The Darkest Road - Guy Gavriel Kay

THE DARKEST ROAD
Book 3 of "The Fionavar Tapestry"

ISBN - 9780451451804
FIRST PUBLISHED - 1992
PAGES - 448 (Paperback)
GENRE - Fantasy
PUBLISHERS - Roc

AUTHOR - Guy Gavriel Kay

SYNOPSIS - And so the time of prophecy has come at last, the final days for those who dwell in Fionavar, first of all worlds. Even as the Unraveller's armies march to battle, even as his rain of death unleashes plague upon the lands, the ancient of powers to aid in their struggle.

QUOTES - 

• All the roads are dark. Only at the end is there a hope of light.

• Do you know the wish of your heart?

FL Speak - This is going to be a really, really short review. First things first, fuck you author. On to some more interesting stuff, the Darkest Road is actually a dark road for absolution, sacrifice and anything that is in the light. 

Goodness knows I wept like a 2yo throughout this book, I had goosebumps, laughed and was drunk on euphoria, tch tch'd on a few choices and I've lived my life in Fionavar with these characters. If you're expecting a great final battle between the forces of evil and light (like the 200-page epic finale of Wheel of Time), forget it. But the skirmishes till then. Oh, it saps your strength and gives your tear ducts some good massage. 

This is a grand, grand tale of how you do the best of what you're dealt with, how you always have a choice to follow your own heart, how you sacrifice yourself for others even though the heart of your life is awaiting your victory, how you stop being a tool to be used and how you never give up on the power of light. Love stories, friendships, ego clashes and understandings all come to head in this final book when the forces of light unite for one final time to rally against the dark. 

And the dark, and the dark has a weapon no one planned for. 

Scintillating stuff.

RATING - 4/5

The Wandering Fire - Guy Gavriel Kay

THE WANDERING FIRE
Book 2 of "The Fionavar Tapestry"

ISBN - 9780451458261
FIRST PUBLISHED - 201
PAGES - 375 (Paperback)
GENRE - Fantasy
PUBLISHERS - Roc

AUTHOR - Guy Gavriel Kay

SYNOPSIS - The Wandering Fire is the second novel of Guy Gavriel Kay’s critically acclaimed fantasy trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry. A mage’s power has brought five university students from our world into a realm where an ancient evil has freed itself from captivity to wreak revenge on its enemies.

The ice of eternal winter has reached out to enshroud Fionavar, the first of all worlds. For the Unraveller has broken free after millennia enchained and now his terrible vengeance has begun to take its toll on mortals and immortals, mages and warriors, dwarves and the lios alfar, the Children of Light.

Only five men and women of our own world, brought by magic across the Tapestry of worlds to the very heart of the Weaver’s pattern, can hope to wake the allies they so desperately need. Yet none can foretell whether even these beings out of legend have the power to shatter the Unraveller’s icy grip of death upon the land


QUOTES - 

• I am afraid to try for more light lest it mean more dark.

• Unless the perfidious wolves have the temerity to disobey the High King's plans, we should meet Shalhassan's forces by the Latham in mid-wood with the wolves between us. If they aren't,' Diarmuid concluded, 'we blame anyone and everything except the plan.

FL Speak - 

Previously on the Fionavar Tapestry:
We have had our five main characters moulded in the world of Fionavar to be heroes, catalysts and guides. For better amd some specially for worse, they have returned home and now the plot thickens anew. 

This is that part of the tale where the pleasantries are dispatched off for there lies war ahead. Game faces on, folks. The ride just went up a notch. What we missed in the first book was a direction. There were so many situations occurring at any given time that it was not easy to grasp which ones to focus on. As it should be. Here, in this book, those are dealt with. 

There's more action, more wars, more sleeping with goddesses, sacrifices and a love triangle that's longer than Merlin's beard. There's also plots brewing, fires kindling, love blossoming, hopes blooming in the dark and terrible winter. 

Book 2 ended on a deeply satisfying note. If not for the deaths, it would have been quite a high. But there's nothing like death to wake you up to reality, is there?

RATING - 4/5

The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay

THE SUMMER TREE
Book 1 of "The Fionavar Tapestry"

ISBN - 9780451458223
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2001
PAGES - 303
GENRE - Fantasy
PUBLISHERS - Roc

AUTHOR - Guy Gavriel Kay

SYNOPSIS - The first volume in Guy Gavriel Kay’s stunning fantasy masterwork.

Five men and women find themselves flung into the magical land of Fionavar, First of all Worlds. They have been called there by the mage Loren Silvercloak, and quickly find themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. For Kim, Paul, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their own part to play in the coming battle against the forces of evil led by the fallen god Rakoth Maugrim and his dark hordes.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s classic epic fantasy plays out on a truly grand scale, and has already been delighting fans of imaginative fiction for twenty years.

QUOTES - 

• There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behavior that they force us, in acknowledging that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.

• We salvage what we can, what truly matters to us, even at the gates of despair.

• Alluding and attacking, summoning a courage, embodying a gallantry of defiance that hurt to see, it was so noble and so doomed.

• One didn't stop to talk with creatures from one's nightmares.

FL Speak - There are books which draw you in with their huge cast of interesting characters and there are some whose magical systems leaves you speechless. There are books of war and death, of friendship and weasley brothers, of coming of age and well, of aged wizards (I'm looking at you Raymond Feist) 

And then there are books which are poetry in motion. Beautifully structured, gracefully written which deserves the recognition of being an art in the world of fantasy. This is one such tale. 

The first thing that comes to mind when you read this book is Dragons and Dungeons. The second thing would probably be Narnia or Harry Potter. But unlike the latter two, this isn't a world which exists within one nor you're as young as you'd like to be when you discover FIONAVAR. 

Summoned to a world between worlds and the balance of the entire cosmos lies in the hands and fates of five young people. Five people, completely different from each other, each with their personal issues. And in the world of Fionavar, bonds are broken before they can be made. This is a spectacular tale of black vs white vs grey. 

I love the way Guy Gavriel writes. He doesn't waste time in doling out words just for the sake of making it beautiful. Forget words, he skips out sentences and actions. Too often, I've found myself anticipating if something is going to happen only to turn the page and find oh well, it did. 

Book 1 ended with a dire warning. The gongs have sounded, the Gods have spoken and the darkness has spread forth. Will these 5 be the catalyst and where their paths lie is yet to be determined.

RATING - 4/5