That's kind of weird, because I remember hearing from somewhere that Guy Gavriel Kay is gay. ^^ His thesis in The Lions of Al-Rassan (which I also couldn't finish due to boredom) is that sophisticated city-states are awesome and invading barbarians suck. Though he's also pretty interested in fanboying Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (the thinly-disguised fictional version), XD.

Someone who made it further into the book than I did commented that the weirdness in that one was how often the two major male characters apologize to the main female character for being "brutish unwashed louts who can never live up to her high standards and be worthy of her attentions".