The Lions of Al-Rassan

Kindle Customer

This is one of those books that will stay with you

"I just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan, and I'm still sitting with that heavy, quiet feeling it leaves behind. The kind only a handful of books ever manage. At its heart, this is a story about three people, Ammar, Rodrigo, and Jehane, who recognize something in each other across lines that are supposed to keep them apart. Their friendship feels improbable, even fragile. Not because it's shallow, but because the world around them is actively hostile to its survival. What makes it work is that nobody gets flattened into a symbol. Loyalty, faith, culture, power, they all pull in different directions, and every character feels the weight of that. No one's stupid. No one's purely good or bad. Which is exactly why every choice costs something real. There's something quietly beautiful about watching people reach toward each other anyway, even knowing it can't hold. Not as some grand answer to anything, just as something brief and human and worth having, regardless of how it ends. If you want something thoughtful, grounded, and genuinely affecting, this is one of those rare books that doesn't let go. Highly recommend, with the caveat that you may need a moment afterward. ["

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April 3, 2026 Verified Purchase

Nocturnal

I love this story

"Yes, GGK has a way with words--I think due to his poetic soul--that paints such delicious setting, well developed characters too. But there's something deep about this particular story. He's also done his research into Spain's history quite well and communicates it here. I had to go back and do my own research after re-reading (for the 3d or 4th time) this book. I did that last time but I've forgotten so much over the years. I love how the varying religious differences between the 3 main characters do not interfere with their ability to love each other and find hope and acceptance for each other. It also made me sad to know that humans are so fickle and will become zealot at what seems a drop of the hat, breaking up friendships and families. Made me think about the way so many religions do not want their believers advancing in thoughts, do not want them changing their perspectives--even though life is change. If you don't change, you stagnate. Made me think about learning to cherish and savor the differences between us instead of wanting everyone to be just like I am (how boring!). I've pretty much reread all of GGK's novels and I think this is the best, with the Sarantium Mosaics second, but it's a close race. All 3 of these books are elegant, graceful, beautiful, like seeing a rose bud slowly open. Just makes my heart happy to know a contemporary writer can write this way when 99% of them don't seem to have enough in their hearts, minds, and souls to write anything worth reading. ["

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January 15, 2019 Verified Purchase

Calvin Park

Masterful

"Guy Gavriel Kay is one of the greats of fantasy literature, and The Lions of Al-Rassan is no exception. It’s a story about love, and loss, and especially about loyalty and honor. This all plays across the backdrop of a fantasy version of the Iberian Peninsula prior to the Reconquista. There are moments that are truly heart wrenching and other moments where you celebrate with the characters over an imagined—or remembered—joy. One of the things Kay does better than most is characterization. He crafts characters that are so fully imagined they almost remind you of people you once knew, or possibly of historical figures that could have been your friends or enemies. In The Lions of Al-Rassan the characters shine brightly, capturing and holding your attention. The interplay between Rodrigo Belmonte, Jehane bet Ishak, and Ammar ibn Khairan is masterful. Each of those three is not only a character unto themselves, but a (secularized) representation of the three religions that play a part throughout the story. Using historical analogs, Kay has crafted a convincing tale of a land divided, of people journeying through life, and of the cost of hatred, greed, and power. Of course, Kay has a more literary feel than most genre fiction, and so there is a sense in which the ideas themselves tend to rise to the forefront. Kay is careful here not to allow characters or setting to become caricatures merely in service to the idea. Everything is expertly woven together. The execution of that weaving does have some weaknesses, unfortunately. While the characters are beautifully drawn, Kay tends to use large sections of exposition thinly veiled as an internal monologue. This is particularly true when we haven’t seen a character’s perspective for some time. That character will (conveniently) remember and run through events over the past N weeks. This is forgivable only because Kay’s prose is often so beautiful and he excels at drawing out the readers own emotions. On occasion the plot can also get a bit tangled in multiple perspective jumps that go back to catch up on various characters’ storylines. These weaknesses were frustrating from time to time, but the rest of the book is so good they can also certainly be ignored. The Lions of Al-Rassan is a gripping tale that leaves you with plenty to think about. That’s one of the things Kay always does in his books, leaves me pondering with a bittersweet sense of loss and longing. 4.4/5 stars. 5 – I loved this, couldn’t put it down, move it to the top of your TBR pile 4 – I really enjoyed this, add it to the TBR pile 3 – It was ok, depending on your preferences it may be worth your time 2 – I didn’t like this book, it has significant flaws and I can’t recommend it 1 – I loathe this book with a most loathsome loathing ["

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August 2, 2018 Verified Purchase

H. P.

The Lions of Al-Rassan is the Rare Single-Volume Epic

"Guy Gavriel Kay has given us a true epic in a single volume in The Lions of Al-Rassan. It is a thinly veiled retelling of El Cid and the Reconquista, albeit altered and compressed (the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula did take centuries, after all). Jehane bet Ishak is a Kindath (read: Jewish) physician living in Fezana. Fezana remains under Asharite (read: Muslim) rule but Asharites have grown weak, and Fezana pays tribute to the nearest Jaddite (read: Christian) kingdom. Alvar de Pellino is a young soldier who joins the company of the famed captain Rodrigo Belmonte (heavily based on the historical El Cid). Events early in the book will lead to Rodrigo’s exile and bring the four main characters together. Kay captures the complexity of Reconquista era Iberian politics, which could see a Jaddite mercenary fighting under an Asharite king one day and against him the next. The final major character is Ammar ibn Khairan, assassin of the last caliph and advisor to an Asharite king. The scope is epic and the plot complex. The peninsula is fractured into numerous states on both the Jaddite and Asharite sides. Events on the peninsula do not happen in a vacuum. A Crusade called far to the east will push the Jaddite kingdoms to embark on their own invasion south. Their actions will attract the attention of the Asharites across the strait to the south. Rodrigo and Ammar are men whose actions can topple kingdoms. This is very much a Great Man book. Kay imbues his epic tale, though, with a personal touch at the same time. We see Rodrigo and Ammar as men, not just as Great Men. And Jehane and Alvar bring a more grounded perspective to the narrative. He gets the least attention in the reviews I’ve read, but I found Alvar’s narrative arc to be the most intriguing and satisfying. Rodrigo and Ammar and Jehane know what their place in the world is and what they want it to be (not necessarily the same thing). Alvar spends the book figuring that out. I had many stylistic quibbles with the first Kay book I read, Children of Earth and Sky. I am happy to report that none of those quibbles apply to The Lions of Al-Rassan, which makes me wonder if Children of Earth and Sky is an outlier in the Kay oeuvre. I won’t wait four years to read my next Kay. ["

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January 12, 2021 Verified Purchase

Dr. Kathleen Olsson Nelson

Exquisite, heartbreaking, unforgettable

"This is a story that can break your heart, bring you to tears, and you may find yourself, as I did, aching for more pages to read of this exquisitly emotional saga. Kay has a very select and unique skill of making his characters so real and indelible in one's psyche that their humanity in all its gore and glory deeply resonantes within the mind and heart, so much so that one may find that they cannot soon forget them. The powerful, bittersweet feelings evoked by the poetic message in the final few lines of the book when the three full cups of wine are deliberately placed by Jehane, Ammar and Alvar on the rim of the fountain of water are wrenchingly haunting. They return one's thoughts to similar moments of their time in King Badir's court in Ragosa and flow on to other scenes within the story. Once again to experience that shadowed battle between the young lions Ammar and Rodrigo on the plains at sunset in their unwanted fight to death when time is suspended in a breathless, dreamlike sequence and to feel the pain and profound sense of loss of one of them. Kay has that rare ability of writing in a way that invites a sense of mental freedom within the reader and permits one to savor and interpret his imagry without being bludgeoned by common or heavy handed verbosity. He never overdoes and he never stoops to coarseness or explicit vulgarity. His stories are like spirals within spirals constantly in motion captivating both the heart and mind of the reader into spellbinding surrender. The Lions of Al-Rassan is a hard story of a hard time in history yet the lyricism and poetry of that time is also present through the words of the poet-warrior Ammar ibn Khairan. They soften and touch the story with sweetness, and an invitation to reflect upon the deeper, more gentle philosophy of their way of life. The beauty of the poetry is stark contrast to the hatred between the warring nations with their different gods, religious dogmas and practices all within the matrix of the power conflicts between petty kings as they face off against one another in their conquest of land and dominance. Mr. Kay posesses a wellspring of depth, refinement and keen intellectual mastery within himself and as a writer. It is also obvious that his own parents were wonderfully nurturing for he speaks with that clear, refreshing voice of one who has few, if any, emotional hangups or axes to grind in his writing. His unforgettable story The Lions of Al-Rassan is absolutely a must read for those who appreciate the very best and Mr. Kay truly is non-pariel. ["

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August 16, 2000 Verified Purchase