Tigana
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: Fantasy
Original publication date: 1990
Book Description (from Good Reads): 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 name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...
But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark 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 a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.
Thoughts:
So from the way its described it does not give you much, but rest assured getting into it kind of blind is fun.
We begin following several people, you are not sure how they relate or what they have in common but that only lasts for a few chapters.
This is a very enchanting story, you feel very attached to the characters and their struggles. The way the curse befell them, a vengeance like no other imaginable. Tigana was erased from the mind of everyone except those who were born there, this story starts off with a bit of the final battle when the last few men were trying to stop the dictator, the conqueror into their land. The fight is not described but you know the outcome very well.
The people become part of the Lower Corte and the people live a very difficult life, no one else knows or even misses their true name, they are harrassed as the conqueror hates their people. The reality is not nice to them, very high taxes, very little opportunities and the rest of the peninsula if they are told anything about the past or what was erased, are unable to hear, or comprehend it. Many people stop trying and just left their homeland in search of a better future.
Come in young people, they were children when the last battle was fought or very old and unable to fight; they alone are the last stand against the tyrant. Alessan, travels around the peninsula, making plans, getting contacts, they want to overthrow the tyrant ruling their lands. But the other problem being, if the current tyrant is fought and even if they win, there is another threat. A second army, is lurking close to them, the land of the peninsula are almost divided between two conquerors, if one falls the other will surely seize the opportunity to attack them.
It is a very interesting story, the plot is well-paced, it is not overly fast but it's understandable as the people have a lot of things to try to sort through, they can't afford to act rashly, their people are almost extinct if everyone dies even overthrowing the tyrant and undoing the curse, their land will not be reclaimed as there will be no one left to remember it.
The characters all have their flaws, they grew up in very different situations, but they come together and accept each other. I love the found family troupe!
I did have a few issues with a very specific aspect of the storyline, this is my own personal preference. The sex scenes, all of them were definitely not to my taste.
-Sex as a means of distraction. The man is very attracted to the woman but she behaves as if she hates him. It happens, they have sex he then shows himself very pleased and then trying to act as if he was not overly pleased to have won her over. She did refuse him, but it's all because she's interested but hides behind a tough facade.
-The sexual tension between them felt too forced. He was almost all the story like I really am interested in her, yet if there is any other woman present I am also interested in her.
-The virginity being held in very high regard for women but obviously, men have to have their women. In a way it kind of fits the period the story was taking place still, it's annoying. Women are looked down upon if they have sex but men are expected to have their fair share, explain to me how men can have sex if women are not supposed to?
-We also see a world against same-sex couples, it is a shameful attitude.
Nothing against the author, I am sure it fits the idea of medieval times he was portraying. I really liked the story overall and will definitely look for more from this author.
This book was picked mainly because it was available in Scribd, it is an older Fantasy standalone and to fit the prompt from Tom Topple Round 10 that was taking place this month. Very god choice ;)
Genre: Fantasy
Original publication date: 1990
Book Description (from Good Reads): 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 name of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered...
But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark 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 a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.
Thoughts:
So from the way its described it does not give you much, but rest assured getting into it kind of blind is fun.
We begin following several people, you are not sure how they relate or what they have in common but that only lasts for a few chapters.
This is a very enchanting story, you feel very attached to the characters and their struggles. The way the curse befell them, a vengeance like no other imaginable. Tigana was erased from the mind of everyone except those who were born there, this story starts off with a bit of the final battle when the last few men were trying to stop the dictator, the conqueror into their land. The fight is not described but you know the outcome very well.
The people become part of the Lower Corte and the people live a very difficult life, no one else knows or even misses their true name, they are harrassed as the conqueror hates their people. The reality is not nice to them, very high taxes, very little opportunities and the rest of the peninsula if they are told anything about the past or what was erased, are unable to hear, or comprehend it. Many people stop trying and just left their homeland in search of a better future.
Come in young people, they were children when the last battle was fought or very old and unable to fight; they alone are the last stand against the tyrant. Alessan, travels around the peninsula, making plans, getting contacts, they want to overthrow the tyrant ruling their lands. But the other problem being, if the current tyrant is fought and even if they win, there is another threat. A second army, is lurking close to them, the land of the peninsula are almost divided between two conquerors, if one falls the other will surely seize the opportunity to attack them.
It is a very interesting story, the plot is well-paced, it is not overly fast but it's understandable as the people have a lot of things to try to sort through, they can't afford to act rashly, their people are almost extinct if everyone dies even overthrowing the tyrant and undoing the curse, their land will not be reclaimed as there will be no one left to remember it.
The characters all have their flaws, they grew up in very different situations, but they come together and accept each other. I love the found family troupe!
I did have a few issues with a very specific aspect of the storyline, this is my own personal preference. The sex scenes, all of them were definitely not to my taste.
-Sex as a means of distraction. The man is very attracted to the woman but she behaves as if she hates him. It happens, they have sex he then shows himself very pleased and then trying to act as if he was not overly pleased to have won her over. She did refuse him, but it's all because she's interested but hides behind a tough facade.
-The sexual tension between them felt too forced. He was almost all the story like I really am interested in her, yet if there is any other woman present I am also interested in her.
-The virginity being held in very high regard for women but obviously, men have to have their women. In a way it kind of fits the period the story was taking place still, it's annoying. Women are looked down upon if they have sex but men are expected to have their fair share, explain to me how men can have sex if women are not supposed to?
-We also see a world against same-sex couples, it is a shameful attitude.
Nothing against the author, I am sure it fits the idea of medieval times he was portraying. I really liked the story overall and will definitely look for more from this author.
This book was picked mainly because it was available in Scribd, it is an older Fantasy standalone and to fit the prompt from Tom Topple Round 10 that was taking place this month. Very god choice ;)
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