Blurb:

Taken to a realm of magic and war, five men and women from our world embark on an epic journey in the first novel in Guy Gavriel Kay’s classic, critically acclaimed fantasy trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry.

It begins with a chance meeting that introduces the five to a man who will change their lives: a mage who brings them to the first of all worlds, Fionavar.

In this land of gods and myth, each of them is forced to discover what they are and what they are willing to do, as Fionavar stands on the brink of a terrifying war against a dark, vengeful god...

Review:

I’m jumping into the way back machine for this review.  I’ve been reading fantasy for over thirty years.  Yet, until this last year I had never heard of Guy Gavriel Kay.  I find that to be an incredible shame.

GGK came to my attention via indie fantasy author Sienna Frost (Kajornwan Chueng) aka Faye, author of Obsidian: Awakening.  Faye is an absolute disciple of GGK.  Her many references and characterizations of his influences on her writing eventually broke through and spurred me to find out who he is.

The most notable item if interest that I found is that while Guy was a university student, Christopher Tolkien chose him to assist in editing J. R. R. Tolkien’s unfinished work The Silmarillion.  This fact alone was enough to move me to read his first work, The Summer Tree.

My recommendation is that anyone that enjoys Tolkien or Lewis should not hesitate to explore GGK’s bibliography.  The Tolkien influences are pertinent, but GGK stands out on his own without being a clone or want a be.

The Summer Tree begins in the real world with university students in Toronta, Canada and their encounter with a couple of eccentric individuals that quickly leads to a portal shift in venue to a more traditional fantasy setting.

Elves, royalty, wizards, nomadic tribes, fallen gods, fantastical creatures, curses, sacrifices… all unfold within the pages.

The prose is practically poetic.  Enough so that any shortcomings in plot movement or character development that tried to irk me were easy to overlook.  Guy constructs phrases, sentences and chapters in such a way that the act of reading even the most mundane of passages is simply enjoyable.  There is nothing of ‘purple prose’ to it.  If he was to write an instruction manual to put together something from IKEA it would be enjoyable.  

The setting of Fionavar felt comfortably familiar and was well executed.  Guy provides a perfect setting for a fantasy tale.  The entire arsenal of Tolkienesque tropes are in play.

There is terrific and not so great when it comes to character development.  You will find that some characters languish a bit while others are easy to become invested in.  Far from a deal breaker.

Some may be frustrated with the slowly evolving dynamics of power and intrigue to be found in the world of Fionavar.  I appreciated the slow burn pace.  Who can you trust?  What is their motivation? Tension mounts, you know something is coming, you have time to form your own expectations.  The experience of having those expectations confirmed or torn to pieces is worth the buildup.

There are several prominent character arcs and shifts of point of view.  I appreciated how Guy spends time rolling with a character or group of characters and allows events unfold for the reader without jarring shifts in POV.  When a shift did occur, I was good with it and ready to see what these other guys have been up to and where they are taking us.

A large part of The Summer Tree is devoted to our wayward university students finding their place in this world of magic, royalty and tragedy.  Each of them has a role to play.  Will they be warriors, wizards, seers, sacrifices, or will they serve some other purpose high or low?

The land is cursed, the gods require a sacrifice, a fallen god threatens to rise and soak the world in war and blood.  The king is old, one of his sons is exiled another a calculating womanizer and frequently found to haunt a tavern or two.  

This read was worth my time.  Delightfully, I experienced various emotional highs and lows.  I plan to include more of GGK in my reading and look forward to seeing how his writing has developed over the years.