The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay

[lightreads]

The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ah. Slow exhale. The end of the trilogy, and the final confrontation of light against dark.

Two contradictory reactions here: on the one hand, that was wrenching and beautiful, with intricate, soaring language to carry me through great bravery and tragedy. And I was, at one point, leaking tears as I walked down the street today. Hint: do not read the last quarter of this book in audio while going about the public portions of your day.

On the other hand, there is something in this book that runs counter to the way I ingest stories. Take Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot. I am on the one hand touched by the interlocked, endlessly repeating tragedy of their triangle. On the other hand, I could also be overheard to snarl, oh my God, people, just have a fucking threesome. Jesus!

I'm being flip, but I'm also not. Because it turns out my orientation as a reader of this kind of story – the kind that layers myth and history and tale – is deconstructive. You're all shocked, I know. And these books are not deconstructive. Nearly the opposite, actually, because Kay's project is to exult in the fundamental essences of the old stories, to find their uttermost extremities of glory and grief and write them anew, and beautifully. But to affirm them, even as he allows their endings to change a bit sometimes. And that's just not how I roll these days.

So if you're looking for a traditional epic, and an epic beautifully told, then go forth. But if you're looking for something earthy and source critical, something like George R.R. Martin or maybe Abercrombie, this isn't so much the thing.

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Comments

this comment contains what might be constructed as spoilers

[misura.livejournal.com]

I liked the character of Diarmuid rather a lot. Thus, this is not a book I read when I want to end up cheerful, because ... well. And it's glorious in some ways, but there will always be that small part of me that's yelling at authors like Guy Gavriel Kay but I wanted a happy ending for that character, too!.

Added the subject-line because the first two commenters haven't read the book yet, so er.

Re: this comment contains what might be constructed as spoilers

[lightreads.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. I found an essay of GGK's a few days ago about his death, and how he knew from the beginning it had to happen because that was the thread of randomness in the story, the individual choice that let Arthur and Lancelot both live. And how surprised he was that everyone was so upset. And I'm all, um, duh.