Children of Earth and Sky, Guy Gavriel Kay

It is always a long wait for the next Guy Gavriel Kay book (actually, a month would be a long wait!). But we are always oh! so excited when he finally releases a new one! As well as a new book, it means a book tour, with a stop in Vancouver, ideally hosted by White Dwarf Books at St James Hall. These are cherished events, with an intimate group of dedicated fans and GGK making self-effacing jokes, talking about his writing, and (best of all) doing a reading from his latest book.

Guy Kay is my favourite author. I look forward to each new book, buy the hardcover, get it signed at the reading and then settle down to savour it for as long as I can, because I know the next book is another 3 years away. I have reread most of his books at least once – some many times – partly as a way to fill the gap and partly because they are simply worthy of it.

His latest book, Children of Earth and Sky, is a story about people who live in the “borderlands” at the perifory of power and influence, trying to do what they can to find their place and make a difference in their lives and their communities. As is usually the case, I found myself consumed by the story and the people in it, but not to the extent I have with some of his other books (where I often, in my mind, become a participant in the story – these are my favourites but they are also very draining). This was an easier book to set down, which is my strategy for savouring, and it might have to do with how frequently he jumps between the different story lines. It migth also have to with how the individual characters’ stories start together and then diverge rather than starting divergent and slowing winding together. This made it harder to befriend one character who I could count on to lead me through the story.

There were some nice nods to The Sarantine Mosaic, a gift for those who consider the duology to be one of their favourites (and I do). Children of Earth and Sky takes place about one thousand years after the events of Sarantine, and I would love to babble on about how satisfying and appropriate the references were based on Sarantine’s theme of achieving immortality through art, but that would make this a post about The Sarantine Mosaic, which it isn’t…

Children of Earth and Sky is not one of my top favourite GGK books, but that bar is really high, which still leaves room for it to be excellent and satisfying and worth the wait. It is also one I will read again, although likely after re-reading The Sarantine Mosaic (again).

Rating: Buy it. For me, there is no other choice, because I’ll read them again and again.

Afterthought: I thought it might be fun to try and list GGK’s books in order of most-liked to least-liked. Althought to be fair, the list would be more like most-liked to slighty-less-liked. So here is my attempt. GGK fans, what is your list? Email me, I’d love to know.

the fionavar tapestry (trilogy)
the lions of al-rassan
the sarantine mosaic (duology)
tigana
childred of earth and sky
ysabel
last light of the sun
river of stars
under heaven
a song for arbonne