Book Review: Tigana

igana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Now, I like the surprise twist ending as much as anyone. I also like
genre endings. What I don't like is being picked up and dropped
repeatedly like the on-again, off again romance of an abusive lover.

Kay builds up expectations, again and again, with fantastic
characters, beautiful prose, an intricate world and interesting
conflicts but every time you get really into the story he ruins it for
you.

( spoiler-tastic specifics )

He does, at least, show the characters to be very real---at least the
ones he focuses on. Even the ones who drive me mad are reminiscent of
real people who drive me that mad. I *know* people who take up a new
cause with the same naievete and utter obsession as Devin, pitying
themselves for having been unable to take it up sooner. I know women
as stupid as Dianora---angsting about their predicament rather than
choosing one path and sticking to it. I also know people as haunted
and driven as Baerd and Catriana... something to prove, indeed. The
Barbadian could have been cool, but ended up kind of flat, since the
PCs were focused on Brandin. Brandin could have been cool, but we see
too little of him, and only really through Dianora.

It's such a beautiful world, and such interesting characters---it's too bad the story is so awful.

Books in 2006: 10.5

"Sausage", Biscuits, and Gravy

In my ongoing effort to introduce nakor to new things, we had biscuits, white gravy and sausage for supper on Saturday.

If I had not made it myself, I would not have believed those sausage
patties were made of soy. It makes me wonder what's in real
sausage... how much meat can there be? The gravy didn't turn out
quite right, since I really should have cooked the sausage in a little
oil (one big difference from meat sausage--they had almost no grease)
but mostly through nakor's intervention and reading of the
recipe, we were saved and it was edible and even tasty.