{"id":52,"date":"2005-01-14T22:33:51","date_gmt":"2005-01-15T05:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=52"},"modified":"2021-05-30T21:27:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T01:27:36","slug":"the-last-light-of-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/52","title":{"rendered":"The Last Light of the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Last Light of the Sun<\/em> (2004) <\/a>Guy Gavriel Kay<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Good luck finding this book. I came across it only because I was searching Amazon for another of his books, and realized that he had a new book out. Of course I’ve found a lot of books on Amazon recently that I saw nowhere in our local book stores, so you may yet be able to find this book.<\/p>\n

I have to say that someone should give Guy Gavriel Kay an award for being able to tell a story in a single book. Excluding the ‘Fionovar Tapestry’, he manages to tell his stories in one or two books. I can think of several authors who could stand to learn a thing or to from him.<\/p>\n

The Last Light of the Sun<\/em> seemed from his previous books, although not in a bad way. I think it was the faerie realm that did it. Although it suited the book, it struck me as unexpected, although not out of place. (After all, how could he write something that was so Celtic without including faerie?)<\/p>\n

Set again in the same space, although not time, as several of his previous books, The Last Light of the Sun<\/em> is Celtic and Norse in spirit if not exact detail.<\/p>\n

The Erlings are the Vikings, the Cyngael are the Celts, and the Anglcyn are the Anglo-Saxons (though it took me more than half to book to see that Anglcyn could probably be pronounced Anglican. Chalk it up to the say my brain works–it’s the same quirk that makes me a poor speller.)<\/p>\n

As I’ve read only minimal Norse folklore (Celtic folklore is far more popular and easier to find) the Erling culture fascinated me, and I wonder which concepts were fantasy and which were historical. (What historical precedent, if any, did volur<\/em> have? If it was based in history, where can I read more about it?<\/p>\n

As always, it is strange, the things that speak to one from a book. On one day, at one time, it may be one thing, but on a different day it might be something else entirely. This is the passage that struck in particular on this day:<\/p>\n

“There is no piety in my heart,” said Aeldred. “I am not in a state to address the god.”
\n“We are never in a state to do so. It is the way of our lives in his world. One of the things for which we ask mercy is that inadequacy.” He was on familiar ground now, but it didn’t feel that way.
\n“And our anger?”
\n“That too , my lord.”
\n“Bitterness?”
\n“That too.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Last Light of the Sun (2004) Guy Gavriel Kay Good luck finding this book. I came across it only because I was searching Amazon for another of his books, and realized that he had a new book out. Of course I’ve found a lot of books on Amazon recently that I saw nowhere in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,2,291],"tags":[135],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alternate-history","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-guy-gavriel-kay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2416,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2416","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":0},"title":"Under Heaven","author":"Michelle","date":"June 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Under Heaven (2010) Guy Gavriel Kay A new Guy Gavriel Kay book is like a small discovered treasure, something to be saved until a time when it can be enjoyed and savored. Some books I love because they are romps, others because they are long slow strolls through another place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Under-Heaven.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":81,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/81","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":1},"title":"Tigana","author":"Michelle","date":"June 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Tigana (1990) Guy Gavriel Kay Why is it that every time I finish one of Guy Gavriel Kay's books, I ask myself, \"How could I have forgotten how good his books are?\" Even reading this book for a second time, I was still surprised at how good it was. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Tigana.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":2},"title":"The Sarantine Mosaic","author":"Michelle","date":"June 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors Guy Gavriel Kay On a note unrelated to the story, I do have to say that I greatly prefer the Canadian cover art to the American. That's the problem with thorough websites. You get to find out what you're missing.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6272,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6272","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":3},"title":"Sailing to Sarantium","author":"Michelle","date":"December 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sailing to Sarantium (1998) Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay is an incredible writer. He doesn't wrote epic fantasy in the sense of swords and sorcerey--in fact there is often no magic in his stories. He instead researches a subject an a time period and grounds his story in those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sailing-to-Sarantium.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/31","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":4},"title":"The Lions of Al-Rassan","author":"Michelle","date":"June 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) Guy Gavriel Kay This is a very good, albeit very depressing book. Set in the same world as Sailing to Sarantium, this book describes the battles between the followers of Jad versus the Asharites. If Sailing to Sarantium reminded me of Rome, this book reminded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4087,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4087","url_meta":{"origin":52,"position":5},"title":"River of Stars","author":"Michelle","date":"October 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"River of Stars (2013) Guy Gavriel Kay First, this cover is gorgeous. The picture links to a large version of the cover and NOT the book at Amazon. The link to Amazon is the title text (if you'd like to help me earn bits of a penny.) Like all his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/River-of-Stars.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}