I always have great respect for authors who are brave enough to avoid the cliche of the prefect ending. In Tigana the end is almost perfect but not quite, which only adds to the sophistication of the novel. A great read for anyone who is a fan of long tales and has the patience to read on past slower points knowing that in the end it is all necessary. For those who have yet to read it , if you can hold out past the slow start and some of the other sections, you'll be rewarded with a fast paced engaging end, that's worth it all. ( )

Tigana is on the cusp of being an excellent novel. Kay is adept at mirroring real history in our world on the backdrop of a fantasy realm of his own creation. But there are a few small nagging annoyances that damage Tigana. The first is Kay's insistence on having almost every character become the viewpoint character at some point in the story. I enjoy it when we get to see multiple perspectives. In Tigana, however, it gets in the way of the story when you switch to a character you do not care about in the midst of an important revelation. There are moments when you wish Kay would have concentrated only on a handful of characters and let us see strictly from their perspective. Other than that, Tigana is a worthy read. Kay has created a fully realized world and populated it with fascinating characters. ( )

This is my original favorite novels of Kay's. I enjoy the melancholy and tragic feel of this story, and its somewhat unconventional ending. Though the story and characters took a little while to grow on me during the first reading, during all subsequent re-readings this world, and Tigana itself (for all that its name cannot be spoken) felt very real to me, and is always worth re-visiting. ( )

Sept 7 2009: I first read this book 18 years ago when it was released in paperback. I just reread the book and it was like reading it for the first time. Guy Gavrial Kay is a master at creating stories whose places and characters capture your attention. Every book of his is a rich tapestry. This is the story of a land (Tigana) whose name has been lost to the memories of all those people who were not living in Tigana at the time a sorcerer wielded his magic and took away that name and memories all to wreck vengance for the death of his son. It is the story about Dianora that haunts me the most. She is a woman caught between two loves. One for Tigana and one for the sorcerer who she originally planned to kill but fell in love with instead. This is a must read book for any lover of Fantasy and any lover of Guy Gavrial Kay stories. ( )

A haunting meditation on history and memory, the first of Kay's history-tinged fantasies. Like his later books, this takes place in a fantasy world with two moons, but it otherwise does not seem to map to the setting of the others. Not as accomplished as his later work, but well worth reading. ( )

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ: I have just finished "Tigana" & feel a deep sense of loss. I can't bring myself to read anything else at present. The book developes complex characters & explores their struggles in a world where good & evil are intermingled in ways which don't allow for simplistic judgements.

With Kay’s pedigree, you know you’re in for quite a story. He worked with Christopher Tolkien in the editing of The Silmarillion. That says a lot: Kay is able to construct and integrate complex mythologies in a way that feels thoroughly realistic and natural.

Tigana is more than an epic fantasy for me: the underlying tension in this book resonates theologically. It’s the story of a people whose name was taken from them. It’s the story of recovering that name, and the power that names hold over people. Isn’t that what all believers are in the process of right now?

To him who overcomes, I will . . . give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)

Our name—our real identity—is still hidden in God. We confuse our identity with work. Our identity is challenged by competing desires from within and without. It’s somehow fitting that identity theft has become the tell-tale crime of our time.

Until the day we overcome and learn our true names, we have people like Kay who remind us of our value while we live in the days of Brandin. ( )

I'm not sure how to review this book. When I started the book I knew nothing about it except that TadAD had put it on his top ten all time fantasy list. I didn't even know the significance of the title. Everything was fresh and new to me and I relished every moment I was able to spend reading it--even during a very busy stressful time it became a refuge for me. I was frustrated when I had to put it aside and couldn't wait to get back to it; now I feel a sense of loss because it's done. I don't want to give too much information in a review because I think I had the perfect way to enjoy this story--letting it unfold on its own with no prior knowledge of anything. Kay created a world that is not only believable but fascinating, including maps. The characters are believable, well rounded and show development as the tale progresses. There are many threads to the plot but they are handled adeptly and even when I had to wait days between chances to read the book I never lost the train of the story. In my admittedly limited experience in fantasy reading this is one of the very few books that I would put on the level of Lord of the Rings, and yet, except in its quality, it bears no resemblance to that classic. I'm already planning my reread for next summer, which I think will be just as rewarding in a different way--I will notice things I may have missed the first time because now I do know the story and can enjoy its richness on another level. I also plan to read it without interruption either by other books or by RL! ( )

Disappointing.
For some inexplicable reason - possibly due to my fantasy-genre adherence - I felt I should have enjoyed this book more. While Tigana contains interesting concepts, some attractive characters and an underlying theme around the classic conundrum of duty vying with desire, I was left, basically, unconvinced.

The eponymous tale centres on the subjugated countries comprising the peninsula called The Palm; invaded and conquered, and bisected by two vastly powerful sorcerers – for their own ends. But with especial focus on Tigana, whose name has been permanently wiped from the thoughts of all, bar the once-inhabitants of this fair country, in revenge for the killing, in battle, of the northern invader Brandin's much-loved, first-born son. The surviving descendants are scattered across the numerous countries of the cape, but as momentous events unfold, a growing band forms with enough resources, strength and cunning, to attempt to remove both tyrants and reclaim their home along with the name of their beloved country. In this sweeping epic full of magic, myth and mayhem Guy Gavriel Kay has gone to great lengths to underscore that paths can veer quite markedly in opposite directions to first walked; and the consequences to these choices are never as expected, but often preordained.

Though quite thick, and notwithstanding considerable indifference, on my part, to the main protagonists– I just didn’t care what happened to them unless associated with the interwoven mystical portents – this book was a smooth, effortless read. All the same, in spite of the author’s emphasis on the complexities coalescing behind many of the players, I found them tedious and too predictable; often superfluous to the intrigue – the most dynamic, interestingly, were those devolving from the usual archetype, even though their actions continued in that vein. In contradiction to this were passages of well-considered world-building, reasonably adroit, even unexpected, twists to the plot and, if at times overlong, some quite beautiful descriptive scenes and scenery - which rescued many parts of the book for me.

Regrettably it was not enough to persuade me to merit this book as highly as I expected; without the insertion of the mythology of the riselka into the story, in addition to an astonishing end-line development I would have been left feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

(June 11, 2009) ( )

This has to be one of my top 10 books read this year. Even though it has the usual plot of good triumphing over evil, vengeance for wrongs done to the innocent, there was also, as an aside, a look into a tyrant's humanization. While the Prince of Tigana and his band seek to kill Brandin for destroying the name and memory of their province, there was an underlying reason for this travesty - that of Brandin's grief over the death of his son there during one of the wars. Certainly his reaction was extreme, but in it, we also see the depth of a father's love, grief and need for vengeance.

Despite seeking to infiltrate his domain and kill him, a woman falls in love with the man she has sworn to kill.

Magic, wizards, warriors, conspiracies, rivalry, evil and good - this book has all the components of a captivating read. ( )

I’m not sure why I bought this book. Certainly I’m no fan of fantasy in general: for a genre that supposedly frees the imagination to create alternative realities in whatever form, I find that most fantasy is repetitive, predictable and, the ultimate crime, downright boring. The genre seems overburdened with dumb adolescents of either gender going through predictable rites of passage, dragons, elves (can’t have fantasy post-Tolkien without an elf or two), boring magic, cut-out characters who don’t make it even to one-dimensional, the required massive battle scene with any number of “races” (unimaginatively portrayed) taking part, the whole nine yards. These elements are usually put together in a way guaranteed to get the book to market fast without disturbing anyone’s mental capacities or lunch breaks. The single exception I have found has been George R.R.Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series which has been such a beautifully crafted tale--an ongoing soap opera, if you will--that it is now the standard by which I judge all fantasy. Martin is an excellent writer and a superb storyteller--with a story worth telling. Yes, he’s obviously used European, most probably English, history as a loose sort of guide, but when choosing a model, use the best, I always say--and he has. So, it was a step out of character for me to buy this book, curious about all the hype over Kay in general and this book in particular. I bought it used, convinced I was probably wasting my money.

I was wrong. Tiganais wonderful.

Kay is not the world’s best writer although he is very, very good. There are scenes in the book that would have been better either edited out or rewritten. He doesn’t do his romantic pairings well. Some of his characterizations are clumsy. As usual, I could have been spared the philosophizing which, fortunately, is kept to a minimum.

But oh, can Kay tell a story! This is a fantastic tale, full of adventure, beautifully created and sustained tension, with surprises and real suspense as to the resolution. He’s done a remarkable job of creating situations in which there are no winners, just what can be the best that can come of real life--where tragedy is the rule and where even the best of choices have grim outcomes. There’s predictable magic in the story, but it doesn’t intrude and doesn’t overwhelm the suspenseful plot. He has even plucked the Central European mythic element of the rusalka (various spellings) and used it sparingly but with great effect.

In fact, that is one of the hallmarks of the writing in this book. it is anything but heavy-handed. At times it’s subtle, sometimes it’s gentle, always appropriate to the story. There are scenes of remarkably handled insight, other scenes beautifully crafted; the last quarter of the book is filled with them.

In the end, what I ask above all of genres such as fantasy is good entertainment. It can serve other purposes, but that, in my opinion, is the underlying goal and what I look for. Tigana serves that purpose very well in an incredibly satisfying way.

Highly recommended. ( )

Eight of the Provinces of The Peninsula of the Palm have been conquered and divided by two Tyrant/Sorcerers. The son of the Tyrant Brandin was killed in battle in the province of Tigana, and in revenge, Brandin destroys much of the land, cruelly subjugates it's people, and magically takes away even the memory of Tigana from all those not born there, thereby robbing the people of their homeland in a most devastating way. The result is a story that explores the blurred bounderies between good and evil, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal. This book is beautifully written and thought provoking, a book so engrossing that thoughts of it linger long after the last page has been turned. ( )

Tigana is a fantasy novel set in a world that is culturally similar to late medieval or early renaissance Italy. It is a good adventure story, but it also has something of the numinous to it, especially in the episodes concerning the Night Walkers. The riselka is also fascinating. It is a great adventure story, and aspires to the epic. It is certainly hefty - my version is 676 pages long - but despite that, it is (on the good side) a relatively quick read, and (on the bad side) it does not quite break out of the feeling of playing on a rather small stage. The country in which it is set, called The Palm, consists of nine provinces, but they feel more like smallish English counties. That being said, the story is well-crafted, very entertaining, and occasionally touches greatness. It is interesting to note that the theology of The Palm revolves around a love triangle involving two goddesses and a dying god called Adaon. The name is transparently related to Adonis, though his death is more like that of Orpheus (or Dionysus or Pentheus, variously), torn to pieces by the maenads.

I read this book to the end, because the writing was so good I kept believing that in the end I would like the story, too. I was disappointed.

If you have trouble with the concept that women come to love their oppressors, or if you resonate with the Holly Near line, "Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?," then you will be troubled by this book. ( )

I really liked the ideas behind this story—the power of names in the face of colonialism, in the face of enforced forgetfulness—but there was just too much in the writing that worked against my enjoyment of it. Kay's style has improved from what it was in the Fionavar series, but it's still clunky and laboured (and desperately in need of some commas), while the world-building is pedestrian and two-dimensional. Many of the better-drawn characters are unengaging, and most of the cast are such clichés that it's embarrassing. The gender politics was just... oh god, I'm not even going to get into the gender politics of this thing, because before I'm even done discussing what was wrong with the portrayal of Alienor, I'll have ripped my hair out. There were two things which saved Tigana from utter dismissal by me: that unexpected, but thematically beautiful, twist at the end, and the very last line. If the rest of the novel had been as complex and as those two elements, it would have been a very fine thing indeed. ( )

Guy Kay's historical fantasies are the best ever written, and this is my favorite of his books. I hadn't read it in about 10 years, but I'm happy to say that this evocation of Renaissance Italy is still as astoundingly good as ever. ( )

http://superfastreader.com/tigana-by-... ( )

I am a huge Guy Gavriel Kay fan and I have yet to read a book by him that I do not love. And I've read everything he's ever written. :)

The amazing thing about this book is that there are no clear cut good and bad guys. The guy who should be the evil one that the reader should hate has compelling human reasons for acting the way he has, and so the reader is left in an ambivalent state of mind that most fantasy novels would not dare to approach.

The ending always makes me cry, as all the threads wind up together. I was hoping for a happy ending but I have come to realize that this ending is much more satisfying than any cliched happy ending could have been.

I have read this book 5 times already and there are more rereads in the future. I highly recommend it. ( )

Ok, well, I tried another GGK novel just because so many Green Dragoners like him so much and I truly respect their opinions. But I am stalled half way through this one and I don't think I'm going to finish it.

There's a lot to respect here. He does write well, he does have some interesting things to say about culture and oppression. I do like the honest sex scenes. My problem is mostly with his characters. It's the romance genre style of characterization: the men are all either dashing heroes or dastardly villians, the women are defined mostly by their sexuality and it's the old virgin/whore continuum. Yes, he tries to shoehorn in some shades of grey, for instance, having his hero torture a sorcerer into working for him, but it feels like he's doing it to do it, rather than convincingly rendering character. I wish I were more articulate about it, but it just doesn't hold water for me.

He also seems to have a thing about having his heroine fall hopelessly in love someone she should utterly hate. I'm not sure what the point of this is, apparently it's supposed to be tragic, but to me it's just the worst sort of misogynistc tripey melodrama.

Perhaps I will be moved to finish it one of these days, but my TBR is too high. I have read enough commentary to get the gist of what happens in the end (I actually figured out who the fool was), and it is not motivating me. ( )

A very good fantasy work. It is gripping reading. Much of the geography and politics is very earthly and recognisable, which somehow makes it easier to read. Even the magic is low-key much of the time, albeit with occasional spectacular displays. It uses some interesting themes - music and the arts, memory - to weave the story.

Unlike many fantasy novels, it recognises the existence of sex, in a fairly matter-of-fact way rather than eroticism.

All in all, a very good read, with quite a few surprises. ( )

My wifes favorite book. Great characters with unexpected twists and turns. I was disapointed with the end however. I will need to read it again. ( )

When I read this novel, the Iraq war was raging and Katrina had just destroyed New Orleans. What I got most strongly from Tigana was that it was about the psychology of defeated people and it gave me a richer understanding of the real world events.

Tigana also has one of the best endings I've ever read. Completely satisfying. ( )

This is most peoples fave GGK story, not mine. This is not to say that I definately enjoy it, and it is one that continues to improve with rereads, I just didnt get it in the same way that others did.

Summary:

Tigana is a beautiful country in a group of countries together known as "The Palm" A king/sorceror from another country decides to invade, and his son and heir is killed at a decisive battle on the banks of a river in Tigana.

The sorceror is bitter with grief, and works a subtle but lasting revenge. He wipes the memory of the name "Tigana" from everyone alive, except those born there, they remember it, but if they say the name, no one can hear them say the word. Unless the listener also happens to have been born in Tigana.

Its the story of a group of unlikely rebels doing what they can to maintain the memory of Tigana in the hope of reinstating the existance of it. Only that entails killing the sorceror who cast the spell...... ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R312XCP9... ( )

My Bookspotcentral review ( )