Sailing to Sarantium / Guy Gavriel Kay

 

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sinking into a Guy Gavriel Kay historical fantasy is like immersing myself in a warm, fragrant bath, lovely and comforting. His worldview meshes with mine so well, he is truly the perfect author match for me. Now that I have finished this volume, I have only three unread books of his left and this distresses me. What will I do until he publishes the next? Well, begin a re-reading cycle, yes, but there is no feeling like the first experience of a GGK novel.

Well, I shall persevere. Because this author writes main characters who are decent men like Caius Crispin. He may be cranky (he has reasons) and he may take risks, but he is kind to those who he has power over, perhaps the most telling measure of a man. In addition to decent men, Kay writes women as real people (we are, you know), with the same aspirations and emotions as his male characters. They aren't perplexing enigmas, they aren't cardboard cut-outs, they are fully realized people. This is the major reason that I adore Mr. Kay's fiction.

The other main reason is his treatment of the religious aspect of life. Crispen comes face to face with a Pagan god, he is knocked on his back by a spectacular Jaddite mosaic, and both of these experiences feel absolutely real to me. I feel his awe right along with him. Aspiring to be a happy Pagan myself, feeling a lot of sympathy for such things, this aspect of the story delights me. (This is why The Egypt Game grabbed me firmly as a tween and why the King Arthur cycle continues to speak to me so loudly today, I am just a sucker for pre-Christian religions.)

As Crispin plans his grand mosaic, I am reminded of another favourite book, What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies. It's main character, Francis Cornish, also creates a very personal masterpiece, a painting done in Old Master style, but featuring people and symbols peculiar to the artist. He smuggles his own mythology into it and creates something extraordinary, just as I expect Crispen will do in this sanctuary.

I both look forward to and dread reading the second half of this tale. On one hand I want to spend more time in this world with these people. On the other hand, then the adventure will be over. The best books leave me feeling torn this way.

Book number 383 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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