Sarantine Mosaic

[elvet]

I just started The Last Light of the Sun which has caught my interest so far, and I really enjoyed the Fionavar Tapestries. How does the Sarantine Mosaic compare? The Fantasy Bookspot's reviews are glowing.

 

[ScottSF]

I REALLY liked these two books. Honeslty it started kind of slow compared to other works but the end of each book literally had me on the edge of my seat, with Charriot races and what not. I've read everything of his accept the Finovar stuff. My favorite is a tie between the Sarantium books and Tiganna. The main character isn't your average hero, he's an artist and all he really wants is to make nice mozaics but he gets deeply caught up in the political landscape. I would be interested to see what you think. I've been avoiding Fionovar, I think I read the back of the book and was turned off by the general premise but I should probably let go and just read-em.

 

[ScottSF]

oh, and there's a crazy fowl posessed metal bird that he has to carry around. If that doesn't hook you, I don't know what will

 

[elvet]

Thanks for the feedback . I have Tiganna, but haven't read it yet. Would you recommend reading his other stand alone books (Tiganna and Lions of Al-Rassan ) in any particular order with respect to the Sarantine Mosaic?
I'm much too engrossed in Last Light of the Sun to put it down now .

 

[dwndrgn]

I had to put down the Sarantine Mosaic after the first chapter. For some reason it just annoyed me. I really enjoyed the Fionavar Tapestry so I don't know why I couldn't get into this one.

 

[williamjm]

Thanks for the feedback . I have Tiganna, but haven't read it yet. Would you recommend reading his other stand alone books (Tiganna and Lions of Al-Rassan ) in any particular order with respect to the Sarantine Mosaic?

I really like the Sarantine Mosaic books (more than Last Light...), although admittedly the first book was a bit slow and the plot took a long time to start. The chariot racing was great fun, and I really liked all the political intrigue in the second book.

I don't think it is necessary to read Kay's books in any order, although some of them (Lions, Sarantine, Last Light) are set in the world, there isn't really much connection between them.

Tigana and A Song For Arbonne are also excellent books. I've not yet read Fionavar or Lions so I can't comment on them.

 

[ScottSF]

As you can see, some people find the beginning of the Sarantine Mosaic a bit hard to engage but I was really glad I stuck with it. I don't think the way the story starts out is necessaraly bad, it's just very different from other kinds of fantasy/adventure fiction.
By the time I read Lions of Al Rassan, his books started to feel a bit stylistically formulaic, I don't think I would have felt this way if I hadn't been reading all his books consecutively. I think it was just the way the qualities of the characters and their ways of interacting in Song of Arabon and Lion Al Rassan felt too similar. Last Light of the Sun for me broke from this pattern so I was very pleased. I think some of the stories may border each other but more in the way different cultures interact than specific characters or plots so the order you read them in doesn't really matter.
All of the stories, however, are full of surprises and well concieved cultures and histories. I definitely think GGK is one of the best out there and he is the first name I would mention to someone looking for fantasy with high quality writing.
I may just have to get over my misgivings and read the Fionavar books. All of the books seem to have a reference to Fionavar in some way or another. Also when I have read those,then I will have read them all then I would have to wait impatiently for a new one to come out.

 

[williamjm]

Also when I have read those,then I will have read them all then I would have to wait impatiently for a new one to come out.

I've heard Kay has a new book coming out soon (maybe in the next year or so), although I haven't heard any details about it yet.

 

[ScottSF]

ggk thread

 

[GOLLUM]

I've bought the 2 Sarantine books in HB second hand. I look forward to reading them so I can contribute to the GGK push..