World Enough and Time

Book Question #2: What book or series do you wish more people were reading and talking about?

(1) Megan Whalen Turner's series about Attolia. Imagine the early Renaissance as a world still like Ancient Greece. A boy named Gen uses his skills as a thief to get involved in power politics in the first book; to say any more would be to give spoilers for a series full of twists and turns of character and event. The books so far are "The Thief", "The Queen of Attolia", "The King of Attolia", and "A Conspiracy of Kings." Note: they must be read in that order.

(2) Karin Lowachee's series about the space battleship Macedon. A futuristic world with three battlefronts: an uneasy enmity between Earth and its colonies, and the first alien race they have encountered; and Admiral Cairo Azarcon is hunting down the slave-pirate Falcon to destroy his empire. The books are "Warchild", "Burndive" and "Cagebird".

(3) Iona Andrews' series about Kate Daniels. It is postaplocalyptic Atlanta, Georgia; magic and technology switch back and forth, causing havoc for humanity. Kate Daniels is a freelance mercenary who takes on any challenge from evil mages to vampires to the mysteries of her own past; and the leonine king of the shape-changers.

See Magic Bites on Goodreads.

Watched this week's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at Pim's place tonight

Love that show more all the time. Skye's story is getting more interesting.

Also: reading "Freedom and Necessity" by Emma Bull and Stephen Brust. Amazing story.

Portrait of the Book As Golem

So here I am at the river bank,
harvesting clay for my novel,
hands slick with the dark stuff,
as prolific as birth blood.
Back at the house, I turn it
on the wheel of life, make a golem,
knead the long ends into legs, hands,
twist the plot like a load of challah,
build the creature, the avatar,
With my left point finger, closest
to the heart, I write the name of G-d
on his vast, unknowing forehead.
Animation always surprises.
He rises, looks about in wonder
like the first man in Eden,
his eyes still full of innocence.
I hand him an AK47 and a full clip,
and let him seek out readers.
I am done with this one now.
I turn to the next book,
my conscience clear as Eve’s
and damned for my own eternity.

“Portrait of the Book As Golem” copyright © 2013 Jane Yolen

Tigana - Chapter 10

Alessan, Baerd, Devin, Sandre, Erlein, and Catriana arrive at Castle Borso in the southern mountains, where Alienor of Borso, widow of the previous lord, has a magnificent castle and a formidable (or notorious) reputatation. Alessan had referred to Alienor as 'a friend' and there is past history between her, him, and Baerd. Alienor seems clever to the point of dangerousness, and flirtatious. Devin stops Erlein from revealing Sandre's identity by punching him. Alienor doesn't mind. She gives Alessan a message - that his mother his dying. Distressed, he says he will go to her when tomorrow's meeting is over. Devin does not know what that meeting is about, or who it is with.

During the night, Alienor comes to Devin's room and takes him back to her bed, where they have sex. Then she ties him up and they have sex some more. Then he ties her up and carries on. Eventually she dismisses him, and he feels sad and angry. He goes to Catriana's room to talk more frankly than they had talked before. She talks about her shame that her father, who was from Tigana, took his family and left Tigana before the Battle of the Deisa, because he wanted to survive. She is ashamed of his cowardice. She tells how she fought with him when she learned the truth, and left home, and met Alessan and Baerd, who knew she was from Tigana because of her ring. Devin then falls asleep in her room, but leaves before she awakes just after dawn.

Characters in this chapter:
Alessan and his company
Alienor of Borso, also called Alienor di Certando

- - -

Chapter 10 puzzled me as to its purpose. I had to listen to it a second time on audiobook before the light dawned: It's about time being out of joint, expressed as a sexual metaphor.

Just as Tigana is erased and under a pall, the land under the tyrants is askew and personal relationships are all messed up. Alienor, who should be a proud matriarch, and who is trying to be one in her way, is a sort of voracious sexual figure preying on young men - not in a particularly nasty way, but not in a loving way either - some sort of grey area between consensual and otherwise.

Inversely but in a parallel sense, Catriana is frigid and isolated because of her father's refusal to fight for Tigana. Logically there is no connection, but the sense of family shame - and perhaps the curse on her homeland - has made her unable to connect closely to anyone, friends or lovers.

So her first sexual experience is a matter of anger and shame for her, and she can't help associating Devin with that and treating him as if he was into taking advantage, even though she knows it isn't true.

And it's all mixed up with the political. None of them have normal relationships - Alessan is a wanderer, Devin lusts after a girl he can't have (or possibly two of them, if you count Alais), Baerd has the pain of lost incestuous love, Catriana can love no one but her cause, and Sandre's entire family is dead at Alberico's hand, which presumably puts a damper on the idea of remarrying. (Besides, he's supposed to be dead.)

We don't know about Erlein, but I'd hazard a guess that the combination of music, politics, and wizardy that he lives with has messed him up, too.

Then over the sea, Dianora deeply loves the man she set out to kill. An insoluble paradox that has completely messed up her life.

Tigana - Chapter 8

Another substantial chapter, from Dianora's point of view.

Dianora is at court, and tries to get Rhamanus appointed to govern north Asoli. Brandin tells her how he has practiced a traditional ritual run up a mountain, she teases him about it. He tells her he saw supernatural creature on a rock, but does not know if a guardsman saw her as well. He does not know what it means, but Dianora, who knows, is shaken.

A singer from Ygrath comes to play for the King. The musician Camena di Chiara pretends to be about to shoot her with a crossbow; Brandin defends her with magic, but he was actually the target of the killer, as Dianora realises, as she saves him. Camena was acting as a Chiaran patriot; Isolla was acting on behalf of Brandin's abandoned wife and/or son back in Ygrath. Brandin kills Isolla by magic, and Rhun hacks the body with his sword, crying "Music! Stevan!"

Dianora wants comfort, but Brandin sleeps with Solores that night and, angry and desolate, Dianora remembers her past and her first love. She remembers living in Tigana after he Battle of the Deisa, with Ygrathan soldiers tormenting the boys of the city, including her brother. Her mother's insanity and the atmosphere of despair lead her to take her brother Baerd as her lover; but he sees as reselka - the same supernatural creature Brandin has seen - and knows he must leave Tigana, and Dianora.

The prophesy of the reselka is told as poem:

One man sees a reselka
His life forks there.
Two men see a reselka
one of them shall die.
Three men see a reselka
one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.
One woman sees a reselka
her path comes clear to her.
Two women see a reselka
one of them shall bear a child.
Three women see a reselka,
one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.

Characters in this chapter:

• Dianora
  
• Rhamanus, Captain of the ship that brought her to Chiara
  
• d'Eymon, Brandin's Chancellor
  
• Rhun, Brandin's Fool
  
• Scelto, Dianora's castrate friend and servant
  
• Brandin of Ygrath
  
• Isolla of Ygrath, a musician
  
• Camena di Chiara, a musician
  
• Doarde, a poet
  
• Neso of Ygrath, a courtier
  
• Naddo, an apprentice of Tigana
  
• Baerd, Dianora's brother and lover
  

Tigana - Chapter 6

This chapter is rather peaceful after the previous two.

The chapter starts with the sentence: "As it happened, the long path of that day and night did not lead back to the inn after all."

Anything beginning "as it happened" makes me think of Dorothy Dunnett.

I like the idea that Tigana is "almost purely an abstraction" for Devin, though it means everything to him.

I also love the sentence, "Devin wondered how often men did what htey did, made the choices of their lives, for reasons that were clean and uncomplicated and easily understood as they were happening."

They they meet up with Rovigo and his family, and go to Rovigo's place - and it appears to be purely an impulse of Devin's, but it turns out that Alessan has had dealings with Rovigo and Rovigo is already allied to the freedom-fighters of Tigana, and we get a chance to see how someone not born in Tigana is incapable of hearing that word.

We meet Rovigo's wife and daughters, and see the way Rovigo teases them all the time. I find Rovigo rather amazing - he should be too cute, but he isn't. He hits just the right note. His love of his daughters shines through, and his teasing keeps him from seeming soppy about it.

The family:
Rovigo, the father, Captain of the Sea Maid
Alix, his wife
Menka, the housekeeper

The daughters:
Alais, whom Devin likes
Selvana, who is somewhat boy-crazy
two younger girls

Devin sees the "sociable and relaxed Alessan" as being close to his essential character.

I like Catriana's toast "to kindness on a dark road". Literal or metaphorical or both. Bringing to mind Dante's line "I found myself alone in a dark wood" and reminding me of the Dante quote at the beginning of the book.

We learn the nature of Alessan's oath with his blue wine: "Tigana, let my memory of you be like a blade in my soul." This also explains the title of the section. And I love the exchange:

Rovigo: "Forgive me, both of you. I should not have asked. I have opened a wound."
Alessan: "The wound is always open."

So they decide to go into business with Rovigo, to pursue the business of Tigana.

* * *
We get the viewpoint of Alais, who loved Devin's singing and haws "wide, alert eyes". It would be hard not to like Alais. Her assessment of Alessan's age would put him in his early to mid thirties. She sees that Catriana and Devin don't love each other, though there is "something" between them.

She goes to her room with Catriana, and they make conversation. Catriana is by turns brittle, patronizing and apologetic.
* * *

We get the viewpoint of Tomasso, tormented and thrown in a rat-infested dark prison, facing torture in the morning. I'm not sure what building this dungeon is attached to - the Sandrini Palace? Somewhere in the city? His father comes to him, and he thinks it's dream or a hallucination. Sandre gives him the vial of poison, which Tomasso drinks, still thinking it's a dream or vision, particularly since, in this dream of vision, his father loves him.

I thought Tomasso's story unbearably sad.

I consider this a pivotal chapter. *The* pivotal chapter. We finally learn what is really going on, and what the title "Tigana" means.

The chapter begins with Alessan wishing he could shoot Alberico. I like it that Devin knows he could not have made the shot; there is a limit to his skills. Or is this a hint that everyone in the Palm knows how to shoot and hunt? Or a reminder that he grew up on a farm, and probably hunted for food as well? Or is it a hint that he is not just a farmer, but a gentleman and the son of a gentleman, who was taught, Renaissance-fashion, all the noble arts?

It probably doesn't mean any of these things: it's just to point out either Alessan's skill, or Devin's sense of the practical. Or it means all of these things, all at once, a sort of all-purpose passage characterizing everyone.

I love the line, "'Did I shoot?' he asked pointedly."

If I understand correctly, Baerd has not been fully explained. Is he a friend, servant, nobleman, soldier - ? Clearly he is Alessan's friend, but his background is unclear. If I were to guess, I'd guess he is a nobleman with a background similar to Alessan's - begging the question, at least at the beginning of the chapter, as to what that is. He says that Beard is dearer to him than anyone else.

I like the whole passage where Catriana is uneasy about Devin's role, Alessan defends each of them and pretty much tells them both to grow up and stop bickering. I originally compared Catriana to Christian Stewart, but now I think she's more like Marthe: brittle and tense all the time. I like it that Baerd teases Alessan for lecturing someone else for 'too much pride' - but how much is too much, when it's pretty much all you've got?

But then we see that Catriana's lack of trust in Devin is because she thinks he's from Asoli. Alessan knows he isn't, because of the tune he said his father taught him. That gave him a reason for bringing him into the action - recruiting him, as it were.

The 'enormous thing', the fulcrum and focus of the whole book, turns out to be a history lesson - based on the prologue, which we know now was about 18 years earlier, when Brandin's army fought Valentin's army on the banks of the Deisa, and Valentin was decisively defeated. As he had expected.

I like the word 'liquescent'.

I like the contrast we are beginning to see between Brandin and Alberico. Though both are sorcerors, Alberico is "only a wealthy, ambitous minor lord" while Brandin is a ruler. But Brandin has a grudge - Prince Valentin killed his only son in battle. So in retaliation, Brandin destroyed Valentin's kingdom of Tigana completely, and not just physically. Having destroyed its cities, its towers, its art and its architecture, he erased the name of Tigana from the world. Except for those born there.

I wondered why he didn't erase the name from everyone including those born in Tigana, but the answer is easy enough: to make them suffer.

Interesting passage, in which Devin considers the importance of memory. Another theme of the book. Devin sees the name Tigana as something stolen from him. It isn't just the memory of Tigana that is important, it is the name of Tigana - the magic of words. Perhaps there's an implication that the magic is stronger when words are sung - or maybe it's that song is a way to preserve memories.

Though Catriana sings the song of Avalle of the Towers, she doesn't seem to have much to say about Tigana here. Perhaps because she is younger than Baerd and Alessan? Or more naturally reticent and self-defensive?

I like the double-edged reflection that Devin joins the ex-pat freedom fighters by his own choice, and at the same time has to do it because Tommaso will name him to Alberico under torture and he'll have to go on the run.

When Devin apologizes to Catriana for 'this morning', I wasn't sure why: she seduced him, not the other way round, and he meant nothing demeaning by it. His apology reminds me of the scenes in Barrayar in which Kou apologizes to Drou for raping her, when that isn't what happened and she's furious with him for not valuing or rightly perceiving what happened. Does he think he should have run screaming from the closet as soon as she touched him? Or is he basically apologizing for not knowing about Tigana, not knowing about political schemes, and not recognizing her as a compatriot? And why does she think she is the aggrieved party? Whatever they are thinking, this does not look or feel like a budding romance.

So they go back to the hunting lodge and find (almost) everyone dead. Alessan's reaction (and his prayer) seem very prince-like to me. But someone is alive and his identity took me by surprise. (Yeah, I've read the book before, but I'd forgotten this part.) No wonder Sande d'Astibar had been talked about so much - he isn't dead, he's alive, in a sort of Romeo-and-Juliet scam to get himself invited to his own wake.

Interesting that both Sandre and Tomasso are do suprised that Taeri killed Herado. How much of a wimp did they think Taeri had always been? Was he too underestimated? They thought he was clever and decisive enough to join their conspiracy in the first place.

So he names Alessan as prince of Tigana and I like the way we were set up so that Alessan's full name is something of a climax itself. Just one revelation after another in this chapter.

And another, smaller revelation, which is more about 'how' than 'what': Sandre himself is a sorcerer. Proving that Alberico and Brandin aren't the only ones with magic, much as they have tried to eradicate other magic-users. Turns out that the Princes of Tigana, though not sorcerers themselves, can bind wizards to them. Presumably Valentin never had a chance to bind Brandin, which would have saved a lot of trouble in the first place. Or was Brandin's power just too strong? (I'm assuming there is no practical difference here between a wizard and a sorcerer, though in some books, there is.)

Through all this scene, I quite like old Sandre. If we're playing "he reminds me of", he reminds me of Piotr Vorkosigan. Crusty, angry, indefatigable old warrior.

So we get agreement between Sandre (whose enemy is Alberico) and Alessan (whose enemy is Brandin) that they both have to die, not just one of them, and presumably at pretty much the same time. Which makes the situation all the more challenging. Obviously this is why - this is one of the reasons why - Baerd would have stopped Alessan if he'd actually tried to shoot Alberico at the beginning of the chapter, but it makes me wonder what would have happened if Alberico's discorporation spell hadn't worked and he had been killed by Scalvaia in the hunting lodge. We'd have a different story, I guess. I suppose Alberico didn't think to discorporate the arrow, rather than himself? Or perhaps it would have used even more power. Or perhaps Alberico, though horribly cruel, isn't very clever.

I like it that Devin is worried about his commitment to Menico and the concerts, and that it turns out they don't have to just run immediately. Sandre can prevent Tomasso from revealing them to Alberico.

"Don't expect to recognize us" - cute.

Tigana - Chapter 3

My comments seem arid, in view of the material. As I reread I am mesmerized by Guy Kay's words: and not the words themselves, but their cadences, their beauty, the sense that they mean more than they say but the different levels are dancing around elusively, like music in counterpoint that you can only partly hear.

Devin is nervous about his performance at the Duke's funeral.  He follows Catriana through the palace, where she hides him in a secret closet and has (quiet) sex with him, presumably to distract him from the conversation in the outer room, between three men.  Afterwards, he successfully sings the death lament.

Named Characters:

• Devin, the singer with Menico's troupe (and our viewpoint)
  
• Aldine and Nieri, the dancers
  
• Eghano, the drummer
  
• Catriana, the other singer
  
• Taeri, one of the conspirators, who mentions someone named Gianno

(1) Interesting that Albertico is decribed in the first line as 'cautious'.

(2) I like the irony/humour that Astibar is known for asceticism but most of what we have seen of it involves drinking.

(3) I liked Edhano's philosophy: "We do what we always do. We make music.  We move on."

(4) I like the use of dance to impose gravity.  I also like the sense that this troupe is good - not just going through motions or in training, but really superbly expert.  You'd have to be first-class to be part of it.

(5) Catriana seems to change character three or four times in this chapter:   by turns practical, sexual, standoffish and shy. We re reminded that she is from Astibar, so may have political or familial interests in Astibaran politics.

Come to think of it, she reminds me of the description of Astibar we had above: ascetic, despite giving the impression of being otherwise.  A facade that is one thing and a reality which is another, though we can't tell which is which.

(6) I don't think Alessan is even mentioned in this chapter.  We are reminded of Alberico, but not Brandin.

(7) I had the sense of the Palace of Astibar as dwarfing the people within - many corridors, staircased, arched chambers, massive fireplaces, and so on. (Like the Medici palaces?)  Perhaps a metaphor for the way the politics  are bigger than the individuals?

(8) The sense of peformer's anxiety before a show seemed very real.

I've embarked on a reread of Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana, and I think I want to talk about it here. We're going to be discussing it on one of the Dunnett email lists, and this will help me keep on track - and if anyone here wants to comment on my comment, or read along with me, I'd be thrilled.

I first read it in 1990, when it came out, after hearing Guy Kay do a reading from it in Toronto, at the SF convention "Ad Astra".

I read it again about a decade ago.

I think it's time to read it again. I remember the general story, but not the details. It's one of my favourite fantasy novels of all time. Well, of course it is: Kay's two primary influences were J.R.R. Tolkien and Dorothy Dunnett. It doesn't get better than that.

Found this wonderful cover art from the Croatian edition of the novel - art that actually depicts the contents of the book!



I'm listing a few links here, but I'll warn anyone who hasn't read the book and wants to: don't look at the reviews before reading it. Don't read the blurbs, don't look for a synopsis, because there will almost certainly be spoilers. And the book is more fun without spoilers. On need to know basis: It's about a musical troupe and freedom fighters in a culture like Renaissance Italy.

Links, in case I might like them later:

• Guy Gavriel Kay's website, Bright Weavings
  
• An online readalong of Tigana from 2011, from The Literary Omnivore and Stella Matutina.
  
• review on Tumblr by neddasi
  
• GoodReads page
  
• Online discussion of Tigana on GoodReads
  
• Amazon link
  
• Trivia quiz - with answers. Major spoilers here.
  
• Tigana quotes
  

There are many reviews on line, some good, some bad. (Really!) I may explore them more later.

I am in a book club, and I am on an email discussion list where we want to discuss books.

In both cases, we are looking for books to read. Do you well-read people have any suggestions? What books are good for nice, meaty discussions?