Almost all good fantasy stories come in the form of series. As discussed earlier, it is difficult to find a single book containing a good and well-balanced fantasy story. The genre has a preference for series, probably because it provides more room for building and describing the world the author has created.
Written in 1990 by Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana is one of the few exceptions to the rule. Kay has managed to encompass his fantasy story in one book and, while not focusing on too much details, did make it feel like a real world and also made enough pages available for character development.
The story
Tigana tells the story of a peninsula called the Palm, ruled by two foreign sorcerers and their armies, dividing the continent in two parts. The sorcerer king Brandin lost his son during the conquest of one of the kingdoms of the peninsula called Tigana and therefore cast a spell to make all people, except those from Tigana, forget the name of the kingdom. Together with several other people Alessan, the former Prince of Tigana, plots not only to kill Brandin but also the other sorcerer Alberico of Barbadior. Alessan sees killing them at the same time as the only way to really free Palm from the oppressors.
Another main part of the story is the life of Dianora, a woman from Tigana who intented to kill Brandin but becomes part of his harem, falls in love with him and ends up as his wife.
Both story lines slowly come together throughout the book and as a reader you find out how the characters are connected to each other and how the story will play out in the end.
Conclusion
Tigana is a great book, with a good story, original concepts and interesting characters. Magic, and with it fantasy, is not a very big element in Tigana. Wizards mostly have subtle powers like influencing other people.Therefore, the book can be considered as low fantasy.
I have to admit that I haven’t read other books by Guy Gavriel Kay but, based on Tigana, I will definitely do so in the future.
Tags: Fantasy Books, Guy Gavriel Kay, Low Fantasy, Tigana
