From Rowling to Joyce, Tolkien to Kingsolver, they are like old friends whom I can visit with when ever I feel the need. Admittedly, I did not feel that immediate attraction to Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. I had picked up the trilogy for a song one day in a used bookstore and read it through once, finding it enjoyable, but at the time not memorable.
A couple of years down the road I was at home, recovering from a stay in the hospital, and was casting about for something to read that would eat up the hours. I spotted my battered box set and remembered that, if nothing else, it would fill time. So for the second time I entered the fantastical world of Fionavar. What had changed in the two years since my previous read I don't know, but now I was enthralled. From the opening sequences on campus at The University of Toronto, through to the final chapter of book three, the fortunes of the peoples and their struggles to overcome an ancient evil was captivating.
Hey asshole, enough of the sentimental crap and reminiscing, what's the damn thing about anyway? Well I guess I can't put that off any longer, can I? The plot? Well, alright, here goes. Our world, and many others like it, is a mere shadow of the original world Fionavar, the original creation of the Weaver who spins all our lives, and who made all the races and gods.
In the Kingdom of Brennin, the High King Ailell is about to celebrate his fiftieth year on the throne, and his mage Loren Silvercloak and the dwarf Matt Soren have been dispatched to our earth to bring five visitors, one for each decade, to help commemorate the event. As fate, or something else, would have it, five friends and acquaintances have converged at a lecture by a reclusive scholar of Celtic antiquities. It just so happens that said scholar is also known as Loren Silvercloak.
Kimberly Ford, Kevin Laine, Jennifer Lowell, Dave Martyniuk, and Paul Schafer are enticed by Matt and Loren to accompany them back to their hotel room under the guise of helping the shy scholar escape from academics. The ruse barely holds until they gain the hotel room.
Article comments
1 - johnboy
Interesting you didn't draw similarities with the Silmarillion.
I read the books thinking all the way how stylistically similar I thought they were.
Only when I got to the end did I notice Kay's involvement.
OK so I prefer to know the work before i check out the author.