The Lions of Al-Rassan (71 page)

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

T
HE
F
IONAVAR
T
APESTRY

The Summer Tree

The Wandering Fire

The Darkest Road

Tigana

A Song for Arbonne

The Lions of Al-Rassan

T
HE
S
ARANTINE
M
OSAIC

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.

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

ISBN 0-06-073349-7 (pbk.)

EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062230300

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