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A review by catsy2022
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Rating: B-
No one mentioned the incest!
Tigana is a country left in ruins, conquered by a sorcerer after they kill his son, he strips its name and culture from history after dominating and shattering the nation. Almost 20 years later, the survivors of the massacre come together under the banner of Alessan di Tigana, the younger son of the late prince Valentin, to liberate Tigana from the sorcerer and bring its name back from oblivion.
What follows is an almost 700-page book detailing the machinations of the characters as they come together to take down both of the sorcerers. Unfortunately, I felt like there was an overwhelming lack of action in this book. There was a whole lot of dialogue, development and some decent world-building, but as soon as something wild is going to happen, it's quickly dispatched with largely offscreen. I really struggled to see the scope of this book as "epic" given that there were no major battles until the final part of the book.
The book is divided into sections with each section showing a new map as the characters get closer to their goals. The maps were pretty well-drawn and detailed. I liked seeing the world and how it changed, which conqueror conquered which part of the map. My favourite characters to follow were Alessan and Dianora. I liked Dianora the best, honestly, her story was so rich and engaging - and incredibly tragic given the circumstances of her life. I loved the ending of her story arc, it was especially tragic. Her interactions with Brandin made good reading, he was such a deep character, I may have liked the story if it was entirely from his perspective. He literally destroyed an entire country because they killed one of his children - and he still had other children left - he just loved his son much more than them!
Unfortunately, there was just a lot of walking, talking and sad reflecting on the destruction of their nation - over the death of thousands of people, the erasure of their culture was more tragic - and it had been decades since it happened! I was also a bit bothered by the amount of meaningless sex in the book. One female character has sex with a male character just to keep him quiet while they hide in a cupboard. I appreciated that the women did have agency and chose to have sex but it sometimes felt like it came out of nowhere, or that it was just a necessary thing to happen in the part of the story.
As for the final conclusion of the book, the big final battle was very underwhelming. I was let down by this. In the end the book was really just decent, not a favourite of mine.
No one mentioned the incest!
Tigana is a country left in ruins, conquered by a sorcerer after they kill his son, he strips its name and culture from history after dominating and shattering the nation. Almost 20 years later, the survivors of the massacre come together under the banner of Alessan di Tigana, the younger son of the late prince Valentin, to liberate Tigana from the sorcerer and bring its name back from oblivion.
What follows is an almost 700-page book detailing the machinations of the characters as they come together to take down both of the sorcerers. Unfortunately, I felt like there was an overwhelming lack of action in this book. There was a whole lot of dialogue, development and some decent world-building, but as soon as something wild is going to happen, it's quickly dispatched with largely offscreen. I really struggled to see the scope of this book as "epic" given that there were no major battles until the final part of the book.
The book is divided into sections with each section showing a new map as the characters get closer to their goals. The maps were pretty well-drawn and detailed. I liked seeing the world and how it changed, which conqueror conquered which part of the map. My favourite characters to follow were Alessan and Dianora. I liked Dianora the best, honestly, her story was so rich and engaging - and incredibly tragic given the circumstances of her life. I loved the ending of her story arc, it was especially tragic. Her interactions with Brandin made good reading, he was such a deep character, I may have liked the story if it was entirely from his perspective. He literally destroyed an entire country because they killed one of his children - and he still had other children left - he just loved his son much more than them!
Unfortunately, there was just a lot of walking, talking and sad reflecting on the destruction of their nation - over the death of thousands of people, the erasure of their culture was more tragic - and it had been decades since it happened! I was also a bit bothered by the amount of meaningless sex in the book. One female character has sex with a male character just to keep him quiet while they hide in a cupboard. I appreciated that the women did have agency and chose to have sex but it sometimes felt like it came out of nowhere, or that it was just a necessary thing to happen in the part of the story.
As for the final conclusion of the book, the big final battle was very underwhelming. I was let down by this. In the end the book was really just decent, not a favourite of mine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Suicide, and Suicide attempt