Where to Start? - Guy Gavriel Kay (updated)

This is an updated version of an article previously published in 2010.

All of Kay's novels - ten to date - take place in the same universe, but are divided into two broad sub-worlds. However, they are published out of chronological order and are almost entirely made up of stand-alone books. The sole exceptions are his two series, The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy and The Sarantine Mosaic duology. Everything else is stand-alone.


The Fionavar Universe


Kay's first published work was The Fionavar Tapestry, a trilogy in which a group of Canadian university students are transported to the world of Fionavar where a traditional battle between good and evil is underway. The trilogy is noted for an interesting magic system (in which sorcerers use other living beings as sources of magic) but is probably Kay's most 'standard' work.

The core trilogy consists of The Summer Tree (1984), The Wandering Fire (1986) and The Darkest Road (1986). Ysabel (2007) is a stand-alone follow-up to the trilogy set on Earth and focusing on different characters in Provence, but several trilogy characters show up in supporting roles.


Stand-alone works in the Fionavar Universe


Kay's next two novels are stand-alone titles, entitled Tigana (1990) and A Song for Arbonne (1992). They are set in the Fionavar universe but some very minor references and allusions aside such connections are purely cosmetic. Indeed, Tigana is oftern referenced as the best book to start with Kay with.


The Alternate Earth books


Kay's remaining books are all set on the same planet, a lightly fantasised version of our Earth in several different time periods and locations. Technically this alt-Earth is also located in the Fionavar universe, but again some minor references aside this is again completely irrelevant. The alt-Earth books are all independent of one another and do not require knowledge of the others to enjoy one, with the sole exception that the two books of the Sarantine Mosaic duology need to be read in order.

In publication order with a note on their historical inspirations, these books are as follows:

• The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) - Andalusian Spain during the time of El Cid (11th Century).
• The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium (1998) & Lord of Emperors (2000) - Byzantium at the time of Justinian I (6th Century).
• The Last Light of the Sun (2004) - Saxon England at the time of Alfred the Great (9th Century).
• Under Heaven (2010) - Tang Dynasty China during the An Shi Rebellion (8th Century).
• River of Stars (2013) - Song Dynasty China during the Jin-Song Wars (12th Century).
• Children of Earth and Sky (2016) - Dubrovnik and the Balkans (late 15th Century).
• A Brightness Long Ago (2019) - Renaissance Italy (mid-15th Century).

Conclusion

Kay's work can be approached from several entry points. The first book in The Fionavar Tapestry, The Summer Tree is an obvious choice, although Tigana is often cited as a stronger first book. The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Last Light of the Sun, Sailing to Sarantium and Under Heaven can all be approached as other first books as well. In conclusion Kay is an author whose body of work can appear tricky to get into due to the inter-connectedness of the books, but in practice most of these connections are so slight as to be invisible, and with the obvious exception of the multi-volume works his books can be read in any order.

Note
There are some anomalous elements in Under Heaven with regards to the other books. It still appears to take place in the alternate Earth setting, and its China analogue (Khitai) is mentioned in the other alternate history books. However, at one point a character mentions how there is only one moon when he talks about having a dream of a world with three. The Alt-Earth seen in The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Last Light of the Sun is noted as having three moons. This seems to place Under Heaven in a sort of parallel universe to the Alt-Earth, whilst still retaining much of its layout. This is odd, but, that one reference aside, it can be read and enjoyed either as a complete stand-alone or as part of the Alt-Earth books with no problem.

Idea: why not adapt Guy Gavriel Kay's novels for the screen?

Fantasy is big right now. We've heard lots of news about Amazon's new Lord of the Rings TV project, Game of Thrones is wrapping up but will have spin-offs, Netflix is producing a Witcher TV show, Showtime are doing a Name of the Wind prequel show, Starz have American Gods and even Spike TV is still trying to make Shannara happen. There are signs that the fantasy bubble may be cresting - Sony's Wheel of Time project still hasn't found a home despite it being a slam dunk - but I think there's still room for a few different projects out there.

One author whose work has not hit the screens yet is Guy Gavriel Kay. It's easy to see why: Kay's novels tend to be too long to make for comfortable two-hour movies, but too short and too self-contained for long-running TV shows that can be exploited for years on end. His books are also based closely on real history with (relatively) little traditional magic, which used to make them a tough sell. However, it could be a point in its favour with some of the other upcoming projects having a lot more magic and the need for high budgets, whilst Kay's work could be adapted a bit more easily and could tap into the Game of Thrones fanbase looking for more work that emphasises politics and characters over flashy effects.

One interesting solution would be to do Kay's novels as a Fargo-style anthology series, where each season has its own storyline, characters and actors but take place in the same universe, with events earlier in the setting informing events set centuries later. It would be an unorthodox approach, but could be interesting.

I'd see this series unfolding as follows, with each season corresponding to a novel (or series) with the setting and time period that roughly influenced the book following:

Season 1: The Sarantine Mosaic, 6th Century Byzantium, Justinian's wars
Season 2: Under Heaven, 8th Century China, An Lushan Rebellion
Season 3: The Last Light of the Sun, 9th Century England, Alfred the Great
Season 4: The Lions of Al-Rassan, 11th Century Spain, El Cid
Season 5: River of Stars, 12 Century China, Jin-Song Wars
Season 6: Children of Earth and Sky, 15th Century Dubrovnik, after the fall of Constantinople

It might also be possible to incorporate A Song for Arbonne, which takes place in a different world but is heavily influenced by the Albigensian Crusade in 12th Century France, into this scheme.

Tigana, although influenced by Renaissance Italy, features a very different world background with much more overt magic. It would probably be better served by a separate movie adaptation. The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy and its stand-alone sequel, Ysabel, could form another, separate TV series.

To date, the only interest in Kay's work has been from director Edward Zwick (Glory, Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond), who held the rights to The Lions of Al-Rassan for a while. Hopefully someone will pick up the rights to Kay's work and bring it to a wider audience. One of the finest living fantasists, his work deserves to be better-known.

Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay

Sarantium, the greatest city in the world, has fallen to the invading Asharites. A Grand Khalif rules from the city he calls Asharias, and his armies are continuing to advance into the heart of the holy Jaddite empire. For the cities of the Seressini Sea - mighty Seressa, growing Dubrava and the pirate haven of Senjan - these matters are distant and of limited importance. But this changes when the fates of several individuals collide and shift the fate of the world.

Guy Gavriel Kay is one of fantasy's foremost and most skilled authors, one who is capable of spinning an engrossing story from real history lightly salted with a dosing of the fantastic. This approach has served him well through several of the greatest fantasy novels of the past generation - The Lions of Al-Rassan foremost among them - and in Children of Earth and Sky he has done it again.

The historical inspiration this time is the fall of Sarantium (Constantinople) in 1453 to the invading Osmanlis (Ottomans). The novel takes place twenty-five years after this event with the Jaddite (Christian) kingdoms trying to overcome their internal divisions to fight back against the invaders but are undermined by some of their own cities, such as the mercantile powers of Seressa (Venice) and Dubrova (Dubrovnik), which are happy to trade with the rich invaders. This invokes the ire of the raiders and pirates of Senjan (Senj) who start preying on Seressan ships to fund their war against the Osmanlis. Political-religious conflict follows.


The book concerns, as is usual with Kay, the crossing of paths of several very different individuals. This time these characters include Pero Villani, an artist sent on a spying mission; Danica Gradek, a young woman who yearns to be a fighter and raider; Marin Djivo, a budding merchant; Damaz, a former slave turned into an elite djanni infantryman; and Leonora Valeri, a young woman sent into disgrace but who is turned into an agent for Seressa's government. Scores of other characters cross their paths, Kay spinning them into a tapestry of lives, tragedy, love and war which is utterly engrossing.

The book is vintage Kay in how it operates with history and character, but it is a little different in that it does have a strong side-focus on political intrigue, military campaigns and merchant rivalries. These are elements that Kay has written about before, but here they are more prominent and give the book additional texture. They also make the book more appealing to those fantasy fans who are interested more in action, warfare and backstabbing than in characterisation and mood, although this remains the primary focus of the book. Kay also explores the relationship between myth and history and stories, how a split-second decision on a battlefield can inspire legends and armies and heroes decades or centries later.

Kay's greatest skill has always been his ability to move between the large and small, showing how every person matters and how a quiet conversation between two people can shift the destinies of millions and change the fate of continents and empires, and he does that better than almost ever before in this novel.

The novel is a stand-alone but there are references to the events of The Sarantine Mosaic and The Lions of Al-Rassan, that long-term Kay fans will enjoy.

Children of Earth and Sky (*****) is Guy Gavriel Kay doing what he does best, and better than anyone else working in fantasy today: telling the story of empires and wars through the lens of characters so vivid and convincing that they feel real, and absorbing you into their lives. The novel will be available on 10 May 2016 in the UK and USA.

Cover art and blurb for Guy Gavriel Kay's CHILDREN OF EARTH AND SKY

After a false alarm last week, here's the real deal: the cover art and blurb for Guy Gavriel Kay's thirteenth novel, Children of Earth and Sky.

"The bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels UNDER HEAVEN and RIVER OF STARS, Guy Gavriel Kay is back with a new novel, CHILDREN OF EARTH AND SKY, set in a world inspired by the conflicts and dramas of Renaissance Europe. Against this tumultuous backdrop the lives of men and women unfold on the borderlands—where empires and faiths collide.

From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request—and possibly to do more—and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman, posing as a doctor’s wife, but sent by Seressa as a spy.

The trading ship that carries them is commanded by the accomplished younger son of a merchant family, ambivalent about the life he’s been born to live. And farther east a boy trains to become a soldier in the elite infantry of the khalif—to win glory in the war everyone knows is coming.

As these lives entwine, their fates—and those of many others—will hang in the balance, when the khalif sends out his massive army to take the great fortress that is the gateway to the western world…"

The book will be released in May 2016 in the UK and USA. The book marks a change in Kay's UK publisher, with Hodder & Stoughton picking up the rights (HarperCollins has been his UK publisher for some considerable time). Hodder & Stoughton's press release was as follows:

"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the latest novel by the legendary Canadian fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay for publication on May 12th 2016. The deal was negotiated by Jonny Geller of agents Curtis Brown UK.

In The Children of Earth and Sky Kay returns to the familiar territory established in several earlier works, a reimagining of the melting pot of the medieval Mediterranean. In his hands well-known places and events are transformed into the wonderful and strange through the lens of fantasy, and brought to life with brilliantly drawn characters and the most graceful of styles, which will seduce his many fans and new readers alike.

Acquiring Editor Oliver Johnson says: ‘To bring a celebrated, legendary author like Guy Gavriel Kay to our list is a truly wonderful moment; an editor’s dream is to publish a writer he has long admired, and this couldn’t be more true for me than with Guy. Though we have no specific genre list we are very proud of our work at Hodder with books that cross the divides of genre as Guy does with his brilliantly written, erudite and deliciously imagined works of historical fantasy. Our hallmark is great writing without bounds and we know we have acquired exactly that in Guy’s new work.’

Guy Gavriel Kay famously assisted Christopher Tolkien in the editing of The Silmarilion. His debut novels in the Fionavar Tapestry established him as one of the most exciting fantasy writers of the last half century. Several of his books (including Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, Under Heaven) have been named as among the greatest fantasy masterpieces of the last twenty-five years. His work has been shortlisted for the Best Novel in the World Fantasy Awards several times and he won that award with Ysabel in 2008.  In 2014 he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his services to literature, the country’s highest civilian honour."

Info on Guy Gavriel Kay's new novel

Guy Gavriel Kay is releasing a new novel next year, called The Children of Earth and Sky. Not much is known about it so far but someone leaked a plot synopsis...

...which turned out to be completely inaccurate, so has been pulled at the author's request. However, more news about the book should be released shortly.


The book has a current publication date of 12 May 2016 and will be, as usual for me, a day one purchase.