And by saying naught preserve them?
Not to spoil, I think. Why should I rob you of the joy of discovery yourself?
My choice for the most surprising plot twists (yes, plural) occur in Chapters Four and Five of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. So early in the book, and yet they change everything. Matters which had been presented as absolute fact are twisted on their head and given new meaning. One after the other these twists come, each disguised by the unexpectedness of the previous one, until eventually the reader is prepared to believe just about anything that happens.
“It was too much. Devin’s brain simply gave up trying to understand. Too many pieces of information were coming at him from too many different directions, contradicting each other ferociously. He felt dizzy, overwhelmed. He was in a room where only a little while ago he had stood among a number of men. Now four of them were dead, with a more brutal violence than he had ever thought to come upon. At the same time, the one man he’d known to be dead—the man whose mourning rites he had sung that very morning—was the only man of Astibar left alive in this lodge.
If he was of Astibar!
The reader’s experience is much the same as young Devin’s, but mixed with more air-punching at the sheer awesomeness of the proceedings.
And we’re off! The first post of this month’s Book Meme requires me to choose the best book I read last year.
Oh boy. I shall have to find a definition for “best.” Great.
Well, considering how many of the other meme topics are about my “favorite” this or that, I shall define “best” in a more objective way. So, which of the books I read in 2010 was artistically the most accomplished? There are three competitors that stand out: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead, and Airman by Eoin Colfer. It might be easier if I had the literary equivalent of a gladiatorial arena where I could just throw the books in and let them fight it out, but unfortunately, as it stands, I have to do some actual thinking.
And to that I will add my utterly subjective whim.
The winner is Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay!
I gave the book a fairly low mark in morals, because Kay’s treatment of sexuality really bugged me to an extreme. Taliesin almost beat it out because of that issue. But in the end, it is Tigana that stands as the towering achievement in fantasy literature. Kay’s writing style and plot depth is just about perfect. Tigana revels in its author’s ability to make the labyrinthine plot both relatable and passionate. Characters are not shortchanged, but all highly developed. Tension is common and action is satisfying. The magic is sprinkled in key places like a potent spice, all the better for its relative rarity.
Airman delighted me with its enthusiastic, old-fashioned adventure. Taliesin warmed me with its strong treatment of religious themes and the interweaving of Arthurian legend and Greek myth. But only Tigana caused my jaw to drop in amazement at, it seemed, every other chapter, and my mind to boggle at the sublime balance being so confidently trod on the pages before me.
Read my review of Tigana here.
Reason for Beginning: Recommended to me by numerous sources as one of the truly great fantasy novels of recent times.
Reason for Finishing: It’s one of the most engrossing and well-written books I’ve read.