a pig doesn't fatten it. 