Ysabel
A Novel

So odd! All throughout the reading of this, I was reminded of the later-published Discovery of Witches by Harkness. Not the story or the characters or the incidentals, mind you, but the FEEL of it. And this one won the World Fantasy Award. Could it have been a massive influence? Possibly. Back to this......more

I can see both sides of the debate people seem to be having about this book. Yes, it's not as rich and deep as his other work. Yes, sometimes it felt like you were trapped in the shallow end of a swimming pool, when you know that, if you could just get there, there's a dazzling, deep lagoon just bey......more

What a thoroughly unremarkable book from such an exceptionally skilled fantasy writer. Guy Gavriel Kay is by far my favourite author of what I'd call historical fantasy. That being said, his historical fantasy can be divided in two, both solidly anchored in our own world, history and legends. The firs......more

I was disappointed by this book, mostly because I expect so much from Guy Gavriel Kay. Ysabel starts out strong but didn't manage to keep my interest. As a whole it lacks the richness GGK's other books offer. The characters remain under-developed, and I couldn't connect with any of them. The plot is......more

The urban fantasy that is about a >2000 year grudge match between ancient warriors, and also a photography work trip with the protagonists dad, that unfortunately spends more time on the photography work trip than I would like. When there is a perfectly good millennia old grudge match to read about.......more