Rating: 4 out of 5
At a time when fantasy authors published almost carbon-copy stories of each other, Guy Gavriel Kay chose to approach fantasy in a different way – by creating stories of places whose cultures and geo-political situations are an almost-mirror-image of a real historical time and place. In one fell swoop, he eliminated the need for himself to engage in one necessary activity of fantasy writing: world-building. He did it first in the book, Tigana, which set his story in a world evoking images of Renaissance Italy, and again with A Song for Arbonne which depicts southern France (Provence and the troubadour culture). The Lions of Al-Rassan is inspired by Medieval Spain during the Reconquista (the war between the Christian kingdoms and the Moorish or Muslim states of Andalusia or Al-Andalus, the Moorish name of Spain).
The story is set in a peninsula that is divided between two regions and religions: The south, where the Asharite (Moorish) Caliphate once ruled but is now fragmented into small quarrelling city-states bent on dominating Al-Rassan; and the north, where the Jaddite (Christian) kingdoms of Esperana are starting to take advantage of the new balance of power and finding ways to work together, albeit reluctantly, to conquer their way south. Caught in the middle are the Kindath (Jews), trying to live their lives as best as they can, strangers in Asharite or Jaddite lands, tolerated, never fully accepted, and most of the time hated.
In the middle of this powder keg are the principal characters. Ammar ibn Khairan is an Asharite warrior, poet and assassin and advisor to King Almalik of Cartada. Rodrigo Belmonte is one of the finest cavalry captains in the Jaddite kingdoms (primarily based on the real-life figure of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar – or El Cid). Both men find themselves betrayed by the rulers they serve, exiled and forced to make a living as mercenaries in an Asharite city where they cross paths with Jehane bet Ishak, a beautiful Kindath physician who captures the heart of both men.
Written like historical fiction in a world where magic is not visibly manifested, The Lions of Al-Rassan evokes a very real and tragic story of peoples unable to live alongside each other solely because they do not have the same faith – a problem that still exists into real-life present times, where with all the sorrow and horror that all this unjustifiable hatred causes, one has to wonder if anybody throughout the centuries has learned anything at all.
Beautifully written by Guy Gavriel Kay and well-researched, he gives his readers, through a story which is entirely speculative, a condensed version of the Spanish Reconquista, a glimpse of the life of El Cid and the tragic end of the Moorish society that has given so much beauty, culture and learning to the Iberian peninsula. He does this through the stories of well-defined characters, both primary and supporting, each representing the best and the worst of their cultures. Beautifully written, funny at times and also heart-rending, The Lions of Al-Rassan is a story that will leave images for the reader to contemplate for a long time.
The story is set in a peninsula that is divided between two regions and religions: The south, where the Asharite (Moorish) Caliphate once ruled but is now fragmented into small quarrelling city-states bent on dominating Al-Rassan; and the north, where the Jaddite (Christian) kingdoms of Esperana are starting to take advantage of the new balance of power and finding ways to work together, albeit reluctantly, to conquer their way south. Caught in the middle are the Kindath (Jews), trying to live their lives as best as they can, strangers in Asharite or Jaddite lands, tolerated, never fully accepted, and most of the time hated.
In the middle of this powder keg are the principal characters. Ammar ibn Khairan is an Asharite warrior, poet and assassin and advisor to King Almalik of Cartada. Rodrigo Belmonte is one of the finest cavalry captains in the Jaddite kingdoms (primarily based on the real-life figure of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar – or El Cid). Both men find themselves betrayed by the rulers they serve, exiled and forced to make a living as mercenaries in an Asharite city where they cross paths with Jehane bet Ishak, a beautiful Kindath physician who captures the heart of both men.
Written like historical fiction in a world where magic is not visibly manifested, The Lions of Al-Rassan evokes a very real and tragic story of peoples unable to live alongside each other solely because they do not have the same faith – a problem that still exists into real-life present times, where with all the sorrow and horror that all this unjustifiable hatred causes, one has to wonder if anybody throughout the centuries has learned anything at all.
Beautifully written by Guy Gavriel Kay and well-researched, he gives his readers, through a story which is entirely speculative, a condensed version of the Spanish Reconquista, a glimpse of the life of El Cid and the tragic end of the Moorish society that has given so much beauty, culture and learning to the Iberian peninsula. He does this through the stories of well-defined characters, both primary and supporting, each representing the best and the worst of their cultures. Beautifully written, funny at times and also heart-rending, The Lions of Al-Rassan is a story that will leave images for the reader to contemplate for a long time.
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