Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay

[lightreads]

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
A mosaicist is summoned east to not!Byzantium to serve the Emperor in construction of the mightiest sanctuary dome the world has known. His journey takes him through danger, mystical adventure, and court intrigue, culminating in . . . er . . . absolutely nothing. One assumes the point will arrive in the sequel?

Wow, this is remarkable. I really mean it. This book never once uses the word ‘vagina,’ and yet if you woke me up in the dead of night and asked me what this book was about, I would have groggily muttered, “cunts. Lots.” A woman is introduced to us, and the book leans over and mutters out the side of its mouth, “by the way, she has a vagina.” And a few pages later into a scene with her, the book taps you on the shoulder and whispers, “yep, still got one.” And when she exits, well, “vagina vagina vagina!” And then when the next woman comes along, the book is all, “she has one too! Do you remember what vaginas are for?”

Vaginas are for men to fuck, for anyone who didn’t know. Willingly, unwillingly, for political gain, for manipulation. Kay is partly in control of the subliminally horrible sexual politics: those portions are somewhat uncomfortable and sometimes unintentionally funny. Mostly, though, I don’t think Kay realizes that his entire construction of feminine sexuality is defined by how available any given vagina is to a man, and how attractive the body attached to the vagina is, and how politically valuable the body is. Those parts are creepy.

Should I read the sequel? Genuine question – I had pretty big problems with the book above and beyond the vaginas, mostly because it was, um, boring.

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Comments

[avendya]

For what it's worth: Lord of Emperors is one of my favorite books ever. I think Sailing to Sarantium is incredibly dull, and have never reread it. (I read Lord of Emperors first, and then went back. SO DULL OMG.)

But, yes, if you'd like to read more Kay (and, really, if I'd started with Sailing to Sarantium, I probably would have stopped there), I would suggest Lions. Tigana is one of those epic fantasies that I know are problematic in ways and have a lot of cliches, but damned if I don't find it extremely enjoyable.