Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay: ***1/4

This is truly a classic fantasy, with rich characters and an epic scope, that I could recommend to almost anyone. For those new to fantasy, this makes a great starter book because it features standard elements found in a number of fantasy novels (an everyboy lead character that becomes involved in major world events, a journeying group with a mission, romance, an epic scope, poetic justices, etc.) packed into one book. I would hate to recommend a three-book set to someone that ultimately doesn't enjoy fantasy, but I would also want someone's first foray into fantasy to be representative of the genre. Tigana provides a relatively concise opportunity for first-time fantasy readers to get a good taste of the unique experience of fantasy without too massive an investment.

I also strongly recommend this book to lovers of fantasy, though, because while it satisfies on so many of the typical fantasy elements mentioned above, it presents new wrinkles and rich characters, with real depth, that make it much more interesting than most other novels in the genre. It's not a unique experience like Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, but I couldn't recommend that book to everyone. Tigana works within the conventions of the genre, but offers much more than a rote realization of them, showing that bad guys don't have to be an all-consuming evil, women can play important roles in the male-dominated fantasy worlds modeled on Earth's middle ages, and romances don't have to be obvious. Yeah, the justice is a bit too poetic at times, and there's a little too much happy coincidence, but this is fantasy. I'm not going to say that fantasies are supposed to come together a little bit too cleanly, but most of them do. That's a typical part of the package. And Kay's coincidences aren't vital to the plot (the worst kind) - they're used to weave his characters together more tightly and increase the book's emotional impact. I happen to think that fantasy novels are better off with looser worlds because the tight worlds never feel quite as grand (if everyone knows everyone else, I'm imagining a pretty small place), but I understand Kay's motivations.

I'll hesitate from saying too much more about the book, but I was reminded again of my increasing interest in a novel's narrative style. As I've stated in other reviews, I tend to prefer very clearly defined points of view, and I'm especially fond of strict first-person or else a third-person in which we follow the activities of only a few lead characters. I usually find the omniscient style of the narrator problematic, since I find that authors typically abuse their powers to add cheap tension or plot development by presenting information that our lead characters would not otherwise know (don't go in the closet - the killer's in there!). In those cases, I always feel that if I'm supposed to be connecting with the leads (which usually I am), then I shouldn't know more than they do.

Third-person omniscient can be used well though, as Kay proves with Tigana. Specifically, he has a gratifying manner of switching POV between different characters so that a single situation can be presented from multiple angles. In some cases, the action might be taking place with one of the leads, but we'll learn about it through the alternating POV of two other leads that are also present. In another setup, we'll view the events through the eyes of a bartender who has no role in the story except as a commoner, which gives the reader a chance to see how our leads are being perceived in their environment (this idea makes particular sense in the context of this story). So although I tend to prefer a more clearly defined narrative style, Kay's POV jumping remains comprehensible throughout and allows the reader to gain new insight into the characters. I think this story could be told successfully using no more than two points of view for the primary leads, but Kay's choice is a worthy one, and I was happy to read the tale as he told it. All in all, it's a good example of high fantasy by one of the genre's masters.
(winter 2003)

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