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Title: The Summer Tree
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: World-walking high fantasy
Thingummies: 2
Synopsis: Five grad students from Earth have to save Middle Earth. Like you do.
Thoughts: I think Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the more talented fantasy writers working today. And this early work shows some of the promise that would bloom in his later books. But by itself...this is problematic.
Imagine, if you will, The Lord of the Rings if its protagonists were Tolkien's grad students. And if he cut out all the charming character beats—the birthday party, the taproom, wandering Rivendell—that made you care about what happened to the characters and replaced them instead with random chunks of exposition from The Silmarillion.
This is, well, that. A far too slavish imitation of Middle Earth, with info-dumping like a firehose. There are way, way too many characters, current and legendary, to keep track of. Way too much mythology. Entire plotlines that feel shoehorned in. A girl who seems to exist entirely to be brutally raped a few pages from the end.
It's a mess.
But I'll admit, while kind of regretting starting this, I'm still morbidly curious enough to read the other two. If nothing else, I want to see if Kay matures over the series, or if his skill only improves with his alt history fantasies. Sigh. But I can't really recommend getting yourself into this situation to begin with.
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: World-walking high fantasy
Thingummies: 2
Synopsis: Five grad students from Earth have to save Middle Earth. Like you do.
Thoughts: I think Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the more talented fantasy writers working today. And this early work shows some of the promise that would bloom in his later books. But by itself...this is problematic.
Imagine, if you will, The Lord of the Rings if its protagonists were Tolkien's grad students. And if he cut out all the charming character beats—the birthday party, the taproom, wandering Rivendell—that made you care about what happened to the characters and replaced them instead with random chunks of exposition from The Silmarillion.
This is, well, that. A far too slavish imitation of Middle Earth, with info-dumping like a firehose. There are way, way too many characters, current and legendary, to keep track of. Way too much mythology. Entire plotlines that feel shoehorned in. A girl who seems to exist entirely to be brutally raped a few pages from the end.
It's a mess.
But I'll admit, while kind of regretting starting this, I'm still morbidly curious enough to read the other two. If nothing else, I want to see if Kay matures over the series, or if his skill only improves with his alt history fantasies. Sigh. But I can't really recommend getting yourself into this situation to begin with.
