Al-Rassan is home to three very different cultures and faiths, which has led to years of turmoil and accounted for the violence and brutality of endless battles. Nothing under the circling moons is fated to last.Ī fantasy novel that sets the stage for an epic journey, The Lions of Al-Rassan is the story of a land with a violent past and the individuals whose paths and destiny intersect during a vital time.

Also, according to our small sample, 100% of Technical Writers, Landscape Architects, and Mathematicians quite liked it.“The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert. Recommended to fans of low fantasy who don't mind when something is nearly historical, but not quite. About half of the group loved it (myself included).The other half was more ambivalent, either finding it hard to get into (too many foreign names, or just not grabbing their attention) or being turned off by the authorial stick-handling of the story, which is maybe a bit too obviously directed. We read this with our Gamers book club and the reaction was mixed. Many people report reading the end in tears. The writing is better than competent (we can forgive a few quirks) and the story draws to a dramatic and well-wrought conclusion which I quite enjoyed. As a bromance develops between the to main characters, their respective home kingdoms draw ever close to war, and eventually they must decide between their loyalty to one another and their loyalty to the kings who exiled them. There is a host of other, minor characters (several of whom are just as interesting as the main characters) to round out the cast. Lions is set in not-quite Moorish Spain just as the Reconquista starts, and it feature primarily a Jaddite ('Christian') nobleman named Rodrigo, an Asharite ('Muslim') nobleman (and poet, and assassin) named Ammar, and a Kindath ('Jewish') physician named Jehane as they all get caught up in exile together from their homelands. If you're willing to believe in an infinity of parallel universes, it's probably easiest to think of GGK's books being set in a a universe that fairly close to ours, with a bunch of different names and a soupçon of magic. The Lions of Al Rassan is one of a number of stand-alone novels written by Guy Gavriel Kay (GGK) in his trademark style of writing what is essentially Historic fiction but placing in it a near-earth fantasy world. TLDR: 4 out of 5 for a great example of what Guy Gavriel Kay can bring to the table.

The lions of al rassan review