August09_3
It took an age for me to finish Guy Gavriel Kay's 'Tigana'; 2 months on and off my reading pile. I'd read something which called this a perfect fantasy novel - just one volume, engaging characters, richly drawn, ripping yarn etc, so I was ready to sink right into it. It's possible my notoriously wretched memory sabotaged me - as I started 'Tigana' I was deflated by a niggling familiarity (have I read this before?). Still don't know, but it came together for me in the end. Great female characters, great everything characters, actually - old, young, men and women, wizardy and not. I recollect where I heard about Guy - on Nancy Pearl's 'Book Lust' podcast - so it must have been Nancy who called it 'perfect'. Nancy has never found a book she didn't like but she's a famous library reviewer goddess, so it's still high praise.