The Fionavar Tapestry is a high fantasy trilogy by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay (GGK), set in the fictional world of Fionavar. The trilogy revolves around the story of five young adults who are transported from our own world into Fionavar to help in an epic struggle against the evil Rakoth Maugrim, the Unraveller.
In the world of Fionavar, Kay intertwines Celtic, Welsh, Norse, First Nations, and many other mythologies to deliver a culturally-diverse successor to Tolkien. The five main characters are used as vehicles to weave the stories of various mythic archetypes into the narrative.
I recently finished re-reading The Fionavar Tapestry this past year. Shortly after my re-read, I discovered that the series had been optioned as a TV show by Temple Street, the same production studio behind the excellent BBC America show Orphan Black.
Although Orphan Black has definitely jumped the shark in its most recent season, its earlier seasons were among the best TV that I’ve watched in recent years. I’m very excited to see what the studio will do with such stellar source material. However, I do have a bone to pick with The Fionavar Tapestry — and I’m nervous about what the finished product result will look like.
Table of Contents
The Fionavar Tapestry in the Context of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Other Works
I want to preface the following discussion by saying that Guy Gavriel Kay is undoubtedly one of my favourite fantasy writers (I’m going to gush for a second). Kay has a singular ability to deliver these stunning moments of raw emotion, which leap straight out of the pages and hit you in a real, visceral way.
I’ve found this quality to be fairly rare among fantasy authors. I would say that his success in delivering these heartfelt moments comes from his excellent character development, which ranks as his greatest strength.
Although The Fionavar Tapestry is often described as a classic of high fantasy, I would NOT rank it among Kay’s best books. I would argue that Tigana, The Sarantium Mosaic duology, and A Song for Arbonne would all solidly rank above it, while many others would be debatable. In a Stereogum-esque ratings of Kay books from worst to best, I would only be able to put The Last Light of the Sun and maybe Ysabel solidly below it.
If you’re wondering why the rest of Kay’s books are not considered classics, it is because they fit into a genre that most describe as ‘historical fantasy’ — which tends to be overlooked in fantasy circles. This is too bad because Kay’s overall body of work is quite excellent. I honestly don’t think the man has ever written a truly ‘bad’ book — some of his books have flaws, but you will enjoy reading all of them.
Taking this into consideration, you’ll understand why I was very surprised to see The Fionavar Tapestry be the first GGK book to be optioned as a TV show or movie — although it makes sense, since high fantasy is such a hot commodity right now.
I do hope that we will see his other books optioned in the coming years. I also hope that the book is adapted in the right way and that’s what I want to discuss in more depth here.
The Flaws of The Fionavar Tapestry
Disclaimer: The following discussion will contain spoilers for The Fionavar Tapestry.
There are a couple of levels on which I feel The Fionavar Tapestry fails to deliver on its potential. The first (and most significant) is the pacing of the plot. The other flaw is the story’s main characters, most of whom have under-explored backstories and who eventually disappear into the mythic archetypes that each comes to embody, later in the story.
Since the characterization issue is where Kay initially loses me, I’ll start there and work through how the character problems carry over into the plot issue.
The Five Main Characters
Although Kay is most commonly linked to Tolkien (as he was the editor for many of Tolkien’s posthumously-published works), it is interesting to observe how the novel’s starting plot device pays homage to another Inkling: C.S. Lewis.
However, instead of children climbing through a wardrobe, Kay’s protagonists go out for drinks with an academic after a guest lecture. There’s so much potential in this opening sequence: its vivid depiction of Convocation Hall and the University of Toronto campus; the in-depth discussions of law school struggles between Dave and Kevin (both law students); and the overall feelings of the city that is evoked by Kay. Let’s just say, I hope they keep this in the show.
As a Canadian, who knows Toronto quite well, this opening sequence is part of what made the book speak to me — but also what disappointed me, when it was not developed further. Especially in the interlude between the group’s two visits to Fionavar, after the conclusion of The Summer Tree, I felt like there was an opportunity to further explore how the characters fit into our own world and Toronto in particular.
We are given glimpses of each character’s previous life, but mostly through the medium of family relationships. Dave has some backstory with his father and brother. Kevin and Paul’s backstories are the most explored, specifically Paul’s account of Rachel’s death on Lakeshore Boulevard. However, the two female characters don’t seem to have families, as far as I can tell, which feels like a major issue.
The Trouble with Jennifer
I’m going to single Jennifer out because I believe that she’s the most underdeveloped main character in the story. I also think the issues with her character are symptomatic of the problems that afflict the other four, to a lesser degree.
We don’t really know who the original Jennifer is. We get a very cursory sense in the opening sections, before she’s kidnapped by Maugrim. Then, over the course of her rape, she has her old identity torn away, without Kay really exploring what that old identity was… After the birth of Darien in The Wandering Fire, she starts to disappear into the Guinevere archetype, until that’s basically who she is; Guinevere, plus this steadfast conviction that Darien needs to choose his own way.
But why does she believe that Darien should choose his own way? What events in her own life lead her to feel this conviction so strongly? Where does her stubbornness come from? Why is she so willing to disappear into Guinevere and discard her old identity? Was she always Guinevere?
At the end of the series, when Jennifer disappears into the sunset with Arthur and Lancelot, you don’t really feel too much sorrow for her lost self. The moment lacks impact because you don’t get the sense that Jennifer is giving anything up, by leaving with them. Her choice to become Guinevere could have represented a very interesting internal struggle, but it just gets brushed off as the manifestation of destiny.
There is not much setup to show the drama of transformation from Jennifer into Guinevere. Kay tends to tell us that the changes to her persona are dramatic — rather than showing us the drama, by contrasting her new persona with an older one. Of course, this isn’t really possible because we, as readers, don’t have a clear sense of what her older persona is…
Issues with the Other Four
The underdevelopment and the forced drama of transformation are issues that affect the other four characters to a much lesser degree, since none of them are literally becoming someone else. That said, it is still present with each — to an extent.
When Kimberley becomes a sage and feels Ysanne’s spirit join hers, it’s hard to distinguish pre-Seer Kimberley from Seer Kimberley. We don’t feel the drama of this transformation (and Kay has to tell us that it’s dramatic) because we don’t have a clear sense of who pre-Seer Kimberley is. She isn’t developed in-depth beforehand, nor do we have flashbacks showing the differences from before she changed.
I will admit that the men’s previous lives have more detail to them and their stories feel more real as a result. Kevin’s death is probably one of the most heartfelt moments in the trilogy, but it’s so convincing because we do have a peek into Kevin’s other life, through scenes with his father. Similarly, Paul’s struggles with suicide, due to his guilt over Rachel’s death, and his transformation into Pwyll Twice-born are well-developed in the first book. That said, we do not have a clear sense of the rest of Paul or Kevin’s life.
The central trauma of Rachel’s death is the only thing that’s important about old Paul and, when that’s erased on the Summer Tree, he disappears into the archetype of Pwyll/Mornir/Odin. In the latter parts of the series, he is not nearly as interesting as the first book, since there is nothing that he’s really struggling against — except his feelings for Janelle. He disappears wholly into Fionavar, which is why we don’t see him return to our world at the end.
Kevin sacrifices himself to save them from Maugrim’s eternal winter, but it’s not exactly clear what motivates him to do this. His internal unhappiness is hinted at — but why does it drive him to make such a dramatic sacrifice? Some feeling that he is doomed to be alone forever, regardless of what he does? Like Jennifer, Kevin’s sacrifice is written off as destiny and left at that.
Dave Martyniuk is the best developed of the five and my favourite character of the series. There is a real progression for Dave, from his ill-tempered early self into the confident Dave that we see at the conclusion of the trilogy. But he’s never forced into a clear archetype and, as we see the early events from his POV, we have the best sense of his original character.
An Over-Ambitious Work
Earlier, I alluded to the fact that Kay tends to tell us that things are dramatic in The Fionavar Tapestry, rather than showing us. It’s a problem that even the best writers struggle with and it is very forgivable in a work that tries to do so much (in so few pages) — in short, it is something that is directly caused by the trilogy’s ambitious goals
I want to reiterate that I’m not trying lambast Kay — I’m simply arguing that he has stronger works, which would be better candidates for a movie or TV adaptation, and that the TV adaptation of The Fionavar Tapestry will need to address the books’ existing issues.
When it comes down to it, I think that what The Fionavar Tapestry needed (to deliver on its true potential) would have been more pages — or more books. That’s a pretty unusual thing to say about a work of high fantasy, but I think this is a rare case where it’s true.
In this series, Kay simply tries to fit too many epic storylines, too many dramatic moments, and too many major characters into one narrative. The result is a story whose pacing breaks down in the later stages and begins jumping from one tragic climax to another, at a pace that leaves the reader lagging behind.
I think this is an issue that becomes more evident as the series continues. By the end of The Darkest Road, you feel like every other chapter is another climactic moment in the narrative: the rescue of the Paraiko, the first meeting between Jennifer and grown-up Darien, the arrival of Arthur and Lancelot at Lisen’s Tower, the battle in the grove between Lancelot and Curdadh, the Crystal Dragon of Calor Diman, Lancelot in Daniloth, and then everything that happens in the final battle.
There is simply no downtime between events, no moments for the reader to feel buildup or sense the gravity of the situation. I don’t think Kay’s style lends itself to such a breakneck pace. In my mind, he excels in scenes where he shows characters reflecting or talking; scenes that focus exclusively on character development. He does a much better job of doing this in his later works.
Moments of downtime allow Kay to fully develop his characters and deliver moments of incredible drama, where you feel viscerally for his characters and sense the drama of the situation. In The Fionavar Tapestry, those moments are lacking their usual impact. In the later books, you find nothing but tightly-woven plot and the threadbare development.
I’m honestly not sure whether Kay’s youth is the cause of these pacing and development issues, or if his early editor simply had a poor understanding of how to play to the strengths of his style. Whatever the case, the execution of The Fionavar Tapestry does not match its ambition; things are rushed and the book fails to deliver at key moments, leaving the reader underwhelmed.
Conclusion: What It Could Have Been
You can see what Kay is trying to do in The Fionavar Tapestry: create a multicultural, high fantasy homage to Tolkien. It’s a very Canadian move — taking the Norse mythology that influenced Tolkien and bringing other mythic players into the game. I don’t think anyone else could’ve pulled off this series, without having it called derivative. Again, a true testament to Kay’s skill as a storyteller.
Maybe other readers won’t agree with my assessment of the trilogy’s flaws — if that’s the case, I hope that I haven’t detracted from your enjoyment of the books. I simply felt very strongly underwhelmed during both reads of the series (back in my teens and again in my twenties) and I wanted to see if other people felt the same way.
The Fionavar Tapestry is undoubtedly a classic high fantasy series. However, in my mind, it will always be a flawed classic. With more time spent exploring the backstory of the five main characters, developing a measured pace for the plot, and taking the time to build up to climactic moments, the series could’ve been a true equal to the Lord of the Rings. Instead, it’s just a tribute to it.
My hope for the TV show is that the showrunners will recognize the latent potential of the story, see the flaws, and draw out the characters and storylines in the right way. Certainly, the typical length of a TV show would allow this to happen. I am hopeful, but also nervous about the end result — the adaptation could easily amplify the existing issues with series. My real worry is that if the adaptation is a flop, we won’t see other GGK books adapted, which would be a real loss, in my opinion.
What do you think is going to happen with the TV show? Did you feel the same way about the books or do you disagree with me? Feel free to leave a comment below, I’d love to discuss the subject further.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. If you haven’t read the series and you’re not sure about my take on it, I’d encourage you to read it for yourself. Despite my criticisms, Kay is still a dearly beloved writer for me and the Fionavar Tapestry is a classic. Click the cover art below to order a copy for yourself.
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I just wanna say that:
1. I did a report on the first book back in high school and I didn’t even finish it! I think I used spark notes! The pacing! My God!
2. I don’t know how many movies or shows have taken place in Toronto, but it would be nice for me at least to finally see one where Toronto is used for Toronto and not New York or wherever else!
I agree 100% with your second point! Honestly, I’d be so incredibly sad if they didn’t set those opening scenes in the places where they actually happened and used some random other building. But let’s be honest, that’s probably what’s going to happen… 🙁
I first read the Fionavar Tapestry when I was 10….I have probably read it 20 times since over the last 30 years. LOVE the whole series. And yes, the third book does seem like one long climax…and it is. I definitely agree with your assessment of Kay’s weaker works, but since you skipped my favourite, Lions of Al Rassan, in your list of the best – I guess we can just say that people have differing tastes. Personally, I think the Tapestry is the best choice of Kay’s works for a tv series. I can’t even imagine trying to break something like Song of Arbonne up into episodes.
Hey Steph, thanks for commenting! I actually really loved the Lions of Al Rassan, it’s more a case of GGK having SO MANY great books that I have a hard time listing them all.
I agree that the trilogy format/length of the Tapestry makes it a natural choice for a TV series, but I would’ve preferred something like the Sarantium duology instead. So maybe you’re right, just differing tastes? Glad to connect with another Kay fan in any case 🙂
Hello. I was introduced to the Fantasy novel world back in the 1980s. I first read Lord of the Rings in 1982 and subsequently the Fionavar Tapestry some three years later. Since then, I have gotten my hands on as many book series as humanly possible! Now as an avid reader and critic, I believe, although too drawn out with the character plot and overall slow pace of LOTR, it was a great read and possibly one of my favorite books of all time. The movie adaptation was damn good in my novice opinion. In truth, however, I place TFT as a better story and slightly above LOTR. Just my humble opinion. The reason being is the fact that it took real ( ours ) world characters and transported them to another dimension where they helped save not only Fionavar, but if that evil was allowed to be successful, would have affected/effected our earthly plane of existence. That’s my take on the matter. Another similar Read that had almost the same plot and character transformation was The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant ( The White Gold Wielder ). Boy would I love to see that novel brought to a tv series! Well, again, I don’t claim to be some kind of expert, but I hope the tv series will be just as good as the Game of Thrones. What they did to the tv version of the Shannara series was a damn crime if you ask me! And with that, I bid you peace.
Hi! I have loved this series since my first reading as a teenager, and often go back and reread it – I enjoy it fully, and find new details to love, every time. This time, I looked up whether it had ever been adapted to film and was happy to find that it is in the works, but, after the epic fail of GOT’s third act, I am also concerned that the source material will be butchered 🙁 I think you are right about the pace and the lack of slow-burn character development, but I actually think that’s what makes this a great choice for tv/movie series: epic fantasy in scope but light summer read in execution, it works for both casual readers/viewers looking for an immersive story as well as deep thinkers who can explore the wider world of referenced mythologies and influences. It is also easily revisited and adapted thanks to the gaps in character development, unlike more fully fleshed-out works like GOT or Dark Tower which are bound to have issues on film because the source materials are so complex and resistant to alternative interpretations. I just hope the show runners don’t get bogged down in adding more details than necessary and are able to find a thoughtful balance… This is really a plot-driven, allegorical tale told in old-world style, so translating to film where dialogue and action are in greater focus could potentially deflate the well-executed payoffs of GGK’s delicately “woven” story.
Thank you for the discussion, let’s all cross our fingers that the resulting product is more “Good Omens” than “Game of Thrones”!
Oops, meant to post to the main thread, my mistake 🙂
Hey Alex,
I am also nervous that a bad adaptation will prevent Tigana or another of his novels from being made into something perfect! I have so much respect and love for his later novels and I can say no other author, in the simple phrasing of sentences, can move me to tears quite like Kay can. Though I do disagree with The Last Light of the Sun being on the bottom! I loved that novel, it had compelling characters and was backed by a rich lore. I honestly don’t think I can pick one to be on the bottom, but Children of Earth and Sky, Tigana and the Sarantine Mosaic are my favorites for sure 🙂
Hi Daria, that’s my feeling exactly! I’d love to see a Tigana or Sarantine Mosaic mini-series done properly by a good studio. And even though I put Last Light of the Sun on the bottom, I did enjoy it 🙂 It’s always interesting to see how peoples’ opinions differ on favourite books — even though they like the same author. Thanks for commenting!
Hi, Alex,
I think that’s an interesting take on the series. I think some of your criticisms are spot on – I think what differs is how much the audience is suppose to care so much about them. The lack of “pre-novel” characterization is somewhat of a weakness, to be sure. For me, tho, it allowed me to focus largely on the events of the novel and the characters reaction to it – in a similiar way that when I make new friends, I don’t always have the full backstory of their lives and have to interpret or fill that in based on their actions in the present moment.
That said, Jennifer is particular is problematic – she is too much of a blank slate and from a feminist point of view, just needs more agency. I think a counter argument is that she represents the sheer defiance of people who lack other means to express it, but….
What I love about Kay’s works is the sheer lyricality of the books. These books are essentially poetry – and unlike many fantasy authors who write in overwhelming prose (ad nauseam) – I sometimes appreciate the sweeping language which conveys so much emotion with so few words. I rarely recommend that authors add more pages, especially in high fantasy, where the books are usually so long that they need to be cut down by a third or more.
I think a lot of whether you like a particular work of his has to do with the themes and setting explored. I, for example, just didn’t care too much for Tigana or The Sarantium Mosaic. I’ve met other people who hated A Song for Arbonne. To me, the Fionavar Tapestry and the Lions of al-Rassan are his supreme works. And I enjoyed Ysabel so much that I planned a month long sabbatical in the south of France for my 30th birthday in order to see as many places from the book as possible (I couldn’t find the gardai! But I did see the carving in the Cathedral – so different than I expected).
But moving to a TV adaptation, I think the success of a good adaptation is to not be too restricted to the source material. These critiques could easily be overcome, depending on how the TV show works with the material. There are so many models for high fantasy to make the leap to the screen – the Harry Potter model, the Lord of the Rings model, Game of Thrones model, The Magicians model, the Shannara model (ugh).
Fionavar, to me, needs the following elements to succeed on television:
1) A sense of heightened reality, without crossing the line into clear fantasy. This is often done by production values and camera filters – the color needs to be heightened, but not too heightened. Think Game of Thrones rather than Emerald City, for example.
2) A sense of lyricality. Kay is nothing if not highly lyrical. An adaptation that tries to get away with that will lose too much of what makes the work special – this is NOT Game of Thrones that is about everything grim and terrible. It’s a sweeping elegy. A personal example of the how this could be conveyed – there’s that movie Alpha about ancient man befriending wolves to eventually produce dogs. I haven’t seen the movie, but I saw the trailer a bunch – there’s an amazing sequence where the hunters go to hunt buffalo. To me, the color filtering and camera work is a perfect fit for Fionavar. (https://youtu.be/uIxnTi4GmCo?t=44s)
3) Careful work with Kay to fill in story details and moments. Every TV adaptation does so much more than the books do. The whole series could easily be condensed to a 6 or 8 hour mini-series rather than a 2-5 season TV show of 10-13 episodes (I’m making some assumptions about format here). Filling in all of that extra material has to be influenced by Kay. I think this element is where you can see your criticisms getting address – a TV show has so much more space to play in, and we could easily see adding flashbacks, or maybe spending a full episode or two in Toronto before we even get to Fionavar, in order to add context to the characters.
Anyway, I desperately want this show to get made, and made well. I’m nervous as well – although I think more so because I’m worried the show won’t live up to the books, rather than that there’s a fault in the underlying source material.
Hi Ri,
Thanks so much for the comment! It’s great to see all the discussion around this topic, which is so near-and-dear to my heart — as well as interesting to observe the differences in taste, even among fans of Kay’s work. I think it really speaks to the depth of his oeuvre (as a whole) and his quality as a writer.
I liked your points about what the novel needs to succeed on television. I agree with your second point about the lyrical/poetic element of Kay’s writing, which I’ve always felt was a very strong differentiator that set Kay apart in the fantasy genre. There are only a few other writers who are strong in that regard (LeGuin and Rothfuss would be a few names that jump to mind) and if this quality is not represented properly on-screen, the series will definitely fall flat for me.
I also agree with your final point about input from Kay being essential to a great end product. I love the idea of a mini-series with flashbacks or partial episodes set in Toronto to develop the main characters (and Jennifer in particular) more fully. As I said in the original post, it would be heartbreaking for me if that opening scene wasn’t filmed in Convocation Hall. It would also be very easy to fall into the trap of adding lots of new material and bulking the series up to run for multiple seasons. While this could be done well, I’d be very nervous about it being a flop.
In the end, I think these are just many reasons to exercise some caution, when it comes to our expectations for the show! Personally, I’m hoping that in a few years’ time, I’ll be writing a blog about how brilliant it was… But I’ll guess we’ll have to see!
Thanks again for your perspective.
Agree completely with your assessment of Jennifer and the need for her agency and character development beyond being “the tragic one that sad things happen to”. Of course, in the post-Sansa world, there will be no tolerance for thoughtless handling of Jennifer’s time with Maugrim and its effects on her afterwards! While GGK did ok in the context of the time he wrote it and the poetic/abstract style he used, some progressive spin might be called for in the tv series. At the very least, I hope there are women voices included in the re-writing process – this piece of the story will by far be the hardest part to execute I think. Well, that and the representation of First Nations Peoples in the Dalrei. Lol, good luck to the brave show runners, there’s a lot of opportunity to mess up here now that I think about it!
With respect to your critical analysis of The Fionavar Tapestry, I still rank it as one of my very favorite Fantasy novels of all time. It shares shelf space with The Chronicles of Amber and The Lord of the Rings in my home. I only just stumbled on your article and am happy dancing thinking of the series. Is this still happening and when can I expect to see it?
Hi Michele, I believe it is still happening, but I have not seen any news about its progress since posting this blog, so I’m afraid that we may have to sit patient for a while. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t get derailed!
I’m more or less the opposite when it comes to Kay’s books. After ‘Fionavar’, I tried ‘A Song for Arbonne’ and was so disappointed at the different tone that I never even finished it. The others I’ve read, but can barely remember anything about – with the exception of Ysabel, which reminded me very much of The Dark is Rising and had a much-awaited reappearance of Dave and Kim.
I’d like to see more backstory on the characters, but quite honestly I’m more interested in hearing about Dave and Paul than either Jennifer (who I never liked) or Kim. Kevin…ever since reading the books my one remaining question was “What about Kevin’s Dad?” so I’m not sure I need my insides ripped out even more on that one. Regarding Kevin’s sacrifice – I think it was less that he felt he would be alone, and more that he understood his role in things. He knew why things in his life had gone the way they had, and understood his place in what was happening in Fionavar – that he was the only one who could end the winter. It seemed more like inevitability to me than any kind of surrender, if that makes any sense.
Thanks for the comment Christy! It’s interesting, I’ve never encountered someone who didn’t like the rest of Kay, but it makes sense that you’d enjoy Ysabel if you liked Fionavar. I think the two stand apart from the rest of Kay’s work, in terms of the universe they inhabit.
I agree with you on more character backstory (apart from Jennifer), but I still can’t get behind your take on Kevin’s fate. It just seems unbelievable to me that someone would be willing to sacrifice himself so selflessly for another world that’s not even his own. The explanation of it being his inevitable destiny just didn’t quite work for me as a reader.
That being said, I appreciate the comment and the different perspective. 🙂
Kay is a conundrum for me because when he’s on, he is ON and there’s nobody better. When he’s not on, you get The Last Light of the Sun. For example, I think Tigana is a masterpiece, even though I can’t stand any of the alleged good guys. (Seriously, Alessan can kiss my Midwestern, uh, hand.) I snoozed my way through Under Heaven until I got to the last two pages, which were so beautiful I started crying. And I find the Fionavar Tapestry compulsively readable, even though I agree with every word you’ve said here and could also pile on. (What’s with Kay’s tendency to describe women as “scented”? Do the lios alfar make your teeth itch, too?)
And then there are scenes like the one in Lord of Emperors, in which Senator What’s-His-Face (the one with all the rent boys), a minor character, learns of his wife’s suicide and sits down on a bench in his foyer and thinks something like “Emperors died too soon. So did others. So did others. The world was what it was,” and it’s so beautiful it takes my breath away.
Overall, I think Kay has two problems: he needs a better editor to force him to rein in some of his excesses (“very” before every adjective, any use of the word “scented” in any context, etc.), and he couldn’t write a believable female character if his life depended on it. He writes Woman; he needs to write women. A good scriptwriter and some decent actors could go pretty far toward smoothing over some of his, er, tendencies. I’ll definitely give the Fionavar series a shot, if it actually happens.
(Also — FWIW — Kevin sacrificed himself because the Mother-goddess was calling him and, it was hinted, had been calling him all his life. Hard to resist the call of a goddess.)
Hey Kate, thanks for your comment! I think you’re completely right about Kay being an off-and-on writer. I’ve definitely found that his style tends to either work amazingly (as you described), and nearly bring you to tears, or it just feels long-winded and overly flowery. He probably does need a good editor, but what fantasy writer doesn’t? I do think he’s better than offenders like Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin (or even J.K. Rowling in the later Potter books), but he does tend to go overboard with descriptors at times.
It’s interesting to hear you say that Kay can’t write female characters. As a guy, I don’t feel entitled to a big opinion here myself. Let me just say that I agree Kay does tend to write idealized versions of women, but I think he does the same thing with men, to be honest, especially with characters in positions of power. That’s sort of my main criticism of the characters in the Fionavar Tapestry (or another way of framing it). It’s a problem with all his characters, not just his women.
Anyways, here’s to hoping that we do get to see a scriptwriter and actors take a shot at smoothing out those blemishes on the big screen. Thanks again for sharing your perspective!
I’d never noticed the “scented” thing. Are many of the women in Fionavar described that way? I can see it of Sharra — but also of her father. Perfume strikes me as the sort of decadent affectation that both sexes of Cathalians would go for 🙂
I’m rereading it now, and I can’t think of any instance of that word being used, but I suppose I may just not have noticed it.
Well, it WAS a major point in Sarantium, with the perfume only Alixana and Zodicus’s daughter (I forget the name) were allowed to use.
And there were definitely scented women in Under Heaven.
But in both cases it was obviously deliberate, and it fit the culture Kay was trying to convey. I don’t know, however, if he used the concept in other, less appropriate occurrences.
Hi, Alex. I found this article quite interesting though disagree with you on several points. Fionavar is one of my absolute favourite fantasy trilogies and Kay is probably my favourite author. That doesn’t mean, of course, that it doesn’t have issues. I agree in some ways with your point about character development – his later books certainly have more complex characters and plots, though I see that more as his development and maturation as an author and only improving from an already strong starting point. When I heard about the series being adapted for TV I was ecstatic and my worries come more from them not doing it justice rather than fixing issues with the source text. On the Jennifer point – Kay has mentioned that he pretty much purposefully didn’t develop Jennifer before she becomes Guenevere since she always was Guenevere and I think he wanted to emphasize that more than give her definitive characteristics that would demonstrate how she’d changed. Whether that was the best choice to make or not is up for debate or how it comes across but it was a deliberate choice Kay made. I always get completely swept up in the epic quality of the plot. Also, in terms of comparing Kay and Tolkien, part of Kay’s aim with Fionavar was to pay homage to Tolkien but also to show that not every epic fantasy trilogy had to imitate Tolkien as shown through the different worlds they’ve built and the major difference between free will and fate (I argued in my MA thesis that Tolkien’s world is defined by a plan by a mostly benevolent creator and that Kay’s world benefits from people using their free will to change or deviate from the plan with freely chosen self sacrifice being the strongest vehicle for this change). I also disagree with another commentator who mentioned that Kay doesn’t seem to write complicated or interesting female characters. I would hold Kim up as an interesting female character in Fionavar itself and both Jehane and Miranda in Lions. I find his female characters and his characters in general to be one of Kay’s strengths. I’m glad to see people are excited about and interested in Kay adaptations, though, and hope this TV series does well!
Hi Samantha, thanks for your comment! Always interested to hear dissenting opinions here and have a bit of discussion. Despite my criticisms of Fionavar, I would have to agree with you that, overall, this is a strong starting point for Kay as an author. Poor character development aside, he does a much better than 90% of the rest of the field, which I maybe didn’t give him enough credit for in this post. Also, for the record, I also think that Kim is a very good female character and Kay does women pretty well overall. But I do dislike what he chose to do with Jennifer. Anyways, thanks for sharing your perspective, I found your take on Kay vs. Tolkien very interesting!
Wow, a well written post on the internet with people adding sensible, intelligent commentary. This must be a parallel universe.
Agreed with the comments that it isn’t Kay at his best, but that the Tapestry is still one of the great works of high fantasy. Kay simply is that good. So many good (if not great) ideas that just weren’t tied together as well as he usually does and with main characters that just didn’t appeal to me on a personal level, be that when I read it as a 12 year old or as an adult.
Underdeveloped main characters work better to me in books where the peripheral ones (can they be called that?) are generally fleshed out better than they usually are on TV. However, to me this is an opportunity, as you stated in one of your closing comments, for a talented TV producer/writer to make adjustments where required. Whereas any changes to Tigana which to me is just magnificent, would have me shouting at the screen.
Just my illogical ramblings.
Haha thanks for the comment! For the record, your ramblings sound very logical to me.
I think you hit the nail on the head though — it’s not Kay at his best, but it is still one of the greats. Kay really is that good. Also keeping my fingers crossed for a good result from the show.
Many serious spoilers ahead…
I’m passionate about The Fionavar Tapestry. It speaks to me in a way that Lord of the Rings and its other imitators don’t. There are strong women characters, for one thing (strong in-story I mean, regardless of how well or otherwise they’re drawn). Another part of it is Kay’s lyricality, as others here have noted; part is that his characters *care*. (Thomas Covenant doesn’t, so whyever should I?) Part is how heavily Kay draws from the deep well of myth. And, I must admit, part of it is purely personal. When I first read the trilogy, my own history had made me particularly sensitive to a few of the threads Kay weaves in.
Are the Five underdeveloped? For the most part, they work for me as they are. I guess that’s because their/our world itself is a mere shadow (Roger Zelazny’s term) of Fionavar, so who they are in Toronto is of less importance than who they become in the First of Worlds — Kevin and Kim especially. It’s clear he was born to be Liadon. When the time comes, he acquiesces to a destiny that he has been “chasing … down all the nights of his life.” And Ysanne dreamt Kim as Seer before she was even born.
Paul, on the other hand, happens to find himself in the right place at the right time to do a thing that needs to be done. And in the right frame of mind — which needs to be established, thus requiring the Rachel subplot.
Dave, alone of the Five, has no real role in Fionavar. But then, he’s the one who decides at the last moment not to go. Pulled along anyway, once he finds him self there against his will, he succeeds in making a role for himself.
So that leaves Jennifer. Why does she slip so easily into being Guinevere? Because — as she realizes with “an explosion in her breast” at the moment she first encounters Arthur — she always was. She’s presumably had countless incarnations, each a fleeting overlay of her underlying Guinevere’ness; Jennifer Lowell, university student, is merely the latest. Besides which, she’s “not whole”, as she’s told Brendel a few pages earlier, and so, I suspect, not completely averse to letting her Jennifer aspect fade.
So yeah, Jen is not very filled out as a character, and that bugged me on rereading the Tapestry a couple of years ago, but it doesn’t (for me) make her motives hard to understand, the way it would for Paul. Also, it’s not what Jen brings with her from Toronto, but what happens to her in Starkadh, that puts her in a place to defy her oft-repeated fate by rejecting Lancelot. Thus, the former is less important to the story.
Still, I’m glad to see (thank you, Samantha) that leaving Jen so undeveloped was Kay’s deliberate choice.
And thanks, Alex, for prompting me to think this all through.
I have different issues with the Tapestry. One is Lisen — not herself; her story is powerful — but the myth that’s grown up about her. A thousand years later, a big reason the lios alfar give for still mourning her is that she was the most beautiful. Ouch!
Another is the climax. “Who strikes with this blade without love in his heart shall surely die.” In that final confrontation, it’s the one who’s stabbed who acts with intention, not the holder of the dagger. So why should the latter be subject to the curse?
Finally, the one character whose underdevelopment I feel most keenly: Rakoth Maugrim! What the devil is eating him?!?
Still, despite its flaws — some of which I put down to its being written in the 80s (the Lisen thing), and others to it being Kay’s first work, when he was still learning his craft — the Tapestry is right up there for me among Kay’s books.
Kay has said (or written, I’m not sure which): “to be successful in fantasy, you have to take the measure of Tolkien — work with his strengths and away from his weaknesses”. I guess we’ve reached the point where anyone writing now has to take his measure too.
As for the TV adaptation, I can see that there’s an opportunity to fill out some of the Torontonians’ back stories (a little like the way Peter Jackson expanded Arwen’s part to suit modern sensibilities). Still, I’m more worried that they’ll fail to live up to the books-as-they-are than that they’ll fail to improve them. Most of all, I’m afraid that it’ll never be made at all; it’s a long, winding, and very dark road from option to release.
PS: Alex, I don’t know how you feel about editing old blog entries, but two things. The first is trivial: there’s no N in Jaelle. More important, the mention of Arthurian legend in the second paragraph is a *huge* spoiler, well before your warning about them. It’s a complete shock when you realize who the Warrior is — as Kay clearly meant it to be; he’s been teasing you about that since the first half of the previous book, and even went so far as to omit Arthur and Lancelot from The Wandering Fire’s character list. So please consider moving that spoiler down below the warning. Thanks.
Hi Eric,
Thanks so much for the long and impassioned response! It really has been great to connect with so many people online about this book and I honestly enjoy reading every comment on here.
At the end of the day, I do think that your interpretation of the Five being ‘superseded’ by their archetypal counterparts in Fionavar is the correct interpretation, insofar as it aligns with Kay’s original intention. It also nicely explains Dave’s role in the whole story and why he is kind of the odd man out. That being said, I still feel like the development of them into these archetypes (Odin, Guinevere, the Seer, etc.) didn’t work for me without a stronger original character. Just my personal feeling on the narrative.
I love your point about Rakoth Maugrim being underdeveloped! In my opinion, this is the trouble with a lot of high fantasy. The bad guys are always so… so bland. Just faceless personifications of pure evil. Sauron is like this in the original Lord of the Rings and it’s only when you read the Silmarillion that he gets a bit more colour added to him. It bugs me that this is a trope that gets perpetuated as it is a clear weakness with the genre from my perspective.
Also, thank you for your comment about the spoiler. It did not even occur to me that this would be a spoiler, as I saw the Arthur thing coming a mile away when I first read it. I will make some changes so that’s not an issue for other readers!
Very glad to hear that I prompted so much reflection! It was definitely my intention 🙂
Best,
Alex
Here be more spoilers. Be warned….
“… didn’t work for me …”: Fair enough.
During yesterday’s fact-checking and quote-looking-up, I was snared anew by a couple of short passages — and so find myself 50 pages back into The Summer Tree 🙂 Which leads to further thoughts.
First, I was wrong about merely “right place, right time” for Paul. He might not be predestined for the Tree, but he’s definitely predisposed to something along that line, by whatever quality makes him sensitive to Loren’s searching at Convocation Hall. There’s also the barest glimmer of foreshadowing in Toronto of what awaits Jennifer.
Kim and Kevin I talked about before.
But as for Dave, nothing; he’s just a guy — and only one who flat-out rejects all the hocus pocus. He has no whiff of the supernatural about him in Toronto; nor will he, as I recall, in Fionavar — his encounters with magic will be Ceinwen’s doing, nothing innate. Nor does he see himself as part of the group — and in fact he isn’t, until Kim invites him to sit with them. I don’t think we’re told this, but I surmise that he’s not part of Ysanne’s or Loren’s foreseeings either, and so the only reason he’s part of Loren’s plans is that Metran asked for five visitors. In so many ways, his self-perception being only one of them, he really is the odd man out.
On another point, it occurs to me that Jaelle follows the opposite arc, from archetype to person. When we’re first introduced to her, it’s indirectly, through the words of her enemies — the male power structure in the form of Loren and Diarmuid, who see her as one who “will cause trouble” because “she means to”. She feels personally affronted, we later learn, that it was for a man that Ysanne left the Mormae. So: cast-iron, man-hating, feminist bitch, basically — truly an archetype (or at least a stereotype) from the 80s 🙂
But over the course of the novel, Jaelle becomes a person we (even we guys) can relate to, and care about, and value; in part because she grows, but also because we’re shown enough of her point of view to undercut the stereotype as viewed from the outside.
Other Fionavarians follow similar paths, I think — Loren, Matt, and Ysanne come to mind, and perhaps Gorlaes — though I don’t recall enough detail to say for sure. (One hint though: the Wizard archetype doesn’t hook up, even on Maidaladan.) In their cases, though, it’s not about the characters transforming at all, but purely about our coming to see the individuals who
were behind their types all along.
On further thought, I totally get why Rakoth is unexplored — a “faceless personification of pure evil” as you put it.[1] He, Sauron, and all their ilk are basically manifesting the Satan archetype. If one’s a believing Christian, no more presumably need be said.[2] But I’m not, so I want more…
I’m wryly amused. One of Kay’s goals in writing the Tapestry was as a response to other authors who were taking Dwarves and Elves and such from LOTR, without going behind that to the myths and legends that Tolkien himself drew upon. Kay wanted, among other things, to show that one could do better.
But Tolkien was a devout Catholic, for whom Satan was presumably a deeply felt … um, reality? Symbol? … I don’t know, but a presence in his interior life in some form. He seems to have patterned Morgoth after Satan, and Sauron is Morgoth’s lieutenant, so the link is pretty clear.
It looks to me as though Kay in this instance committed the very error he was objecting to in other fantasy writers: he took his Dark Lord directly from Tolkien without going back to the original (in this case Christian) mythology.
Thanks for the edit. I totally didn’t see the Arthur thing coming. But then, I knew very little about Arthurian legend, and definitely not about the idea of his returning in time of need. Where I was coming from was having read a fair amount of Michael Moorcock, so at the first mention of the Warrior, it was obvious to me that he was analogous to Moorcock’s Eternal Champion — Corum, Dorian Hawkmoon, et al. When the reveal came near the beginning of The Wandering Fire, it was an absolute thunderbolt. “Wait a minute! You mean *King Arthur* is an incarnation of the Champion?!?” That was very, very cool. (Aside from everything else, it ties the two multiverses together. It’d be fun to somehow link Amber in too, but that seems pretty unlikely.) Now that I think of it, though, Moorcock probably got the idea from Arthurian legend in the first place … which means that, somewhat as Jennifer was always Guinevere, Elric of Melniboné was always Arthur. Whoa, I’m feeling blown away right now!
[1] In the true first-of-all-worlds — the one in which I’m writing this and you’re reading it 🙂 — our culture has slotted Adolf Hitler into the same archetype. This may be comforting in some sense, but is far from useful.
[2] The idea of Satan came to Christianity from Judaism — the name itself is Hebrew for “accuser” or “adversary’ — but a quick glance at Wikipedia suggests that the Jewish conception is different enough not to be relevant here.
I agree with most of what you said, and it doesn’t detract from my love of the books at all.
I’ve not read anything else by GGK. I’m not opposed to it, I just haven’t as of yet. I cherry-pick with most authors, there are very few I go all-in for.
But I’ve read this trilogy thrice, the first time in high school, and it’s long been a favorite.
Nice read an article, I have no one in my real life who has read these.
I’m happy it’ll be for TV, I think it’s better for TV than movies, then they’d feel really derivative. And I expect/hope that the TV format will allow for exploration of the things that need it a bit more, ie their backstories and Toronto scenes.
Hello,
It’s great to find a post about a book series that I love. I read the Fionavar Tapestry for the first time when I was eighteen years old, it had just come out, and our library in my small town somehow ended up with a copy of the first two books. I had to find the third one on my own, as it hadn’t been printed at that time.
I’ve read most of GGK’s works since then, and I personally find that the Fionavar Tapestry has some attributes that make it my favorite of all his books. While I agree with the comments about character development being better in his later works I found that there was a certain youthful exuberance in this work that gave it charm and a spark that was sadly missing in his later stuff.
Sometimes he definitely went over the top, I still remember my irritation when he terms the Arthurian legend of the lovers triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot as being “saddest of all sad tales.” Nonetheless I find that the five characters in this work a lot more easy to identify with than the members of royalty that are usually the main characters in his other books (kind of hard to really identify with a guy who’s never had to work for a living, if you know what I mean). The exception to this is the Sarantine Mosaic. I really liked Crispin, and found the chariot races enthralling, I felt like I was really there, in the crowd, watching the whole thing.
Finally, I find GGF’s use of language to be extraordinary, when he’s at his best, It is elegant, beautiful, and evocative. I think that he has left us with some books that can be read over and over, and it doesn’t really matter which is a personal favorite, what matters is being lucky enough to stumble on to his work.
Hi Charles,
Thanks for your comment and glad you enjoyed the post! I always enjoy hearing how important the book has been for people.
I can’t say I ever felt that there was a “charm and spark” missing from Kay’s other works for me. I immensely enjoyed Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, etc. I do think there is a big difference between his earlier books (everything before and including the Sarantine Mosaic) and stuff that he’s written afterward, but I find that I enjoy stories from both time periods regardless.
Also, I couldn’t agree more with your final complete. Kay is truly a singular author, and this post is a testament to that ability to “read over and over” — it’s exactly what I’ve been doing with his works for the past few months 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Best,
Alex
Agreed, Kate. There are some stereotypes in places, though it’s fair to say Kay is better than many of his contemporaries and does mean well.
For example, in describing someone, a woman doesn’t just wear a necklace, it rests between her bosoms; Jennifer isn’t just threatened, her nipples are tweaked magically; women fight over men in the palace and in the temple, and talk incessantly about sex; a prince tricks a princess into sex after pestering Jennifer for a while; then there’s the rape itself (sadly a key plot point so hard to fix). All of this is in the first book alone.
Combined with the weaker development of the women characters in the book, this way of writing is a bit dated and detracts from the rest of the book. It’s not a deal-breaker, though, and TV presents a perfect opportunity to rectify these issues. I really disliked the rape in The Magicians, but the show redeemed itself with where they took that.
Had Kay not featured the sexual content in the series, it would probably have been less conspicuous (the women would have been stereotypes but not sexualised), but because he does include sex it makes it seem more problematic in today’s world.
That said, I really love the books, and have never been interested in the ‘historic fantasies’ (not his term) he writes. I think this will be an excellent TV show and I have faith that things which seem ‘old-fashioned’ now will be tweaked or changed.
I agree with most of what has been said already. I loved Fionavar. I’ve read the series twice and listened to it once on audio. I DO also hope they do it justice. I really didn’t care much for the Shannara adaptation that deviated alot in the second season even though I liked the characters. They should have used one of the longer running book series instead. If they ruin Fionavar then the chances are slim that the better works will be adapted. But I digress. We are talking about Kay. His works do bring so much emotion to them. I loved Ysabel as well. I agree with you about the lack of character development though. I didn’t notice it when I was in high school and read them for the first time. Repeat readings have definitely the satisfaction they brought because Kay’s other works are so richly composed with my favorite being the Sarantine Mosaic. They all require repeat reading though to appreciate. So looking forward to the next one.
Hi Nelson, I agree completely about the risks of ruining Fionavar — that’s definitely my main fear. Thanks for commenting!
I feel like I’m the minority with Fionavar, because I just couldn’t get behind it. I first got into Kay by reading Tigana and was promptly blown away by it. It also has a fair amount of flaws with its pacing (the second act was a huge “pump the breaks” moment that left me wondering if I imagined how well crafted the beginning was) and its characters (them heroes), but that second half of the book is supremely wonderful with one of the greatest climaxes I’ve ever read. I then found out about his connections to Tolkien and his first trilogy and thought that I had to check it out. It may have been because I went into it hoping it would be greatness akin to Tigana, but I was just so underwhelmed with the book. I understood that the world was very much an homage to Tolkien, but it just felt stale and the characters flat as cardboard, with some moments of good sprinkled in. I saw what he was trying to do and I very much respect it, but I just didn’t find it well executed. I then didn’t really feel much of a desire to keep the trilogy going, so I never progressed past the first book. The one thing that I did love about the book was the magic system, which was just so different than anything else I had read at the time. Like you said, his ambition seemed to get the best of him (or his editor just didn’t know how best to handle his work), and I took the issues of the book as a beginning writer not coming into his own quite yet. Hell, most writers really find their own voice after sounding like so many others. All of that being said, I’m very intrigued about the show. It has promise, but ultimately it leaves me with a bit more worry than hope. My main worry is that they will not attempt to fix the issues that you had previously brought up, or fail in the attempt, and/or it will feel like a bit of a mess, which will then cause it to fail and kill any hope of seeing his other, much better (in my opinion) books be brought to life. But hey, fantasy is being taken much more seriously these days, so who knows.
But thank you for posting! I really enjoyed reading your post. Cheers!
Hey Nick, it’s funny because what you describe is almost EXACTLY how I encountered the Fionavar Tapestry — except I started with A Song for Arbonne and then Tigana, before reading Fionavar. I went in with expectations of something similar to Tigana (which was amazing), but ended up feeling like the world and its characters were very underdeveloped. I think your assessment of it being poorly executed sums it up pretty well, although I’m sure that others in this thread would (and have) disagreed.
Thanks for commenting! You’re definitely not in minority — although my review may have been kinder, I agree with basically everything you said here.
What an interesting discussion. I first read Fionavar probably 30 odd years ago and have reread it many times. It brings me to tears with its beauty, courage and sacrifice in spite of all its flaws. Some of which I had noticed and some mentioned above which I hadn’t. It moves me to tears at the same places it always has, doesn’t matter that I know what’s coming. I just love it. It has been a refuge and an escape in dark moments in my life. I think the layers of familiarity and emotion from many rereadings add immeasurably to the experience. But I have a few authors that I regularly reread, I know thats not for everybody. I can appreciate the analysis of plot, character and editing etc although I’ve never “studied” it. I like Arbonne but didn’t get into his other work as much as Fionavar. I’m not sure if I want them to make it a tv series….I couldn’t bear for them to muck it up but if they get it right it would be glorious.
Please. I have to call pretentious hogwash on this. To rank The Tapestries among the least of Guy Kay’s works is beyond inexcusable. You quite clearly have not read the books right.
LOL
Goodness gracious. Such high drama. These comments might just as well be (shudder) literary criticism. Backstories can be part of the reader”s use of imagination; a sentence here and an inference there, and you have the beginning of interaction with both characters and context. To ask an author to completely flesh out, you should pardon the expression, main characters is to relinquish the reader’s responsibility, laying it all on the writer. Passive reading creates a TV mentality, in which the potato sprawls, demanding that entertainment be made easy. TFT may be flawed but so is LOTR. I do enjoy the passion here, though.
Alex,
First of all I have to admit that I am coming late to this party. I have been away from Bright-Weavings for a while, and heard of the intent to take Fionavar to the small screen about the same time I heard about “A Brightness Long Ago.” I first found Fionavar on the recommendation of someone I met on a Poetry Bulletin Board in 1991. Upon reading it I was blown away. There were so many Tolkien wannabes, but here was someone who actually came close to the bar. Flawed, perhaps. That is always an individual judgement. But derivative it is not. Which most of the efforts that followed certainly were. I personally put The Fionavar Tapestry in the top three or four fantasy worlds that I have explored – and probably as number two.
But when we come to the rest of his writings you are correct. I diligently obtain a first edition every time they come out. It would be nice to trap Kay sometime for signatures, but that is less important than a continued output of his mastery. We could probably look at Fionavar as Kay’s training wheels, both in terms of writing and in terms of working with an editor. He obviously learned a great deal in the effort. Tigana was on a totally different plane, and almost all of his works following live up to that level. I agree, Last Light of The Sun is the weakest for me. But that is because I have spent more time in Nordic and, to a lesser degree, in Celtic, mythology, and he falls a bit short in fitting into that mold. It is hard to pick a favorite, but I lean towards The Lions of El Rassan because it such an excellent reshaping of the story of The Cid. The Sarentine Mosaic may come second but the two books set in Tang Dynasty China are also marvelous. Either of these would be an excellent choice for a movie.
Thanks for getting us all thinking about his works In anticipation for the next.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Bill! I am also very late in responding to this.
I would debate you on the derivative nature of Fionavar. I think it has elements that are very original to Kay, but the overall amibition of the work seems to falls under the shadow of Tolkien — and I completely understand why.
In the end, I think we are in agreement on one thing. Fionavar was Kay’s training wheels, and his later works are masterful. I always look forward to the latest — “A Brightness Long Ago” was no exception.
I don’t disagree with any of your points.
The only comment I want to make, is that I think the Revor’s Kill scene is (IMHO) one of the best fantasy scenes ever written, by GGK or anybody else.
I’d give a lot to see a well-executed version of that sequence in a visual medium.