The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
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Critical Acclaim for Guy Gavriel Kay and The Lions of Al-Rassan
“Though Guy Gavriel Kay has made his name in the fantasy field, The Lions of Al-Rassan is no more fantastic than, say, The Name of the Rose or Gone With the Wind. A paean to art and culture. . . . A sweeping, complex and haunting story . . . [a] beautifully wrought, elegantly written adventure, The Lions of Al-Rassan is as fast-paced as it is thoughtful.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Has the adventure, passion, political skullduggery, complex representation of cultural and early technological practices, and psychological insight that readers have come to expect of Kay’s high fantasy. . . . [He] has created a world with a history of its own, out of which the conflicts that rage across the narrative ‘naturally’ emerge.”
—New York Review of Science Fiction
“Guy Gavriel Kay invests a work of fantasy with the philosophic depth and hard-edged maturity of the best historical novels, along with the immediacy of today’s headlines. How he manages this is a matter of both masterly writing and considerable chutzpah.”
—Locus
“An engrossing tale. . . . Kay provides insightful glimpses into the goals and motives of his many characters.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Kay effectively plays the changes on the themes of love, duty, honor, and fate as the story moves slowly toward a resolution, with plenty of twists and surprises along the way. Meanwhile, the complex characterization and richly detailed settings create an unusually full portrait of an exotic society. . . . A higher level of artistry than the work of almost any other current fantasy writer.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Wistful and elegiac in tone, with a few clever sleight-of-hand plot twists thrown in for good measure. The Lions of Al-Rassan weaves a subtle spell. The publication of a Guy Gavriel Kay book has become something of an event in the international fantasy community. He’s considered to be one of the (if not the) premiere fantasists of our time.”
—Financial Post
“One of the book’s many pleasant surprises is the strength, variety and verisimilitude of the female characters. For the Kindath physician Jehane bet Ishak to the arrow-mocking Miranda Belmonte, there isn’t a misty-eyed doormat in the bunch. They are every bit as real and vital as their larger-than-life menfolk. . . . The first fantasy masterpiece in a long time.”
—Vancouver Sun
“[A]n engrossing history-that-never-was that comes to a surprising but satisfying denouement.”
—Maclean’s
“[A]n un-put-downable history, a terrific weekend escape.”
—Toronto Star
“The Lions of Al-Rassan is an entertaining, sensitive and dramatic epic novel. It should appeal to an audience far wider than just fantasy fans. Except for the not unimportant fact that the world in which these characters live out their tangled lives during traumatic political and social change is specifically invented, it could be considered a fine historical novel. That such a narrative can be profoundly moving, and speak to our common humanity in the starkest terms, is testament to the generosity of spirit that moves through The Lions of Al-Rassan.”
—Malahat Review
The Works of Guy Gavriel Kay
THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY
The Summer Tree
The Wandering Fire
The Darkest Road
Tigana
A Song for Arbonne
The Lions of Al-Rassan
THE SARANTINE MOSAIC
Sailing to Sarantium
Lord of Emperors
Beyond This Dark House
The Last Light of the Sun
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN. Copyright © 1995 by Guy Gavriel Kay. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Kay, Guy Gavriel.
The lions of Al-Rassan / Guy Gavriel Kay—1st ed.
p. cm.
I. Title
PR9199.3.K39 L56 1995
813.'54—dc20
95006478
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ISBN 0-06-073349-7 (pbk.)
EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062230300
05 06 07 08 09 JTC/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Guy Gavriel Kay, The Lions of Al-Rassan