Fiction: The Lions of Al-Rassan

 I recently re-read Guy Gavriel Kay's magnificent book "The Lions of Al-Rassan".

I loved this book, which is something because I am not generally a fantasy genre fan. But this book was incredible. Dense and a bit hard to follow some times because of all the characters that are developed on so many levels, but the complexity of the storyline was one of the things that drove the development of the characters.

Set in a plane of existence much like medieval Spain, it was fascinating and frustrating to follow the intrigues of the political landscape, to delve into the religious divisions that separated the "tribes" (for lack of a better word) of people, and to watch the blossom of romance-relishing both the soft sides of it as well as the harsher realities. It was also a pleasure to read a book with so many positive, strong and clever female characters that were still balanced with quality, likable male ones too.

I have to admit that I was only about 60% sold on the idea of it when I first picked it up. After all it was a fantasy book, although there were no gnomes, elves or dwarves performing magical heroics in it at all. I had a stigma against liking it and though a friend had recommended it so highly, I was still skeptical. But by the last hundred pages, I couldn't stop. The force of the story carried me through yet another sleepless night and I set down the book both exhilarated and sorry that it was done.