One Shot World Tour: O', Canada. Ysabel -- Guy Gavriel Kay

I've been meaning to read Ysabel forever and ever.  Way before I knew there was going to be a One Shot World Tour: Canada day, at any rate. 

I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago without really knowing anything about Guy Gavriel Kay.  When I realized that the main character, Ned Marriner, is Canadian, I did a little research (some of us who work in libraries do love Google, you know), and lo and behold, I discovered that Guy Gavriel Kay is also Canadian and I had my title* for this One Shot.

Over the course of my (very, very brief) research, I discovered that there are a plethora of fantasy authors from Canada -- and my TBR list got much, much longer.  (I've been meaning to read Spider Robinson for a bazillion years, and definitely more William Gibson, but I didn't know that they were Canadian.  Joel Rosenberg, too -- Guardians of the Flame, here I come again!  I hope you stand up to my middle school adoration, but I'm kind of afraid that you won't!)

So.  Yes.  Back to Ysabel. 

15-year-old Ned Marriner is in France.  He's not technically on vacation (he has loads of schoolwork with him, though he's very good at avoiding it), but is accompanying his world-famous photographer father (and his world-famous father's assistants) on a shoot.  His mother is in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders.

While at the Saint-Sauveur Cathedral at Aix-en-Provence, Ned meets Kate Wegner, an American exchange student and a self-professed geek.  Her knowledge of the region's history (and lots of other things -- I took to her immediately, of course) rivals even that of Melanie, Ned's father's personal assistant.  And believe me, that's saying something. 

In the cathedral, something happens.  It wasn't preordained -- Ned could have walked away.  But he didn't:

It would have been, in every possible way, wiser to ignore that noise, to go see the pretty cloister, walk out that way afterwards, into the morning streets of Aix.  Get a croissant and a Coke somewhere with this girl named Kate.

His mother, however, was in the Sudan, having flown far away from them, again, to the heart of an insanely dangerous place.  Ned came from courage--and from something else, though he didn't know that part yet.

Did that "something else" hook you?  It sure got me.

In not ignoring that noise, Ned stumbles into a story much larger and much older than anything he can really imagine.  I wrote briefly about Ysabel when I finished it last week, and it has continued to stay with me -- less the question of whether or not it is YA (Because really, does it matter all that much?) and more the sense of history I got from it. 

Not just the history of the region, which Guy Gavriel Kay clearly researched at length (and bless him, he actually provided a list of books in his Acknowledgments section -- I love it when authors do that), but the larger idea of history repeating itself, of us letting history repeat itself (and causing it to repeat itself), even though we can see the same things happening, again and again, even if they are a bit different each time.

It's an adventure, a book about friendship and love and loyalty, family and history (both recent and ancient) and it makes it clear that for those involved, 20 years can be just as devastating and huge and endless as 2600 years.  It's a fantasy novel, but one that many people who don't usually read fantasy will enjoy.  I'm planning to hand it to adult and teen fans of The Dark is Rising series, not just because of the Celtic mythology, but because Ned Marriner and Will Stanton both experience that terrifying and exhilarating feeling of being a part of something much bigger and much older than they are.

Oh, another thing -- when Ned's aunt showed up, she felt to me, even though this was the first book I've read by Kay, like a character I should already knew.  So I did a little more research... and discovered that she's a major character in his Fionavar Tapestry. 

Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), I ordered the first book immediately.

Full list of other participants over at Chasing Ray.  Colleen, by the way, is a rock star and organized all this.

*I was originally planning to write a bit about a couple of Charles de Lint books I've read recently, but they're going to have to wait! 

Comments

[TadMack]

Oh, wow. VERY intrigued, -- or, further intrigued, I should say, by the cover, and the fact that you'd hand it to people who like The Dark is Rising?! Hmm!

[Diana]

I too saw the similarity to The Dark is Rising, probably because of the Celtic legend at the heart of both. And I believe fans of the earlier series will love Ysabel. What I found I loved about this book is the introduction to the bloody history of Provence. I must admit, before Ysabel, I never thought much about that area of France. Isn't that sad? And Aunt Kim rocked! So, yes, I too will be reading that other series now.

[Electric Landlady]

Us Canadians are stealthy.

[Linda]

I saw your earlier post on Ysabel and picked the book up. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the Fionvar Tapestry books are on my hold list at the library. Can't wait for them to come in.

[Sheila Ruth]

This definitely sounds like my kind of book! I'm going to have to add it to my TBR, which just keeps growing. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Vicki]

Well, I'm glad you liked it :-) But I stand by my earlier comment that this book was rather disappointing from the point of view of a GGK fan. I don't know if he'll ever again write a work as stunning as the Fionavar Tapestry. You really must also check out Tigana while you're at it - it's my favourite of his novels.

[Angie]

Kim is his aunt?! I'm definitely going to have to move it to the top of my TBR stack.

[Colleen]

Oh man - there are more books like this one! I am all over Fionavar Tapestry. Thanks so much for letting us know about the family link!

Oh and Tadmack - you will LOVE this!

[Brooke]

This book is sitting in my TBR pile right now. Although I haven't started it yet, from what you've told me, the book also sounds similar to Alan Garner's The Owl Service. Anybody wanna weigh in on that?

[Vicki]

It's much less dark than the Owl Service and has a decidedly modern feel to it.

[Leila]

Yeah, I read The Owl Service relatively recently (within the last twelve months, though I never did write about it), and Ysabel didn't remind me of it at all. (Way different mood, and not nearly as scary.) I can certainly see how the description would make you think of it, though.

[Diana]

I was thinking last night (mostly through conversation with my BFF who has a son to whom I frequently rec under the radar books) about your previous post about why this book wasn't marketed to the YA crowd instead. At first, I totally got the lack of immediacy you were talking about. there is a sense of removal from the action taking place that is distinctly not YA. But, but, but...Ned's voice is so determinedly young, true to that of a 15 year-old, even a mature one. Adult books told from the perspective of a teen are usually peppered with word usage and phrases that aren't naturally a part of the teen lexicon, but the adults reading don't notice that because they are a part of most adult's. Adult-novel teens are usually preternaturally gifted at reading the adults around him/her. Ned did neither of these things. He had only the slightest clue what was in the heads of those around him. His language and vocabulary were decidedly his own and not channeled through the adult filter. And for those reasons primarily I will go out on the proverbial limb and say this feels to me much more YA than adult. Sorry to blather on, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down. Carry on.
(oh and...possible spoiler was no one else slightly disturbed by the adult coming on to him at the end of the book? I kinda was...)

[Joel Rosenberg]

I hope you stand up to my middle school adoration, but I'm kind of afraid that you won't!

I'm pretty tough about some things; not to worry. :)

[Michelle]

This post and comments have mentioned my three favorite authors: de Lint, Kay and Cooper.

I know you're going to love the entire Fionaver Tapestry collection. I've read it several times; my copy is well worn.

I've also read and collected 95% of Charles de Lint's books. He's been my favorite author for over 20 years. I'm constantly amazed at how he can pull me in, and at how his books are ageless.

Susan Cooper fans will adore both of these authors if they haven't found them yet.

[theduckthief]

Glad to hear you've discovered lots of Canadian fantasy authors. I always feel Canadian authors get overlooked by the literary community.