Praise for The Last Light of the Sun
A tale of raids and blood feuds, told with a blunt relish worthy of any Icelandic saga-teller Kay writes beautifully, as though he were composing a prose poem, creating memorable characters and telling a story that will stay with you long after youve finished the book.
Chronicle Herald (Halifax)
A master craftsman Kay has staked out a marvelous territory somewhere between the historical realism of Dorothy Dunnett and the contemporary urban fantasy of Charles de Lint An enchanted realm in which the paranormal is just another dimension [and] magical intertwining storylines add texture and richness.
National Post
Brings depth and texture to the ancient tales of the Norse lands Consummate storytelling.
Library Journal
One of Kays finest achievements, an expert mlange of the Eddas and The Mabinogion. The characters are well developed and the story is as taut as a garrote.
The Globe and Mail
Richly drawn stunning Epic in scale and finely wrought, [Kays] latest offering hurtles across a landscape of hard-scrabble villages, warrior fortresses, and spirit-filled forests Kay is an unerring architect, a nimble sculptor in crafting the harsh, coastal world of the ancient north. Opened gleefully, enjoyed with the satisfaction of hopes fulfilled, The Last Light of the Sun is a delight to be shared.
Calgary Herald
The Last Light of the Sun is more than a book: its a one-way ticket to another world so skillfully drawn, its wrenching to leave it behind.
January Magazine
Kay has written some of the most intelligent and respected fantasy of the last twenty years Together with George R. R Martin, he is one of the best two writers working in the epic fantasy field.
SFX Magazine
[Kay] has fashioned a tale as dark, terrifying, powerful, and full of passion as any epic A complex, satisfying story.
Edmonton Journal
Chance, love, despair, yearningKay strikes in 600 fantastic pages all the many paths a person can hazard in this woeful thing called life, in these few failing, precious moments before the last light of the sun.
Georgia Straight
What sets Kay apart from most other fantasy authors is his unwillingness to settle for convention or formula.
Times Colonist (Victoria)
[Kay] has established himself as the primary voice of a genrehistorical fantasywhich he created and pretty much occupies all on his own.
Vancouver Sun
A moving saga of cultures at the brink of change.
Quill & Quire
A distinguished story that, for those so inclined, poses intriguing historical riddles.
Booklist Reviews
Kay takes the familiar elements of epic fantasy and probes beneath the surface for what the old songs hide [ The Last Light of the Sun] steadfastly confront[s] us with the significant acts of insignificant people, the ironies of history, and both heroism and the fantastic stripped of accumulated myths and legends. Where we seek patterns, there is only surprise.
Locus
Literate, complex, unpredictable, and fascinating.
Canadian Jewish News
Another vivid, complex fantasy from Kays pen. There is the usual sense that theres more, so much more, in the background of the story than the reader has been toldthe sense of glimpsing a few shining threads in a larger tapestry. A book to savour.
SF Site
PENGUIN CANADA
THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN
GUY GAVRIEL KAY is the author of ten novels and a volume of poetry. He won the 2008 World Fantasy Award for Ysabel, has been awarded the International Goliardos Prize, and is a two-time winner of the Aurora Award. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages and have appeared on bestseller lists around the world.
Visit his Canadian website at www.guygavrielkay.ca and his international website at www.brightweavings.com.
ALSO BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY
The Fionavar Tapestry:
The Summer Tree
The Wandering Fire
The Darkest Road
Tigana
A Song for Arbonne
The Lions of Al-Rassan
The Sarantine Mosaic:
Sailing to Sarantium
Lord of Emperors
Beyond This Dark House
(poetry)
Ysabel
Under Heaven
PENGUIN CANADA
Published by the Penguin Group
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Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.)
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in a Viking Canada hardcover by Penguin Group (Canada),
a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2004
Published in Penguin Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada),
a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2005
Published in this edition, 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (OPM)
Copyright Guy Gavriel Kay, 2004
Author representation: Westwood Creative Artists
94 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1G6
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both
the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Publishers note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Kay, Guy Gavriel
The last light of the sun / Guy Gavriel Kay.
ISBN 978-0-14-317451-6
I. Title.
PS8571.A935L38 2010 C813'.54 C2010-900613-5
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that
it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
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for George Jonas
I have a tale for you: | a stag bells; |
winter pours | summer has gone. |
The wind is high, cold; | the sun is low; |
its course is short | the sea is strong running. |
The bracken is very red; | its shape has been hidden. |