A review by benstanley
All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay

5.0

I really don't know what to think of this one. This was my first Guy Gavriel Kay novel, so I'm not sure whether the style was just his own, or if it's a feature of this book in particular. Most of the time it was interesting, touching, and on occasion extraordinarily tense (in particular the opening chapters). At the same time, it had an enormous number of digressions, meanderings, and examinations of seemingly irrelevant things (this is the part that I suspect may be a feature of Kay's general style). At first it was difficult to determine how these interludes would play into the plot, but when I realized that they what they were they eventually became appreciated, if somewhat uninteresting, distractions.

The characters themselves were somewhat bland though I was invested in their journey, and by the halfway point I found it very easy to immerse myself into their world and care about their future. There was also an excellent cast of supporting characters who ebbed and flowed throughout the story that I grew quite attached to. The prose itself was excellent, although that's not something I'm very picky about.

Edit: Upon looking at some other reviews it appears that this book benefits greatly from reading some of the others set in this world. I may have to re-read it when I eventually get to those, to see if it changes my opinion.