I was talking last night with someone about the fact that I was reading The Wandering Fire, and not enjoying it very much, and that I was disappointed, particularly since I enjoyed Tigana so much, and Kay came so highly recommended. In him I found a kindred spirit, and he proudly proclaimed that The Fionavar Tapestry, of which this book is the second part, is a pile of wank. Good call, that. I think, if anything, The Wandering Fire was worse than The Summer Tree. The one character that I had held out hope for, a Toronto law student named Kevin Laine, suddenly became another high fantasy puppet. Up until this book he was the only one of the five transplanted Torontonians not to have unlocked secret knowledge, discovered godlike powers, or become a Conan-like action hero in the space of a few days. Up until this book. Midway through, Kevin realizes that he too, for reasons that are inadequately explored, suddenly “knows” one night that his real name is Liadon and that he’s supposed to sacrifice himself to the Goddess Dana to end the unnaturally long winter that has plagued Fionavar. I mean, fuck right off.
Until that moment, Kevin was my last hope to find an honest to God character in that mess. In Toronto he had been a strong, capable, charismatic young ladies’ man. But in Fionavar, despite still being candy for the ladies, he was essentially in the way, having developed no combat skills, no magic powers, discovered no secret knowledge, received no gifts from strange encounters with rarely-seen deities. He was a human being struggling to find a place in a world that didn’t much value the skills he’d spent a lifetime developing. A human being! And then Kay had to go and ruin it all with another bit of ridiculous deus ex machina wank (I say another, because an instance of deus ex machina seems to happen every other page).
And of course characters who have died get brought back to life. Celtic mythology suddenly comes to the fore with the revival of (and I can’t believe I’m typing this), King Arthur and Lancelot du Lac. Oh, and did I mention that one of the five Torontonian brats also happens to be the reincarnation of Guinevere? Along with this outrageous plot twist, Lancelot himself revives Matt, a dwarf who is the “source” (one thing I can say positively about this “tapestry”, is that Kay handles how mages use magic in a new and potentially interesting way) for the wizard Loren’s magic powers. There’s also some nonsense about a flying unicorn. One more book, and then I’m swearing off Kay and high fantasy for several months.
The Wandering Fire was my eighth selection for The Canadian Book Challenge. Next is Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Darkest Road.
