Guy Gavriel Kay's TIGANA | 🌙 Memory, tyranny, romance, & more 🌕
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- Опубліковано 17 січ 2025
- Welcome to my spoiler-free review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Mentioned:
Guy Gavriel Kay's TIGANA || Book Discussion
www.youtube.co...
The Lions of Al-Rassan || Adventure, Passion, & Aspiration (No Spoilers)
• The Lions of Al-Rassan...
Guy Gavriel Kay's A SONG FOR ARBONNE (No spoilers)
• Guy Gavriel Kay's A SO...
@MacScarfield
The Mythology of "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay Part 1: The Triad of The Palm
• The Mythology of "Tiga...
The Mythology of "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay Part 2: The Folklore of The Palm
• The Mythology of "Tiga...
The Mythology of "Tigana" Part 3: Quileia, Ygrath & Barbadior
• The Mythology of "Tiga...
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After hearing your non-spoilery thoughts about the book, I'm even more excited to participate in the livestream discussion about it this Sunday! Thematically, Tigana is outstanding.
Thank you so much! Hooray! I'm so excited for our discussion!
Great video, Johanna! You gave me a big smile in the opening since, like the people in the story, I couldn't hear that key word in the book's title.😂 Also, very cool that you've included helpful links to MacScarfield's scholarly videos on GGK. I'm planning a reread of Tigana later this year to kick off a long-term venture into the books of Guy Gavriel Kay that will likely be a big part of my reading year in 2025. Have a great rest of your day! 😊
Hahaha! I'm glad you enjoyed my silly joke. So excited you'll be joining the GGK fan club! I'm excited to hear your Tigana reread thoughts. Thank you so much! 😊
Good video! I think my favorite thing about the book that you kind of tangentially touched on was the memory thing, when you're a migrant it's amazing how much of your identity is tied to your homeland, and to have that stolen . . . However he came up with that particular concept for this book, it was amazing.
Thanks! That's very well said about identity, migration, and memory.
This just came in on my library card - so excited to dig in! Thanks for this thoughtful review.
Perfect timing! I hope you enjoy it. Thank you!
You have a way of illuminating elements of Kay's strengths as a writer that are things I subconsciously have felt reading his books but would have never had the wisdom to bring out into words. Thank you! We have read the same three Kay books now. Under Heaven is next up for me.
Thank you so much, Danny! I’m still trying to put my finger on several of Kay’s strengths, and I’m honored if you agree with what I’ve verbalized. Enjoy Under Heaven!
Great review! I love the discussion on the themes
I LOVE the way GGK incorporates themes into his stories. Thank you so much! :)
Wow this sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the review Johanna. I’m reading this next month actually.
I’m excited to hear your thoughts, and I hope it will be the first of more GGK books for you, Chas!
@@Johanna_reads I hope so too 😃
Great video 🎥
Thank you so much, Safina!
I'm rereading the corn swords chapter before our discussion
Hahaha!!! 🌽🗡️
Oooh this has been a true TBR veteran for as long as I can remember for me. I am glad you still had a good time with it, even if it wasn't your favourite GGK. I love how passionately you can talk about the things you love in books, you have your own brand of gushing and it is just so infectious!! Great review as always 🥰🥰
Thank you so much, Esmay! I’m so glad my emotions come through in my reviews! I highly recommend starting a GGK journey with The Lions of Al-Rassan or A Song for Arbonne, but I’m still emotional over several moments in Tigana. ❤️🥰
@@Johanna_reads I started with Arbonne but did it on audio and I think that was not the best decision lol. Want to go back and reread that at my own pace to really absorb all the beautiful prose and deep theme work! 🤩
@@esmayrosalyne Oh that's right! I remember now that you read that! ☺
Great review! I tried reading this book when I was 13, but I was only interested in stories about orphan farm boys going on adventures at the time. I need to finally get around to reading some GGK
While more a singer than a farm boy, Devin does fit that description in part. Haha! Enjoy your GGK journey, Andrew!
So close to 6000 subscribers. Well done. Best wishes on what you choose to read, I hope you get some great stories. I'm currently at page 770 of the Count of Monte Cristo and still got some way to go. Enjoyable but I might be some time! Happy reading.
Thank you so much! Enjoy the rest of Count of Monte Cristo!
I looooove themed books, and memory is something I've been considering quite a lot as of late. Thank you for also sharing the things that didn't work for you; I think that sex scenes that are not fade to black can reaaaally be a hit-and-miss thing. Some are good, some are better forgotten. I think this may be my entry to Kay's writing!
Thank you, Livia! I loved how this book explores memory in a way that goes beyond just the individual and into culture, history, and home. While the sex scenes missed the mark for me in this book, I'm glad it had many other things to appreciate. I hope you enjoy it if you pick it up!
I really appreciate this video. I’m about to pick up Tigana in May because I found some beautiful quotes about love that I want to incorporate into my vows. Her and I are doing a book binding ceremony of her favorite book Song of the Silence and Tigana as part of our wedding ceremony.
Congratulations! That sounds like a beautiful idea and I wish you a wonderful wedding! Thanks for watching the video and sharing about that! 🤍
@@Johanna_reads Thank you so much!
What a phenomenal review 💚
Thank you so much, Abel! 🤍
I've read the same 3 books by Kay as you did so far. A Song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan were absolutely amazing, one of the best reads of the last year. Few weeks ago, I finished Tigana and... I was disappointed. I didn't expect plot driven story. Unfortunatly it was boring for me, the prose didn't save it. I hope Sailing to Sarantium will be back on track as an amazing experience. Anway, nice review.
Wow, we’re on the same Kay journey! This story did have a very involved plot. I’m planning to pick up Sailing to Sarantium later this year, and I have high hopes. Thanks!
Great review! Looking forward to the discussion 😊
Thank you so much! 😊
Great review! I won’t say more because we get to chat tomorrow!
I can’t wait to hear your in-depth thoughts, Josh!
Tigana is the only GGK I’ve read. I tackled it in 2012 after hearing Sanderson call it his favorite standalone fantasy. (Hmm. I wonder if Tigana contributed to my later dissatisfaction with Sanderson’s books?) At the time it blew my mind, but it was such a demanding read, as I could only read about 50-60 pages a day, no matter how much time I gave myself. That warded me off from GGK for a while, though he came back on my radar recently and I’ll read reading Lions this summer, and hopefully reading more of his work.
At the time, I was floored by the cogency of the moral ambiguities (Brandin is clearly sympathetic; the rebels are questionable), the quality of the writing, which I certainly wasn’t used to seeing in fantasy at the time, stuff like that. Considering how much I enjoyed Tigana, and how my own tastes have developed over the past twelve years, I’m super excited to learn that others of his novels seem to rank higher more consistently!
Yes, I completely agree about the moral ambiguity in this book, and it’s something I’m planning to bring up in our spoiler filled discussion. While I sensed Kay wanting his readers to have those questions, I appreciate that he didn’t overstate those complexities. There was a lot to absorb in this story, and I had to take my time reading it as well (and I’m already a slow reader). I hope you love The Lions of Al-Rassan!
@@Johanna_reads I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll enjoy Lions of Al-Rassan. Just gotta finish revising my dissertation (a few more weeks should do) so I’ll have the needed headspace for it :)
@@paulwilliams6913 how exciting! Good luck with your defense!
This was my first and so far only GGK. If it's not even you're top two, then WOW. Because this one really hit me in the gut.
While this one was my least favorite of the three I’ve read, GGK is now cemented as a favorite author. He did have some very powerful gut-punches in Tigana!
I had planned to read Tigana this month but a couple of library holds came in so, alas, poor GGK got bumped to next month. I really appreciate your spoiler-free review and will get to this book in May. I'll skip your spoiler discussion with your fellow booktubers until after I have read it so I hope you will forgive me for that.
I’m excited you’ll be getting to this soon! Please feel free to comment on the livestream replay whenever you finish. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Tigana!
I feel motivated to read this just to check out your livestream w all those other heavy-hitters of Booktubestan , alas I have still yet to read any GGK despite owning many of them. Song for Arbonne the best to start with?
That’s a good question! I started with The Lions of Al-Rassan based on Jake Bishop’s recommendation, but I think A Song for Arbonne would also work. Lions is based on Medieval Spain and Song is based on France in the Middle Ages. Thanks!
Would this be a good place to start with GGK?❤ or what is your ranking of your favourites?
So far, my ranking is 1) A Song for Arbonne, 2) The Lions of Al-Rassan, and 3) Tigana. Maybe because it worked so well for me, I recommend starting with The Lions of Al-Rassan. I took Jake Bishop’s advice to do that, and I’m so glad I did!
@@Johanna_reads thank you!
@@Johanna_reads No mention of Fionavar makes me cry a bit , lol. I read that trilogy when it came out and i was but a Tolkein obsessed young teen and i still read it every couple of years or so. Which must mean ive read it 60 times at the very least. Im a bit surprised by that as even as i write it here. Ive been a fan of GGK since '85(ish). The problem i have is i am so bloody old (lol) and have read so many hundreds of books over various formats i have trouble remembering what i have read. I know i read Tigana on a library card when it was new, but i dont know what i have read or haven't read now, lol. The viking one was great, but i have no idea what it called.
Dont get old, or at least avoid memory problems, which has a certain irony given what Tigana is about. I dont remember what happened in it. ;)
Great video
Thank you!
Great video! Unfortunately had to skip discussion but I agree with your main points. I agree that there were some awkward moments in the book and some stuff in the structure I wasn't happy about but all in all it was a good one!
Thank you, Mike! Sounds like we agree about the book quite a bit!
@@Johanna_reads yes I think so!
Love this review of «lower corte»! 😄 Yeah, the «corny» scene! 🌾🌽⚔️😂 You are much too kind to mention and link my «Tigana Lore» videos here: They were my humble attempt to remedy (to me at least 😅) a great lack of «GGK Lore» videoes, compared to the multiple videos and even whole channels on Tolkien’s Legendarium, Sanderson’s Cosmere and GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and (I hope!) as digestible as possible!😅
Yeah, I think it says a lot that many people who have lost their homeland finds great resonance in this story! Look very much forward to your discussion with Josh and my «GGK Senseis» Bridger and Jake! Cheers!
I cannot express how much I appreciate your videos! They certainly fulfill a huge need for that content. I probably could’ve explained the Lower Corte name change, but I’ll do my best to add more detail in our disucssion. Thank you so much! 😊
I have a love/hate relationship with Kay books. On the one hand, I love the premise of his stories and the relationships, but I struggle mightily with his pacing at times. Tigana is the perfect example. I so wanted to love this book, but ultimately that slowdown you discuss ruined it for me😢
Aw, I'm sorry it hurt your experience so much. 😢 It was an interesting choice since the beginning (when we usually have exposition and slower pacing) was relatively fast.
So glad you loved Lower Corte but less than the other GGK books, like you should 😊
Hahaha! I knew how you and some of our other friends felt, and I wanted to go against the corn grain, but I couldn’t help but feel the same. 😄
Tangent, but I'd like to read Cherryh's Rusalka trilogy
I’ll look it up!
I loved this book, but the character Dianora joined on a very limited list of characters that I actively hate (this doesn't happen often). The character is not poorly written or anything, and her reasoning is laid out in the narrative, but that doesn't change one bit that I hate her with a passion.
It's like seeing Shoshanna from Inglorious Basterds falling in love with Hitler.
Understandable! You are not alone with that take. I think that came up in the live discussion I hosted about the book. Glad you loved the book!
Hello there hey there hey Hello
Hello! :)
It’s difficult to shoot a book review without spoilers and share meaningful thoughts, but you make it look easy!
Btw, Rusałka comes from Polish / Slavic folklore and your pronunciation, understandably, is just a bit off. A for effort though! 😉
Oh no! I’ll have to hear you say the word sometime! It’s because I’ve heard the word mispronounced so many times when referring to the name of Dvořák’s opera (“Song to the Moon” is one of my all time favorite songs). But I also mispronounce English and Spanish words as a Mexican-American. 😅 Thank you for your kind words about my review!
This was my first and so far is my least favourite GGK I've read so far.
Haha! I hope you enjoy reading more GGK books!
@@Johanna_reads I'm almost halfway through Children of Earth & Sky and it's really good so far. Same setting as Lions of Al-Rassan and Sarantine Mosaic, which are some of my favourite books ever!