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The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay
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The Last Light of the Sun (original 2004; edition 2005)

by Guy Gavriel Kay

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,975518,304 (3.75)158
Fantasy. Fiction. Mythology. Historical Fiction. HTML:A powerful, moving saga evoking the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Norse cultures of a thousand years ago from the acclaimed author of The Fionavar Tapestry.
??A historical fantasy of the highest order, the work of a man who may well be the reigning master of the form.???The Washington Post Book World
Bern Thorkellson, punished for his father??s sins, denied his heritage and home, commits an act of vengeance and desperation that brings him face-to-face with a past he??s been trying to leave behind...
In the Anglcyn lands of King Aeldred, the shrewd king, battling inner demons all the while, shores up his defenses with alliances and diplomacy??and with swords and arrows. Meanwhile his exceptional, unpredictable sons and daughters give shape to their own desires when battle comes and darkness falls in the spirit wood...
And in the valleys and shrouded hills of the Cyngael, whose voices carry music even as they feud and raid amongst each other, violence and love become deeply interwoven when the dragon ships come and Alun ab Owyn, pursuing an enemy in the night, glimpses strange lights gleaming above forest pools...
Making brilliant use of motifs from saga and song and chronicle, Guy Gavriel Kay conjures a work of subtle, intricate richness, bringing to life an unforgettable world balanced on the kni
… (more)
Member:magemanda
Title:The Last Light of the Sun
Authors:Guy Gavriel Kay
Info:Pocket Books (2005), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 501 pages
Collections:Your library, To read
Rating:
Tags:Historical fantasy, To Read

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The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay (2004)

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» See also 158 mentions

English (49)  French (1)  All languages (50)
Showing 1-5 of 49 (next | show all)
Craving more historical fantasy, especially of Viking flavor, I'd picked up this book with high hopes, for I'd heard good things about it. I'd read the Fionavar Tapestry over a year ago, and though that was somewhat rough-going, I was more optimistic for this one, given its much later publication.

I don't know anything about Guy Gavriel Kay's more recent works, but I think I can safely say now that I don't really like his prose. On one hand, there's no doubt that I favor for fantasy a more elevated, perhaps somewhat removed, kind of language---and that's not on Kay himself. Regardless, there's something very heavy-handed about his prose, for he spends too much time describing without much flavor the emotions of the characters, writing in circles about their 'sorrow' (he was prone to doing this in the Fionavar Tapestry, as well), and making protracted meta-narrative observations until little about which to ponder is left for the reader. None of the characters felt particularly remarkable, and the segments that explore the events of the story and their future consequences from the perspectives of common bystanders, while occasionally interesting, come off more often than not as terribly contrived. They add to the (already too numerous) number of perspectives throughout the book, diluting, in my experience, the depth of narration.

Nonetheless, there are things to appreciate. I thought Kay's calquing of the historical groups to create his Anglcyn, Cyngael, and Erlings, and Alfred the Great for Aeldred and Asser for Ceinon, among others, to be quite clever (maybe this is common in the world of historical fantasy---I wouldn't know). ( )
  mirryi | Dec 23, 2023 |
I can't really put into words what is lacking in this novel. This was my second time reading it - I read it when it initially came out and was dissapointed, but I think it was because I read it too fast and missed much of the subtlety that is usually present in Kay's works. Apparently that wasn't the issue.

I think its the characters - they aren't remarkable or interesting or even very real. I had no emotional connection to them. When a Kay character dies, I expect to feel some emotion, and with this book I got nothing.

I also had a very unique feeling while reading this book - that I just had to finish it. It was like pulling teeth to get through it, and I usually devour Kay books. ( )
  PurplOttr | Dec 1, 2023 |
Ah, I love Guy Gavriel Kay so much! He writes fantasy with the lyrical prose of a masterful author and the striking character insights of someone who understands the depth of the human spirit. I lost track of how many times I fell madly in love with one of his characters within a page or two of them being introduced. Now that's some masterful writing right there!

I also appreciated the pace of this book: slow without meandering, detailed without being bogged down in minutia. And the various glimpses into seemingly random people's whole lifespans were both unexpected and always welcome. Kay made me believe I was reading about real people: people who lived, died, and MATTERED.

I'm so glad to have picked this one up. ( )
  Elizabeth_Cooper | Oct 27, 2023 |
I really wanted to like this book more. The good part of the novel is that there are asides into the lives of common folk that are quite interesting. The bad part is that these asides are sometimes more interesting than the main cast of characters.
It's never a good sign when an author spends a lot of prose on exploring meta-narrative. It becomes a bit of a navel-gazing exercise. Still Guy Kay is otherwise quite adept at setting and telling a tale that is relatively small in scale compared to his previous highlights. ( )
  Kavinay | Jan 2, 2023 |
Yet another masterwork from Kay.

This time, Kay approaches the history of the British Isle, incorporating the Viking raids, the imagined history of Aelfred the Great, and the tension between pagan Britain and the
New religion from Europe.

Kay as always writes with grace, beauty and a deep understanding of the humanity behind the wars, duels and suffering of history.

An unreserved recommendation for fans of historical fiction, fantasy, or skilled writing in general. ( )
  JimDR | Dec 7, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 49 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Guy Gavriel Kayprimary authorall editionscalculated
Graham, HolterNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
I have a tale for you: a stag bells;
winter pours summer has gone.
The wind is high, cold; the sun is low;
its course is short the sea is strong running.
The bracken is very red; its shape has been hidden.
The cry of the barnacle goose has become usual.
Cold has taken the wings of birds.
Season of ice; this is my tale.
---from the Liber Hymnorum manuscript
Dedication
for George Jonas
First words
A horse, he came to understand, was missing.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fantasy. Fiction. Mythology. Historical Fiction. HTML:A powerful, moving saga evoking the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Norse cultures of a thousand years ago from the acclaimed author of The Fionavar Tapestry.
??A historical fantasy of the highest order, the work of a man who may well be the reigning master of the form.???The Washington Post Book World
Bern Thorkellson, punished for his father??s sins, denied his heritage and home, commits an act of vengeance and desperation that brings him face-to-face with a past he??s been trying to leave behind...
In the Anglcyn lands of King Aeldred, the shrewd king, battling inner demons all the while, shores up his defenses with alliances and diplomacy??and with swords and arrows. Meanwhile his exceptional, unpredictable sons and daughters give shape to their own desires when battle comes and darkness falls in the spirit wood...
And in the valleys and shrouded hills of the Cyngael, whose voices carry music even as they feud and raid amongst each other, violence and love become deeply interwoven when the dragon ships come and Alun ab Owyn, pursuing an enemy in the night, glimpses strange lights gleaming above forest pools...
Making brilliant use of motifs from saga and song and chronicle, Guy Gavriel Kay conjures a work of subtle, intricate richness, bringing to life an unforgettable world balanced on the kni

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