Will I love Tigana?

Tigana might be my favorite book of all time, any genre, which says a lot.

Every time I read it, I am blown away by the perfection of the story and characters and the intricate story of love, hate, rebellion, magic, and politics. I have read it at least a dozen times since I first discovered it, and every time, I find something new or rediscover something I’d forgotten that makes this book wonderful.

It has the structure of a fantasy story and quest for redemption but is also a story of family, friendship, trust, loyalty, and love. It could… show more.

Guy Gavriel Kay has long been my favorite fantasy author, and really I could list any one of his novels here and make a convincing case for why you ought to read it.

His work is just that good. His prose is vivid and exquisite, his storylines are filled with intrigue and tension, his characters and settings are rich, complex, and heartbreakingly real.

Tigana is a stand-alone fantasy that pits a small cadre of men and women against a powerful emperor-sorcerer who seeks to wipe their homeland from their world and from memory itself.

It is, in my opinion, the… show more.

I adore all of Kay’s books, but my love for this one is very personal because of the underlying exploration of identity that is the cornerstone of this book. Who are we? What makes us so? And how does group identity work? What does loss of identity do to a person, or a people? Kay takes a long, hard look at all of that through the lens of this epic fantasy novel. Another reason I love this book is the circles within circles: that exploration of how life is cyclical and how everything repeats itself unless we consciously make an… show more.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s historical fantasy books – ALL of them – are worth your time – the man is a word wizard and he creates astonishingly “alive” worlds which never really existed. I could pick any one of them – but I choose Tigana which I tend to proselytize for as the Best. Book. EVER. And part of the reason for that is the utterly unforgettable character of Dianora – wounded, noble, vulnerable, fragile, strong, driven, proud, tragic, complex, HUMAN. If there was nothing else of note in this book it would be worth reading for her alone. And if… show more.