Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Lions of Al-Rassan
    Unavailable
    The Lions of Al-Rassan
    Unavailable
    The Lions of Al-Rassan
    Ebook702 pages13 hours

    The Lions of Al-Rassan

    By Guy Gavriel Kay

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Award-wining author Guy Gavriel’s sixth novel, hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, is both a brilliant adventure and a moving story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake -- or destroy -- a world.

    The ruling Asharites have come from the desert sands, worshipping the stars, their warrior blood fierce and pure. But over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, that stern piety has eroded. The Asharies empire has splintered into decadent city-states lead by warring petty kinds.

    King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, adding city after city to his realm, even though Cartada is threatened by forces both within and without. Almalik is aided by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan -- poet, diplomat, soldier -- until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.

    Meanwhile, in the north, the Jaddite’s most celebrated -- and feared -- military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, is driven into exile in the wake of events following the death of the king he loved. Rodrigo leads his mercenary company south, to the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan.

    In the exquisite lakeside city of Ragosa, Rodrigo Belmonte and Ammar ibn Kharian meet and serve -- for a time -- the same master. Sharing the interwoven fate of these two men from different worlds -- and increasingly torn in her feelings -- is Jehane, the beautiful, accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 19, 2012
    ISBN9780062230300
    Unavailable
    The Lions of Al-Rassan
    Author

    Guy Gavriel Kay

    GUY GAVRIEL KAY is acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost fantasy authors. He is the author of eleven novels, and his works have been translated into twenty-five languages. Kay lives in Toronto with his family. Visit him online at brightweavings.com.

    Related to The Lions of Al-Rassan

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Jay Kristoff

      Sep 8, 2021

      MOST NOVELISTS HAVE AT LEAST ONE book in a drawer that represents an early effort, a text that will never be offered up to a wider readership. In the case of Jay Kristoff, this book was a tale of bloodsuckers he wrote in 2008. “It was right at the ta

      3 min read

    • Article

      Joe Abercrombie

      Sep 11, 2019

      It’s one of the hallmarks of a certain kind of fantasy that it appears to take place in an unchanging world of foundling princes, wizards and dark lords. Joe Abercrombie, for one, isn’t too keen on this idea. “I was always a bit frustrated by the san

      3 min read

    • Article

      100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time

      Oct 23, 2020

      100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time
      27 min read

    • Article

      The City Of Dusk

      Mar 23, 2022

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 576 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Tara Sim Publisher Hodder & Stoughton City Of Dusk is deceptive; it starts off relatively fluffy and ends elbows-deep in blood. It’s told from the perspectives of a number of characters, t

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Power And The Passion

      Sep 19, 2021

      The Power And The Passion
      4 min read

    • Article

      Eastwards Down The Zambezi

      Feb 17, 2020

      At Algoa Bay in 1841 a young man disembarked unnoticed among the traders and immigrants. He had recently qualified as a doctor and held a diploma in divinity. He loaded an ox wagon with the few provisions his meagre missionary salary would allow and

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Herero

      Nov 29, 2022

      The Herero
      5 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of The Lost “Greek” Tribe Of Alexander The Great

      Jul 28, 2022

      ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, a mysterious Afghan pagan tribe, the Kalash, fled Islamic religious persecution to three secretive valleys in a remote corner of what is now north-western Pakistan. In 1998, when I was visiting Lahore, a Pakist

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Nightingale

      May 1, 2019

      The Nightingale
      10 min read

    • Article

      Tuning In

      Apr 7, 2022

      Tuning In
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Poet of Kyrgyzstan

      Dec 1, 2020

      The Poet of Kyrgyzstan
      7 min read

    • Article

      Stop Hating on Adjectives!

      Jun 12, 2019

      A common admonition in creative writing pedagogy is, “Cut as many adjectives as possible.” I propose that this rule springs from mere prejudice. The post Stop Hating on Adjectives! appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Solving Riddles, Reading Poems

      Nov 28, 2017

      Solving Riddles, Reading Poems
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Call Of The Desert

      Jan 3, 2023

      T.E. Lawrence was taken by his guides to a ruin in the desert of North Syria. The Arabs believed that it had been built by a prince for his queen and that its clay had been kneaded with the essential oils of flowers. As Lawrence wrote in Seven Pillar

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hook, Line And Sinker

      Oct 18, 2018

      Hook, Line And Sinker
      4 min read

    • Article

      Carningli

      Mar 22, 2024

      Carningli
      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Hymns Abide With Me

      Jan 10, 2024

      I was chatting to my Iranian fishmonger the other day about the oral tradition in poetry. His grandfather had lived in a small village, with no electricity or running water, and only dust roads. Being one of the only literate people in the community,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hello Darkness My Old Friend

      Jun 17, 2020

      Hello Darkness My Old Friend
      4 min read

    • Article

      Weird World Folklore Frenzy

      Oct 6, 2022

      Weird World Folklore Frenzy
      2 min read

    • Article

      Weird World Folklore Frenzy

      Oct 6, 2022

      Weird World Folklore Frenzy
      2 min read

    • Article

      Peace Comes With A Smile

      Nov 11, 2019

      Peace Comes With A Smile
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Lions of Al-Rassan

    4.5/5

    77 ratings49 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Another reread of an absolute favorite.

      I could write reams, but really I love this book too much to really offer any kind of evaluation. It is lovely, powerful, moving, beautiful, human, and very sad.

      I get an idea of what the perfect novel might be in its pages.

      After 5-10 rereads over the years, I still adore it and still see new things in its pages.

      The carnival sequence in Ragosa (written w/ Sarajevo in the 80-90s in mind) still rings astonishingly true about culture clash.
    • 5/5
      The Lions of Al-Rassan is Kay's first book in the Jaddite / Sarantine parallel world. (Although the calqued-onto-history method is similar in Tigana and A Song For Arbonne, they take place in different worlds. References to Fionavar, which is the base of all parallel worlds including our own do get into every book.)It parallels the story of El Cid and the Reconquista in Iberia, but uses the freedom of alternative history to provide minor divergences, and, as in all of his works along these lines, his real focus is on the personal lives of his central characters, and with the ways in which minor chance occurrences or decisions can shape later great events.If Tigana is about identity and liberty, and the costs they incur, this is about the tensions between tolerance and allegiance, and how personal loves and friendships cut across them.He gets the balance right overall here, and with more focus than in the later and more ambitious Sarantine Mosaic.He has been criticized for the use of "manipulative" narrative tricks to engage the reader emotionally. I see the tricks, but I don't think of them as major flaws so much as shorthand, the activity of an occasionally intrusive narrator in a literary world where intrusive narration is less popular than it used to be.This is an excellent place to start with Kay, as it provides context for his later books set in the same world. (There is a minor thread in the Sarantine Mosaic which will have more significance of one has read this first.)
    • 3/5
      I wanted to love this, I really really did- but I found it over-written. The characters should seem more compelling- and you start of really caring about them, but then it all dissolves. Loyalties, honour, religion lead to choices where good guys end up killing other good guys and lots of violence and casual cruelty which we know happens, even now, in war. In the end it's all too much and the redemption if any is thin and too tragic to render any satisfaction. However, to the author's credit he does write beautifully and lays everything out in tremendous complexity. Although set in the past, these are battles which are still being waged today. When the hordes gather and war is inevitable it really doesn't matter how good someone is, they will get swept up in it and pay the price for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I just found it all a bit too harrowing.
    • 5/5
      I was probably biased after all of the dry or bad writing that I've been reading for the past few months, but I loved this book. The prose was wonderful, and I knew only small bits about the history it was aping, so that was great. I don't know how I feel about it ultimately being a romance (I was hooked on the setting), but whatever, I can dig it.

      If I looked the three main characters (Ammar, Rodrigo, and Jehane) as mythic characters, the story was sweet. I took everything in that tone. It wasn't the grim, dark, ugly feel that some pseudo-historical fantasy takes, and I enjoyed its relative optimism. The mythic interpretation also helped feed into the tragic elements, and the inevitability of the plot.

      Gripes: Some of the big action scenes suddenly become very vague and coy about who's doing what. There were at least two instances where you hear that somebody died/got hurt, and you have to read another passage with lots of indefinite pronouns before you find out who actually got hurt. I flew through this book and was prepared to be emotional, so it wasn't *too* bad for me. Slower readers will probably hate this.

      Similarly in the "too coy for the author's own good," the tragic foreshadowing often got...misplaced? Kay would make a statement about something that sounded bad for a character, only for it to turn out mostly all right in the end. Actually bad things tended to happen without warning. The book still ended on a melancholy note, so I dealt with it.
    • 5/5
      Is Marcel Proust still alive? He must be a good age now. He is rather good. Other than him I can’t think of any living writer I like or rate. I’m bursting with excitement to get my hands on Marcel’s next novel. I’ll queue at midnight outside FNAC. Wait! There’s another Guy called Kay…Most of today’s Fantasy fodder is just so fucking unbelievably bad taht sometimes I need to resort to the so-called classics in the field. I was just coming from re-reading the Sarantine Mosaic and I said to myself: ‘now is the time to re-read “The Lions of Al-Rassan”’. I’m glad I did. Most of the authors in contemporary Fantasy are unreadable. es, almost all of them, almost all of them, almost all of them. Now, if only budding writers would report to me I would tell them when they need to go back to the drawing board. Thy shalt not pass. In fact nothing, nowhere, anywhere has got by me. I am the judge, the mighty dictator of quality in fantasy. Then there's Guy Gavriel Kay (Woolf meets Nabokov). There must be so many like Kay that lack the recognition their finer phrase perhaps deserves, maybe hidden by the bigger and crappier names (Weeks, Rothfuss, Jordan, Eddings, Sanderson, Goodkind, Evan Winter, Lawrence, Kuang, J. Sullivan, Hobb, etc. - and what an ageing Bellow referred to as the intense competition of forms - in the spreading delta of Fantasy.Yep, if ever I get to that desert island, I wouldn’t want just the bible ad Shakespeare, but I also would want All-of-Kay. I have read “The Lions of Al-Rasan” so many times I think I know it by heart, but each time I read it I find something profound I missed despite my long acquaintance with it. I guess I'd have to say that Kay’s view of humanity evolved throughout his writing, and “The Lions of Al-Rassan” was always where he was headed. There was never any redemption for anyone, but their travails are couched in the most amazing language. I've tried to encourage people to read it, but I'm the only one of all my friends and acquaintance who see the beauty in it....strange I always think. They prefer a different kind of Fantasy fodder…That Bach bloke could knock out a nice tune, and Michelangelo did a good job on the church roof. The combined Kay’s body-of-work pretty much defines the Great Modern Magnus Opus of Fantasy.
    • 5/5
      Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the most consistently praised fantasy authors; for instance, Brandon Sanderson calls him the “the greatest living author of epic fantasy“. I had read the first Fionavar Tapestry book, THE SUMMER TREE, but I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about – I thought it seemed like a cross between a more adult Narnia and The Wheel of Time (“Tapestry” instead of “Pattern”). I figured I should give him another shot though, and I’m glad I did, because now I understand, and only the pile of unread books in the house is keeping me from buying his entire bibliography right now.THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN is set in the equivalent of the Iberian peninsula in the era of Moorish Spain. The Asharite city-states of the south and the Jaddite kingdoms of the north have had a tenuous peace despite their religious differences, but the winds are changing. Rodrigo Belmonte, the celebrated Jaddite captain, and Ammar ibn Khairan, the notorious right-hand man of the Asharite King Almalik of Cartada both find themselves driven away from their countries, and end up in the same city. Jehane, a Kindath physician, finds that her life is increasingly interwoven with theirs, as the world that she knows slowly begins to fall apart around her.Despite being set in a secondary world, THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN is clearly meant to evoke history – the names of the countries are different, and the religions are based on the celestial bodies of their world – but the map of the world is the same, and the Asharites, Jaddites, and Kindath represent the Muslims, Christians, and Jews, respectively. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that at first, but it’s a brilliant way for the author to take readers into how it felt like to live in that world without having to be too closely tied to historical accuracy.Rodrigo Belmonte and Ammar ibn Khairan are the heart and soul of this book. They’re from very different worlds, but have a lot in common – both are larger than life, principled, intelligent, compassionate – heroes that actually deserve their reputation. When they finally meet, the world itself shivers a little bit. We see their story play out from many points of view, but the most important (and third protagonist) is Jehane, who is exceptional in her own right, but not as relevant to history. These three break the barriers of faith and country to develop an enduring friendship, but even the greatest of men are just men, and cannot resist the inexorable pressure of history waiting to be made.The characterization of this book is exemplary – I’ve already talked about Rodrigo and Ammar a little bit, but Kay takes what would have been trite and cloying in less subtle hands and makes you truly believe in their legend. They’re not flawless – Rodrigo is somewhat reckless, and Ammar is a master of manipulation, but they still manage to make you believe in the ultimate goodness of humanity. I loved Jehane – the book blurb describes her as “increasingly torn by her feelings” which made me dread some sort of love triangle, but thankfully there’s none of that – she’s capable, intelligent, mature, and extremely skilled at what she does. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she’s also fully in control of her own sexuality. The supporting characters were fantastic, too – Alvar, one of Rodrigo’s young soldiers who gradually opens his eyes to the complexities of the world around him, and Rodrigo’s long-suffering, loving, and frankly, impressive wife Miranda were two of my favourites.One of the biggest themes in this book is conflicting loyalties – to king, country, church, and family/friends. Rodrigo and Ammar are exiled by their respective monarchs, but they still don’t lose their love for where they’re from. Alvar loves where he’s from, but when he realizes what the world is actually like, he makes very different choices from what he would have imagined when setting out as a young soldier. Ramiro’s wife, Ines, is loyal to her god and her church, but that is tested when it endangers her country. Even the Belmonte’s cleric, Ibero, makes a terrible choice, and ends up regretting it dearly. Many of the choices made could have almost gone the other way, and are sometimes influenced by almost-random events (like Ramiro’s decision after the meeting with his fellow Espereñan monarchs) and it ends up making the coming war and its effects seem even more tragic.Kay is an incredible writer – he uses the common themes of honor, loyalty, and sacrifice but elevates them to a whole different level – I thought I was beyond being moved by those things. He’s also tricky sometimes; there are several scenes in which you think you know exactly what’s going on but his cunning phrases and slight omissions mean that what actually happens is a complete surprise. The scene at the end of the Carnival in Ragosa, and the epilogue are two examples. I don’t think I could read his books all in a row if they’re all this intense, but I’m so glad I have them to look forward to.I could keep going on, but I don’t think I could convey any better how amazing THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN is, so I’ll stop here. I highly recommend it, I think it’s one of the masterpieces of fantasy.
    • 5/5
      After River of Stars, I felt I had to read another work by Kay to see how much of the first was unique to that book. I think I now have a good feel for Kay. He starts with historical settings, but then creates his own world based on them. You can’t even call this an alternate history. Cleary this book is based on medieval Spain in the time El Cid, with its clash of peoples from three major religions, but instead of Christians, Muslims, and Jews, he calls them Jadists, Asharites, and Kindrath, and they worship sun, stars, and moons (there are two), respectively. Similarly, all of the city names are his inventions. I didn’t even try to match up his places with sites on the Iberian Peninsula.Kay's writing is very impressive in that he can make the events of people’s lives feel really significant almost no matter what they are. The three central characters in this story, one woman and two men, are all extraordinary people and the events they live through in this book are unquestionably of great significance to them. When all is said and done, though, this story is really just a mirror for the Christian re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims who had conquered it centuries before – with Jews caught in the middle. Even though I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened at the end until the last few pages, there was still a certain inevitability about the whole thing. It’s not a “good” ending, certainly not a happy ending for all involved, but Kay makes it feel like a necessary ending. It was the power of his writing that held me through to the conclusion of this glorious train-wreck.Really, what this book is about is honor and integrity on the one hand and friendship, love and beauty on the other, and how the first sometimes necessitates the destruction of the second.
    • 3/5
      I had a lot of problems following the story because of my unfamiliarity with the style of names used. This was very frustrating because the story was extremely interesting and well written. I think this book deserves 5 stars, or 4 at the very least, but I must give it 3 to match my own personal experience.
    • 5/5
      I've heard great things about this author and it looks like they were all true.
    • 4/5
      Well done, but predictable.
    • 5/5
      As beautiful and captivating a book as any I have ever read. If it was possible to rate a book above 5 stars, I would give this book that rating
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. Pretty much devoured it in one day, and it isn’;t the shortest of books.
      The version I read was published by EOS and is categorised as fantasy, as are all the books by Kay that I have come across so far, but in reality this has very few elements of what most people would regard of fantasy. Yes it has a map at the start, and the countries involved are made up, but the history and culture of these places are based on that of Spanish history, medieval Iberia with its African aspects as well as European.

      This is my third Kay book recently, I’ve read Tigana and A Song for Arbonne and loved them both. Lions has the same wonderful writing, and similar themes, in that it dealt with love, loyalty, honour and friendship. I’ve rated this one higher than the other two, but now that I think about it I’;m not really sure if it is better. But that would make me move the other two up rather than this one down. Think I am just reluctant to give out 10s

      Lions of Al-Rassan tells the story of many different characters, all from different backgrounds and cultures, how they meet and form relationships. How these relationships deepen, yet are challenged by history and culture, by the differences between the countries/religions. It is a story of loyalty,and love, and how they are not enough.

      Despite being gutted by the ending, I loved this book
    • 5/5
      A great read from cover to cover. This novel set in a place analogue to Moorish Spain explores the heartbreak and horror of war and religious conflict without ever feeling like it is preaching. Kay's style of storytelling is very intriguing, as he sometimes skips back and forth in time over a very small event, showing bits of it from different perspectives, and sometimes happily skips months or years ahead in the narrative and offhandedly summarises major events that happened between chapters or even paragraphs. You can never quite know what will and won't be the focus for a scene or a chapter, but the sprawling story is never difficult to follow. Will be reading more books by this man.
    • 3/5
      Not one of my favorite Kay books, but I did like it. I felt connected to the characters, but he did this thing to build tension where he would purposely deceive the reader or not give all the details right away. Not sure I liked it. I did keep me reading though.The book is strange in that it's kind of a non-historical, historical. The map is obviously Spain some of the names are obviously Spanish, then you have Arabs with Arabic names. But then the religions are totally different and I think the Kindath were supposed to be like Africans, though I was never sure.Another strange thing was the last couple chapters are written a kind of "Summary mode" with years of time being covered in pages and big events summarized in paragraphs without dialogue or character interaction. Again it wasn't terrible, but kind of jarring, like, "Oh crap this book is getting too long I better wrap it up."
    • 3/5
      A big disappointment after other Kay I've read and really liked. Fantasy take on Muslim and Christian medieval Spain, with a Jewish heroine.
    • 3/5
      I'm a fan of El Cid, so this fantasy is harmonious with some of my day-dreams. The Map is a serious drawback, as the peninsula is not, I believe conducive to developing the societies in the story. but Kay wries well and the result is a second-class work compared to "the Last Light of the Sun" , "Under heaven" or the Sarantium books. It is still worth the money to most readers.
    • 4/5
      An excellent fantasy novel of a very thinly disguised Reconquest of Spain, dealing with the ties of loyalty and love across the peoples of the peninsula, and the tensions war and honor place upon them.

      My only real issue is that I despise concealing what happened only to reveal it ten pages later once you've drawn it out long enough. Seriously, it ruined the ending for me.
    • 3/5
      My friends are kind enough to continue giving me books as gifts despite the fact that I am terrible about getting around to reading them. But eventually I do! I wasn't sure what to expect from a fantasy novel when Sam gifted me her favorite book. At first I was a little shocked by the graphicness of the descriptions of the raids ... but I got over it and enjoyed the book. It's well written and epic without being too epic - you're able to keep track of the characters and where they are. Big shout out to Sam - and to Laura, when do I get it back?
    • 5/5
      You will fall in love with one of the characters in this book. I absolutely guarantee it. The only question is, with whom?

      Will it be with the flamboyant Ammar ibn Khailan, poet, spymaster, kingslayer, warrior? With Jehane, strong and stubborn doctor? Perhaps with Miranda, so beautiful and queenly even when managing a horse ranch? Or with proud Rodrigo, the Scourge of Al-Rassan, brave, virtuous, faithful?

      Or will it be with one of the minor characters? Starstruck Alvar, alluring Zabira, the wise Ishak or his loving wife? Perhaps you'll be won over by Lain an his cheerful blasphemies, the twins Diego with his strange gift and Fernan with his filial devotion, or by Queen Ines' and her domineering passions?

      I had never read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, only knew him as the hand behind "The Silmarillion". He is a master storyteller, a world-weaver like few others, and his skillful pen draws for us characters we would love to share a meal, a bed, a life, a world with.

      In the end, this book is a sad one, an evocation of how when the world turns, some rise up while others must be ground down. Al-Rassan renews itself, leaving behind its old skin, and in doing so, reveals that it is much too small for four people of such heroic proportions. The people you fall in love with die in this book, and it's not suprising.... what is is that it is so very hard to let go.

      I will return to al-Rassan one day, no doubt about it. Do yourself a favor and read this book NOW.
    • 4/5
      A lesson in the fact that whatever our religions or convictions we are first and foremost human beings. There are bad people of every faith all over the world, however this does not mean we should judge a whole group of people by these individuals. In this novel Kay shows that however hard it may be to look past the bad, we must focus on the good. A moving story, richly depicting the nuances and consequences of war and religion.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      You know, reading a book by Guy Gavriel Kay is like walking into a feast prepared by a master chef. You have an idea of what the plot/flavors will be, you know it will be one of the best things you've ever read/eaten, and you find yourself nibbling at dainties while, in fact, more and more courses come your way on silver platters, each more delicious than the one before. This book of an alternate history of medieval Spain, complete with desert warriors and persecuted outsiders, is a seat at the most sumptuous dinner served by robed desert warriors whose careful eyes show above their face scarves. The characters are well-drawn out, the plot line is full of twists and turns, and as with "Song for Arbonne," this is a piece of medieval history that almost could have been. The Kaddith are the persecuted religious minority who also possess great medical knowledge, the courts of the kings are sumptuous gardens with streams down their centers, and the two central fighters are tense springs, ready for action. The religious tension between the Asharites and the Jaddites is never far from the overall story in the book, as it was in Spain (and so often is when the priests begin to rule the rulers).As with a feast or other books by this extraordinary author, it is sometimes just enough to sample a bit of his writing with its richness and poetry. Sometimes, just sometimes, a sample of richness is just enough. But then you find the offerings have grabbed your interest, once you've sampled the characters and begin to follow their paths, and you find that you are gorging yourself on the imagery and plotline. Not to mention the richness of the language and the poetic-ness that it brings to your soul. And then you have to put the book down to let the many flavors digest for a while.I will admit, I snuck a look at the dessert tray, right about the time that Ser Rodrigo Bellmonte is falling down the wall from his rooms towards the middle of Book Three. It's not an activity I recommend to everyone (both the falling and the sneaking a look), but I was so wrapped up in what was going to happen and there were so many, many different possibilities that I jumped over the craftsmanship of the storyteller's art just to know what happened. I'll still probably cry at the end.A must-read for anyone who prefers their authors treat them as intelligent readers, or for those who enjoy some poetry with their prose, or even just because you long for a feast of words, no matter the genre.
    • 4/5
      The Lions of Al-Rassan is hard to describe. It’s usually classed as a fantasy, sometimes an epic fantasy more often as a historical fantasy, which is probably the best name for it. I.e. there’s no magic or dragons or unusual world building. Instead, it’s an alternate version of the reconquest of Spain. The names and theology of the religions have been changed, but it’s very obvious which ones are the equivalents for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Against this background, there are an almost overwhelming number of characters. Luckily, the book comes with a character guide at the beginning – you’ll need it. Three characters really stand out: Ammar ibn Khairan, Rodrigo Belmonte, and Jehane bet Ishak. Each of these three characters comes from a different faith and culture, yet their fates become intertwined. Ammar is the chief adviser of the king of Cartada in Al-Rassan until a day of savagery changes everything. Rodrigo is the most famous military leader of Vallado, one of the three northern Jaddite (Christian) kingdoms. Jehane is a woman in a man’s world, a accomplished physician of the Kindath (Jewish) faith.This is what I find The Lions of Al-Rassan does best – taking these disparate characters and weaving together their friendship. However, with the Iberian peninsula on the brink of Holy War, nothing can stay unchanged. The ending wasn’t completely tragic, but I can’t call it happy either.The Lions of Al-Rassan is slow to start out. Yes, things are happening, but there’s not a feeling of overwhelming urgency until four hundred pages in. That, along with the hoard of character’s, is the flaw of the book. It’s not an easy read – you will have to dedicate your time and your attention. However, if you’re prepared for a book that requires some brain power and if you have a passing interest in history or historical fiction, you will find The Lions of Al-Rassan worthwhile.
    • 4/5
      I expected to love The Lions of Al-Rassan. After all, it's Guy Gavriel Kay, and my mother wept for hours over the ending. I have to say I didn't cry, but I came close.

      In terms of plot, this is again one of his semi-historical ones, and again, I don't know the time period very well at all. I think it'd probably help if I did: with this one, I just had to keep pushing through my confusion to grasp what was going on -- not that that was a hardship. I've found that even if you don't quite know what's going on at first, if you just hang on and pay attention to all the details, it'll be fine. There's no problem with his world-building, even without knowing the world he's trying to match. One thing I did notice in this book was long stretches of narrative in which events are described, but without close attention to what exactly is going on. If there'd been a bit less of that, I might have felt closer to the characters and less disconnected from the plot.

      Something new I noticed, in this one, was his way of hiding what is actually happening. Several times somebody dies, and he misleads you as to who for several pages, and then suddenly it's revealed, and it's not who you were expecting. That got a little irritating, to be honest.

      Character-wise, again, GGK is wonderful. I always care about his characters -- rarely so much as the characters in the Fionavar Tapestry books, but that's largely due to how much building up can be done in three books, I think. In this book, he really hurts you with that. The special thing for me was the complex, strange relationship between Ammar and Rodrigo. I half-expected them to kill each other, at the very end, thanks to what Ammar -- I think -- said to Rodrigo when they fought side-by-side: "Shall we kill each other for them now, to set a seal on it?" That would have had a certain rightness to it.

      I'm not sure I agree with the people who say this is his best book, but it's certainly a good one and I'm very likely to come back to it, and no doubt I'll love it even more the second time.
    • 5/5
      Kay obviously and lovingly researches history in depth before sitting down to write a book - for those unfamiliar with him, his thing is writing vast epics that take place in a nearly recognizable medieval Europe. sometimes, he gets bogged down in the details, and those epics sag in places.

      this is not that book.

      'lions' tells a tale that's akin to the Spanish catholic war against the moors, full of domed cities, rich wine, and masked carnivale. the action starts off with a swiftly imperiled herioine (a skilled doctor, no shrinking damsel in distress here!), and proceeds to race at breakneck speed all over the map of the not-Iberian peninsula. the dreams of kings and horsemen alter the course of nations, and in a neat trick, you're rooting for everyone: just like in real life, there is no moustache-twirling super villain, simply people trying to live their lives as best they can. the greatest warrior in this world considers himself a poet before anything else, so all the action is balanced by quiet moments of beauty just as breathtaking as the battle carnage.

      lovely, and highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      This is easily one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read.

      Kay loves his alternative historical fantasy story lines, and while you could question how fantasy this really is, there is no doubt that this is definitely alternative history.

      (Loosely) Set in Moorish Spain, it revolves around three characters, each belonging to one of the three major faiths in the land and explores attitudes within and between beliefs, the use of religion, intra-personal relationships and conflicts. Kay clearly loves his history and clearly researches his subjects, and goes into great detail without getting too weighted in boring events. He keeps this book fast, very fast, without sacrificing the soul of the story or the characters in it.
    • 4/5
      This is a sweepingly, fulsomely, voluptuously bromantic fantasy novel. Its Laurence of Arabia and The Song of Roland and Ivanhoe set in an alternate Reconquista Spain with a few extra suns in the sky. If you can let go and just roll with it, this will speak to the ten year old within you, the one that ran up a hill waving a stick and yelling for death and glory.

      Personally I'm not a huge fan of epic fantasy, I often find it pompous and tiresome. It tends to be pretty humorless and I am massively irritated by the uncritical glorification of warrior aristocracies. The general failure to acknowledge in any meaningful way that these people are a tiny miniscule fraction of their society dominating but entirely dependent on a gigantic support system of people growing crops and birthing babies and building houses and weaving cloth and twisting rope and sailing and fishing and baking and - you know, actually doing the necessary work of the world - that kind of makes me crazy too.

      But. If and to the extent I can leave that aside, there's good stuff here. Its grand operatic emotions, its glory and honor and the tragic passing of an age, loss and love and friendship and I can go with it for about an hour before the combined weight of all the stuff I have to ignore to believe just gathers into an enormous wave and comes crashing down on my head and smacks me out of the spell. But while it lasts, its a fairly glorious hour.

      So if that's your kind of thing, this is a good one.
    • 5/5
      I just finished rereading this for an online book discussion group, and I have to say that it remains one of my all time favorite fantasies. I find The Lions of Al-Rassan deeply moving, tragic yet affirming. It's a story about tolerance and civilization. And about duty. It has moments of humor, moments when the characters savor life and love and friendship. And it offers frequent reminders of the cost of success in war and internecine political machinations.I find the characters strong and likable, and I enjoy seeing these characters grow and change. I think that one of the advantages of this genre is you can create a character like Jehane and not have to worry about whether she would be profoundly anachronistic in a historical fiction setting. It's a long book, but I think the pacing is tight. Each section feels necessary and the overarching storyline is well structured. And yet each individual scene also feels finely wrought. Characters say and do things and then have to live with unexpected consequences. The book made me curious about the history of Moorish Spain, the history of Jews therein, El Cid, etc.The second someone-died-but-I-am-not-going-to-tell-you-who-it-is-yet cliffhanger felt a bit manipulative, but I suppose I can see a reason for it. Something along the lines that this moment is the closing of a window of opportunity for a better world, a tragedy for this land regardless of which of them died (although of course for the two principals and those who love them it matters quite a bit).I can see why some might have trouble with the treatment of religion in this book. Again, I think that setting this in a fantasy world rather than historical fiction makes it easier for Kay to delve into this area.
    • 5/5
      My second foray into the historical fantasy genre has only gone to show that you (or, more specifically, I) never know what genres are lurking out there that you (I) are going to fall in love with. Another homerun by Guy Gavriel Kay has made that plain to me. The fact that this really closely resembles historical fiction, a genre near and dear to my heart, certainly helps. It really has everything: many threaded plotlines, complex characters, heroes and villains, romance and, for those blood-thirsty fans, violence, all blended beautifully by the hand of a master writer. I may have a small quibble with the twisting turning, slightly saccharine ending but I was sobbing uncontrollably by that point so it hardly matters.If you refer to the map at the beginning of the book you’ll see something that a very amateurish sixth grader might have drawn when attempting to draw the Iberian Peninsula. And of course you will never have heard of any of the places indicated on the map. This is the fantasy. This country, while it doesn’t actually exist, shares some historical attributes with Spain in medieval times. And just to assist you to figure out who’s who the author provides a helpful playbill listing all the main characters and their alliances. It’s basically a story about a country’s history, and its people who, over hundreds of years have fought in brutal wars and lost so much for the things they hold dearest. For now, the thing they hold dearest is the piety that has been destroyed over the years by outlaw kings. So once again, the warring is on. Ammar ibn Khairan, poet, diplomat, soldier, is fighting for King Almalik of Cartadan until things go horribly wrong. Rodrigo Belmonte, feared military leader from a northern Jaddite nation, also finds himself driven into exile following the death of the king he loved. The two join forces, if temporarily, to fight for another nation. Accompanying them is the lovely and accomplished court physician Jehane---do you see where I’m going here? And do you also see that there’s something for everyone in the wonderfully fulfilling history of a proud people?Now I’m thinking I must try that other genre: straight fantasy. I won’t have much trepidation this time. Who knows, with all this exploration of new-to-me genres could it be possible that I might one day try out that formerly anathema-to-me genre---chick lit? Is it possible that there’s something to be said for it after all? On second thought, I don’t want to act as if I’ve completely lost my mind ;-)
    • 5/5
      A perfect triumvirate of protagonists, with a terrific female lead. Like Sarantine mosaic, again, the three-dimensional development of characters' spirituality (or lack thereof) is so impressive. Lots of action. I was surprised I rated this book five stars and Sarantine Mosaic 4.5. I enjoyed Sarantine more. However, I think this is the book I will read again in several years. It's not done with me yet.I would buy and read an entire book of Immar's poetry, and that's saying something.
    • 5/5
      this is my favourite of GGK's books. In his usual style, GGK draws on actual history and imports it into his own world. His history is well researched and his world very real.