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Merle

Merle

A Song for Arbonne - Guy Gavriel Kay A Song for Arbonne is a lovely book, and Kay is on his way to becoming one of my favorite fantasy authors.

The book focuses on the conflict between Arbonne (inspired by Provence, with a troubadour culture and a goddess and women in some powerful positions) and northern Gorhaut (a warrior-based culture that brutally oppresses its women). I was a little concerned by what the bookjacket built up as a war of the sexes, but in reality the focus is on the conflict between two very different cultures.

Still, the pacing is rather slow, so character development and writing style come to the fore. Fortunately, both are excellent. Kay's use of language is simply a joy to read and the characters are well fleshed-out. It's worth noting that he does an excellent job with the female characters, who make up about half the cast: they're strong characters in their own right, and he avoid pitfalls common to male fantasy authors by including women who have positive relationships with each other and having a sympathetic female character on the throne as of the beginning of the book. Not to mention the inclusion of women of various ages, not all of whom are paired off at the end. And all of this without resorting to the warrior-woman stereotype that every fantasy reader knows.

I keep referring to "fantasy," but there is very little magic in this book: the focus is on characters and political intrigue. This is a book to savor, not one to gallop through, and there are certainly no showy fireballs here.

While this is a very well-written book, though, it's no match for Tigana in my mind. Tigana felt much more meaningful to me; the thematics of A Song for Arbonne aren't as strong, and the ending is perhaps a little too feel-good to be entirely credible. At times, Kay can also be a bit heavy-handed in building up to an important event, waxing poetic about "the implications of all of this!" (And although it's probably not his fault, my copy had more than its share of typos.) Still, this is an excellent book and I would heartily recommend it.