Science Fiction Book Club discussion
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The Summer Tree
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And I am finding it very good, only few pages to go for becoming one of my favorite books!
I am glad that "Summer Tree" is also good, if you keep re-reading it , it must be! I was always a bit skeptical of that book but also curious , so I will give it a try.



I would say that these days I suspect that if they'd been written today, each book would have been a bit longer, but covered the same story. As in the current style in fantasy is quite detailed, more so than that of nearly 20 years back.
Not entirely sure of that, but I'm just trying to put my finger on the particular factors in his writing that explains why there is such a split of opinions about his work. I am struggling a bit because as I've said, these are books I've loved for a long time. :)
One other thought - since GoodReads is about recommendations, then The Summer Tree is a useful yardstick. If you like the Summer Tree, you'll love xxx and so on.

Also the point of a book club is to read books that I haven't yet read and be introduced to books I may not have read otherwise. I like to be exposed to as many different writers and books as possible. So on the whole I'm glad I read this book.
(Now onto The Wandering Fire.)
Looking at other people's reviews it seems to be a book that gets very mixed reactions - some people really enjoy it, others find it flat.
I came to this first of all Guy Gavriel Kay's books and enjoyed all three in the series. I've latterly read Ysabel, which is not quite as good, but still atmospheric. It does briefly pick up on a couple of the characters from Fionnavar by the way, if you want to know what happened next for them.
I tried to read Tigana many years back but couldn't get into it - a rather different style and I was expecting more Fionnavar. (Must try re-reading again some time as my taste has definitely changed over the years.)