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Guy Gavriel Kay: Tigana

direstraits

direstraits

Well-Known Member
Hey pwilson! Glad to hear you've finished Tigana... how did you like the ending?
Was the servant right to hold back on what transpired at the end, by not telling exactly who Brandin's Fool was?

I'm a sucker for a sense of finality and closure, and what happened at the end got me thinking for days. Not that everything was not completed at the end, in fact I thought it ended nicely, but it seemed like there was this thing that's never going to be known...

ds
 
Before I say too much, can you tell me how to do the spoiler thing so I don't give anything away! Thanks! :)
 
No prob. Just encase the spoilers between the tags "[SPOIL-ER]" and "[/SPOIL-ER]" (remove the hyphens).

Do a "Preview Post" instead of "Submit Reply" first in case you're not sure and want to see how it looks like first.

ds
 
Not to turn this into a "how-to" post but for some reason I can't get the spoiler thing to work! Must be a little slow :rolleyes: Here's what I've been doing, maybe you can tell me what I'm doing wrong? Sorry ds!
testtesttesttesttest
Am I doing something different? Sorry ds, I just wanted to talk about Tigana! :D
 
Hey, pwilson, no problem! We'll get there...

You're doing fine, except the accompanying closing tag must be "[/SPOILER]" (with the forward slash)

ds
 
Now I get it! :) I appreciate the patience! Anyway, as I have been trying to tell you for the last half hour, I thought the ending was perfect for the novel.
I felt that the servant was justified in his decision and in some ways that it was the most noble thing he could have done in defeat. After all the bloodshed and the tragedy of the day, I think he just felt that there would be no point in telling the truth about the Fool. He was also dealing with his own personal tragedy after the suicide and maybe it was too fresh in his own mind for him to want to cause any more pain? I also thought that the way that Kay brought the various siblings so close together without them knowing it was abolutely brilliant!
 
Also, I wanted to ask you
what was the significance of the riskella at the end of the book? I know at one point it broke down what each one meant as far as if one person sees it... if two people see it one of them dies etc.. What happened if three people saw it, like at the end?
 
Yeah, you're right. I suppose I understood why he held back, but I'm just so heartbroken for
Alessan and Dianora's brother, who will never know what happened to their kin. I keep wondering if later on, when the servant is sufficiently rested mentally and physically [laugh!] if he would send a letter to the new king of Tigana about the full story, bringing closure to the whole thing.

And didn't you just went "What????" when you finally found out who the Fool was? :D

Don't you just love spoilers? :)

Oh and btw, an ending like this is how Kay normally chooses to close out his novels. So if you like this ending, you'll like the others too.

ds
 
pwilson said:
Also, I wanted to ask you
what was the significance of the riskella at the end of the book? I know at one point it broke down what each one meant as far as if one person sees it... if two people see it one of them dies etc.. What happened if three people saw it, like at the end?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I can't remember this bit at the end though. Maybe
when 3 people see it the riskella dies. :D

I believe there is a discussion on the themes of the book in the 10th anniversary edition of the book (I'm not sure if that's the edition you have) which I thought was very enlightening.

ds
 
I know what you mean about being heartbroken! I have to admit thought that I'm sometimes a sucker for a sad ending! I guess that's one of the good things about an open ending is that we can each write our own future for the characters in our head :)

I was astounded when I found out about the fool! I was also surprised by how much I came to understand and even respect Brandin (in some ways) as the story went on. Very tragic figure! Also, didn't you find yourself fascinated by Dianora? Her sections were definitely some of my favorites.

As usual, your descriptions of Kay's other works make me all the more anxious to read more! I believe you advised me at one time on the order you suggested. Did you say "Lions" next? I know it doesn't really matter but just wanted your opinion as a Kay afficianado!
 
Yes, Brandin is not your typical villain, if you can call him that. It's war, after all. He has a dimension that unless told from his perspective you'd never figure out why he did the things he did. It's so easy to let the 'villain' character get plastered with the labels as the heroes go along with the story, so it was great to have him fleshed out so nicely. The Dianora diving-to-retrieve-something scene is a great illustration of what makes Brandin human, in my opinion.

And Dianora had a lot of witty things to say. Any character that makes me laugh is good, in my view. She's my favourite character in the novel, actually.

Get Arbonne next, then Lions. I prefer Lions personally, but I always save the best for last! On second thought don't listen to me. Get any book! :D



ds
 
One man sees a riselka
his life forks there.

Two men see a riselka
one of them shall die.

Three men see a riselka
one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

One woman sees a riselka
her path comes clear to her.

Two women see a riselka
one of them shall bear a child.

Three women see a riselka
one is blessed, one is clear, one shall bear a child.


I couldn't remember it exactly but then Wikipedia is our friend.
 
That is one of the things I really appreciated about the novel. There were not cardboard cutouts for characters. Everyone had many levels.

Dianora was my favorite too. Not only was she witty, but there were just so many interesting conflicts in her life.

I'll go get Arbonne ASAP! You've definitely got a convert on your hands! :)
 
Thanks hays! That definitely gives me even more to think about!

Three men see a riselka one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

Any thoughts about the end based on this?
 
Agh! I have to read this now so I can read this thread. I'm a third of the way through the last book of the Fionavar Tapestry. Tigana next, do you think?
 
Kookamoor said:
Agh! I have to read this now so I can read this thread. I'm a third of the way through the last book of the Fionavar Tapestry. Tigana next, do you think?
Click to expand...
Kookamoor,
Since this was my first foray into the world of Kay I'm probably not the best one to offer advice on which one you should read next but I can recommend it very highly! As I'm sure you've noted from the rest of the thread, I thought it was a wondeful book! How are you enjoying Fionavar so far?
 
Kookamoor said:
Agh! I have to read this now so I can read this thread. I'm a third of the way through the last book of the Fionavar Tapestry. Tigana next, do you think?
Click to expand...
Probably a good way to get into the other kay books. Tigana still has wizards although it doesn't have a lot of magic. His other books doesn't really have any magic in them but are still really great.

I think the point of his endings are to make you guess. He does the same thing in Lions of Al'Rassan but choses to give the answer in the epilogue, something I think was wrong. The open ending make it easier to imagine the story further on based on what you would like to have happen.
 
Irk. Personally I don't like open endings because it feels unfinished and it keeps me from sleeping peacefully. I didn't feel that Tigana had an open ending though - I thought it ended nicely. Still got me mulling for a while, but ended nicely it did.

Hay, I would have flipped if Lions ended without the epilogue.
We'd then would never have known who actually died, now, wouldn't it?
And also the way he peeled back the layers in the epilogue was in my opinion very masterfully done.

pwilson, I'd have to reread the ending of my copy of Tigana to see what the riselka sighting would probably mean for the 3 folks.

ds
 
pwilson said:
How are you enjoying Fionavar so far?
Click to expand...
I really like it. It is a little bizarre when the first British mythology comes into the story in Book 2, especially as Book 1 didn't give any hint of it. It's been a while since I found a new fantasy author I really like, but I'm really liking Kay so far, particularly since his series' appear to be self contained within 3 books!

If anyone's read Fionavar, can you post a new thread and we can talk about it? I have a few thoughts, but they don't really mean anything if you haven't read it yet.
 
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